"Ghost in the Machine" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, premiering on the Fox network on October 29, 1993.
The episode featured guest appearances by Wayne Duvall and Rob LaBelle, and saw Jerry Hardin reprise his role as Deep Throat for the first time since the character's introduction.
The show centers on FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.
The scenes set at the software company Eurisko were filmed at the Metrotower complex in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, a building used by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
In the Crystal City, Virginia, headquarters of the software company Eurisko, founder Brad Wilczek and chief executive officer Benjamin Drake argue about downsizing measures.
After Wilczek leaves, Drake writes a memo proposing to shut down the Central Operating System (COS), a computer which runs the Eurisko Building.
FBI Agent Jerry Lamana, Fox Mulder's former partner in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, approaches him and Dana Scully for help in investigating Drake's murder.
Scully initially doubts Wilczek's involvement but finds that his voice matches a speaking clock Drake received before his death; Lamana sets out to arrest him.
When Mulder asks if the COS survived, Deep Throat assures him the virus left no trace of the program and that scientists from the Defense Department examined the machine to no success.
[1][2] The scenes set at Eurisko were filmed in the Metrotower complex in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, a building used by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
From the very beginning of this episode, it's clear that the machine is behind the murders, which makes the scenes where Mulder and Scully are interrogating the computer's creator rather pointless."
[13] Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, reviewed the episode negatively, feeling that the plot was "formulaic", and that it "simply [has] not stood the test of time".
[9] However, Haigh felt that Deep Throat's appearance was a highlight of the episode, and praised Mark Snow's score as "extremely atmospheric".