Later that day, Mulder pays Rob an unexpected visit at home. Apparently not noticing blood dripping out of a garbage bag in the kitchen, the agent comments on the neatness of the apartment. There's a bit of blood on Rob's lip; amid the tension, he's bitten himself.
Mulder leaves, cheerfully commenting he has a "pretty good idea" as to the murderer's identity. Rob goes to throw out the bloody garbage and is briefly distressed to see what he thinks is Mulder sitting in a car watching him. But it turns out be someone else, an unfriendly stranger who tells Rob to "get lost."
On his answering machine, Rob receives a message from a mental-health professional, who tells him a counseling session is mandatory for Lucky Boy employees, due to the recent stressful events.
Rob begins to act strangely. He removes a set of false teeth. Although he's a slim man, he pops a stick of "slim-chew" gum into his mouth and puts on a weight-loss videotape. A speaker asserts "You are your own man...."
More than a weight loss plan
But losing weight, it soon becomes clear, is not the real issue. Rob walks out to the street, where the unfriendly man is still parked. Baring a set of inhumanly sharp teeth, the Lucky Boy employee moves in for the attack....
...only to be rudely awakened in bed by a boot on his chest. It's Derwood, an ex-con who has picked the lock to Rob's apartment because, as he puts it, the "red-haired" FBI agent considers him prime suspect in the murder even though he knows Rob is the guilty party.
Derwood grabs Rob's diet-pill bottle, which has an incriminating blood splotch. Rob asks what he wants, and Derwood lists Rob's TV, VCR and whatever money he's saved from his low-paying job. It's blackmail.
Later in the street, Mulder approaches the hapless Rob. The agent asks if Rob's seen Derwood, but then adds that he doesn't think the prime suspect is guilty -- rather, it was someone with a "compulsion to kill."
Rob's counselor, a tall blonde woman with a gentle manner, encourages him to "blurt out" anything he wants to talk about. His stomach growls loudly and he looks longingly at her forehead. He asks "This murder -- what kind of monster would do something like that?"
Everybody wants to be good
She replies with the compassionate rationalism of a mental-health professional: "I don't believe in monsters. I believe in people. Sometimes they do things out of illness or weakness or fear. But I do believe that deep down everybody wants to be good."
Then she gets a call from Mulder, who apparently wants her to disclose confidential information about her patients. She refuses, but Rob still looks discomfited as he beats a discomfited retreat.
At work, he stares at the hamburger patties and briefly sees them take the shape of brains. Derwood walks in, announces he's been fired and reveals he used to dip parts of his body into the cole slaw when no one was looking. He nudges Rob and reminds him he expects a blackmail payment soon.
However, Rob sneaks into Derwood's empty apartment instead, finding the stolen pill bottle only to drop it and hide as he hears Derwood coming in. Derwood sees the bottle on the floor and grabs a baseball bat. He searches the apartment, calling out menacingly to Rob.
Rob, in the closet, pulls out his eyeballs and undergoes some kind of transformation. When Derwood finds him, he's a bald, sharp-toothed monster with no ears. Derwood drops the bat and backs away.
Rob's mouth opens and out shoots a long monster tongue -- the hideous "proboscis" -- which slams into Derwood's forehead. The blackmailer falls to the floor.
Even Peter Jennings gets the blues
Afterward, looking human again, Rob goes to see the counselor to tell her of his "compulsions to eat."
She tells him his binging reflects low self-esteem and asks him to look in a mirror and feel good about himself. She says self-doubt can strike even someone as handsome as "Peter Jennings."
Sadly, even while she's referring him to Overeaters Anonymous, Rob's ear falls off. He retrieves it when she's not looking.
Back at his building, Rob stomach is growling like an angry beast. His neighbor, a plump woman, named Sylvia sees him in the hallway and mentions his FBI "friend" is here.
Mulder and Scully approach Rob. Mulder again mentions Derwood, who's disappeared, but then says, "We're looking for some kind of freak, a carnivorous monster." Rob tries to laugh this off, says they're playing "good cop and insane cop."
He asks why they're telling him all this anyway, and Mulder, as he leaves, says, "I think you know why." Rob looks at the piece of paper he got from the counselor: "Overeaters Anonymous."
The love of meat
Rob attends a meeting of the self-help group, his stomach growling. He runs into his neighbor Sylvia, also an attendee. She encourages him to speak and he does, going to the platform and expounding lustily upon his love of meat -- its taste, its texture.
The audience empathizes with Rob's speech but is a little puzzled when he hesitates toward the end -- distracted by an audience member's bald head, which he visualizes as containing a succulent brain.
Back at the building again, he chats with Sylvia in the hallway. She goes into her apartment and Rob turns to leave -- but his stomach growls monstrously. He knocks on her door, removing his false teeth.
Rob smashes his own apartment, hoping to blame Derwood for the murders as well as blackmail. Mulder and Scully arrive with the cops. Mulder seems suspicious, says "Don't worry, Rob. It won't be long now" before the killer is caught.
Rob pays the counselor another visit, huffing that he has quit his job and therefore is no longer obligated to receive counseling as a Lucky Boy employee. She says he's feeling guilty and then asks "You killed that man, didn't you?"
(She is presumably referring to the first killing, but who knows at this point?)
Sirens converge in the street. Rob tells the counselor she doesn't know what she's talking about. To underscore his point, he pulls off his fake hair, ears, eyes and teeth, revealing his true appearance.
Baring his razor-sharp teeth, he places his hand around her throat. But she says compassionately, "You poor man. What you must go through."
Mulder and Scully burst in. Scully eyes the freak and says, "Oh my God." The counselor tells them to stay away, "don't hurt him." She appeals to Rob to be the "good person" she knows he wants to be.
But Rob chooses otherwise. He lunges at Mulder, who pumps a few bullets into him.
The counselor looks sad. "Why," she asks as Rob lies on the floor, apparently dying.
"I can't be something I'm not," Rob rasps. He closes his eyes.
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