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Pilot (The Lone Gunmen)

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Byers with his father.
Series: The Lone Gunmen
Original Airdate: 03-04-2001
Production Number: 1AEB79
Date(s): 2000
Written by: John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan and Chris Carter
Directed by: Rob Bowman

While he and the other Lone Gunmen attempt to steal a computer chip, Byers receives news of his father's death and the trio soon find themselves unraveling a government conspiracy in which an attempt to fly a commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center would result in increased arms sales for the United States of America.

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

E-COM-CON COMPUTER CORP.
VIENNA, VIRGINIA

At night, the Lone Gunmen attempt to steal an Octium IV chip during a conference at the headquarters of E-Com-Con Computer Corp. in Vienna, Virginia. While Langly causes a distraction by posing as a heckling attendee who supposedly passes out, Byers lowers Frohike into a highly secured room that contains the chip. However, the software that controls Frohike's winch is hijacked by an observing bearded man and the building's security guards discover that Langly is wearing a listening device. As Frohike dangles helplessly in midair, the bearded man enters (setting off an alarm), kisses Frohike (who immediately recognizes the intruder) and removes the Octium IV chip from the room. The security team takes the Gunmen into custody and, finding the chip gone, one of the guards orders a full body cavity search of Frohike. Meanwhile, the actual robber exits the men's restroom, having removed the disguise – the "bearded man" is actually a woman, who watches as the Gunmen are forcibly led away.

[edit] Act One

OFFICES OF
"THE LONE GUNMAN"
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND

The Lone Gunmen return to their offices in Takoma Park, Maryland, having been thoroughly searched. They are disappointed by the failure of their recent operation. Byers is not only frustrated that they have failed to obtain the proof they were seeking but he also bemoans the lack of influence that the group's newspaper has had, ever since they started publishing it. Frohike confirms for the others that the actual robber was Yves Adele Harlow, of whom Langly has heard rumor. The men find a small listening device that they believe Harlow used to learn of their plans to steal the chip and an angered Langly throws the device in a glass of water. Moments later, Byers answers a telephone call in which he confirms for the caller that he is indeed the son of a particular male who he does not name.

The Gunmen attend the funeral of Byers' father, Bertram Roosevelt Byers, an aerospace engineer. Frohike is impressed by the amount of military brass in attendance and, following a eulogy by Ray Helm, Byers launches a rocket in memory of his father.

While later walking through the graveyard, Frohike tells Langly about how Byers lost contact with his father in 1989, when the Lone Gunmen started publishing their newspaper, because Byers' father disapproved of the other Gunmen. Langly thinks he sees Yves Adele Harlow from a distance but finds that this bearded man is exactly that. When Byers joins Frohike and Langly, Frohike compliments the funeral service but Langly is initially eager to plant listening devices on the attendees, until he realizes that doing so might not be appropriate on such an occasion. Byers wishes to leave but Ray Helm approaches and, introducing himself as a coworker of Byers' father, Helm reveals a desire to talk with Byers about his father's death, implying that there is more to the incident than what has been reported.

RESTON, VIRGINIA

Ray Helm later shows the Lone Gunmen to the area where Byers' father crashed – beneath one end of a bridge in Reston, Virginia. According to Helm, the police have ruled that the crash was caused by the driver falling asleep at the wheel, based on the lack of skid-marks in the area. After Langly realizes that Helm's theory differs, Byers initially thinks that Helm is suggesting his father committed suicide until Helm clarifies that he believes Bertram Byers was murdered.

In the past, Bertram Byers realizes that a car has been following his vehicle and is shot by the driver of the other car, causing his vehicle to crash and then explode in a ball of flames.

Ray Helm admits to having no proof to backup his claims, but states that that outcome would be desired in the case of a government sanctioned murder. In response to Byers' puzzlement over why his father specifically was targeted, Ray Helm states that the government may have had a problem with Bertram Byers being such a conscionable man and recalls that Bertram had been upset about something unspecified when he had last talked to Helm. Frohike and Langly find fault with Helm's story, due to the fact that he is a government employee himself, but Helm claims he believed that, if Byers was anything like his father, he would want to know the truth.

BERTRAM BYERS RESIDENCE

At night, the Lone Gunmen's van arrives outside the former residence of Bertram Byers. Inside the property, Frohike asks Byers if he is sure that he wants to search the place and Langly reminds him that Ray Helm said there would be no evidence anyway. Gazing at a photograph of his father, Byers expresses his intention to search his father's computer for any clue as to why he may have been murdered. The others start to follow Byers to the computer but Frohike slips on a wet section of carpet and, looking up at his accomplices from the floor, he suggests that the wetness may be because the carpet has been cleaned. Byers instructs Frohike to investigate the damp patch, as he and Langly continue over to the computer. They find that all information has been deleted from the computer, including a text file that seems to be a Department of Defense document and refers to Scenario 12-D. Meanwhile, Frohike – dressed in white coveralls while using an ultraviolet light wand in the dark – discovers that the wet patch is, in fact, blood that he subsequently shows the other Lone Gunmen. Byers concludes that, in contradiction with popular belief, his father was dead long before the car crash and was murdered at home.

[edit] Act Two

ABC SALVAGE
RESTON, VIRGINIA

A Yard Worker leads Byers and Frohike through the ABC Salvage yard, while Byers explains to a slightly confused Frohike that there must be evidence, in the wreckage of the crashed car, that was not destroyed in the vehicle's explosion. The Yard Worker questions the fact that Byers has given his name as Bertram Byers, however, as records show that Bertram Byers was born in 1934. As a way of explanation, Frohike utters the word "viagra" to the Yard Worker, who then indicates in the general direction of Bertram Byers' car. Under the mistaken impression that the Yard Worker has indicated to a car that is about to be crushed, Frohike and Byers desperately rush to save the vehicle but Frohike falls in mud on the ground and the car is crushed regardless of their efforts. The Yard Worker shows the two visitors to Bertram Byers' actual car, which has already been crushed.

At a high-tech shooting range, Langly tracks down Kimmy Belmont, a fellow hacker who Langly asks for help with circumventing the Defense Department's online security codes. Kimmy is reluctant to help, however, busy with the shooting simulation and suspecting that Langly is investigating yet another conspiracy theory such as those regarding the Kennedy assassination. Kimmy lengthily advises Langly that, as such a skilled hacker, he should be enjoying success but their discussion is interrupted by noisy rapid gunfire from another user of the simulation, a silhouetted long-haired woman who is using two guns simultaneously. An initially impressed Langly learns from Kimmy that the woman is none other than Yves Adele Harlow, so Langly confronts her. She mockingly insults Langly and his group but Kimmy persuades Langly to leave her to the simulation, while they exit to do some hacking.

In a dimly lit workshop, Frohike is working on the wrecked car and voices his frustration, to an observing Byers, regarding the search of the wreckage. Frohike speculates that Byers may find that his father wasn't as respectful as he hopes. Byers recalls how his father used to tell him stories, when he was a child, that made him believe in the promise of his country. He also remembers that his intentions to expose those who would destroy the American dream influenced him to team up with the other Lone Gunmen but Frohike jokes that he believed Byers joined up for "the chick throw-off". Frohike sums up his advice by telling Byers not to set himself up for disappointment and to instead make peace with his father some other way. Moments later, Frohike comes across a vital piece of evidence – a circuit board that he removes from the wreckage.

In the Lone Gunmen offices, Langly and Kimmy successfully access the Defense Department's mainframe shortly before Frohike and Byers arrive. Kimmy claims that he only agreed to partake in the hacking to save Langly from Yves Adele Harlow and Langly recounts more of this incident to the new arrivals, who show Langly the circuit board. According to Frohike, the technology could be used to remotely control the speed of a car. Self-congratulatory whoops from Kimmy draw the others over to the computer he is using, where he explains that he has managed to access a government think-tank's upload directory. The directory seems to indicate that Byers' father was murdered due to a war game and the group learns that Scenario 12-D concerns airline terrorism. Byers insists that Kimmy downloads a file about Scenario 12-D, but the hackers' intrusion is remotely detected by two men in a small room. Even though Kimmy continues downloading the document while he and Langly express their anxieties over being tracked down, Frohike eventually pulls the plug before the intruders' address could be determined. One of the two men tracking the intruders is Ray Helm, who says that he knows who the hackers were, anyway.

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Introductory Details

  • This episode was a haunting precursor to 9/11, as part of the plot detailed a plan to hijack a commercial plane and fly it into the World Trade Center. The flight in the episode was also from Washington, D.C. to Boston, both airports from which planes in the real attack departed.
  • This is the only episode of the series in which a main cast member, Stephen Snedden, does not appear.
  • Like many pilots, this episode does not have any opening credits. Instead, The Lone Gunmen logo appears briefly on screen, after which all the regular cast are credited in the same manner as guest cast.

[edit] Locations

  • This episode reveals that the Lone Gunmen's Headquarters are located in Takoma Park, Maryland.
  • E-Com-Con is based in Vienna, Virginia.
  • Bertram Byers' residence, and ABC Salvage are located in Reston, Virginia. The car crash occurred roughly two miles away from Bertram's residence.
  • The commercial flight departs from Washington, D.C. and is scheduled to arrive at Boston, but is hijacked and taken to New York City.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

  • "I know you and your friends are fighting for the American Dream, just don't expect to win." - Bertram Byers to his son, John Byers.

[edit] Cultural References

  • The teaser of this episode includes visual references to the 1996 film Mission: Impossible, where the character of Ethan Hunt, like Frohike, infiltrates a high-security white room hanging from the ceiling.
  • Langly holds up an issue with the front page headline "Teletubbies = Mind control".
  • Frohike uses the Superman quote of "truth, justice, and the American way" when referring to the philanthropic stories Byers was raised on.

[edit] Nitpicks

  • When Bertram first discovers the remote control, he is able to make the car move both forwards and backwards, without changing the gears to/from reverse.

[edit] Other Episode Notes

  • Langly and Frohike use the call signs 'Patriot 1' and 'Patriot 2' when attempting to steal the Octium IV chip.
(Although never stated, Byers presumably uses the call sign 'Patriot 3')
  • Byers states that the readership of The Lone Gunman is 2,324.
  • Bertram Byers drives a blue '92 Caprice.

[edit] Continuity

  • Bert and John Byers become estranged after Bert's disapproval of John's decision to team up with Langley and Frohike, as seen in The X-Files episode "Unusual Suspects".

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] References

SEMICOLON-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS/LOCATIONS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT LINKED TO IF ALREADY LINKED IN SUMMARY OR GUEST STARS SECTIONS)



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First in series 		The Lone Gunmen
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Bond, Jimmy Bond
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