Rob Wisden made his first appearance in "The X-Files" as Robert Patrick Modell, aka "Pusher". As Pusher, he could literally push his will onto people, make them to whatever he said. This episode was so very popular, it had a sequel! :D That's a pretty big honour, considering that so far only one other episode has had a sequel (first season's "Squeeze" and its sequel "Tooms").
I myself have been a fan of "The X-Files" since before it even came out. I know it sounds weird, but I was!! When they were advertising the series premiere way back in September 1992, I said to myself, "That looks so cool! That's gonna be my favourite show!" And alas, it was and has been.
When I first saw Rob Wisden on "Pusher", I thought, "Oh my God! I know that guy!!" He looked so familiar to me, one of those kind of feelings where it aggravates you to no end but you just can't place it! It drove me insane. I knew he was a character actor so I had probably seen him in a few places, but there was one place in particular I knew I knew him from ....
It wasn't until two years later, when "Kitsunegari" aired, that I figured it out. I had seen him on The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky the summer before "Pusher" .... Having figured it out, I realized just what a talented actor he was ....
Ahem, I digress. In any case, his performances in both "Pusher" and "Kitsunegari" were incredible, more noticeable in the former because in the latter, he didn't have as many great scenes. He was very convincing as a sociopath, so much he even frightened me -- me, who gets scared at absolutely nothing (well, I guess I can't say that any more)! His frightening effect can best be described as a spooky, creepy fright. Almost like a Norman Bates effect, but on a different level. He just makes you go, "Oh my God, this guy's sick!!"
So good were his performances, you almost forget that this guy's an actor .... Robert Patrick Modell becomes a real live person through the talent of Rob Wisden.
Episode 3x17 (season three, number seventeen)
Original Air Date: 23 February 1996
TheX-Files.com "Pusher" page
Cast
David Duchovny as Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Robert Wisden as Pusher (Robert Patrick Modell)
Vic Polizos as Frank Burst
Steve Bacic as Collins
D. Neil Mark as Scott Kerber
Julia Arkos as Holly
Don MacKay as the Judge
Meredith Bain-Woodward as Brent
J.D. Sheppard as the Prosecutor
Darren Lucas as Lead SWAT Cop
Roger R. Cross as SWAT Lieutenant
Janyse Jaud as the nurse
Ernie Foot as the lobby guard
Henry Watson as the baliff
Written by Vince Gilligan
Directed by Rob Bowman
Pusher's and Mulder's confrontation.
Two of Pusher's victims, Agent Collins and Agent Frank Burst. Collins was forced to pour gasoline over his entire body and then light himself on fire at the driving range. ("I need you to do something for me; can you do something for me?") Burst died at Pusher's apartment, on the phone with him; Pusher kept saying how his weight was unhealthy and how his arteries were clogging up. He ended with, "Your heart flatlines. You die, Frank .... Frank? Yo, Frank?"
Agent Dana Scully.
Scully and Mulder huddled close to a phone .... aww ....
Agent Fox Mulder.
Mulder pointing a gun at Scully, against his will and of Pusher's.
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