Three's Company
By Kristin Kloberdanz
From Cinescape's "The X-Files Yearbook' 12/97
The Lone Gunmen are beginning to see the light. Until recently,
Mulder's paranoid confidantes, Frohike, Langly, and Byers, seemed
to exist entirely in their dank cellar office where they would
alternately compose their conspiracy rag and dispense advice to
their favorite FBI duo. Then suddenly last season, they climbed
from the depths to help Mulder break into a building, becoming
heroes of sorts in the process. Apparently their star is still on
the rise. With the fifth season of The X-Files just under way,
the threesome have already starred in their very own episode,
titled "Unusual Suspects."
"It's set in 1989, and it's about how the three of us got together
because we're an unlikely threesome," says actor Dean Haglund,
who plays Langly. "It's also how we met Mulder and why we're
called the Lone Gunmen. Often when we went to conventions, everyone
would ask, 'How did you three meet?' and 'What's the deal with
you guys?' and we'd have to make up stuff. It's nice to have it
confirmed in an actual episode."
"It was really interesting to have a show totally wrapped around
you," agrees Tom Braidwood, who plays Frohike and is also first
assistant director on the series. "[It presented] the opportunity
to dig into your own character and the relationship that the
three of us have together."
Part of the Lone Gunmen's history confirmed by this episode is
that the three actually have first names: Ringo Langly, Melvin
Frohike, and John Fitzgerald Byers, who was born on the day John
F. Kennedy was assassinated. It is Byers who perhaps has the most
interesting background of the three, as it is presented in "Unusual
Suspects."
"We first meet [computer-hackers Frohike and Langly] at an
electronics fair where they're selling cable hook-ups for free
illegal cable," says Bruce Harwood (Byers). "Byers is still a
techno-geek but he's working for the government; he works for
the Federal Communications Commission. So I began from the position
of total trust in the government and become completely paranoid by
the end of the show."
The storyline revolves around a young woman who has information
about a secret test involving an hallucinary drug that the U.S.
government is about to expose to an unwitting public. According
to Harwood, Byers is approached by this woman because he can hack
into a top secret computer program. Byers then seeks out Frohike
and Langly because "they have the technical knowledge that I need,
and eventually we all get trapped in this story and see it through
to the end."
Harwood explains that this episode really gave him a greater
appreciation for his character. "I had really no idea why this
guy was the way he was, " the actor says. "This script unexpectedly
gave me a whole story for my character: the reason he is paranoid,
the reason he is dedicated to discovering undercover secret
operations that the government is engaged in, and the reason he
tries to publicize the information as much as the Lone Gunmen do.
"It's a matter of fighting between being frightened of being
killed for knowing too much and trying to find the information
and letting people know about it."
Harwood found the backstory particularly useful to him because
now he knows his character "is not like me at all." The actor
admits that he still doesn't entirely understand his doppleganger.
"I react [as an actor playing the scene] the way I would really
react because that's all I really can draw on. On the other hand,
I would never be in those situations. I'd never be dressed that
way."
An interesting aspect of "Unusual Suspects" is a unique cross-over
twist. Richard Belzer, the star of NBC's Homicide, completes a
guest star turn in this episode playing his Homicide character,
Detective John Munch. And as is often the case when the Lone
Gunmen appear in an episode, "Unusual Suspects" is charged with
comedic elements.
"I laughed a lot," says Harwood. " I hope everyone else will too.
Young Byers is a very innocent person and some of his reactions
are sort of awkward and innocent, and that's quite funny."
"Unusual Suspects" is not just a humorous break from the series,
though. It unravels elements of mystery while introducing new
intrigue to the conspiracy arc. Since the episode takes place in
1989, Agent Scully is not yet on the scene, but a younger Agent
Mulder is introduced.
"[David Duchovny's] hair was the big indication [that the episode
took place eight years ago]," laughs Haglund. "They combed it to
the side. And it was flatter, like mousse wasn't invented. And his
cellular phone's way bigger."
With memories of the flashback-oriented "Musings of a Cigarette
Smoking Man" in mind, some dedicated X-Philes might wonder if
they should take what they see in this episode as the team's true
story.
"I think this fits pretty comfortably into the mythology," Harwood
says. "the only question I had in my mind was that when Mulder
meets these guys, we might have had a little too much [to do] with
him becoming involved in the X-Files. It's always been in my mind set
up that he had this interest a long time before he ever got into
the FBI because of what happened to his sister. That was a small
question mark in my mind, but David Duchovny obviously read the
script, and he knows the character much better than I do. He
obviously had no problem with it because as far as I know the
scenes were not changed and none of the lines were changed, so it
must be OK."
While this episode may be open for discussion, the normally
loquacious Lone Gunmen are keeping one conspiracy of silence intact:
The X-Files movie they worked on over the summer.
"That we don't know anything about," Haglund says. "We just got
our pages with our lines and that was that. [Our role was] not
big. Pretty much like what we have on the series. We sort of show
up and help - but we also signed the confidentiality agreement
and can't talk about it."
What they can talk about is the future if the franchise in TV. "I
think what they're going to continue to do is create more and
more layers of conspiracy," Haglund says. "You know, the first
season it seemed like the Cigarette Smoking Man was the top guy,
and now this season he's just another pawn. I think they'll just
be finding more and more layers and more and more people [at the
heart of the puzzle]. Other than that, I'm not sure."
All three Gunmen agree that a sixth season is going to happen.
"I think so," Harwood says. "As a viewer, not as a member of the
cast. As a member of the cast, I think it should go on forever. As
a viewer, I think maybe six or seven years. [That way] the series
can end and everyone can say, 'Ahhhhh' - it will always leave us
wanting more instead of [wishing] that they'd stopped it earlier."
So will viewers see any marked changes in the Lone Gunmen this
year? Judging from "Unusual Suspects", Byers has probably evolved
the most over the years, but Langly and Frohike's characters have
grown as well. In particular, Frohike's infatuation with Agent
Scully is not what it used to be.
"[Frohike's] changed to the extent that the Scully thing has
evolved into a respectful friendship," Braidwood says. "[I've gone
from] that initial famous statement of 'She's hot' to having a lot
of respect for her. I care for her [very much]."
And Langly?
"Well, I hope [Langly's changing]," Haglund laughs. "I mean, he
got different t-shirts now. I don't know if that's more character
depth or not. He's sort of moving out of the Ramones and into the
Dead Kennedys."
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