1994 X-Files Fox Network TV Series Fluke Man Episode "The Host"

1994 X-Files Fox Network TV Series Fluke Man Episode "The Host"
The Flukeman is a memorable, monstrous antagonist from the second-season episode of The X-Files titled "The Host". The creature is a mutated human-flatworm hybrid that originated from the Chernobyl disaster and lurks in the sewers of New Jersey.
The Episode: "The Host"
Original Air Date: September 23, 1994.
Plot: After the X-Files division is closed, Mulder and Scully are reassigned. Mulder is assigned a murder case where a body is found in the Newark, New Jersey sewage system. The investigation leads to the discovery of a bizarre, pale, humanoid creature with a circular, lamprey-like mouth—the Flukeman.
Key Events: The creature is capable of asexual reproduction by biting victims and injecting them with larvae. A sanitation worker who survives a bite later coughs up a baby flukeworm in his shower and dies. The adult Flukeman is eventually trapped by Mulder and bisected by a sewer grate, but its top half is shown to still be alive at the episode's end, implying its survival.
Character and Lore
Origin: The creature was hypothesized by Scully to be a human Russian liquidator, named Gregory in the later comics, who was exposed to a "soup" of radioactive sewage and flatworms in a tank after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Appearance: Special effects supervisor Toby Lindala created the creature's costume, designed to look like a giant, fanged maggot with a translucent, fleshy appearance.
Portrayal: The Flukeman was notably played by Darin Morgan, who later became a highly regarded writer for the series, penning some of its most acclaimed comedic episodes like "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Humbug". Morgan described wearing the stifling, heavy costume as a difficult and painful experience.
Legacy: The Flukeman is considered one of the series' most iconic and creepy "monster-of-the-week" villains and has appeared in subsequent X-Files comics and merchandise.