The episode first aired in the United States on October 6, 1995, on Fox, being written by Howard Gordon and directed by Kim Manners.

earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.9, being watched by 15.57 million people in its initial broadcast, and received positive reviews.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.

At a video arcade in Connerville, Oklahoma, two young men, Jack Hammond and Darin Peter Oswald, argue over a game of Virtua Fighter 2.

Hammond pushes Oswald to the ground, after which the power in the arcade mysteriously shuts down—except to a jukebox, which plays "Ring the Bells" by James.

Scully talks to Bart "Zero" Liquori, the arcade owner and Oswald's friend, who was present the night Hammond died.

The agents visit Oswald's home and find a cut-out picture of Sharon, his former high school teacher, inside a porn magazine.

At the scene of the car accident, Oswald's boss (who is also Sharon's husband) suffers an oddly timed heart attack.

After learning of Oswald's release, Mulder and Scully rush to the hospital to protect the Kiveats, but the power goes out when they arrive and Zero's body appears in the elevator when its door slides open.

As the agents observe Oswald, he uses his powers to change the channels of the TV in his room while the song "Live Fast, Diarrhea" by The Vandals is heard.

[1][2] The genesis of this episode can be traced back to a note card reading "Lightning Boy" that series creator Chris Carter had tacked to a board in his office since the first season.

[3] Then-story editor Frank Spotnitz claims that the writers initially thought about referencing the developments of these mythology episodes in "D.P.O.

[3] The producers had difficulty securing permission to use a dead cow in the episode, due to concerns over animal rights groups.

"[10] Jane Goldman, in The X-Files Book of the Unexplained felt like the combination of Howard Gordon's "acutely observed dialogue" and Ribisi's "compelling performance" made Darin Oswald "one of season three's most memorable characters".

only behind "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" as the best standalone season 3 episode, praising Ribisi's "all quiet, creepy power that eventually explodes into homicidal rage" and Jack Black's "weary and ultimately doomed sidekick".