A boy with a serious craving for food, in this case human brains, finds himself increasingly unable to resist his instincts when Mulder and Scully arrive to investigate a murder he committed.
Somewhere in the X-Files writers prison, there's a noticeboard with a picture of the human body on it and various parts crossed out. It has the heading 'Genetic Mutants' and keeps the crew informed of which body parts have been taken and eaten over the last six seasons. Liver? Check. Fat? Check. Cancerous growths? Check. Pigment? Check. Brains? Aha. And thus you get Hungry.
Given that this is essentially another genetic mutant tale, it needs a different spin to make it work, and luckily it has one. The mutant in question is a teenage boy who needs brain matter to live, and has started to kill humans to get it and feed his voracious hunger (hence the name). So far, so straightforward. However, rather than accepting what he is, Rob Roberts is trying to find any way he can to avoid his true nature and what he must do to live.
Focusing on Rob himself, this is a rather touching tale as the viewer follows Rob's trials and tribulations when he finds himself having to divert suspicion away from himself. Mulder and Scully are merely visitors into his life, and we see them briefly. Mulder clearly knows what's going on from the start, but Scully remains skeptical as ever, despite having one genetic mutant make her discover her cancer. How ungrateful. Mulder as usual has some great lines, and Rob is carefulyl played to bring out the human rather than mutant aspect of him. However, his nature leads to a truly grotesque scene in which he removes parts of his body that enable him to look more human.
Despite being predictable, the ending is actually rather touching, and any other finish would seem to be a cop-out. This is one of those stories that will sadly become a forgotten classic.
****
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