A speech in the episode was based on dialogue from 1949's The Third Man, starring Orson Welles.
The writers decided to kill off agent Pendrell in this episode. Actor Brendan Beiser portrayed the character in eight other episodes, first appearing in the third season episode "Nisei".[4] Val Steffof, the assistant director of the filming crew, wanted a part, telling director Kim Manners "you know, I can act"; this led to Steffof being cast as a bartender.[5] The song "Unmarked Helicopters" by Soul Coughing can be heard playing in Max Fenig's trailer; the song also appeared on the 1996 compilation album Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files.[6]
The very first scene was shot in a small tank across the street from North Shore Studios in Vancouver. Wide-angle lenses were used to film the scene as the actors did not actually have much room for swimming. This made it look like the actors are actually covering some ground, while in reality they only swam 10 to 12 feet (3.0 to 3.7 m). On the set of the following scene in which Fox Mulder reaches the shore, it was raining and very cold. Manners commented that the acting crew was more tired than usual because of it—during filming, Duchovny struggled to run from the actors playing his pursuers, but had previously able to run from two horses when filming the episode "Tunguska".[5]
It took several days to film the alien abduction scene. Internal shots of the airplane's cockpit were filmed in a real flight simulator, separate from the airplane set used for the rest of the interior shots. The exterior scenes were filmed at Vancouver International Airport.[5] Executive producer John Shiban was asked to write a speech for Garrett in the scene in which Mulder encounters him on the airplane. Inspired by a speech given by Orson Welles in The Third Man, Shiban wrote the monlogue as an homage to the film.[7] The scenes of the airplane's final airborne moments included eighty extras who Manners felt were "eighty of the best extras I've ever worked with in my life".[8] Several extras were as young as four years old, leading series creator Chris Carter to note that the scene would benefit from showing younger children, though these were represented by dolls as a safety precaution.[6]
The beam of light seen shining from beneath the UFO in the episode was achieved by compositing several shots together, with elements including a crane carrying a spotlight—borrowed from the Canadian Coast Guard[6]—and the spray from an aerosol combined to create the final shot.[9]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Max" premiered on the Fox network on March 23, 1997, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on January 21, 1998.[10] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.6 with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[11] A total of 18.34 million viewers watched this episode during its original airing.[11]
The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Todd VanDerWerff, writing for The A.V. Club, rated "Max" an A−. VanDerWerff was unconvinced that the episode, along with "Tempus Fugit", merited being stretched over two parts; however, he felt that the character of Fenig was "a simultaneous paean to the many, many lives lost in this fictional war and a very real story about someone who could very well live on the edges of our society, driven mad by visions that are only real to himself, visions the rest of us would immediately disregard as unbelievable and surreal".[12] Paula Vitaris, writing for Cinefantastique, rated "Max" one-and-a-half stars out of four. Vitaris praised the episode's visual effects; however, she felt that the two parts of the story would have better served as "a taut one-hour episode". Vitaris also felt that the episode's final act, featuring Mulder on an airplane, saw Mulder uncharacteristically putting civilians at risk and was an example of "out and out bad writing".[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five, describing it as "tighty, satisfying, witty and touching". Shearman noted that the second half of two-part episodes in the series tended to "drop the ball", but felt that the story arc of "Tempus Fugit" and "Max" was "very solid", calling them "the most satisfying "event" multiparter that The X-Files has ever done".[14]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 187–196
2.Jump up ^ Lovece, pp. 68–70
3.Jump up ^ Meisler, pp. 177–184
4.Jump up ^ Lowry, pp. 122–131
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Kim Manners. Audio Commentary for "Max" (DVD). The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 – Black Oil: Fox Home Entertainment.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler, pp. 196–197
7.Jump up ^ John Shiban. Threads of the Mythology: Black Oil (DVD). The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 – Black Oil: Fox Home Entertainment.
8.Jump up ^ Edwards, p. 211
9.Jump up ^ Paul Rabwin. Special Effects with Commentary: Max (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season: Fox Home Entertainment.
10.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
12.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (February 5, 2011). ""Max"/"Lamentation" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Returning from Space, Glen Morgan and James Wong re-join the X-Files". Cinefantastique 29 (4–5): 58.
14.Jump up ^ Shearman and Pearson, p. 98
ReferencesEdwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316218081.
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806.
Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 080651745X.
Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053538.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Max" at the Internet Movie Database
"Max" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
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Synchrony (The X-Files)
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"Synchrony"
The X-Files episode
Synchronyxfiles.jpg
The first of the discovered frozen bodies, seen when Scully attempts to substantiate the cause of the mysterious death. The effect was created through an elaborate make-up process.
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 19
Directed by
James Charleston
Written by
Howard Gordon
David Greenwalt
Production code
4X19[1]
Original air date
April 13, 1997
Running time
44 minutes[2]
Guest actors
Jed Rees as Lucas Menand
Joseph Fuqua as Jason Nichols
Susan Lee Hoffman as Lisa Ianelli
Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Yonechi
Jonathan Walker as Chuck Lukerman
Brent Chapman as Security Cop
Eric Buermeyer as The Bus Driver
Patricia Idlette as The Desk Clerk
Austin Basile as Bellman
Alison Matthews as The Doctor
Michael Fairman as Older Jason Nichols[3]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Max" Next →
"Small Potatoes"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Synchrony" is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Howard Gordon and David Greenwalt and directed by James Charleston. The episode aired in the United States on April 13, 1997 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Synchrony" earned a Nielsen rating rating of 11.3, being watched by 18.09 million people upon its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.
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. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a murder for which the suspect presents an incredible alibi — that the death was foretold by an old man able to see into the future. Upon investigating the case, the duo discover an increasingly bizarre series of events that leads Mulder to believe time travel is involved.
Gordon and Greenwalt wrote the episode after being inspired by an article in Scientific American about time travel and quantum physics. The idea of a scientist trying to stop the invention of something terrible was inspired by Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who complained to Harry S. Truman about the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Development
3 Reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
MIT cryogenics researchers Jason Nichols (Joseph Fuqua) and Lucas Menand (Jed Rees) become embroiled in an argument as they walk down a city street. They are approached by an old man (Michael Fairman), who warns Menand that he will be run over by a bus at 11:46 pm that evening. After the man is arrested by campus security, his prophecy is proven true when Menand is run over by a bus and killed.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the case, learning that Jason was taken into custody after the bus driver told police that he pushed Menand into the path of his vehicle. However, Jason tells authorities that he was trying to save Menand. The security guard who arrested the old man is found frozen to death after exposure to a chemical refrigerant. Mulder interviews Jason, who explains Menand threatened to go public with a claim that Jason had falsified data on a research paper.
The old man kills Dr. Yonechi (Hiro Kanagawa), a Japanese researcher, by pricking him with a metallic stylus, introducing an unknown chemical into his body. The agents approach Nichols' girlfriend and colleague, Lisa Ianelli (Susan Lee Hoffman), who recognizes the chemical compound as a rapid freezing agent that Jason had been engineering for years. However, she claims that the compound has not yet been invented and that if Yonechi was injected with the chemical, he may not be dead. With Lisa's help, Scully and a team of medical personnel successfully resuscitate Yonechi, only for his body temperature to rapidly increase until he bursts into flames. Police receive a tip that the old man is living at a nearby hotel. Inside the old man's room, the agents discover a faded color photograph picturing Jason, Yonechi and Lisa toasting champagne glasses in the cryology lab. Mulder realizes from the picture that the old man is a time traveller who is attempting to alter that future, and that he is none other than Jason Nichols.
Lisa locates the elderly man and confronts him, however he injects her with the chemical. Scully successfully resuscitates Lisa. Jason confronts his elderly self in the computer mainframe room at the cryogenic lab, where the old man has erased all of Jason's files from the computer. The old man tells Jason that the success of their research made time travel possible, but also plunging the world into chaos. Jason lunges at the old man, choking him. Wrapping his arms around his younger self, the old man bursts into flames, and the fire consumes them both. Later, Lisa sets to work at cryonics lab, attempting to reconstruct the chemical compound.[3]
Development[edit]
The concept of the episode originated from David Greenwalt and Howard Gordon's (pictured) idea to write an episode about time travel.
After Howard Gordon and Chris Carter finished their work on "Unrequited", Carter introduced Gordon to David Greenwalt, who had been added to The X-Files producers, and asked the duo to create a script for an upcoming episode. Gordon and Greenwalt got together in Simi Valley and had difficulties in creating a good plot; the one they initially worked with the most, involving a prisoner that gets free by changing his body with another man, was eventually discarded as Gordon felt it was too similar to other episodes written by him. Eventually the duo saw an article in Scientific American about time travel and decided to work with that, following the magazine's reports that while old physics do not allow for temporal displacement to happen, quantum physics said it was possible.[4]
Gordon decided that to make "time travel in an X-Files way", the best way was with "a guy that turns out to be you".[5] He therefore added the plot about a regretful scientist trying to stop developments from ever occurring. The scientist's character was inspired by a story Gordon heard about Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer berating Harry S. Truman on the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan, and the writer wondered "What if Oppenheimer could go back to the past and 'uninvent' the bomb?".[4] Eventually Gordon and Greenwalt found another philosophical question that becomes Jason's motivation to halt his own research - "Life itself is about the unknown and discovering what is in front of us. But if everyone, or maybe some people, knew what would happen, that would create a new set of horrors, and it would need to be stopped".[4] The script took over a week of writing, with sessions of 15 daily hours and the contributions of John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz and Ken Horton. Gordon was still reworking the teleplay the weekend before shooting began in Vancouver, including the removal of two "useless characters" that included a Stephen Hawking-inspired scientist in a wheelchair.[4] David Duchovny declared that a few scenes were created during production "because no one could know if the audience understood what was happening".[4]
Gordon stated that "In the end, I think it worked, but it's getting there that's really difficult."[5] The experience was hard enough for Gordon to consider giving up and not delivering the script at all, and he eventually swore he would never work with time travel again.[4]
Reception[edit]
"Synchrony" originally aired on the Fox network on April 13, 1997.[1] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.3, with a 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.3 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[6] It was viewed by 18.01 million viewers.[6]
The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode a "B-". Handlen considered that while "'Synchrony' has all the pieces of my favorite kind of episode, [it] doesn't really work as well as it should" due to an emotional detachment that made him not care about the scientists and their story, and his finding Old Jason's actions to be illogical.[7] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave "Synchrony" two out of four stars, considering it a middling episode with some effective moments, but complaining about plot holes, "not particularly compelling" supporting characters, and feeling that time travel "takes away from the reality that is this show's foundation".[8] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two and a half stars out of five, praising the "high concept that is told without pretension".[9] The two also called the episode "solid and watchable" despite flaws such as the underdevelopment of the script and not fully exploring the "concept with such potential" that is time travel.[9]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.Jump up ^ "The X-Files, Season 4". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 198–207
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Meisler, p. 198
5.^ Jump up to: a b Hurwitz, Knowles, p. 113
6.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
7.Jump up ^ Handlen, Zack (February 12, 2011). "'Synchrony'/'Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
8.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 29 (4/5): 35–62.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 99
Bibliography[edit]
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Synchrony" at the Internet Movie Database
"Synchrony" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Categories: 1997 television episodes
Time travel television episodes
The X-Files (season 4) episodes
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Small Potatoes (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
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"Small Potatoes"
The X-Files episode
Small Potatoes.jpg
A baby born with a tail
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 20
Directed by
Cliff Bole
Written by
Vince Gilligan
Production code
4X20
Original air date
April 20, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Darin Morgan as Eddie Van Blundht
Christine Cavanaugh as Amanda Nelligan
Lee de Broux as Eddie's Father
Robert Rozen as Dr. Alton Pugh
Paul McGillion as Angry Husband
Jennifer Sterling as Angry Wife
David Cameron as Deputy
Forbes Angus as Security Guard
Peter Kelamis as Second Husband
Lynn Johnson as Health Department Doctor
Carrie Cain Sparks as Duty Nurse[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Synchrony" Next →
"Zero Sum"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Small Potatoes" is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1997. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Cliff Bole. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Small Potatoes" received a Nielsen rating of 13.0 and was viewed by 20.86 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received positive reviews from critics, with many applauding the entry's humorous tone.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, and the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, a small town is “blessed” by babies being born with tails. Mulder and Scully arrive only to encounter a suspect, Eddie Van Blundht (Darin Morgan), who proves nearly impossible to identify.
"Small Potatoes" was written by Gilligan in an attempt to write a lighthearted episode; he did not want to develop a reputation for only writing dark stories. Gilligan asked former series writer Darin Morgan, who had penned four episodes in the second and third seasons, to play Eddie Van Blundht. In fact, the role was written specifically with Morgan in mind. In the original script, the babies were born with wings instead of tails. The effect was eventually changed to tails, because, according to Gilligan, they were funnier.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the birth of five babies in the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia, who were born with tails. The mother of the most recent baby, Amanda Nelligan, tells the agents that the father of her baby is Luke Skywalker. By researching the baby's chromosomes it is discovered that all five share the same father. The parents of the children blame the local fertility doctor, who had used insemination to impregnate all of the mothers but Nelligan. Mulder spots a janitor nearby with signs that he formerly had a tail. When he runs Mulder chases him and catches him. The janitor, Eddie Van Blundht, is discovered to be the father of all of the children. Scully believes Eddie used a date rape drug although Mulder questions how he could be in the position to give it to the women.
Eddie escapes by transforming his face into that of the booking cop. Mulder and Scully visit his father, who still has his tail and is a former circus performer. Mulder and Scully soon realize that he's Eddie however, and he escapes. Eddie transforms into one of the husbands of the women he slept with. When the real husband comes home, he transforms into Mulder and leaves. Mulder and Scully meanwhile discover the dried up body of Eddie's father in the attic. Performing an autopsy on the body, Scully finds that he has an extra sheet of muscle under his skin, which Mulder believes Eddie also has and can use to change his appearance.
Eddie takes on the appearance of Mulder and visits Nelligan, showing him a photo of Eddie. Nelligan tells him that she went out with him in high school, but views him as a loser. The disappointed Eddie leaves, while the real Mulder shows up soon afterward. Realizing that Eddie just visited Nelligan, Mulder searches for him. He finds the fertility doctor and a security guard nearby and handcuffs them, believing one of them to be Eddie. The real Eddie, hiding in a vent above, gets the jump on Mulder and locks him up. Eddie takes Mulder's form and tells Scully that he feels the case is a waste of time and they should return to Washington.
Eddie returns to Washington as Mulder and, along with Scully, reports to Skinner on the case with a poorly written report. Eddie visits Mulder's office, then his apartment, being surprised at what a loser Mulder appears to be. Eddie visits Scully with a bottle of wine and tries to get her drunk. As they are about to kiss, the real Mulder breaks in and stops them. Revealed, Eddie reverts to his actual form. A month later, Mulder visits Eddie in a prison visitation room. Eddie has been given muscle relaxants to prevent him from turning into someone else. Eddie tells Mulder that he was born a loser, but Mulder is one by choice.[1]
Production[edit]
Vince Gilligan wrote the episode to be intentionally humorous.
Writer Vince Gilligan, who came to The X-Files having written six comedy movies, decided to write a more lighthearted episode; he did not want to develop a reputation for only writing dark stories.[2] Gilligan also wanted to "lighten up" the fourth season, which featured many grim episodes and was the introduction for the dark point involving Scully's cancer.[3] After getting approval from series creator Chris Carter, Gilligan asked former series writer Darin Morgan, who had penned four episodes in the second and third seasons, to play Eddie Van Blundht. In fact, the role was written specifically with Morgan in mind,[2] as Gilligan had seen Morgan acting in a student film he made in Loyola Marymount University and considered him a funny actor.[3]
In the original script, the babies were born with wings instead of tails. While research revealed that such an occurrence was possible, the wings were changed to tails in the final version of the script because they were not considered cute enough. Gilligan later explained that "tails were just funnier", and also that the wings would be harder to add in post-production.[4] The tails were created through computer-generated imagery, with a green mark being painted on the babies' backs as a reference.[3]
The cast and the crew of the show thoroughly enjoyed the episode. David Duchovny was pleased with the script, describing it as "great" one that was fun to do.[4] Vince Gilligan complimented both Duchovny for his comedic performance and Gillian Anderson for acting as the "straight woman".[3]
Reception[edit]
"Small Potatoes" was originally broadcast in the United States on the Fox network on April 20, 1997, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 4, 1998.[5] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 13.0, with a 20 share, meaning that roughly 13.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 20 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[6] It was viewed by 20.86 million viewers.[6]
The episode has received largely positive reviews from television critics. Author Phil Farrand rated the episode as his fourth favorite episode of the first four seasons in his book The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files.[7] Reviewer Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave "Small Potatoes" an A, saying that it "isn’t the very best X-Files episode (though it’s certainly up there), but it’s perhaps the easiest episode to call your “favorite,” the most approachable episode, if you will" and that while Gilligan penned better X-Files installments later, "he’s never written one as effortlessly playful and inventive as this one.[8] VanDerWerff later called the episode one of the "10 must-see episodes" and named it "Gilligan’s finest comedic achievement".[9] John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it a 9 out of 10. He wrote, "Overall, this episode was a wonderful respite from the dark material of the season's character arcs, taking a humorous look at Mulder and his complete lack of a life. Gilligan channels Darin Morgan in many scenes, especially when it comes to making scathing observations about Mulder through the soft stick of humor."[10] Furthermore, he praised Duchovny, saying that his "nuanced performance" was "easily one of his best."[10] Topless Robot named "Small Potatoes" the eighth funniest episode of the series.[11] Starpulse listed it as the eighth best episode of the series.[12] The episode is popular with fans, specifically for the scene where Eddie, who has changed into Mulder, tries to seduce Scully in her apartment.[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five and wrote that "this is what Vince Gilligan has been working towards all season."[14] The two praised Gilligan's writing, applauding his decision to critically examine Mulder rather than merely tell jokes.[14] Furthermore, the two commended the acting of Morgan, calling his casting "apt".[14] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a rave review and awarded it a rare four stars out of four.[15] She described it as a "four course meal of comic riches" and praised the writing style of Giligan, calling him "the believer who writes from inside the characters' heads".
The episode, however, was not without its critics. Tor.com reviewer Meghan Deans was more critical of the episode, writing that it had a "flawed construction that diminishes what should have been one of the series' smartest and most affectionate demonstrations of self-parody".[16] She found the way it attempted to depict Van Blundht as a sympathetic villain and play rape for laughs to be unsettling.[16] However, she did praise the way the episode continued the comedic tradition of making fun of Mulder.[16] Cyriaque Lamar from i09 called Eddie Van Blundht one of "The 10 Most Ridiculous X-Files Monsters".[17] The reviewer, however, did amend his article, writing, "Some readers are concerned that I'm hating on 'Small Potatoes,' which is not the case. That episode was definitely fun, but Eddie impregnated a woman while impersonating Mark Hamill. If that's not a ridiculous monster-of-the-week, I don't know what is."[17]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 209–218
2.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 218–219
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d Vince Gilligan (Writer) (5 November 2002). Small Potatoes: Episode Commentary (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 219
5.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
7.Jump up ^ Farrand, p. 223
8.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (19 February 2011). ""Small Potatoes"/"Broken World"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
9.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (20 July 2012). "10 must-see episodes of The X-Files". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Keegan, John. "Small Potatoes". Critical Myth. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Bricken, Rob (13 October 2009). "The 10 Funniest X-Files Episodes". Topless Robot. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Payne, Andrew (25 July 2008). "'X-Files' 10 Best Episodes". Starpulse. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 113
14.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, p. 100
15.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 29 (4/5): 35–62.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c Deans, Meghan (12 July 2012). "Reopening The X-Files: Small Potatoes". Tor.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
17.^ Jump up to: a b Cyriaque, Lamar (1 June 2011). "The 10 Most Ridiculous X-Files Monsters". i09. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
BibliographyFarrand, Phil (1997). The Nitpicker's Guide for X-Philes. Dell Publishing. ISBN 0-440-50808-8.
Hurwitz, Matt, Chris Knowles (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1-933784-72-5.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Small Potatoes" at the Internet Movie Database
"Small Potatoes" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
Categories: The X-Files (season 4) episodes
1997 television episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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Zero Sum (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Zero Sum"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 21
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Frank Spotnitz
Howard Gordon
Production code
4X21
Original air date
April 27, 1997
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias
Don S. Williams as First Elder
John Moore as Third Elder
Morris Panych as Gray-Haired Man
Nicolle Nattrass as Misty Nagata
Paul McLean as Special Agent Kautz
Fred Keating as Detective Roy Thomas
Allan Gray as Dr. Peter Valdespino
Addison Ridge as Bespectacled Boy
Lisa Stewart as Jane Brody
Barry Greene as E.R. Doctor
Christopher J. Newton as Photo Technician
Oscar Goncalves as Night Attendant
Jason Anthony Griffith as Uniformed Officer
Julia Body as Supervisor
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Small Potatoes" Next →
"Elegy"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Zero Sum" is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on April 27, 1997. It was directed by Kim Manners, and written by Frank Spotnitz and Howard Gordon. "Zero Sum" featured guest appearances by William B. Davis, Laurie Holden and Morris Panych. The episode helped to explore the overarching mythology, or fictional history of The X-Files. "Zero Sum" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.7, being watched by 18.6 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode has received mixed to positive responses from critics.
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. In the episode, a case Mulder is asked to investigate is covertly covered up by the agents' boss Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who has made a sinister bargain with The Smoking Man (Davis).
The decision to center another episode around Skinner—following the third season episode "Avatar"—was made when Gillian Anderson took a week off to shoot the film The Mighty. Rather than have Duchovny carry the additional workload, the writing staff decided to focus the episode on supporting cast members. "Zero Sum" featured the final appearance in the series by Morris Panych. In addition, the episode saw the return of the virus-carrying bees which featured in the season-opener "Herrenvolk" and would later return in the 1998 feature film.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Footnotes
5 External links
Plot[edit]
At a postal routing center in Virginia a woman is killed by a swarm of bees in the bathroom while taking a cigarette break. Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), working for The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), covers up the death by deleting the file on the case from agent Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) computer, cleaning up all the evidence at the scene, burning the woman's body in an incinerator and replacing the police's blood sample for the case by posing as Mulder. As he leaves the police station, Skinner is chased down by Detective Roy Thomas, who believes he is Mulder. Skinner tells him there is nothing on the case warranting his involvement, and leaves.
Shortly after Skinner arrives home he is met by Mulder, who tells him about the case and the fact that someone is going to great lengths to cover it up. Mulder reveals that Detective Thomas was killed, which shocks Skinner. Mulder tells Skinner that Scully is undergoing tests regarding her cancer. Later that night Skinner meets with The Smoking Man, who is accompanied by Thomas' murderer, the Gray Haired Man (Morris Panych). Skinner is angry that Thomas was killed and wants to end their arrangement, which The Smoking Man refuses to allow. Mulder calls Skinner, telling him about the woman's body being burned and the blood evidence being tampered with. Mulder tells Skinner that he does have the gun that Thomas was killed with, which is currently being looked at by ballistics. Skinner searches his drawer and realizes that his gun was missing and is the one that Mulder was telling him about. Skinner, realizing he has been set up, calls The Smoking Man, who confirms that Thomas was killed with Skinner's gun and that by going to the police Skinner would end up implicating himself in the murder. The Smoking Man refuses to provide any details on what he is covering up.
Skinner returns to the routing center where he tears a hole in the bathroom wall and finds a large honeycomb of dead bees. He visits an entomologist to look at one of the bees and is told that Mulder visited him six months ago about a similar subject. Skinner finds Mulder's file on the matter, copying down the contact information for Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden). Mulder tells Skinner that a bank near the police station took a picture of the detective, which shows him with Skinner, but the picture is too obscured for Mulder to identify him. Skinner visits Covarrubias, who does not have any evidence to provide him at this time. The entomologist is killed by a swarm of bees. The next day, Mulder and Skinner look at his body, which is infected with smallpox transmitted by the bees. Skinner visits the co-worker of the postal worker who died, who tells him she was pressured to not say anything about what happened by men who demanded a damaged package. At the photo lab Mulder analyzes the photo, which reveals Skinner's identity.
The Smoking Man meets with the Syndicate, who are responsible for the bees. Soon afterward a swarm of bees attacks a nearby school, and one of the teachers dies as a result. Skinner heads to the hospital, where he is met by Covarrubias. She demands to know what he knows about the matter. He tells her he believes that the bees are being used as a carrier for some sort of experiment. Skinner returns home where he is confronted by Mulder, who now suspects that Skinner has been working against him all this time. Skinner is able to convince Mulder that he would not have forced his own drawer lock open and hence could not have been the murderer. Convinced of Skinner's evidence, Mulder turns in the gun with the serial number filed off so Skinner is not blamed for the murder. That night Skinner confronts The Smoking Man in his apartment, angry that nothing has been done for Scully. The Smoking Man convinces him that Scully will die if he kills him and Skinner leaves without killing him, but not before firing warning shots. Shortly afterwards Covarrubias calls The Smoking Man, who tells her to tell Mulder what he wants to hear while an unknown man is shown behind her listening on another phone.[1]
Production[edit]
"Zero Sum" brought back the virus-carrying bees from "Herrenvolk"; they would also appear in 1998's The X-Files.
Co-writer Frank Spotnitz described the episode as a "fortunate accident". Late in the fourth season of the show Gillian Anderson left the show for a week to film her part in the film The Mighty. The producers, knowing that they would have to write an episode without Dana Scully, decided it was not fair to have David Duchovny carry the same workload as in a normal episode considering her absence. As such, a story was devised in which his involvement would be light. This resulted in the decision to write, for the second year in a row, an episode focused on Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). Howard Gordon, having written the previous Skinner-centric episode, "Avatar" joined Spotnitz and the two wrote the episode over a weekend while another Gordon written episode, "Synchrony" was in production. The writers felt that this was the perfect time to bring in Skinner's deal with The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) to cure Scully's cancer, made in the episode "Memento Mori".[2] Frank Spotnitz said of Skinner's deal, "The hard thing for Skinner was that we had to keep him in the middle. We had him tell Mulder not to bargain with The Smoking Man in order to save Scully's life. And then he himself struck a Faustian bargain with the Cigarette Smoking Man and was in his debt for some kind."[3]
The writing staff felt that "Zero Sum" was a logical place to bring back the bees that were used in the season premiere, "Herrenvolk", feeling it was important to not have something paranormal happen to Skinner in this episode considering that had been done in the previous season.[2] Live bees were used for filming, but showed up poorly in the footage; visual effects technician Laurie Kallsen-George then spent nine days digitally enhancing the footage to improve upon this.[4] The virus-carrying bees would later form a central plot point in the series' 1998 feature film adaptation.[5]
Director Kim Manners noted that the episode "was a really good show for me, because I had not got a chance to work with Mitch. And they wrote a great script, you know? It was really something he could sink his teeth into and he just did a great job. Bill Davis was fabulous in that show too".[2] This was the second episode of the series to not feature Scully, the first being the second season episode "3".[2] Guest actor Morris Panych, portraying the Syndicate assassin The Grey-Haired Man, makes his last appearance in the series in this episode. Panych had previously appeared in "Piper Maru",[6] "Avatar",[7] "Herrenvolk"[8] and "Memento Mori".[9]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Zero Sum" premiered on the Fox network on April 27, 1997, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on February 11, 1998.[10] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.7 with a 17 share, meaning that roughly 11.7 percent of all television-equipped households, and 17 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[11] A total of 18.6 million viewers watched this episode during its original airing.[11]
The episode has received mixed to positive responses from critics. Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club, rated the episode an A, calling it "utterly bad-ass". Handlen felt that the episode effectively toyed with the series' usual narrative structure, making lead character Fox Mulder seem "nearly as much of an antagonist" as The Smoking Man; Handlen also felt that "Zero Sum" gave significant insight into the character of Walter Skinner.[12] Paula Vitaris, writing for Cinefantastique, rated "Zero Sum" one-and-a-half stars out of four, noting that its "pacing and tone are off". Vitaris felt that "Duchovny and Pileggi give good performances", despite Pileggi seeming "unintentionally comic" at times; though she noted that "an episode without Scully feels pretty empty".[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five, noting that "Pileggi looks much more comfortable here than he did in last year's showcase ['Avatar']". Shearman and Pearson felt that the episode's attempts to tie into the wider storylines—the appearance of Marita Covarrubias in particular—are where it "really stumbles"; noting that its success lies "in the shock value of seeing a deliberately familiar story through the fractured view of another character".[14]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Meisler, pp. 221–230
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, pp. 230–231
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 113
4.Jump up ^ Meisler, p. 231
5.Jump up ^ Svetkey, Benjamin (July 10, 1998). "'The X-Files Movie Decoded". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
6.Jump up ^ Lowry, pp. 161–164
7.Jump up ^ Lowry, pp. 201–204
8.Jump up ^ Meisler, pp. 19–25
9.Jump up ^ Meisler, pp. 155–163
10.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
12.Jump up ^ Handlen, Zack (February 26, 2011). ""Zero Sum"/"Maranatha" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Returning from Space, Glen Morgan and James Wong re-join the X-Files". Cinefantastique 29 (4–5): 61.
14.Jump up ^ Shearman and Pearson, pp. 101–102
ReferencesLowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053538.
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Zero Sum" at the Internet Movie Database
"Zero Sum" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
Categories: The X-Files (season 4) episodes
1997 television episodes
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Elegy (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Elegy"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 22
Directed by
James Charleston
Written by
John Shiban
Production code
4X22[1]
Original air date
May 4, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Steven M. Porter as Harold Spuller
Alex Bruhanski as Angelo Pintero
Sydney Lassick as Chuck Forsch
Nancy Fish as Nurse Innes
Daniel Kamin as Detective Hudak
Lorena Gale as The Attorney
Mike Puttonen as Martin Alpert
Christine Willes as Karen Kosseff
Ken Tremblett as Uniformed Officer
Gerry Naim as Sergeant Conneff[2]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Zero Sum" Next →
"Demons"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Elegy" is the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by John Shiban and directed by James Charleston. The episode aired in the United States on May 4, 1997 on the Fox network. It is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Elegy" earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6 and was seen by 17.1 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from televisions critics; the performance of lead actress Gillian Anderson was especially praised.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully track a series of murders that lead to a home for the mentally ill and a clue that makes no sense: each victim has appeared as an apparition in the area where their body was found along with the words "She is me". Furthermore, the episode continues the storyline that concerns Scully's battle with cancer.
Shiban was inspired to write the episode based on an incident that involved his wife's father potentially seeing other beings in a room when he was dying. Shiban was also inspired by the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The series sought out a bowling alley for the opening scenes, but many establishments in Vancouver, Canada were reluctant to yield over two-thirds of their space as well as close down for three days. Eventually, the Thunderbird Bowling Center was chosen.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Angie Pintero (Alex Bruhanski), the owner of a bowling alley, tells one of his employees, a mentally-disturbed, compulsive man named Harold Spuller (Steven M. Porter), to go home for the evening. Shortly thereafter, Angie discovers a badly-injured blond girl wedged inside of the automated pinsetter. The girl attempts to speak, but no words come out of her mouth. Angie notices police in a nearby parking lot and rushes outside to get help. He realizes a crowd has gathered around the dead body of the same girl he saw only moments earlier in the bowling alley. Angie relates his bizarre tale to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Mulder suspects that Angie encountered the dead girl's ghost; three similar encounters, and three similar murders, were reported in the area in as many weeks. The agents discover the words, "She is me" written on the bowling lane where Angie saw the spirit, but its meaning remains a mystery.
Detective Hudak (Daniel Kamin) tells Mulder and Scully that an anonymous caller phoned 911 with a message regarding Penny Timmons, one of the killer's victims. The caller claimed that Timmons' last words were "She is me." Hudak notes, however, that the victim's larynx was severed, making it impossible for her to utter dying words. The agents trace the source of the 911 call to a payphone at the New Horizon Psychiatric Center. Mulder notices one of the patients, Harold Spuller, avoiding his gaze. After viewing photographs of the murder victims, Scully comes to the conclusion that Spuller fits the killer's profile: a compulsive person consumed with the desire to organize, clean and reorder. Scully uses a rest room to attend to a nose bleed. There she encounters the spirit of another blond girl. Moments later, Mulder tells her that the body of yet another victim was found nearby.
Later, Mulder discovers Harold in a room accessible from the bowling alley. The walls of the room are covered with score sheets, including those of the victims. Mulder realizes that Harold met each of the murdered women at the bowling alley. Suddenly, Harold lapses into a strange seizure. From his point of view, he sees Angie's ghost standing behind Mulder. He rushes out of the room and makes his way to the bowling alley, where Angie lies dead, the victim of a heart attack. Mulder tells Scully that every person who saw the apparitions was about to die, implying that Harold may be next. Scully, who also saw a victim's ghost, is struck by the implication.
Harold is transported back to the psychiatric center where he is tormented by Nurse Innes (Nancy Fish). Later, Mulder finds Innes lying on the floor, half-conscious. Innes claims Harold went berserk and attacked her. One of the other patients, Chuck Forsch, tells Scully that Nurse Innes was trying to poison Harold. Scully slowly realizes that Innes, not Harold, was responsible for the murders. When Innes attacks Scully with a scalpel, Scully draws her weapon and fires, striking her in the shoulder. While summarizing the case with Mulder, Scully explains that Innes had been ingesting Harold's medication, triggering violent and unpredictable behavior. Scully hypothesizes that Innes committed the murders in order to destroy the love Harold felt towards the young women. Later, Harold's body is discovered in a nearby alley, the apparent victim of respiratory failure. Scully, however, suspects that Harold died from what Innes took away from him. Scully admits to Mulder that she saw the ghost of the fourth victim shortly after she was murdered. Later, Scully sees Harold's spirit sitting in the back seat of her car.[2]
Production[edit]
Several bowling alleys were scouted for the episode (Alley in San Antonio, Texas pictured).
"Elegy" was written by John Shiban and directed by James Charleston.[1] The episode was inspired by an event that happened when Shiban and his future wife were visiting her father in the hospital. According to Shiban, he was very near death and kept looking around the room, even though there were only two visitors with him. Eventually, he asked his daughter how many people were in the room. When his daughter revealed that there were only two people with him, he kept looking around the room. Shiban was inspired by the idea that "a dying person might be able to look through the cracks […] into the next world".[3] He developed a premise revolving around a "haunted bowling alley" because "it just seemed right".[3]
The character of Harold Spuller was inspired by Shiban's enjoyment of the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In fact, Spuller's friend Chuck Forsch is played by Sydney Lassick, who appeared in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as one of Jack Nicholson's fellow patients. Steven M. Porter, who portrayed Spuller, was invited to audition for the show by writer Frank Spotnitz. According to Porter, after the audition he felt that he had "either made a great impression or a complete fool of myself". Many of the gestures that Porter used in the episode were inspired by his appearance in a play called Asylum.[3]
The series sought out a bowling alley for the opening scenes, but many were reluctant to yield over two-thirds of their space as well as close down for three days.[4] Eventually, the Thunderbird Bowling Center was chosen. The series was allowed to film at the location under the condition that the bowling surfaces were preserved. Due to this, the production staff was forced to either wear bowling shoes or wear makeshift "paper booties" on their feet. In between camera set ups, Duchovny and director Charleston bowled several games. Duchovny later joked that after the episode, he "realized how old" he was because he felt sore from all the bowling. He joked, "when you get sore from bowling, it's time to start thinking about your life and where it's going."[3]
Reception[edit]
"Elegy" premiered on the Fox network on May 4, 1997.[1] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 10.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. "Elegy" was seen by 17.1 million viewers on first broadcast.[5]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five and called it "terrific".[6] They applauded Shiban's script, noting that it focused on "greater attention to the relationship between Mulder and Scully", rather than the X-File itself.[6] The two called the shot where Scully sees the apparition in the bathroom "one of the most chilling things the series has offered this year", and noted that the part with Scully conferring with her counselor "is the highlight of the season".[6] Paula Vitaris, writing for Cinefantastique, rated "Elegy" three stars out of four, writing that the X-File part of the episode "falls apart by the end" but that the installment is saved by "the emotional impact of Scully".[7] Vitaris praised the acting of the cast, and especially lauded Anderson's performance, noting that she conveyed "the shock and confusion at witnessing the frightening sight of the ghostly girl with a cut throat".[7]
Not all reviews were as positive. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B–" and called it "alternately deeply moving and really, really stupid".[8] His main criticism of the episode was the it portrayed mental illness in a manner that was "offensive at worst and just plain idiotic at best".[8] Furthermore, he derided the "magical mentally handicapped person" trope as "cringe-worthy" and cliche.[8] VanDerWerff, however, wrote that the episode was saved largely due to the "beautiful little scenes that let you see the weight of everything Scully's been carrying around her".[8]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–97.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 232–242
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, pp. 242–243
4.Jump up ^ Gradnitzer and Pittson, pp. 147–148
5.Jump up ^ Meisler, p. 298
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, pp. 102–103
7.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 29 (4/5): 35–62.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c d VanDerWerff, Todd (March 5, 2011). "'Elegy'/'Paper Dove' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
Bibliography[edit]
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Elegy" at the Internet Movie Database
"Elegy" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
Categories: The X-Files (season 4) episodes
1997 television episodes
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Demons (The X-Files)
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Jump to: navigation, search
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"Demons"
The X-Files episode
Demons TXF.jpg
The Smoking Man with Samantha Mulder in a flashback. The sequence's colors were manipulated during film development; the film's negatives were filtered with strobe lights.
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 23
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
R. W. Goodwin
Production code
4X23
Original air date
May 11, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Jay Acovone as Detective Joe Curtis
Mike Nussbaum as Dr. Charles Goldstein
Chris Owens as Cigarette Smoking Man
Rebecca Toolan as Teena Mulder
Andrew Johnston as Medical Examiner
Terry Jang Barclay as Officer Imhof
Vanessa Morley as Samantha Mulder
Eric Breker as Admitting Officer
Rebecca Harker as Housekeeper
Shelley Adam as Young Teena Mulder
Dean Aylesworth as Young Bill Mulder
Alex Haythorne as Young Fox Mulder[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Elegy" Next →
"Gethsemane"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Demons" is the twenty-third episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997 and in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 25, 1998. It was written by R. W. Goodwin and directed by Kim Manners. The episode helps explore the series' overarching mythology. "Demons" received a Nielsen rating of 11.8, being watched by 19.1 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics, with many complementing the episode's look in Mulder's mind.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder wakes up in a hotel with blood all over him and no memory what happened. Mulder and Scully soon discover that Mulder was involved in a double homicide and may have been the killer. It is soon revealed that Mulder had been seeing a doctor who had allowed him to view glimpses of his past memories. After evidence becomes paramount, Mulder is cleared of the murder charges.
The episode was written by R. W. Goodwin, an executive producer and director for the show. This marked the second instance where a member of the production crew wrote an episode, after the third season entry "Wetwired", written by Mat Beck. The episode was influenced by An Anthropologist on Mars, a series of essays by Oliver Sacks, in particular The Landscape of Dreams featuring a man who could recall every detail of his childhood. During the flashback sequences in the episode, various effects were created by manipulating the camera and its film.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) mind flashes back to being in the attic with his sister Samantha while their parents are arguing downstairs. Back in the present, Mulder awakens in a hotel room in Providence, Rhode Island, covered in blood. Mulder calls Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who arrives, finding him in shock. Mulder has a pounding headache and has no memory of what he has done in the past two days. Scully finds that two bullets have been fired from Mulder's gun and that he has keys belonging to a David and Amy Cassandra. Scully wants Mulder to check into a hospital, but he wants to find out if he was involved in a crime before doing so. The agents arrive at the Cassandra's house where the housekeeper tells them they are not at home. Mulder recognizes a house in many of Cassandra's paintings: a house that is near his parent's summer home in Rhode Island. When they arrive there, Mulder has striking pains in his head and flashes back again to when he was a child, seeing a younger version of The Smoking Man (Chris Owens) in his home. The agents enter the home, where they find the Cassandras dead from gunshot wounds.
The agents call the police, who take Mulder with them due to the circumstantial evidence against him. Scully performs an autopsy on Amy Cassandra, finding a scab on her forehead. The detective in charge of the case tells Mulder that they have found David and Amy's blood on his shirt. Mulder refuses to confess to the murders, not remembering anything. Scully arrives, saying she found in Amy's blood traces of ketamine, an anesthesic substance that has hallucinogenic properties. The substance was also detected in Mulder's blood as well. Meanwhile, one of the officers at the station kills himself; he has similar symptoms to that of the Cassandras. Mulder suffers a seizure and flashes back to his childhood again, witnessing his parents arguing with The Smoking Man. Scully sees Mulder the next day, telling him that she believes that the Cassandras killed themselves after receiving psychiatric treatment and that Mulder was visiting them about their alien abduction experiences.
The agents visit Dr. Goldstein, who was treating Amy with an aggressive method to help her recover her abduction memories. Goldstein also treated the police officer, but says he has not met Mulder before. Mulder has another painful flashback of The Smoking Man arguing with his mother, Teena Mulder. Mulder declines Scully's request that he go to the hospital and goes to visit his mother, demanding she explain what really happened when they had to make a choice between him and Samantha. Mulder believes that The Smoking Man forced them to take Samantha. Mulder also questions who his father really is. Mulder's mother gets upset and refuses to provide him answers. Later Mulder visits Goldstein, and convinces him to again treat him so he will remember what really happened. Mulder has further visions of the past. Scully and the police arrive soon after to arrest Goldstein but find Mulder gone. Scully finds him at the family's summer home in Rhode Island and is able to calm him down. While Mulder is cleared in the deaths of the Cassandras, what truly happened when he was a child remains a mystery.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
The episode was written by R. W. Goodwin, an executive producer and director for the show. This was the second instance where a member of the production crew wrote an episode, the first being Mat Beck's "Wetwired". Goodwin was inspired to write the episode after reading An Anthropologist on Mars, a series of essays by Oliver Sacks, in particular The Landscape of Dreams featuring a man who could recall every detail of his childhood. Goodwin came up with the idea of having Fox Mulder waking up in a strange place with no idea how he got there. After receiving approval from series creator Chris Carter, Goodwin spent approximately six weeks writing the episode.[2]
The episode helped to elaborate the backstory of The Smoking Man, the series' chief antagonist. William B. Davis, the actor who played the character, later noted, "As the story developed, we developed a relationship between Cigarette-Smoking Man and Mulder's apparent father, and Cigarette-Smoking Man and Mulder's mother; then we started backfilling with an [sic] historical connection."[3] Carter explained that the episode was the start of the series' greater conspiracy: "It's an interesting development because it really was the development of the conspiracy. The elements of the conspiracy were part of his development. But [The Smoking Man's] back story, of course, intertwined with Mulder's."[3] Actor Chris Owens reprised his role as The Smoking Man; he had previously played him in the season's earlier episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man".[4]
The crux of the episode relied on the idea that Geschwind syndrome—the ability to recall every memory of one's younger life—could be incurred via a combination of technology and drugs, a situation that is certainly not supported by modern medicine. Goodwin, however, himself admitted that this was completely a creative license he took with the disorder. In addition, he also based a majority of Dr. Goldstein's equipment on various New Age equipment, including a "brain stimulator".[2]
Filming[edit]
The home where the Cassandras were murdered was filmed at a farmhouse in South Surrey, near locations used for filming the episodes "Home" and "Tunguska". The farmhouse was rented and refurbished by the show's art department, although this restoration was only used for pre-production photographs and the farmhouse was returned to its original state for the actual filming. The paintings of the house were created with Adobe Photoshop and Fractal Painter.[2]
During the flashback sequences in the episode, various effects were created by manipulating the camera and its film. The camera's shuttering mechanism was "continuously stopped and started" to give the scene a "out-of-time" feel.[5] A majority of the effects were created in post-production.The entire sequence's colors were manipulated during film development; the film's negatives were filtered with strobe lights. Furthermore, the scene's dialogue was mixed with background noise and then filtered by Paul Rabwin.[5]
Reception[edit]
"Demons" was originally broadcast in the United States on the Fox network on May 11, 1997, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 25, 1998.[6] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.8, with a 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.8 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[7] It was viewed by 19.10 million viewers.[7]
Critical response to the episode was mostly positive. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club wrote highly of the episode and awarded it an A–. Handlen praised the episode's exploration of Mulder's mind, noting that the entry allowed the audience to see Mulder's views of the world. He argued that "Mulder's desperate need to understand what happened to his sister […] drives him to expect betrayal, because at least with betrayal, the world makes some kind of sense."[8] He did write, however, that he was "a little disappointed at how "Demons" doesn't really hold up in retrospect from a story perspective," but noted that "what does work here is great."[8] John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode an 8 out of 10 and wrote, "Overall, this episode continued to strip away, in methodical fashion, Mulder’s psychological support system. […] While there are some plot contrivances that are troubling, the episode as a whole comes together very well."[9] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it three-and-a-half stars out of four.[10] She wrote that "Demons" works "as a character study of Mulder" and praised the episode's "hyper-realistic flashback" sequences.[10] Vitaris, while calling the structure of the story "not particularly imaginative", wrote that "Mulder's condition is intriguing".[10] Not all reviews were positive. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode one-a-half stars out of five, calling it "the wrong episode at the wrong time."[11] The two argued that the attention given to Mulder's potential "aneurysm" are oddly juxtaposed next to Scully's real, life-threatening brain cancer. However, they did call the flashback sequences "masterpieces of editing", but noted that their contents "lack[ed] information".[11]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 245–256
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler, p. 256
3.^ Jump up to: a b Hurwitz and Knowles, pp. 113–114
4.Jump up ^ Meilser, p. 74
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 257
6.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–1997.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
8.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (12 March 2011). "'Demons'/'Gethsemane'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Demons". Critical Myth. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 29 (4/5): 35–62.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 103
BibliographyHurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Demons" at TheXFiles.com
"Demons" at the Internet Movie Database
"Demons" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
Categories: The X-Files (season 4) episodes
1997 television episodes
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Gethsemane (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
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"Gethsemane"
The X-Files episode
BelieveTheLieGeth.jpg
Michael Kritschgau convinces Fox Mulder that aliens are a cover-story created by the United States government.
Episode no.
Season 4
Episode 24
Directed by
R. W. Goodwin
Written by
Chris Carter
Production code
4X24
Original air date
May 18, 1997
Guest actors
Charles Cioffi as Scott Blevins
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully
Matthew Walker as Arlinsky
James Sutorius as Babcock
John Finn as Michael Kritschgau
Steve Makaj as Scott Ostelhoff
John Oliver as Rolston
Nancy Kerr as Agent Hedin
Barry W. Levy as Vitagliano
Arnie Walters as Father McCue
Rob Freeman as Detective Rempulski
Craig Brunanski as Saw Operator[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Demons" Next →
"Redux"
List of season 4 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Gethsemane" is the twenty-fourth and final episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on May 18, 1997. It was directed by R.W. Goodwin, and written by series creator Chris Carter. "Gethsemane" featured guest appearances by Charles Cioffi, Sheila Larken and Pat Skipper, and introduced John Finn as recurring character Michael Kritschgau. The episode helped to explore the overarching mythology, or fictional history of The X-Files. "Gethsemane" earned a Nielsen household rating of 13.2, being watched by 19.85 million people in its initial broadcast.
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. In the episode, Mulder is shown evidence of alien life which may actually be part of a huge government hoax designed to deflect attention from secret military programs. Meanwhile, Scully struggles with her cancer in the face of hostility from her brother, who believes she should no longer be working.
"Gethsemane" was filmed on one of the series' most elaborate and costly sets, replicating an icy mountaintop inside a refrigerated building using real snow and ice. Shooting for exterior scenes took place on Vancouver's Mount Seymour, occurring just a week before Duchovny's wedding. The episode, which has been described by Carter as pondering "the existence of God", has received mixed responses from critics, with its cliffhanger ending frequently being cited as its main failing.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Footnotes
5 External links
Plot[edit]
The episode opens in medias res to police investigating a dead body in the apartment of FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) confirms the unseen body's identity and leaves. She subsequently appears before an FBI panel led by Section Chief Scott Blevins (Charles Cioffi), reviewing her work with Mulder on the X-Files.
In Canada's St. Elias Mountains, a frozen extraterrestrial body is discovered by an expedition team. Professor Arlinsky, the team's leader, sends ice core samples containing presumably alien DNA to Mulder. Scully has the samples tested and confirms the DNA's non-terrestrial origin, but is attacked by a man who steals the samples. Scully learns that her attacker is Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), a Defense Department employee. When she tracks down Kritschgau and holds him at gunpoint, he reveals that he might be killed.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Arlinsky return to the mountains, but finds that most of the expedition members have been shot dead. The sole survivor is a man named Babcock, who reveals that he has saved the alien corpse from theft by burying it. Together, the three men bring the corpse to the United States. There, Mulder and Arlinsky perform an autopsy on the corpse, believing it belongs to a genuine extraterrestrial. After Mulder leaves to meet with Scully, a mysterious assassin, Scott Ostelhoff, arrives and kills Arlinksy.
Scully introduces Mulder to Kritschgau, who claims that everything Mulder thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. He tells him that his sister's abduction was fabricated, that all evidence of alien biology are merely scientific anomalies, and that the alien body he has just examined was fake. Kritschgau claims that the entire alien mythos is a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government as a cover for the activities of the military–industrial complex. Mulder dismisses these claims until Scully tells him Kritschgau told her that she was given cancer to make him believe.
Mulder finds Arlinsky and Babcock dead, with the alien body missing. Mulder, distraught, sits in his apartment watching a conference about extraterrestrial life on television. The narrative returns to the present, where Scully reveals to the panel that Mulder died the previous night of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[1]
Production[edit]
Exterior shots in the episode were filmed on Vancouver's Mount Seymour.
The icy caverns featured in the episode were constructed inside a warehouse which had previously been used for cold storage;[2] and required the use of truckloads of lumber and 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of Styrofoam. The set would become one of the most expensive and elaborate built during the series' history.[3] The set required a constant temperature of −21 °F (−29 °C) in order to maintain the real snow and ice used to decorate it. This refrigeration allowed the actors' breath to visibly fog up, and allowed the cast to "have a place that feels real" to aid their acting.[2]
The outdoor scenes were filmed around Vancouver's Mount Seymour, with weather conditions making shooting difficult enough to require an extra day of work. The episode's production took place just a week before David Duchovny's wedding, with his fiancée Téa Leoni visiting the set during filming.[3] The first cut of the episode was twelve minutes too long, resulting in some of the scenes in the mountains being removed. Series creator Chris Carter re-edited the entire episode two days before it aired.[4]
Carter has described "Gethsemane" as a "big ideas episode", noting that its main concern is debating "the existence of God".[5] The title of the episode is an allusion to the biblical garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. The character Michael Kritschgau was named after a former drama teacher of Gillian Anderson. The tagline for this episode is "Believe the lie", changed from the usual "The truth is out there".[4] This episode marks the first appearance of one of Scully's brothers since a flashback in the season two episode "One Breath". Section Chief Scott Blevins makes his first appearance since the fourth episode of the first season, "Conduit".[4][6]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"As far back as Deep Throat, Mulder was asked why he stubbornly clung to his beliefs to in the wake of so much proof to the contrary, and he answered it was because such proof was never convincing enough. Nor is it here."
—Robert Shearman on the episode's transparency.[7]
"Gethsemane" premiered on the Fox network on May 18, 1997, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 4, 1998.[8] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.7 with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 12.7 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[9] A total of 19.85 million viewers watched this episode during its original airing.[9]
Paula Vitaris, writing for Cinefantastique, rated "Gethsemane" two stars out of four, noting that it "withholds so much information that it barely qualifies as a complete episode". Vitaris felt that the large degree of ambiguity in the episode's script left the actors' performances "curiously neutral", adding that the cast "struggle manfully" with the material.[10] Writing for The A.V. Club, Zack Handlen rated the episode a B+, noting that "everything here has a ring of familiarity to it". Handlen felt that the episode's premise and ending were poorly-executed, as "trying to balance possible truths while maintaining the plausibility of both is incredibly difficult to pull off on a long-running show", adding that the episode "comes down on the only side of the fence it really could" given that " there've been too many scenes of shape-changing bounty hunters and mystical alien healers to really let this idea play out know [sic] in any real way".[11] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five, noting that while it "attempts to do too much", it "has a passion behind it which makes it gripping". Shearman and Pearson felt that the episode's cliffhanger ending, centering on the apparent death of Mulder, was too unbelievable, noting that it would be out of character for him to grow so disillusioned as to take his own life.[7]
The episode created speculation about whether or not Mulder was actually dead. An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed fan theories behind Mulder's madness while a cartoon ran in The New Yorker a few weeks later surrounding Mulder's "death".[4] Series creator Chris Carter noted that "the whole plot line of 'Gethsemane' revolved around a hoax, but there are actually huge revelations in this show. And it's an amazing thing that we could get people to believe that Mulder could actually kill himself because his belief system was stolen from him".[4] UGO Networks listed the episode at number 21 in a countdown of "TV's Best Season Finales", noting that it "rocked the core of the series' entire mythology".[12] Den of Geek's John Moore felt that the episode was "one of the finest season-enders" of the series, noting that it "ended by completely pulling the carpet out from under the fans". Moore listed the character of Michael Kritschgau as the seventh-best villain of the series, adding that he shook "what we knew about the show to its core" by "provid[ing] nourishment to a seed of doubt that had been playing on Mulder's mind for the entire season".[13]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 259–270
2.^ Jump up to: a b Graham Murray & Rob Maier (narrators). Behind the Truth: Ice Cave. The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 270
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Meisler, p. 271
5.Jump up ^ Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Kim Manners, Vince Gilligan, Darin Morgan, John Shiban and Dean Haglund (narrators). The Truth Behind Season Four. The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season.
6.Jump up ^ Daniel Sackheim (director); Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon (writers) (October 1, 1993). "Conduit". The X-Files. Season 1. Episode 4. Fox.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 104
8.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–1997.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 298
10.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Returning from Space, Glen Morgan and James Wong re-join the X-Files". Cinefantastique 29 (4–5): 62.
11.Jump up ^ Handlen, Zack (March 12, 2011). ""Demons"/Gethsemane" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (May 27, 2011). "The X-Files - TV's Best Season Finales". UGO Networks. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Moore, John (July 20, 2008). "The Top 10 X-Files Baddies". Den of Geek. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
ReferencesMeisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Gethsemane" at the Internet Movie Database
"Gethsemane" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 4
"Herrenvolk"·
"Home"·
"Teliko"·
"Unruhe"·
"The Field Where I Died"·
"Sanguinarium"·
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"·
"Tunguska"·
"Terma"·
"Paper Hearts"·
"El Mundo Gira"·
"Leonard Betts"·
"Never Again"·
"Memento Mori"·
"Kaddish"·
"Unrequited"·
"Tempus Fugit"·
"Max"·
"Synchrony"·
"Small Potatoes"·
"Zero Sum"·
"Elegy"·
"Demons"·
"Gethsemane"
Categories: The X-Files (season 4) episodes
1997 television episodes
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The X-Files (season 5)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
The X-Files (season 5)
The X-Files Season 5.jpg
Region 1 DVD cover art
Country of origin
United States
No. of episodes
20
Broadcast
Original channel
Fox
Original run
November 2, 1997 – May 17, 1998
Home video release
DVD release
Region 1
May 14, 2002
Region 2
December 27, 2004
Region 3
November 11, 2002
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 4
Next →
Season 6
List of The X-Files episodes
The fifth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 1997, concluding on the same channel on May 17, 1998, and contained 20 episodes. The season was the last in Vancouver, Canada; subsequent episodes would be shot in Los Angeles, California. In addition, this was the first season of the show where the course of the story was planned in advance, due to the 1998 The X-Files feature film being filmed before it, but schedule to be released after it aired.
The fifth season of the series focused heavily on FBI federal agents Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) loss of faith in the existence of extraterrestrials and his partner, Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson), resurgence of health following her bout with cancer. New characters were also introduced, including agents Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) and Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers) and the psychic Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka). The finale, "The End", led up to both the 1998 film and the sixth season premiere "The Beginning".
Debuting with high viewing figures and ranking as the eleventh most watched television series during the 1997–98 television year in the United States, the season was a success, with figures averaging around 20 million viewers an episode. This made it the year's highest-rated Fox program as well as the highest rated season of The X-Files to air. Critical reception from television critics was generally positive.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot overview
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming
2.3 Crew
3 Reception 3.1 Ratings
3.2 Reviews
3.3 Accolades
4 Cast 4.1 Main cast
4.2 Recurring cast 4.2.1 Also starring
4.2.2 Guest starring
5 Episodes
6 DVD release
7 Notes
8 References 8.1 Footnotes
8.2 Bibliography
9 External links
Plot overview[edit]
See also: Mythology of The X-Files
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 the end of fourth season, Scully is dying of cancer. Mulder is convinced that her condition is a result of her earlier abduction, and is prepared to make a deal with the Syndicate to find a cure. While being pursued by an assassin responsible for a hoax alien corpse discovered on a mountaintop, Mulder fakes his own suicide, mutilating the assassin's face to provide a decoy body.[1] In the fifth season opener "Redux", he uses the distraction this offers to infiltrate The Pentagon to find a cure for Scully's cancer, while Scully is able to uncover and reveal a Syndicate connection within the FBI. Due to the information he learns from Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), Mulder loses his belief in extraterrestrials.[2][3][4]
Later, as a rebel alien race secretly attacks several groups of former alien abductees, the agents meet Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), a woman who claims to be a multiple abductee and wants to deliver a positive message about aliens.[5][6] Eventually, Mulder has Scully put under hypnosis to learn the truth about her abduction after Cassandra goes missing and her son, Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), angrily attempts to push his way up in the FBI. The Syndicate, meanwhile, quicken their tests for the black oil vaccine, sacrificing their own to do so.[7][8] Later, the assassination of a chess grandmaster leads Mulder and Scully into an investigation that they soon discover strikes at the heart of the X-Files; they learn that the real target was a telepathic boy named Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka).[9][10]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
Due to the pending release of The X-Files feature film, this was the first season where the course of the season was planned in advance, as it had to set up for the film.[11] Originally, the season was supposed to be the show's last.[12] In this manner, the finale was originally supposed to have segued the television series into a movie franchise. David Duchovny explained, "we were saying, 'Okay, we're going to do five. We'll get out of here at five.' And then five came around, and no one was going anywhere."[13] The series proved to be so lucrative for Fox that two additional seasons were ordered. Thus, the season was created in a way to segue into the 1998 film, as well as the sixth season premiere, "The Beginning".[14]
Filming[edit]
The season was the last to be filmed in Vancouver, Canada.
Due to the necessity of filming reshoots for the upcoming movie, both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are absent in places throughout the season. For instance, the episodes "Unusual Suspects" and "Travelers"—both of which being flashback episodes—do not feature Anderson's character Dana Scully at all.[15] In fact, the former was written entirely as a stop-gap episode when the show's producers were forced to start production of the fifth season in the last week of August in Vancouver, but still needed series stars Duchovny and Anderson for the filming of The X-Files movie in Los Angeles. The producers decided to create an episode dedicated to The Lone Gunmen, and writing duties were assigned to Vince Gilligan.[16] Other episode, like "Chinga" and "Christmas Carol" feature minimal appearances by Duchovny's character Fox Mulder.
The season's fifth episode, "The Post-Modern Prometheus", written and directed by Carter, was filmed entirely in black-and-white—in homage to James Whale's 1931 film version of Frankenstein.[17] The director of photography, Joel Ransom, had to spend longer than usual lighting each scene because of the grayscale. The stormy skies in the episode, added to emulate the atmosphere of old Frankenstein movies, were a visual effect. Carter also used a wide-angle camera lens throughout the episode, which forced the actors to act directly to the camera, rather than to each other. According to Carter, it also enabled him to give scenes in the episode a more surreal staging than was usual for the show.[18]
This season finale, "The End", was the last episode of the series to be filmed in Vancouver, Canada prior to production moving to Los Angeles, California, although the second film in the franchise, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, released in 2008, was once more filmed in Vancouver. The move was influenced in part by Duchovny, who after five years of filming wanted to be closer to his wife.[13] The audience at the chess match was made up of local fans as a "thank you" to the city for hosting the production during its first five years. The chess match was filmed at Rogers Arena— then known as GM Place—the home of the Vancouver Canucks as well as the Vancouver Grizzlies at the time. While the producers expected five thousand people to show up, twelve thousand appeared.[19] Instructions were given to the crowd by director R. W. Goodwin using giant video screens attached to the scoreboard. During breaks between shooting concession stands, music and videos were made available to the attendees. Actors Duchovny and Anderson also answered questions for the audience and over $20,000 worth of equipment was raffled off. Series creator Chris Carter directed the second unit filming for the episode in order to be with the show's Canadian crew members.[19]
Crew[edit]
Carter served as executive producer and showrunner and wrote seven episodes. Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban were both promoted to co-executive producer and wrote seven and five episodes, respectively. Vince Gilligan was promoted to supervising producer and contributed six scripts. Tim Minear joined the series for his only season on the series as an executive story editor and wrote two episodes. Writing team Billy Brown and Dan Angel joined the series as story editors for this season only and provided the story for one episode. Writing team Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger wrote one freelance episode.[20] Special guest writers for this season included author Stephen King, who co-wrote one episode with creator Chris Carter, and cyberpunk novelists William Gibson and Tom Maddox, who wrote their first of two episodes for the series.[20][21] Other producers included producer Joseph Patrick Finn, producer Paul Rabwin, and co-producer Lori Jo Nemhauser who previously served as post-production supervisor.[20]
Producing-director Kim Manners directed the most episodes of the season, directing seven. Producer Rob Bowman, executive producer R. W. Goodwin, and series creator Chris Carter, each directed two episodes. The rest of the episodes were directed by Brett Dowler, Peter Markle, Daniel Sackheim, Ralph Hemecker, Cliff Bole, William A. Graham and Allen Coulter, who each directed one episode.[20]
Reception[edit]
Ratings[edit]
The fifth season of The X-Files debuted with "Redux I" on November 2, 1997. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 16.1, with a 22 share, meaning that roughly 16.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 22 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[22] The episode was viewed by 27.34 million people, a marked increase from the fourth season's finale, "Gethsemane", which was viewed by 19.85 million viewers.[22][23] "Redux I" also marked a drastic increase from the fourth season debut, "Herrenvolk", which garnered 21.11 million viewers.[23] As the season continued, however, ratings began to drop slightly, stabilizing around approximately 20 million viewers-per-episode.[22][24] The season hit a low with the seventeenth episode, "All Souls", which was viewed by 13.44 million viewers.[22] The season finale, "The End", earned a Nielsen rating of 11.9, with a 18 share, and was viewed by 18.76 viewers,[22] marking a 31.4 percent drop in viewers when compared to the season premiere,[nb 1] and a 5.5 percent drop in viewers when compared to the previous season finale.[nb 2] The season ranked as the eleventh most watched television series during the 1997–98 year, with an average of 19.8 million viewers.[24][25] This made it the highest-rated season of The X-Files to air as well as the highest rated Fox program for the 1997–98 season.[24][25]
Reviews[edit]
Michael Sauter of Entertainment Weekly gave the season an "A–", writing that it "proves the show was—even then—still at its creative peak (if only for another year or so) and full of surprises".[26] He praised the new additions to the series' mythology and concluded that "many stand-alone episodes now look like classics".[26] Francis Dass, writing for the New Straits Times, noted that the season was "very interesting" and possessed "some [...] truly inspiring and hilarious" episode."[27] Not all seasonal reviews were glowing. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique called the season "a mixed bag of episodes".[28]
The episodes themselves received varied responses from critics. Several were culled out as highlights of the series. "The Post-Modern Prometheus" was heralded as a classic by several reviewers[29][30] and was called the finest stand-alone episode produced by the series by another.[31] The episode "Bad Blood" was praised by critics for its mix of horror and comedy. Dass called the episode "an absolute gem" and "the most hilarious X-Files episode I have ever seen."[27] The episode has also appeared on various "Best-Of" lists of The X-Files.[32][33][34] Other episodes fared more worse. "Schizogeny" was derided by critics: The A.V. Club reviewer Todd VanDerWerff noted that the episode "might be the very worst episode of The X-Files"[35] "Chinga", written by Stephen King, was criticized for having a poor story. Vitaris called the entry "a major disappointment" and wrote that it "isn't scary in the least".[36]
Accolades[edit]
The fifth season earned the series a record of sixteen Primetime Emmy Award nominations, the most a single season of The X-Files received. It won two of the awards it was nominated for–Outstanding Art Direction for a Series for "The Post-Modern Prometheus" and Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Series for "Kill Switch". The series received its fourth consecutive nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. David Duchovny received his second consecutive nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, while Gillian Anderson received her third nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, which she won the previous year. Lili Taylor and Veronica Cartwright both received nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. The episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus" received multiple nominations, with the exception of its single win, it was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Chris Carter), Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Chris Carter), Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Joel Ransom), Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Mark Snow), Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Series (Lynne Willingham), and Outstanding Makeup for a Series. Other nominations were for Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Series for "Mind's Eye", and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series for "The Red and the Black".[37] The series also won its third and final Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, while Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny received nominations in the television series drama acting categories.[38]
Cast[edit]
The following actors and actresses appear in the season:[nb 3]
Main cast[edit]
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully (Does not appear in "Unusual Suspects" and "Travelers")
Recurring cast[edit]
Also starring[edit]
Mitch Pileggi as Deputy Director Walter Skinner (8 episodes)
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man (4 episodes)
Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek (3 episodes)
Guest starring[edit]
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike (6 episodes)
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers (5 episodes)
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly (5 episodes)
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender (3 episodes)
John Neville as Well-Manicured Man (3 episodes)
Don S. Williams as First Elder (3 episodes)
John Moore as Third Elder (3 episodes)
Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias (2 episodes)
Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender (2 episodes)
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully (2 episodes)
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully (2 episodes)
John Finn as Michael Kritschgau (2 episodes)
George Murdock as Second Elder (2 episodes)
Charles Cioffi as Scott Blevins (2 episodes)
Mimi Rogers as Diana Fowley (1 episode)
Brian Thompson as Alien Bounty Hunter (1 episode)
Dean Aylesworth as Young Bill Mulder (1 episode)
Jeff Gulka as Gibson Praise (1 episode)
Episodes[edit]
Episodes marked with a double dagger (double-dagger) are episodes in the series' Alien Mythology arc.[nb 4]
See also: List of The X-Files episodes
The X-Files season 5 episodes
No. in
series
No. in
season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
Production
code[20]
U.S. viewers
(millions)
98
1 "Redux"double-dagger R. W. Goodwin Chris Carter November 2, 1997 5X02 27.34[22]
Scully helps Mulder fake his death, but comes under intense scrutiny; Skinner is suspected as the traitor inside the FBI; and Mulder breaks into the Department of Defense in a desperate bid to save Scully, but while doing so he finds himself facing the truth about the aliens he has been chasing.
99
2 "Redux II"double-dagger Kim Manners Chris Carter November 9, 1997 5X03 24.84[22]
While Scully lies on her deathbed; the Smoking Man makes an important decision in helping Mulder. But even as events come to a climax, Mulder finds his belief in his crusade has all but collapsed.
100
3 "Unusual Suspects" Kim Manners Vince Gilligan November 16, 1997 5X01 21.72[22]
The origins of the Lone Gunmen are explored. In 1989, two salesmen and a federal employee join forces when they meet Susanne Modeski, a woman who claims that she is being pursued by her violent ex-boyfriend, an FBI agent named Fox Mulder. We learn how agent Mulder came to meet three friendly and familiar faces.
101
4 "Detour" Brett Dowler Frank Spotnitz November 23, 1997 5X04 22.88[22]
On the way to an FBI convention in Florida, Mulder and Scully stop to help in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of three people in the woods, where a pair of invisible humanoids lurk.
102
5 "The Post-Modern Prometheus" Chris Carter Chris Carter November 30, 1997 5X06 18.68[22]
Filmed in black-and-white, Mulder and Scully’s investigate a letter from a single mother that leads them to a small town where a modern-day version of Frankenstein's monster lurks, Jerry Springer is an obsession, and Cher plays a significant part.
103
6 "Christmas Carol" Peter Markle Vince Gilligan & John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz December 7, 1997 5X05 20.91[22]
Home for the holidays, Scully is haunted by dreams which hint at a strange connection to a murdered woman’s daughter.
104
7 "Emily" Kim Manners Vince Gilligan & John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz December 14, 1997 5X07 20.94[22]
Scully fights to protect her daughter’s life, while Mulder discovers her true origins.
105
8 "Kitsunegari" Daniel Sackheim Vince Gilligan & Tim Minear January 4, 1998 5X08 19.75[22]
When 'Pusher' Modell escapes from prison, Mulder and Scully race to catch him before he can take revenge against his favorite target – Agent Mulder.
106
9 "Schizogeny" Ralph Hemecker Jessica Scott & Mike Wollaeger January 11, 1998 5X09 21.37[22]
When a teenager is suspected of murdering his father, Mulder and Scully become convinced that a greater evil may be lurking in the community.
107
10 "Chinga" Kim Manners Stephen King & Chris Carter February 8, 1998 5X10 21.33[22]
Scully takes a vacation to Maine, where she encounters a bizarre case where the victims appear to have inflicted wounds upon themselves – apparently at the behest of a strange young girl. This episode was co-written by famous horror writer Stephen King. It carries the alternate title of "Bunghoney" in some sources.
108
11 "Kill Switch" Rob Bowman William Gibson & Tom Maddox February 15, 1998 5X11 18.04[22]
While investigating the strange circumstances of the death of a reclusive computer genius rumored to have been researching artificial intelligence, Mulder and Scully become targets of an unlikely killer capable of the worst kind of torture. The episode was co-written by cyberpunk pioneers William Gibson and Tom Maddox.
109
12 "Bad Blood" Cliff Bole Vince Gilligan February 22, 1998 5X12 19.25[22]
While investigating bizarre exsanguinations in Texas, Mulder kills a teenage boy whom he "mistakes" for a vampire. Awaiting a meeting with Skinner, Mulder and Scully attempt to get their stories “straight” by relating to each other their differing versions of what happened during their investigation. Gillian Anderson voted this her favorite episode.
110
13 "Patient X"double-dagger Kim Manners Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz March 1, 1998 5X13 20.21[22]
Scully forms a bond with Cassandra Spender, a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens. While Mulder’s disbelief in the alien conspiracy is now questioned, he finds himself with more personal threats at the FBI.
111
14 "The Red and the Black"double-dagger Chris Carter Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz March 8, 1998 5X14 19.98[22]
With Cassandra Spender missing, and her son Jeffrey angrily attempting to push his way up in the FBI, Mulder has Scully put under hypnosis to learn the truth. The Syndicate, meanwhile, quicken their tests for the alien vaccine, sacrificing their own to do so.
112
15 "Travelers" William A. Graham John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz March 29, 1998 5X15 15.06[22]
In 1990, a bizarre murder leads young agent Fox Mulder to question a former FBI Agent who investigated one of the first X-Files dating back to the 1950s – a case which may have involved Mulder’s father.
113
16 "Mind’s Eye" Kim Manners Tim Minear April 19, 1998 5X16 16.53[22]
Agents Mulder and Scully investigate a murder that seems to have been committed by a blind woman, but Mulder suspects that her involvement is not what it seems. Guest starring Lili Taylor and Blu Mankuma.
114
17 "All Souls" Allen Coulter Story by: Billy Brown & Dan Angel
Teleplay by: Frank Spotnitz & John Shiban April 26, 1998 5X17 13.44[22]
The unexplained death of a young handicapped girl prompts Father McCue to ask Scully for her help, but her investigation leads her to a mystery she's afraid to understand.
115
18 "The Pine Bluff Variant" Rob Bowman John Shiban May 3, 1998 5X18 18.24[22]
Scully begins to grow suspicious of Mulder, whose increasingly strange behavior suggests he may be serving another agenda. Guest starring Daniel von Bargen and Sam Anderson.
116
19 "Folie à Deux" Kim Manners Vince Gilligan May 10, 1998 5X19 17.63[22]
Mulder and Scully encounter a delusional man who believes his boss may be a monster – and is willing to pay any price to prove it.
117
20 "The End"double-dagger R. W. Goodwin Chris Carter May 17, 1998 5X20 18.76[22]
Investigating the murder of a chess player, Mulder and Scully meet a boy who may be the embodiment of everything in the X-Files. This episode marks the first appearance of Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers)
DVD release[edit]
The X-Files – The Complete Fifth Season
Set details[20] Special features[20]
20 episodes
6-disc set
1.78:1 aspect ratio
Subtitles: English, Spanish
English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
"The Truth About Season Five" Documentary
Audio Commentaries (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) "The Post-Modern Prometheus" – Chris Carter
"The Pine Bluff Variant" – John Shiban
8 special effects clips
6 deleted scenes
11 "Behind the Truth" F/X spots
Release dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 3
May 14, 2002 December 27, 2004 November 11, 2002
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "The End" was viewed by 18.76 million viewers whereas "Redux I" was viewed by 27.34 million viewers.[22] Subtracting the two figures and then dividing them by 27.34 million, which represents the largest possible audience, yields a percent decrease of 31.4 percent.
2.Jump up ^ "The End" was viewed by 18.76 million viewers whereas "Gethsemane" was viewed by 19.85 million viewers.[22][23] Subtracting the two figures and then dividing them by 19.85 million, which represents the largest possible audience, yields a percent decrease of 5.5 percent.
3.Jump up ^ Cast information taken from Andy Meisler's 1999 book Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, published by Harper Collins.
4.Jump up ^ The episodes were included in the DVD collections The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 – Black Oil and The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, released by Fox.
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin (director); Chris Carter (writer) (May 18, 1997). "Gethsemane". The X-Files. Season 4. Episode 24. Fox.
2.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin & Kim Manners (directors); Chris Carter (writer) (November 2 & 9, 1997). "Redux". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 1 & 2. Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), pp. 259–270
4.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 27–46
5.Jump up ^ Kim Manners (director). "Patient X". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 13. Fox.
6.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp 173–184
7.Jump up ^ Chris Carter (director). "The Red and the Black". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 14. Fox.
8.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 187–196
9.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin (director). "The End". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 20. Fox.
10.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 269–280
11.Jump up ^ Carter, Chris, et al (1998). The Truth Behind Season 5 (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: Fox Home Entertainment.
12.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), p. 117
13.^ Jump up to: a b Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), pp. 131–133
14.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), p. 139
15.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), p. 119
16.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), p. 24
17.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 84–85
18.Jump up ^ Carter, Chris (2005). Audio Commentary for "The Post-Modern Prometheus" (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
19.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 281
20.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Kim Manners, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
21.Jump up ^ Fridman, Sherman (February 4, 2000). ""X-Files" Writer Fights For Online Privacy" (news article). News Briefs. Newsbytes PM. Retrieved July 13, 2007. (subscription required)
22.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Meisler (1999), p. 284
23.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler (1998), p. 298
24.^ Jump up to: a b c Kessenich (2002), p. 12
25.^ Jump up to: a b "The Final Countdown". Entertainment Weekly (434). May 29, 1998. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Sauter, Michael (May 14, 2002). "The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
27.^ Jump up to: a b Dass, Francis (April 20, 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press), retrieved July 29, 2010
28.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "X-Files: A Mixed Bag of Episodes and a Feature Film Pave the Way for Season Six". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 27.
29.Jump up ^ Mink, Eric (November 27, 1997). "'X-Files' is Still a Monster". Daily News (Mortimer Zuckerman). Retrieved June 11, 2010.
30.Jump up ^ Liner, Elaine (November 29, 1997). "'X-Files' Marks the Spot Once Again – Tale of Alien Encounter Proves Show's Classiness". Corpus Christi Caller-Times (E. W. Scripps Company). Retrieved March 20, 2012. (subscription required)
31.Jump up ^ Green, Lionel (July 22, 2008). "'The X-Files' Was a Rare Magic". Sand Mountain Reporter (Southern Newspapers). Retrieved September 1, 2012.(subscription required)
32.Jump up ^ Bricken, Rob (October 13, 2009), "The 10 Funniest X-Files Episodes", Topless Robot (Topless Robot), retrieved December 27, 2011
33.Jump up ^ Collura, Scott, et al (May 12, 2008), "IGN's 10 Favorite X-Files Standalone Episodes", IGN, retrieved November 15, 2011
34.Jump up ^ "Top drawer Files: the best stand-alone X-Files episodes". The Montreal Gazette. July 24, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
35.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (May 11, 2011). "'Schizogeny'/'Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
36.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
37.Jump up ^ "Primetime Emmy® Award Database". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
38.Jump up ^ "HFPA — Award Search". GoldenGlobes.org. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
Bibliography[edit]
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1-933784-80-6.
Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files, Vol. 3. Harper Prism.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
List of The X-Files episodes at the Internet Movie Database
List of The X-Files episodes at TV.com
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Redux (The X-Files)
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"Redux"
The X-Files episode
ScottBlevinsRedux.jpg
The so-called "fake" aliens
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 1 & 2
Directed by
R. W. Goodwin (Part One)
Kim Manners (Part Two)
Written by
Chris Carter
Production code
5X02
5X03
Original air date
November 2, 1997
November 9, 1997
Running time
44 minutes (Per episode)
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
Charles Cioffi as Scott Blevins
John Finn as Michael Kritschgau
Steve Makaj as Scott Ostelhoff
Barry W. Levy as Vitagliano
Willy Ross as "Quiet Willy"
Ken Camroux as Senior Agent
Don S. Williams as First Elder
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Julie Arkos as Holly
John D. Sampson as Sentry
Robert Wright as Dr. Zuckerman
Arnie Walter as Father McCue
Megan Leitch as Samantha Mulder
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr.[1][2]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Gethsemane" Next →
"Unusual Suspects"
List of season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Redux" is the collective name for the two-part fifth season premiere of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Redux I" first aired on November 2, 1997 on Fox in the United States, with "Redux II" airing on November 9. Both episodes subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Both episodes were written by series creator Chris Carter, with "Redux" directed by R. W. Goodwin and "Redux II" helmed by Kim Manners. "Redux" became the second-most-watched episode ever broadcast, earning more than 27 million viewers in the United States alone. The first part of the episode received mixed to negative reviewes, whereas the second part received mixed to positive reviews from critics.
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. The episodes' story continues on from the fourth season finale "Gethsemane". "Redux I" follows Scully, who helps Mulder to fake his own death in an effort to discover which members of the FBI they can trust before the agents individually search for an answer to Scully's cancer. "Redux II" continues immediately afterwards with Scully hospitalized, and Mulder is offered a deal to ally with The Smoking Man (William B. Davis).
"Redux", being a part of a three-part episode arc, became a storyline milestone for the series. It marked the first episode in which Fox Mulder loses his belief in extraterrestrial life and the revelation that someone inside the FBI has tried to discredit Mulder and Scully's work on the X-Files. When writing the episode, Carter wanted to tie up loose ends from the previous seasons. Despite being the first two episodes of the season aired, they were the second and third episodes produced, the first being "Unusual Suspects", which explained the origins of The Lone Gunmen.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot 1.1 Background
1.2 Redux
1.3 Redux II
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Background[edit]
In Canada's St. Elias Mountains, a frozen extraterrestrial body is discovered by an expedition team. Professor Arlinsky, the team's leader, sends ice core samples containing presumably alien DNA to Fox Mulder. Both Mulder and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) eventually meet Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), a Defense Department employee who claims that everything Mulder thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. Kritschgau tells Mulder that his sister Samantha Mulder's abduction was fabricated, that all evidence of alien biology are merely scientific anomalies, and that the alien body discovered in Canada was fake. Kritschgau claims that the entire alien mythos is a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government as a cover for the military–industrial complex. Distraught by Kritschgau's claims, Mulder loses his faith. Later, the FBI investigates Mulder's apparent suicide. Scully confirms the unseen body's identity.[3]
Redux[edit]
As a distraught Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) sits in his apartment, he receives a phone call from Kritschgau, who tells him that "they" may be listening. Mulder, spotting a small hole in his ceiling, rushes upstairs and bursts into the apartment above his and kills government employee Scott Ostelhoff. He tells Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) about the incident, telling her that Ostelhoff had made numerous calls to the FBI.
The FBI looks into the situation and finds Ostelhoff's body, however they believe it is the body of a suicidal Mulder. The next day Scully identifies Ostelhoff's body as Mulder and is met by assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) who tells her that Section Chief Scott Blevins (Charles Cioffi) is looking for her. She meets with them, and tells them about the previous incidents leading to Mulder's apparent suicide. Meanwhile Mulder has broken into the Department of Defense.
While Mulder is gone, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) searches Mulder's apartment, believing he is not dead. Scully does some research into the phone records, coming to the conclusion that Ostelhoff was calling Skinner. Mulder meanwhile continues through the Department of Defense Headquarters finding more fake alien bodies inside. He heads through a tunnel to The Pentagon, where he finds an elaborate filing system and warehouse of evidence, the same warehouse that The Smoking Man was seen leaving at the very end of "Pilot". Mulder ultimately tracks down a small metal vial that he believes may contain Scully's cure.
Scully debriefs the FBI panel, and explains that Mulder was a victim of an elaborate conspiracy and that she was given a fatal disease by someone in the room. As she is about to present her evidence her nose bleeds and she collapses. Mulder brings the vial he found to the Lone Gunmen, who tell him it is not a cure, only deionized water.[1]
Redux II[edit]
After hearing of Scully collapsing, Mulder arrives at the hospital where Scully is being treated. Before he is able to make contact with her, he is detained by Skinner and two FBI agents. Mulder is then brought to Blevins and a senior agent who demands information on why Scully lied about Mulder's death. After the meeting, Mulder tells Skinner that a traitor in the FBI gave Scully her cancer. In the meantime, The Smoking Man has a meeting with the First Elder (Don S. Williams), trying to convince him that Mulder will join their side if he is given a good reason to do so.
Mulder later tells Scully that he wants to reveal the conspiracy to the public. As he is leaving, he meets with The Smoking Man who tells him that he can cure Scully's cancer by using a chip included in the vial Mulder took from the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Kritschgau goes before the FBI panel, denying any knowledge of Ostelhoff's murderer, also revealing that his son died that morning. Kritschgau claims to work for not only the Department of Defense but a congressional lobbying firm known as Roush. Mulder sees Scully and her doctor about the chip. Scully's family is skeptical, particularly her brother Bill, who is quite upset with Mulder. Scully decides to go ahead and have the chip inserted in her neck.
The Smoking Man contacts Mulder, arranging a meeting at a nearby diner. There Mulder meets his sister Samantha, who calls The Smoking Man her father. Samantha claims to not remember anything about her abduction and is reluctant to stay or tell Mulder where he can find her. The next day, The Smoking Man offers Mulder the truth if he quits the FBI and comes work for him; Mulder refuses. Mulder later meets with Blevins, who now has evidence Skinner was withholding information concerning Ostelhoff's death. Blevins tells Mulder he can help him if he names Skinner as the traitor in the FBI. Later Mulder meets with Scully, telling her he was going to make the deal with The Smoking Man but now will not after his meeting with Blevins. Despite Scully's pleas he refuses to name Skinner as the traitor in the FBI.
Mulder meets with the FBI panel while "Quiet Willy" follows The Smoking Man with his sniper rifle. Mulder tells the panel of the conspiracy against him and Scully. Questioned by Blevins and the senior agent about whether he killed Ostelhoff, Mulder instead names Blevins as the traitor in the FBI. The Smoking Man, looking at a picture of a young Mulder and Samantha, is shot by "Quiet Willy". Blevins is killed by the senior agent in his office, who makes it appear like a suicide. At the hospital Skinner meets with Mulder, telling him that The Smoking Man is dead, although his body was not found. Mulder admits that he guessed when he named Blevins, who Skinner reveals was on the payroll for Roush. Mulder tells Skinner that Scully's cancer has gone into remission.[2]
Production[edit]
Chris Carter (right), the writer of both parts of the episode, pictured in 2008
Chris Carter, when talking about "Redux" and "Redux II", noted that he "wanted to tie up a lot of loose ends from the past season, and play the idea that the conspiracy is a hoax and that it had been done to hide various terrestrial and temporal misdeeds".[4] Despite being the season premiere, "Redux" was the second episode produced of the season due to David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson being needed for filming on The X-Files movie.[4] In "Redux II", the role of "Quiet Willy" was originally intended for the character the "Gray-Haired Man", but was re-written for a new character when actor Morris Panych was unavailable. The role went to Willy Ross, whose real name is Steve Allen.[5] The tagline for "Redux" is changed to "All Lies Lead to the Truth".[6] Director R. W. Goodwin has said that the crew filming "Redux" were so impressed by actor John Finn's monologue detailing the supposed military hoax that he received a round of applause after finishing his takes. The script for this speech was particularly long, with Goodwin comparing it to "the Yellow Pages".[7]
"Redux II" had four different storylines: Mulder's quest, the medical treatment, Scully's religious faith, and The Smoking Man's cure for Dana Scully's cancer. Although it was normal for the writers to add one or two different storylines for the different episodes, to create different interpretations, but Carter felt it took "the idea of the show" and spun it "in the most interesting way".[8] The episode also started what would become Fox Mulder's loss of belief in extraterrestrials until the episode, "The Red and the Black". While the writers kept "playing" with the idea of Mulder's loss of faith, fans and viewers could not grow to accept his loss of faith, which left The Smoking Man victorious.[8]
"Redux II" was highly praised by Carter, saying that "I think that Redux II is one of the best episodes we've ever done". Frank Spotnitz said "Redux II is one of my favorite episodes. I think the story has a crystal purity and clarity, and it just comes to a perfect point for me". Anderson said "I thought it was a terrific episode, especially the scenes in the hearing room, and the whole progression of Scully praying. How it was written and shot and how it was edited. Fabulous".[9]
Reception[edit]
"The aliens don't really matter, just as it doesn't matter if Scully's god is God, or just her faith in the essential meaning of her own suffering. What matters is that true belief, the best sort of belief, is the belief that takes us closer to who we want to be, to our best selves."
—Zack Handlen, on the episode's theme of faith.[10]
"Redux" first aired on November 2, 1997 on Fox in the United States, with "Redux II" airing on November 9.[11] "Redux I" earned a Nielsen rating of 16.1, with a 22 share. It was viewed by 27.34 million people. It was the highest rated episode of the season, and the second highest watched episode, in terms of viewers, after "Leonard Betts", which aired after Super Bowl XXXI.[12] "Redux II" earned a Nielsen rating of 15.0, with a 21 share. It was viewed by 24.84 million people.[12] Part of the reason "Redux I" was so widely viewed was because the show's previous episode, "Gethsemane", had created speculation about whether or not Mulder was actually dead. An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed fan theories behind Mulder's madness while a cartoon ran in The New Yorker a few weeks later surrounding Mulder's "death".[13]
Critical reception to "Redux" was mixed to negative. Todd VanDerWerff, writing for The A.V. Club, awarded the first episode a C+ rating and wrote that "'Redux [Part 1]' was a pretty good episode back in 1997. It’s not a very good episode now".[14] VanDerWerff noted that the idea that Mulder had killed himself was not effective because the show's audience knew that a movie had been schedule for release in the summer of 1998.[14] Finally, he called the episode's ending "one of the show’s weaker cliffhangers".[14] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the first part of the episode a negative review and awarded it one star out of four.[15] She heavily criticized the story's pacing, noting that the episode "is all plot, plot, plot. [And] much of the plot is unbelievable."[15] Furthermore Vitaris criticized several plot holes in the episode, including Mulder's easy entrance into the Department of Defense and the characters antics, such as his attack of Ostelhoff. However, despite the overall negative review, Vitaris did mention that, "There's only one truly galvanizing scene, as that's the confrontation between Scully and Skinner after he follows her to the lab where she is performing her DNA test."[15] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode one star out of five. The two heavily criticized the "Skinner-as-traitor" plot, noting sardonically that "the production team aren't going to do [reveal he is the antagonist], and the shock 'villain in the room' reveal will be Section Chief Blevens–a character so important in the framework of the series that, barring his appearance in the Season Four finale, we haven't seen him in ninety-four episodes."[16] Not all reviews were so negative. Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files named "Redux" and "Redux II", together, as the tenth best "Episode of All Time". In his critique of "Redux", he noted "While many people don't care for 'Redux', I think it does a good job of preparing us for the second hour (although, it invalidates Gillian's emotional context from the S4 finale)."[17]
Critical reception for "Redux II" was mixed to positive. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club awarded the episode an A rating and noted that "whatever reservations I may have over a three-episode story arc, this final entry does a good job of re-investing us in the show's basic ideals, returning us to a rough form of the status quo in a way that's exciting, emotionally powerful, and satisfying despite only incremental forward momentum".[10] In addition, Handlen praised David Duchovny's performance, stating that he "was on fire the whole episode".[10] Tom Kessenich praised the second part of the episode and wrote "'Redux II' is the standout hour of the two without question. With Scully on her deathbed, Mulder meets his sister only to lose her again and is put in a position where he may deal with the devil. The finale moments [...] are quite simply perfect and as good as any the show ever produced."[17] Shearman and Pearson rated the episode two-and-a-half stars out of five. The two noted "['Redux II'] is a likable enough little romp, but it's too leisurely to be exciting, too predictable to be revealing, and–most crucially, not really funny enough to be comedy.[16] Vitaris gave the second part of the episode a slightly less negative review than the first, but only awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four.[15] She criticized the ending, noting that "it's all wrapped up neatly yet ambiguously."[15] However, Vitaris did note that "what makes 'Redux II' tolerable is Duchovny, who always hits the right notes of anger, despair, grief, relief, or emotional numbness."[15]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp. 27–34
2.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp. 37–46
3.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), pp. 259–270
4.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 24
5.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 46–47
6.Jump up ^ "Redux". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 1 & 2. November 2 & 9, 1997. Fox.
7.Jump up ^ John Finn, R. W. Goodwin and Gillian Anderson. Behind the Truth: Michael Kritschgau (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: FOX Home Entertainment.
8.^ Jump up to: a b John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter (2004). Threads of the Mythology: October 1997 – Redux (DVD). The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 – Black Oil: FOX Home Entertainment.
9.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), p. 35
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack. ""Redux 2"/"Beware of the Dog"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
11.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 284
13.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), p. 271
14.^ Jump up to: a b c VanDerWerff, Todd. ""Redux"/"The Beginning and The End"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson (2009), p. 125
17.^ Jump up to: a b Kessenich (2002), p. 218
BibliographyMeisler, Andy (1999). Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-257133-1. OCLC 42005360
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-105386-4.
Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF: "Redux"
"Redux" at TheXFiles.com
"Redux" at the Internet Movie Database
"Redux" at TV.com
"Redux II" at TheXFiles.com
"Redux II" at the Internet Movie Database
"Redux II" at TV.com
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The X-Files episodes
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"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
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"Schizogeny"·
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"The End"
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Redux (The X-Files)
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"Redux"
The X-Files episode
ScottBlevinsRedux.jpg
The so-called "fake" aliens
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 1 & 2
Directed by
R. W. Goodwin (Part One)
Kim Manners (Part Two)
Written by
Chris Carter
Production code
5X02
5X03
Original air date
November 2, 1997
November 9, 1997
Running time
44 minutes (Per episode)
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
Charles Cioffi as Scott Blevins
John Finn as Michael Kritschgau
Steve Makaj as Scott Ostelhoff
Barry W. Levy as Vitagliano
Willy Ross as "Quiet Willy"
Ken Camroux as Senior Agent
Don S. Williams as First Elder
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Julie Arkos as Holly
John D. Sampson as Sentry
Robert Wright as Dr. Zuckerman
Arnie Walter as Father McCue
Megan Leitch as Samantha Mulder
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr.[1][2]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Gethsemane" Next →
"Unusual Suspects"
List of season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Redux" is the collective name for the two-part fifth season premiere of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Redux I" first aired on November 2, 1997 on Fox in the United States, with "Redux II" airing on November 9. Both episodes subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Both episodes were written by series creator Chris Carter, with "Redux" directed by R. W. Goodwin and "Redux II" helmed by Kim Manners. "Redux" became the second-most-watched episode ever broadcast, earning more than 27 million viewers in the United States alone. The first part of the episode received mixed to negative reviewes, whereas the second part received mixed to positive reviews from critics.
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. The episodes' story continues on from the fourth season finale "Gethsemane". "Redux I" follows Scully, who helps Mulder to fake his own death in an effort to discover which members of the FBI they can trust before the agents individually search for an answer to Scully's cancer. "Redux II" continues immediately afterwards with Scully hospitalized, and Mulder is offered a deal to ally with The Smoking Man (William B. Davis).
"Redux", being a part of a three-part episode arc, became a storyline milestone for the series. It marked the first episode in which Fox Mulder loses his belief in extraterrestrial life and the revelation that someone inside the FBI has tried to discredit Mulder and Scully's work on the X-Files. When writing the episode, Carter wanted to tie up loose ends from the previous seasons. Despite being the first two episodes of the season aired, they were the second and third episodes produced, the first being "Unusual Suspects", which explained the origins of The Lone Gunmen.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot 1.1 Background
1.2 Redux
1.3 Redux II
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Background[edit]
In Canada's St. Elias Mountains, a frozen extraterrestrial body is discovered by an expedition team. Professor Arlinsky, the team's leader, sends ice core samples containing presumably alien DNA to Fox Mulder. Both Mulder and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) eventually meet Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), a Defense Department employee who claims that everything Mulder thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. Kritschgau tells Mulder that his sister Samantha Mulder's abduction was fabricated, that all evidence of alien biology are merely scientific anomalies, and that the alien body discovered in Canada was fake. Kritschgau claims that the entire alien mythos is a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government as a cover for the military–industrial complex. Distraught by Kritschgau's claims, Mulder loses his faith. Later, the FBI investigates Mulder's apparent suicide. Scully confirms the unseen body's identity.[3]
Redux[edit]
As a distraught Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) sits in his apartment, he receives a phone call from Kritschgau, who tells him that "they" may be listening. Mulder, spotting a small hole in his ceiling, rushes upstairs and bursts into the apartment above his and kills government employee Scott Ostelhoff. He tells Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) about the incident, telling her that Ostelhoff had made numerous calls to the FBI.
The FBI looks into the situation and finds Ostelhoff's body, however they believe it is the body of a suicidal Mulder. The next day Scully identifies Ostelhoff's body as Mulder and is met by assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) who tells her that Section Chief Scott Blevins (Charles Cioffi) is looking for her. She meets with them, and tells them about the previous incidents leading to Mulder's apparent suicide. Meanwhile Mulder has broken into the Department of Defense.
While Mulder is gone, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) searches Mulder's apartment, believing he is not dead. Scully does some research into the phone records, coming to the conclusion that Ostelhoff was calling Skinner. Mulder meanwhile continues through the Department of Defense Headquarters finding more fake alien bodies inside. He heads through a tunnel to The Pentagon, where he finds an elaborate filing system and warehouse of evidence, the same warehouse that The Smoking Man was seen leaving at the very end of "Pilot". Mulder ultimately tracks down a small metal vial that he believes may contain Scully's cure.
Scully debriefs the FBI panel, and explains that Mulder was a victim of an elaborate conspiracy and that she was given a fatal disease by someone in the room. As she is about to present her evidence her nose bleeds and she collapses. Mulder brings the vial he found to the Lone Gunmen, who tell him it is not a cure, only deionized water.[1]
Redux II[edit]
After hearing of Scully collapsing, Mulder arrives at the hospital where Scully is being treated. Before he is able to make contact with her, he is detained by Skinner and two FBI agents. Mulder is then brought to Blevins and a senior agent who demands information on why Scully lied about Mulder's death. After the meeting, Mulder tells Skinner that a traitor in the FBI gave Scully her cancer. In the meantime, The Smoking Man has a meeting with the First Elder (Don S. Williams), trying to convince him that Mulder will join their side if he is given a good reason to do so.
Mulder later tells Scully that he wants to reveal the conspiracy to the public. As he is leaving, he meets with The Smoking Man who tells him that he can cure Scully's cancer by using a chip included in the vial Mulder took from the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Kritschgau goes before the FBI panel, denying any knowledge of Ostelhoff's murderer, also revealing that his son died that morning. Kritschgau claims to work for not only the Department of Defense but a congressional lobbying firm known as Roush. Mulder sees Scully and her doctor about the chip. Scully's family is skeptical, particularly her brother Bill, who is quite upset with Mulder. Scully decides to go ahead and have the chip inserted in her neck.
The Smoking Man contacts Mulder, arranging a meeting at a nearby diner. There Mulder meets his sister Samantha, who calls The Smoking Man her father. Samantha claims to not remember anything about her abduction and is reluctant to stay or tell Mulder where he can find her. The next day, The Smoking Man offers Mulder the truth if he quits the FBI and comes work for him; Mulder refuses. Mulder later meets with Blevins, who now has evidence Skinner was withholding information concerning Ostelhoff's death. Blevins tells Mulder he can help him if he names Skinner as the traitor in the FBI. Later Mulder meets with Scully, telling her he was going to make the deal with The Smoking Man but now will not after his meeting with Blevins. Despite Scully's pleas he refuses to name Skinner as the traitor in the FBI.
Mulder meets with the FBI panel while "Quiet Willy" follows The Smoking Man with his sniper rifle. Mulder tells the panel of the conspiracy against him and Scully. Questioned by Blevins and the senior agent about whether he killed Ostelhoff, Mulder instead names Blevins as the traitor in the FBI. The Smoking Man, looking at a picture of a young Mulder and Samantha, is shot by "Quiet Willy". Blevins is killed by the senior agent in his office, who makes it appear like a suicide. At the hospital Skinner meets with Mulder, telling him that The Smoking Man is dead, although his body was not found. Mulder admits that he guessed when he named Blevins, who Skinner reveals was on the payroll for Roush. Mulder tells Skinner that Scully's cancer has gone into remission.[2]
Production[edit]
Chris Carter (right), the writer of both parts of the episode, pictured in 2008
Chris Carter, when talking about "Redux" and "Redux II", noted that he "wanted to tie up a lot of loose ends from the past season, and play the idea that the conspiracy is a hoax and that it had been done to hide various terrestrial and temporal misdeeds".[4] Despite being the season premiere, "Redux" was the second episode produced of the season due to David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson being needed for filming on The X-Files movie.[4] In "Redux II", the role of "Quiet Willy" was originally intended for the character the "Gray-Haired Man", but was re-written for a new character when actor Morris Panych was unavailable. The role went to Willy Ross, whose real name is Steve Allen.[5] The tagline for "Redux" is changed to "All Lies Lead to the Truth".[6] Director R. W. Goodwin has said that the crew filming "Redux" were so impressed by actor John Finn's monologue detailing the supposed military hoax that he received a round of applause after finishing his takes. The script for this speech was particularly long, with Goodwin comparing it to "the Yellow Pages".[7]
"Redux II" had four different storylines: Mulder's quest, the medical treatment, Scully's religious faith, and The Smoking Man's cure for Dana Scully's cancer. Although it was normal for the writers to add one or two different storylines for the different episodes, to create different interpretations, but Carter felt it took "the idea of the show" and spun it "in the most interesting way".[8] The episode also started what would become Fox Mulder's loss of belief in extraterrestrials until the episode, "The Red and the Black". While the writers kept "playing" with the idea of Mulder's loss of faith, fans and viewers could not grow to accept his loss of faith, which left The Smoking Man victorious.[8]
"Redux II" was highly praised by Carter, saying that "I think that Redux II is one of the best episodes we've ever done". Frank Spotnitz said "Redux II is one of my favorite episodes. I think the story has a crystal purity and clarity, and it just comes to a perfect point for me". Anderson said "I thought it was a terrific episode, especially the scenes in the hearing room, and the whole progression of Scully praying. How it was written and shot and how it was edited. Fabulous".[9]
Reception[edit]
"The aliens don't really matter, just as it doesn't matter if Scully's god is God, or just her faith in the essential meaning of her own suffering. What matters is that true belief, the best sort of belief, is the belief that takes us closer to who we want to be, to our best selves."
—Zack Handlen, on the episode's theme of faith.[10]
"Redux" first aired on November 2, 1997 on Fox in the United States, with "Redux II" airing on November 9.[11] "Redux I" earned a Nielsen rating of 16.1, with a 22 share. It was viewed by 27.34 million people. It was the highest rated episode of the season, and the second highest watched episode, in terms of viewers, after "Leonard Betts", which aired after Super Bowl XXXI.[12] "Redux II" earned a Nielsen rating of 15.0, with a 21 share. It was viewed by 24.84 million people.[12] Part of the reason "Redux I" was so widely viewed was because the show's previous episode, "Gethsemane", had created speculation about whether or not Mulder was actually dead. An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed fan theories behind Mulder's madness while a cartoon ran in The New Yorker a few weeks later surrounding Mulder's "death".[13]
Critical reception to "Redux" was mixed to negative. Todd VanDerWerff, writing for The A.V. Club, awarded the first episode a C+ rating and wrote that "'Redux [Part 1]' was a pretty good episode back in 1997. It’s not a very good episode now".[14] VanDerWerff noted that the idea that Mulder had killed himself was not effective because the show's audience knew that a movie had been schedule for release in the summer of 1998.[14] Finally, he called the episode's ending "one of the show’s weaker cliffhangers".[14] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the first part of the episode a negative review and awarded it one star out of four.[15] She heavily criticized the story's pacing, noting that the episode "is all plot, plot, plot. [And] much of the plot is unbelievable."[15] Furthermore Vitaris criticized several plot holes in the episode, including Mulder's easy entrance into the Department of Defense and the characters antics, such as his attack of Ostelhoff. However, despite the overall negative review, Vitaris did mention that, "There's only one truly galvanizing scene, as that's the confrontation between Scully and Skinner after he follows her to the lab where she is performing her DNA test."[15] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode one star out of five. The two heavily criticized the "Skinner-as-traitor" plot, noting sardonically that "the production team aren't going to do [reveal he is the antagonist], and the shock 'villain in the room' reveal will be Section Chief Blevens–a character so important in the framework of the series that, barring his appearance in the Season Four finale, we haven't seen him in ninety-four episodes."[16] Not all reviews were so negative. Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files named "Redux" and "Redux II", together, as the tenth best "Episode of All Time". In his critique of "Redux", he noted "While many people don't care for 'Redux', I think it does a good job of preparing us for the second hour (although, it invalidates Gillian's emotional context from the S4 finale)."[17]
Critical reception for "Redux II" was mixed to positive. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club awarded the episode an A rating and noted that "whatever reservations I may have over a three-episode story arc, this final entry does a good job of re-investing us in the show's basic ideals, returning us to a rough form of the status quo in a way that's exciting, emotionally powerful, and satisfying despite only incremental forward momentum".[10] In addition, Handlen praised David Duchovny's performance, stating that he "was on fire the whole episode".[10] Tom Kessenich praised the second part of the episode and wrote "'Redux II' is the standout hour of the two without question. With Scully on her deathbed, Mulder meets his sister only to lose her again and is put in a position where he may deal with the devil. The finale moments [...] are quite simply perfect and as good as any the show ever produced."[17] Shearman and Pearson rated the episode two-and-a-half stars out of five. The two noted "['Redux II'] is a likable enough little romp, but it's too leisurely to be exciting, too predictable to be revealing, and–most crucially, not really funny enough to be comedy.[16] Vitaris gave the second part of the episode a slightly less negative review than the first, but only awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four.[15] She criticized the ending, noting that "it's all wrapped up neatly yet ambiguously."[15] However, Vitaris did note that "what makes 'Redux II' tolerable is Duchovny, who always hits the right notes of anger, despair, grief, relief, or emotional numbness."[15]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp. 27–34
2.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp. 37–46
3.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), pp. 259–270
4.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 24
5.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 46–47
6.Jump up ^ "Redux". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 1 & 2. November 2 & 9, 1997. Fox.
7.Jump up ^ John Finn, R. W. Goodwin and Gillian Anderson. Behind the Truth: Michael Kritschgau (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: FOX Home Entertainment.
8.^ Jump up to: a b John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter (2004). Threads of the Mythology: October 1997 – Redux (DVD). The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 – Black Oil: FOX Home Entertainment.
9.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), p. 35
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack. ""Redux 2"/"Beware of the Dog"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
11.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 284
13.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), p. 271
14.^ Jump up to: a b c VanDerWerff, Todd. ""Redux"/"The Beginning and The End"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson (2009), p. 125
17.^ Jump up to: a b Kessenich (2002), p. 218
BibliographyMeisler, Andy (1999). Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-257133-1. OCLC 42005360
Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-105386-4.
Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF: "Redux"
"Redux" at TheXFiles.com
"Redux" at the Internet Movie Database
"Redux" at TV.com
"Redux II" at TheXFiles.com
"Redux II" at the Internet Movie Database
"Redux II" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1997 television episodes
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Unusual Suspects
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"Unusual Suspects"
The X-Files episode
TXF Unusual Suspects.jpg
Promotional image for the episode
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 3
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Vince Gilligan
Production code
5X01
Original air date
November 16, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Signy Coleman as Susanne Modeski
Richard Belzer as John Munch
Steven Williams as X
Ken Hawryliw as Ken Hawryliw
Chris Nelson Norris as SWAT Lieutenant
Stuart O'Connell as First SWAT cop
Eric Knight as Hacker Dude
Harrison Coe as First Suit
Brad Loree as Second Suit
Paul Anderson as City Cop
Bob Boyd as Booking Sergeant
Glenn Williams as Officer
Peter Taraviras as Officer[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Redux II" Next →
"Detour"
List of season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Unusual Suspects" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners and aired in the United States on November 16, 1997 on the Fox network. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 13.0, being watched by 21.72 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to moderately positive reviews from critics.
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. "Unusual Suspects", however, functions as a flashback episode: in 1989, two salesmen and a federal employee join forces when they meet Susanne Modeski, a woman who claims that she is being pursued by her supposedly violent ex-boyfriend, an FBI agent named Fox Mulder. A sequel to the episode was later filmed during the series' sixth season, entitled "Three of a Kind".
The concept for having an episode dedicated to The Lone Gunmen arose when the show's producers were forced to start production of the fifth season in the last week of August in Vancouver, but still needed series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson for the filming of The X-Files movie in Los Angeles. Writing duties fell to Vince Gilligan, who initially drafted a story about nanotechnology, before changing to the origins of The Lone Gunmen on behest of series creator Chris Carter. In addition, "Unusual Suspects" served as a cross-over with the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, featuring Richard Belzer's Detective John Munch character.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Casting and directing
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
The episode opens in medias res in 1989, when a SWAT team conducts a raid on a Baltimore warehouse. Inside, they find a naked and disoriented Fox Mulder in a box, shouting, "They're here!" Three men attempt to flee the scene and are captured; they are revealed to be the Lone Gunmen. As they sit in a city jail, they begin blaming each other for the predicament they have found themselves in. Detective John Munch interrogates John Fitzgerald Byers, who tries to explain what happened.
In the flashback, Byers, a public affairs officer for the FCC, attends a computer and electronics convention. There, he follows a beautiful woman who passes his booth; he also passes by booths manned by Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly, who were both selling stolen cable television. When Byers bumps into the woman, she introduces herself as Holly and claims that her daughter had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, who is in the Baltimore area.
Holly possesses a piece of paper with "ARPANET/WHTCORPS" written on it. Byers realizes that the words refer to the Defense Department's computer network, which she requests he hack into. Byers, at the time an unquestioningly loyal government employee, complies after great reluctance. He finds an encrypted file on her daughter, named Susanne Modeski. Just then, a man whom Holly claims to be her boyfriend passes by Byers' booth — Mulder.
Byers and Holly recruit Frohike to help them decipher the file. Both Byers and Frohike decide to assault Mulder, but don't do it when he introduces himself as an FBI agent. Returning to his booth, Byers finds his FCC colleague being arrested for the hacking he committed. Frohike convinces Byers not to turn himself in, and recruits Langly to help them hack into the FBI database to learn more about Holly. They discover that "Holly" is actually Susanne Modeski, who is wanted for acts of murder, sabotage, and terrorism at a weapons facility in New Mexico.
Susanne admits her deception, but claims that she was scapegoated for trying to leave her job at the weapons facility. There, she had been working on ergotamine, an aerosolized gas that causes paranoia and anxiety. Susanne claims that the government plans to test the gas on civilians in Baltimore. After deciphering the file, the Lone Gunmen find that she was telling the truth, learning the location of the gas. Susanne also finds evidence that she had a tracking device put in a tooth, which she pulls out.
The four of them head to the warehouse, where they found the gas stored inside asthma inhalers. Suddenly, Mulder arrives to arrest them, but two dark-suited men came to take Susanne. They fire at Mulder, hitting the boxes behind him and exposing him to the gas. The exposure causes Mulder to strip naked, hide in the box, and hallucinate about seeing aliens in the warehouse. Susanne shoots the men and escapes. More men then arrive, led by X, who intimidates the Lone Gunmen. Byers confronts X, asking him about his actions and mentioning the supposed cover-up of the John F. Kennedy assassination. X's unconvincing denial - "I heard it was a lone gunman" - becomes the origin of the trio's name. X leaves, just as the police arrive and arrest the Lone Gunmen.
In the present, Detective Munch does not believe Byers' story, but it is soon corroborated by Mulder. After the Lone Gunmen are released, they encounter Susanne after she has failed to get the press to believe her story; she tells them to reveal the truth to as many people as possible. Susanne is then captured by X, who leers at the Lone Gunmen as he departs with her. Later, the three of them meet Mulder in the convention center and explain what happened to him.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
"The movie was still in production, so we knew in advance that we needed an episode that was without our two stars. So somebody suggested we do a Lone Gunmen episode."
—Vince Gilligan, on the inspiration for the episode.[2]
The concept for having an episode dedicated to The Lone Gunmen arose when the show's producers were forced to start production of the fifth season in the last week of August in Vancouver, but still needed series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson for the filming of The X-Files movie in Los Angeles. The producers decided to create an episode dedicated to The Lone Gunmen, and writing duties were assigned to Vince Gilligan. Gilligan initially drafted a story involving nanotechnology, which was rejected by series creator Chris Carter. Carter came up with the idea for the episode to be how The Lone Gunmen met. Gilligan then developed the script, which took place in the city of Baltimore. The scenes with Duchovny were shot a few weeks after the rest of the episode.[3]
The episode helped to solidify the different personalities of The Lone Gunmen. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz explained, "Up [until 'Unusual Suspects'], they were sort of interchangeable in the information they delivered. But then Vince, who loved the characters and really wanted a chance to dig more deeply into them, created a back story and they became a lot more interesting."[2] Actor Dean Haglund, who played Langly, said of the episode, "What we read in the script wasn't really our origins as we'd imagined it. I'd thought we were all in a university garage band together or something. Bruce [Harwood] thought he was a photocopier repair man."[4] Much of the episode's action focused on Byers, played by Bruce Harwood. This experience was different for him, and he noted, "I don't think I'd ever done an episode where I was the lead character. But I felt like the lead because it was my story about falling in love with this woman and then dragging these other two schmucks into the disaster that followed."[2] Vince Gilligan was particularly happy with his characterization of Byers, later admitting, "I just loved the idea of Byers working for the government and being this very gung-ho pro-government guy. That's just a fundamental drama where you take a character on a journey and the journey take him 180 degrees from who he original[ly] was."[2]
Richard Belzer's character Detective John Munch appeared in the episode.
Gilligan researched the episode in order to make it as authentic to 1989 as possible. Purportedly, he tasked Ken Hawryliw, who worked on props for the show, to find "the biggest cell phone you can find", which yielded the Motorola featured in the episode. In addition, Gilligan met with a group of hackers who ran a news magazine called 2600 in order to learn hacker terminology and get inspiration for the episode.[2] The episode featured cameos from several staff members of the show, including Hawyrliw and Eric Knight, who was Duchovny's personal assistant. Susanne's alias, 'Holly' was a reference to Gilligan's girlfriend.[4]
Casting and directing[edit]
Gilligan also came up with the idea to have a crossover with the show Homicide: Life on the Street, which also takes place in Baltimore. He later recalled, "I realized that the whole episode was framed around Byers telling his story to a Baltimore homicide detective. So I figured 'what the heck? Homicide's a great show, so why not try to get Richard Belzer to play his Detective [John Munch] character?'"[3][4] Despite some hesitancy from Fox's lawyers, the show got in contact with NBC executive producer Tom Fontana, who was more than willing to allow the use of Belzer: Gilligan later described Fontana as a "great guy" for assistance in the matter.[4] The episode also features the first reappearance of X, who had been murdered in the season four opener "Herrenvolk".[5] The idea to bring back X was thought up by executive producer John Shiban, who helped Gilligan storyboard the episode. He noted, "we had the board set up and […] and there was a piece missing and we just couldn't come up with a how to get out of this situation, why doesn't this assassin just kill The Lone Gunmen? It was a flashback story and it was in 1989 and we were pacing around in my backyard, and […] I just turned to him and said, 'X! […] X has another agenda! X is the assassin, it's not some other character, it's our X. […] He wouldn't kill the Gunmen, 'cause he's trying to help Mulder.'"[6]
The episode was directed by Kim Manners, who was extremely pleased with the final result. He explained, "it was a lot of fun to shoot that show. It was the first show that the Gunmen carried and I had a real good time shepherding Tommy, Dean, and Bruce, 'cause [sic] they were nervous, they had the whole hour to carry."[6] One scene with which Manners was extremely pleased was the shot wherein Susanne Modeski breaks into the Lone Gunmen's hotel room and the Gunmen cower in fear in a corner. Manners was inspired by the 1939 film adaption of The Wizard of Oz, most specifically the image of " the Scarecrow, and the Tinman, and the Lion […] shaking behind Dorothy."[6] Manners later noted that the sequence "really worked out well".[6]
Reception[edit]
"Unusual Suspects" premiered on the Fox network on November 16, 1997.[7] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 13.0, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 13.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[8] It was viewed by 21.72 million viewers.[8]
The episode received mixed to moderately positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club reviewer Todd VanDerWerff gave "Unusual Suspects" an A-, and wrote that the episode "is a love letter to the very idea of paranoia".[9] Furthermore, VanDerWerff argued that "as the episode moved its way to its climax, when Mr. X improbably lets the Gunmen live after seeing as much as they did [...] it struck me that what we’re seeing here may not entirely be meant to be taken seriously, just as 'Memoirs Of A Cigarette Smoking Man' [sic] is more about who the CSM wished he might have been than the person he actually was. This isn’t a true story; it’s a manifesto."[9] Critical Myth's John Keegan gave the episode 6/10, and, while calling the entry "an interesting diversion from the normal format of the series", he noted that "there are still some issues with the plausibility of the story, and ultimately, the questions surrounding Mulder overshadow the character development of the Gunmen themselves."[10]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three stars out of five. The two compared the episode to "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", but called it "throw away and charming".[11] Shearman and Pearson criticized the episode for being "largely concerned in suggesting to the audience that the government is being conspiratorial… five seasons into a hit series which has turned that argument into a cliche."[11] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[12] She wrote that, "'Unusual Suspects' is filler–but amusing filler".[12] Vitaris further complimented the performance of Signy Coleman as Susanne Modeski, and called the return of "not-yet-dead" X as "welcome".[12]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 12–23
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 119
3.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 24
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, p. 25
5.Jump up ^ "Herrenvolk". The X-Files. Season 4. Episode 1. 4 October 1996. Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d Carter, Chris, et al (1999). The Truth Behind Season 5 (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: Fox Home Entertainment.
7.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
9.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (2 April 2011). "'Unusual Suspects'/'Sense And Antisense'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Unusual Suspects". Critical Myth. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 126–127
12.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
BibliographyHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Unusual Suspects" on TheXFiles.com
"Unusual Suspects" at the Internet Movie Database
"Unusual Suspects" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1997 television episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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Detour (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Detour"
The X-Files episode
XFilesDetour.jpg
The episode's monster, hiding by blending into a tree. The effects were made by using a specialized "barks suit" as well as computer technology.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 4
Directed by
Brett Dowler
Written by
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X04
Original air date
November 23, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Scott Burkholder as Agent Michael Kinsley
Colleen Flynn as Officer Michele Fazekas
Merrilyn Gann as Mrs. Asekoff
Alf Humphreys as Michael Asekoff
Simon Longmore as Marty Fox
Anthony Rapp as Jeff Glaser
Tom Scholte as Michael Sloan
Tyler Thompson as Louis Asekoff
JC Wendel as Agent Carla Stonecypher[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Unusual Suspects" Next →
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"
List of season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Detour" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by executive producer Frank Spotnitz and directed by Brett Dowler. The episode aired in the United States on November 23, 1997, on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Detour" received a Nielsen rating of 13.2, being watched by 22.8 million viewers, and received mixed reviews from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully, while traveling to a conference with two other FBI agents stops at a roadblock to join a nearby inspection of attacks by an unidentified predator.
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz was inspired to write the episode after watching the 1972 American thriller film Deliverance. "Detour" took nineteen days to film, over eleven more than the norm for The X-Files. Shooting was hampered by incessant rain. The episode's villains were created through a mixture of elaborate "bark suits" and digital technology. In addition, the episode contained several cultural references.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cultural references
4 Reception
5 References
6 External links
Plot[edit]
Two men are surveying an area of the forest in Leon County, Florida when they are attacked and killed by unseen assailants with glowing red eyes. Later that day, Michael Asekoff and his son, Louis, are hunting for possums with their dog, Bo, in the same stretch of woods. Upon discovering a surveyor's bloody jacket, the father orders his son to take the dog and run home. As the son and dog take off, two shots are heard.
Meanwhile in Alabama, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are carpooling with FBI agents Michael Kinsley and Carla Stonecypher en route to a "team building" seminar. When they are stopped at a roadblock by local police, Mulder decides to investigate. As Mulder and Scully venture into the woods, they are informed by Officer Michele Fazekas that no conclusive evidence has been found to support Louis' report of a shooting. Mulder sees this as a perfect opportunity to ditch the seminar. Later, Mulder explains to Scully that no native species to North America will attack a stronger member of its prey when there is a weaker target available.
At the Asekoff residence, Bo becomes upset and begins barking. Mrs. Asekoff lets him outside but when she attempts to retrieve him, the dog refuses to budge. She turns to go back inside but discovers that it has been bolted from the inside. Louis hears his mother's screams and climbs out of bed, but a dark, shadowy figure with red eyes corners him. Louis barely escapes through the dog door where he runs into Mulder, informing him of the creature's whereabouts in the house.
The next morning, Mulder shows Scully some tracks by the front door of the house that appear to be human. Based on the weight distribution, however, the assailant evidently travels on the balls of its feet rather than from heel to toe. Additionally, that the creature lured the mother out of the house in order to get to Louis suggests to Mulder that the creatures are paranormal in nature.
Jeff Glaser, a local technician armed with a FLIR device, joins Fazekas, Mulder, and Scully on a search for the creature. They soon spot two creatures on the FLIR which travel in separate directions, causing the four to split up. Fazekas is attacked and disappears. Mulder deduces from this that the creatures may be related to the Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. After a brief encounter with the creatures, Glaser takes off running and is swiftly killed by a creature. Mulder is grabbed by the other creature, though it releases him after Scully manages to wound it with her firearm.
The next morning, Scully falls through a hole into an underground chamber where the bodies of their missing companions are stored. Spotting a pair of red eyes, Scully realizes she does not have her firearm on her. Mulder drops his down to her as the bushes behind him begin to rustle. He jumps in the hole as Scully shoots the creature and kills it. As they examine the dead creature, they notice its almost human-like features and wood-like skin. Nearby, the words "Ad Noctum", Latin for "into darkness", are found carved into a tree trunk.
Mulder, Scully, Asekoff, and Fazekas are rescued, but there is no sign of Glaser or the other creature. Upon leaving the forest, Mulder states that the creature may, in fact, be an evolved version of the first Spanish conquistadors who had first settled in the forest 450 years before. Although Kinsley finds it ridiculous, Mulder believes that centuries of seclusion could be adequate for such drastic adaptations to happen. Afterwards, Mulder realizes that the creatures presume others' presence in their territory as threatening and rushes to the hotel room where Scully is packing her things. After ascertaining that she is finished packing, he firmly urges her to vacate the room, which she does. The camera then pans under the bed where a pair of red eyes open.[1]
Production[edit]
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz was inspired to write the episode after watching the 1972 American thriller film Deliverance. Spotnitz recounted, "the idea of being stranded in a hostile environment is very interesting to me and so is the idea of something moving the brush that you can't see."[2] Series writer Vince Gilligan contributed to the "team builder" exercise bit. The ending was left intentionally ambiguous. Spotnitz explained, "it's scarier if you think [the monster] could still be out there."[3]
Initially, scenes were filmed at the Seymour Demonstration Forest in North Vancouver. Although the typical shooting time for an episode of The X-Files is eight days, "Detour" took nineteen days to film. Second unit director Brett Dowler later recounted that it "rained every day".[2] This put a strain on the cast and crew because almost every main shot needed was intended to be outdoors in the daylight. Because of the massive delays, changes were made: the actors' schedules were rearranged and Kim Manners was brought in to assist Dowler in finishing the second unit of the episode. Filming later moved to a soundstage to avoid the incessant rain. Spotnitz later noted that "I thought I'd come up with a very simple concept. Literally, one that was easy for the props people and all the other departments."[2]
Initially, it was decided that the antagonists of the episode would be dressed in elaborate "bark suits" so that they would blend into their surroundings. Special effects supervisors Toby Lindala created several elaborate suits made from faux bark. In the end, however, difficulties were so great that the show switched to digital effects. Visual effects supervisor Laurie Kallsen-George was tasked with creating the glowing red eyes. Kallsen-George digitized and blended various "eyeball images"—including shots of her family's dog.[2]
Cultural references[edit]
The plot and nature of the episode bears a striking resemblance to the film Predator (1987), in which a creature that is able to perfectly camouflage itself, almost to the point of complete invisibility, stalks several humans in a dense jungle.[4] While camping in the woods overnight, Scully sings "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night while Mulder rests so that he can know she is awake and on guard.[5] Originally, Scully was supposed to sing "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", a 1949 country song by Hank Williams. However, series creator Chris Carter requested something more "off the wall".[2] Spotnitz, instead, chose "Joy to the World" and later said, "in retrospect, the song was perfect".[2] When talking, Mulder admits that the only time he has ever thought about "seriously dying" was at the Ice Capades.[6]
Reception[edit]
"Detour" premiered on the Fox network on November 23, 1997.[7] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 13.2, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 13.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[8] It was viewed by 22.8 million viewers.[8]
The episode received mixed reviews from critics. IGN named it the seventh best standalone X-Files episode of the entire series. The site called the sequence wherein "Scully holds a wounded Mulder and sings 'Jeremiah was a Bullfrog' [sic]" the "best scene" of the episode and praised the depth of the characters' relationship.[5] Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode an A and called it a "solid" entry in the series.[6] Handlen complimented the episode's cold opening, structure, monster, and the relationship between Mulder and Scully; writing that the "core relationship" between Mulder and Scully "was remarkably strong".[6] He also noted that their conversation in the woods was reminiscent of the third season episode "Quagmire" and was "sweet".[6]
Other reviews were more mixed. John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a 7 out of 10, and wrote "Overall, this episode is a somewhat light-hearted departure from the mythology installments and out-of-continuity flights of fancy that would dominate the early fifth season. While the character-driven moments are a highlight, the actual 'case' is far from special, often digressing from its purpose as a trigger for the character work. In the end, it’s fairly average."[9] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four.[4] She called the scene featuring Scully singing to Mulder "a failed attempt to create 'a special X-Files moment'" and noted that the sequence was "a poor substitute for meaningful dialogue".[4] Vitaris, however, did applaud the guest cast and called the creature's effects "very creepy".[4] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two stars out of five. The two noted that it replicated "Quagmire" too much for its own good and was "satisfied with the intention alone".[10] They reasoned that because "it's so busy telling us how cute the interplay" between Mulder and Scully is, the episode "forgets to make it any good".[10] Shearman and Pearson also called the Spanish conquistador revelation "so utterly left field it feels self-parodic."[10]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 48–58
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 58
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 119
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Collura, Scott, et al (12 May 2008). "IGN's 10 Favorite X-Files Standalone Episodes". IGN. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d Handlen, Zack (28 May 2011). "'Detour'/'Monster'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
7.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
9.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Detour". Critical Myth. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, pp. 127–128
ReferencesHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Detour" on TheXFiles.com
"Detour" at the Internet Movie Database
"Detour" at TV.com
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The Post-Modern Prometheus
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"The Post-Modern Prometheus"
The X-Files episode
Two people are sitting in a car with a grotesque figure in the backseat. The scene is entirely in black and white footage.
Scully (left) and Mulder (right) take The Great Mutato (center) to a Cher concert. The episode was filmed in black-and-white, in a stylistic nod to the 1931 film Frankenstein.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 5
Directed by
Chris Carter
Written by
Chris Carter
Production code
5X06[1]
Original air date
November 30, 1997
Running time
46 minutes[2]
Guest actors
Tracey Bell as Cher
Lloyd Berry as Old Man Pollidori
Stewart Gale as Izzy Berkowitz
Chris Giacoletti as Booger
Dana Grahame as Reporter
Jean-Yves Hammel as Izzy's Friend
C. Ernst Harth as Huge Man
Vitaliy Kravchenko as JJ
John O'Hurley as Dr. Francis Pollidori
Chris Owens as The Great Mutato
Xantha Radley as Waitress
Miriam Smith as Elizabeth Pollidori
Jerry Springer as Himself
Pattie Tierce as Shaineh Berkowitz
Jean-Yves Hammel as Goat Boy[3]
Episode chronology
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"Detour" Next →
"Christmas Carol"
List of The X-Files episodes
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files and originally aired on the Fox network on November 30, 1997. Written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, "The Post-Modern Prometheus" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" episode, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the overarching mythology of The X-Files. "The Post-Modern Prometheus" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.5, being watched by 18.68 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. The episode was nominated for seven awards at the 1998 Emmys and won one. The entry generally received positive reviews; some reviewers called it a classic, whereas others described it as the most striking stand-alone episode of the show's fifth season.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully was initially assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate reports of a mysterious creature that has impregnated a middle-aged woman. They find that the "monster", nicknamed The Great Mutato, is the genetic creation of a Frankenstein-like doctor. The Great Mutato is at first ostracized, but later accepted, by his community.
Carter's story draws heavily on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and particularly on James Whale's 1931 film version of the story. The script had been written specifically with singer Cher and actress Roseanne Barr in mind, but both were unavailable at the time of shooting. Talk-show host Jerry Springer appeared as himself, and Chris Owens—who appeared in later episodes as FBI agent Jeffrey Spender—played The Great Mutato. The episode was filmed in black-and-white, with a sky backdrop created to imitate the style of old Frankenstein films. Owens wore makeup and prosthetics that took several hours to apply.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Conception
2.2 Casting
2.3 Filming
2.4 Music and cultural references
3 Themes
4 Broadcast and reception 4.1 Ratings and accolades
4.2 Critical response
5 Notes
6 References 6.1 Footnotes
6.2 Bibliography
7 External links
Plot[edit]
The episode begins in the guise of a comic book; FBI special agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) receives a letter from Shaineh Berkowitz (Pattie Tierce), a single mother who claims to have been mysteriously impregnated, while unconscious, by an unknown presence 18 years ago, resulting in the birth of her son, Izzy (Stewart Gale). Now, following a similarly unexplained attack, she is pregnant again. She has heard about Mulder's expertise in the paranormal from The Jerry Springer Show and wants him to investigate. Mulder and his partner, special agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), travel to rural Indiana. They meet Shaineh and her son Izzy and learn that the description of the creature that attacked her, with a lumpy head and two mouths, is very similar to a comic book character invented by Izzy. His monstrous creation, called The Great Mutato, is inspired by a mysterious creature that has been seen by many of the locals. Izzy and his friends take the agents to a wooded area where they see Mutato (Chris Owens) from a distance.
They meet an old man who angrily tells them that there are no monsters and sends them to see his son, a genetic scientist named Francis Pollidori (John O'Hurley). Dr. Pollidori shows them his experiments on Drosophila, which include a fly with legs growing out of its mouth. He tells the agents that the same kind of experiment could, in theory, be performed on humans. Afterward, Mulder tells Scully that he believes that Dr. Pollidori, acting as a modern-day Victor Frankenstein, has created The Great Mutato. Later, Dr. Pollidori's wife Elizabeth (Miriam Smith) is knocked unconscious and is attacked in the same manner as Shaineh. At the crime scene, Mulder and Scully find a chemical residue from an agricultural agent used to anesthetize animals, which leads them to suspect Dr. Pollidori's father, who is a farmer. Dr. Pollidori comes to his father's house, angrily confronts him, and murders him. Later, Mutato, who lives with Pollidori Sr., finds his dead body and tearfully buries it in a barn.
Mulder and Scully go looking for Pollidori Sr. and find a shallow grave and photographs of the dead man with Mutato. Meanwhile, Dr. Pollidori leads an angry mob of townspeople to his father's house, demanding that Mulder and Scully turn the alleged murderer over to them. The agents find Mutato hiding in the basement as the crowd gathers upstairs. Someone accidentally sets the barn alight and in the ensuing confusion, the mob realize that the agents are protecting the monster in the basement. Mutato speaks to the crowd and explains that he was created 25 years before, and that he is the result of a genetic experiment by Dr. Pollidori. Unbeknown to his son, Pollidori Sr. rescued Mutato and cared for him, but was unable to provide a friend or a mate for the boy. The old man attempted to emulate his scientist son's experiments, and tried to create hybrids from his farm animals. Mutato asks Dr. Pollidori to create a female companion for him, but the scientist says that he cannot—that Mutato was a mistake. The townspeople realize that The Great Mutato is not a monster after all and Dr. Pollidori is arrested for the murder of his father. Mulder feels that it is unjust for Mutato not to get a mate and so he demands to see the writer: Izzy. In a fanciful,[4] if not imagined,[5] scene, Mulder and Scully take matters into their own hands and take Mutato, along with the townspeople, to a Cher concert. The episode ends with a shot of Mulder and Scully dancing, which slowly turns back into the comic book seen at the beginning of the episode.[3]
Production[edit]
Conception[edit]
The title page for the original pressing of Frankenstein.
The episode was heavily inspired by Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.
Going into the fifth season of The X-Files, series creator Chris Carter noted, "we knew we were going to be hitting these very dramatic marks which were the mythology episodes, and we wanted to lighten, or leaven, the season with quirky episodes."[6] Carter wanted to write a Frankenstein-inspired episode, but found it difficult to reconcile Mary Shelley's unbelievable tale with the style of the show. To achieve his vision, he wrote a script that blurred the real world with the X-Files reality and that had a distinct fantasy element.[7] Carter combined elements of the original story with fairy tales and elements of folk tales.[6] In order to make the episode "as moving" as possible, Carter sought to echo elements of James Whale's 1931 film version of Frankenstein.[7] He later noted that, by "using modern science, I took an old style, which is black and white, and an old approach, which is a kind of James Whale approach to science fiction, and came up with a story about a love-lorn monster".[6]
The idea for the genetic engineering story was developed with the help of the series' science adviser, Anne Simon. Carter visited a friend of Simon, a scientist at Indiana University in Bloomington, who had been able to genetically manipulate flies so that they grew legs from their eyes.[8] After Carter had created the character of The Great Mutato, he discovered that cartoonist Matt Groening had already created a character with the same name—although with different pronunciation—for a comic book entry of The Simpsons. Carter contacted Groening, who gave Carter permission to use the name.[8] Like two-thirds of the episodes of the series, "The Post-Modern Prometheus" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" episode, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the overarching mythology of The X-Files.[9]
Casting[edit]
A picture of a red-headed woman, Cher.
Cher's music plays a large role in this episode, which Chris Carter wrote for her.
After spending a summer listening to pop singer Cher's music, Carter became fixated on her songs and wrote "The Post-Modern Prometheus" specifically for her. He knew Cher through her sister, a fan of The X-Files, and soon learned that Cher was interested in appearing on the show. Comedy actress Roseanne Barr also expressed an interest, and Carter wrote the part of Shaineh Berkowitz specifically for her. Barr, however, was unavailable at the time of shooting and was replaced by Pattie Tierce.[8] Cher, too, proved unavailable. However, sympathetic to the show's plight, she allowed her music to be used and celebrity impersonator Tracey Bell to appear in her stead.[6] Following the episode's premiere, fans speculated on the internet on whether Cher had actually appeared in the episode.[10] Tabloid talk show host Jerry Springer appeared as himself. These casting choices went against a long-standing tradition on The X-Files of only casting actors who were not well-known.[7]
Seinfeld regular John O'Hurley had auditioned for several roles on the show but Carter had not previously thought of him as "an X-Files actor". For the part of Dr. Pollidori, however, Carter considered him "the absolute perfect casting choice".[8] Stewart Gale, who played Izzy Berkowitz, was a non-actor who was sitting on the back of a truck when Carter passed. Carter convinced Gale's father—who was initially suspicious of the director's credentials—to let Gale travel to Vancouver to take part in the episode.[8] The characters of Izzy's friends were also played by inexperienced actors. One was a snake handler on the set of The X-Files feature film—the shooting of which overlapped that of season five—and the other worked at a Vancouver coffee shop that Carter frequented.[7]
The Great Mutato was played by Chris Owens, unrecognizable in heavy makeup. Owens had played a younger version of The Smoking Man in two episodes of season four and was later cast as the recurring character of FBI special agent Jeffrey Spender.[7] During his audition, Owens noted, "Chris said, 'Okay, did you ever see Elephant Man? ... What I'm looking for is dignity. He's got dignity. But he's definitely mutated'".[11] After Owens heeded Carter's instructions and attempted to bring dignity to the audition, Carter requested that he try it again "with less autism".[11]
Filming[edit]
The image shows a cross-section of a wide-angle lens.
Director Chris Carter shot the episode using a wide-angle lens.
The first five seasons of The X-Files, including "The Post-Modern Prometheus", were filmed in Vancouver.[12] It was the third episode of the program that Carter directed;[13] He decided to film the episode in black-and-white—in homage to James Whale—which brought more challenges than he expected. The director of photography, Joel Ransom, had to spend longer than usual lighting each scene because of the grayscale. The stormy skies in the episode, added to emulate the atmosphere of old Frankenstein movies, were a visual effect. Carter also used a wide-angle camera lens throughout the episode, which forced the actors to act directly to the camera, rather than to each other. According to Carter, it also enabled him to give scenes in the episode a more surreal staging than was usual for the show.[8]
The makeup for the character of The Great Mutato was designed and created by special effects supervisor Tony Lindala. The Mutato mask went through several design iterations on paper, including 10–15 drawings and a color rendition.[14] Constructed from latex, and containing an articulated second mouth, it cost $40,000 and took between five and seven hours to apply. In addition to the mask, Chris Owens wore contact lenses and dentures.[14] Owens later recalled that "the makeup had taken seven hours, and then I had sat around for three or four. And now I was going to sit in the dark, and I could only see out of one eye. They put a big contact lens in."[11] Initial versions of the costume were deemed "too human looking" and so a newer design was chosen.[14]
Lindala also created "Baby Mutato" costumes for the twin infants featured in the The Jerry Springer Show scene, but the production crew had difficulty keeping the costumes on the children. Lindala later said, "[t]he little babies kept tearing their hair off, we kept gluing it back on".[8] Lindala was happy that the episode was filmed in black and white because it helped "the prosthetic [due to the fact that] it is difficult to work in a foam piece that long and not recognize it as a painted, opaque, false translucency."[14] Lindala later called the filming technique the "saving grace" of the episode. In addition, he later submitted his makeup for the episode to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in an attempt to be nominated for an Emmy Award.[14]
Music and cultural references[edit]
The episode was scored by series composer Mark Snow, and was, according to him, his best episode score of the fifth season. He described the main theme as "a very dark, macabre, insidious sort of nasty waltz".[7] The episode's main theme is also greatly inspired by The Elephant Man's theme song by John Morris. Three songs are heard in the versions sung by Cher during the episode: "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves" and "Walking in Memphis". The latter is played at the end of the episode when the agents take The Great Mutato to a Cher concert.[4] In the episode, the character watches Cher's 1985 movie Mask, and derives comfort from the loving relationship between Cher's character and her son, who has a disfiguring genetic bone disorder.[5] At the end of the episode, Mulder and Scully take The Great Mutato from his small town to a Cher concert, where she picks him out of the crowd to dance.[4]
The episode contains several cultural references. First, the episode's title is a reference to both the subtitle for Shelley's original novel, The Modern Prometheus, and to the postmodernist school of thought.[8][15] Postmodernism has been described as a "style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, [that] is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories."[16] Furthermore, the Frankenstein-like doctor shares the name—albeit with a slightly different spelling—of Shelley's contemporary, John William Polidori, who was present at the conception of her novel.[17] Several lines in the episode come directly from James Whale's 1931 movie Frankenstein.[8]
Themes[edit]
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" is the most obvious reference to Frankenstein made by the series, although traces of the story are seen elsewhere, in the first season episode "Young at Heart", the sixth season episode "The Beginning". In addition, the series' overreaching mythology revolves around shadowy Syndicate leaders who salvage alien spacecraft for their own technological use and create human-alien hybrids.[18][19] The episode contains themes relating to motherhood and sexuality. According to film studies writer Linda Badley, this episode, and season four's "Home", foreshadow Scully's impending motherhood and her realization, in following episodes "Christmas Carol" and "Emily", that she has been used to create a human-alien hybrid, Emily.[19] Diane Negra, in her book Off-White Hollywood: American Culture and Ethnic Female Stardom, points out that while The Great Mutato impregnates both Shaineh Berkowitz and Elizabeth Pollidori without their consent or knowledge, it is "an oversimplification" to label the monster as a rapist, because both Berkowitz and Pollidori "desire for children through unconventional means".[10] Thus, Mutato's acts allow for the two women to get what they desperately desire in a moment of "magical resolution".[10]
Eric Bumpus and Tim Moranville, in their book Cease Fire, the War Is Over!, propose that the episode—and by extension, the series as a whole—is a rejection of "modernity's naturalism" and an acceptance of "post-modernity's mystic supernaturalism".[20] The two argue that, while in stereotypical "great science fiction", the monster created usually goes amuck, in "The Post-Modern Prometheus", the creature is "a lovable success".[20] Furthermore, the Indiana townspeople represent "the religious nuts [who] in the end ... turn out to be right".[20] Bumpus and Moranville consider them the "secondary heroes" of the episode, right after The Great Mutato himself.[20]
Despite her physical absence from the entry, Cher's presence can be felt throughout the narrative.[21] Negra argues that Cher's "flamboyant and self-authored body" is used as a metaphor for "the possibility of self-transformation".[10][21] In addition, her voice, heard via songs like "Walking in Memphis", is associated with the idea of "circumvent[ing] patriarchy."[10] Negra notes that Cher's music is used in scenes during The Great Mutato's sexual encounters with woman. Negra asserts that "this juxtaposition of sound and image cues our perception that we have entered the realm of carnival where the normal order of things is inverted."[10] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club reasons that the ending was not the actual conclusion of the episode, but rather the fanciful and elaborate happy ending that was concocted by Izzy Berkowitz, the writer of the comic book, after talking to Mulder. In this manner, VanDerWeff notes, "the episode abandons logic and reality and, for lack of a better word, transcends."[4] Meghan Deans from Tor.com postulates that the entire episode never happened "[f]rom a canonical perspective" due to the entry's comic book setting, the various meta-references and the "happy ending".[5]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
The picture shows several people sitting at a table. The one in the center has white hair and is looking up.
Chris Carter was nominated for an award by the Directors Guild of America.
Ratings and accolades[edit]
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" was first broadcast in the United States on November 30, 1997, on the Fox network, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on March 29, 1998, on Sky One.[7][22][23] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.5, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 11.5 percent of all television-equipped households and 16 percent of households watching television were tuned in. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States. It was viewed by 18.68 million viewers.[24] "The Post-Modern Prometheus" was the eleventh most watched television program for the week ending November 30.[25] The episode was nominated for seven awards at the 1998 Emmys by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.[26][nb 1] Graeme Murray, Greg Loewen and Shirley Inget won the award for Outstanding Art Direction.[26] Carter was also nominated for an award for Outstanding Directing by the Directors Guild of America.[26]
Critical response[edit]
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" has generally received positive reviews from critics since its original broadcast, although some felt that the episode's plot was weak. Mike Duffy, a Knight Ridder correspondent, wrote a largely positive article on the episode, noting that although the episode was special, this did not make it feel like a gimmick. He wrote, "when most shows blow promotional smoke about 'a very special episode,' it's best to check the Hollywood Hype-O-Meter for wretched, excessive buzzing [but] what sounds like a gimmick—'a very special black-and-white episode' loosely based on the horror movie classic Frankenstein actually turns out to be a ripping good ride on 'X-Files' creator Chris Carter's wigged-out storytelling train."[27] A review from the Mobile Register wrote that "Like the very best X-Files episodes, this one combines a generous amount of humor with its horror."[28] In a review of the entire fifth season, Michael Sauter of Entertainment Weekly said that "The Post-Modern Prometheus" was the "most striking" of the season's stand-alone episodes.[29] Todd VanDerWerff awarded the episode with an "A" grade,[4] and, despite noting the silliness of the story and the fact that most of the characters function as stereotypes, wrote that "'Prometheus' just works".[4] In a 2000 review of season five for the New Straits Times, Francis Dass called "The Post-Modern Prometheus" a "fun episode".[30]
Lionel Green of the Sand Mountain Reporter named the entry the greatest episode of the series and called the ending "one of the most uplifting finales in the series."[31] Writing for the Daily News, Eric Mink gave the episode a rating of four stars and praised it as an outstanding episode in a weak early fifth season of the show. He said that the two leads acted flawlessly and that Chris Owens' performance as The Great Mutato was especially touching. He concluded that, "[w]ith Shelley's classic as inspiration, Carter and company have created a classic of their own."[32] Elaine Linere from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times called the episode "brilliantly written" and named it "a classic among many for this always-intriguing, ever-inventive series." She particularly praised the "heart-tugging, romantic" ending.[33] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe called the episode "a memorable X-Files from start to finish", due in part to its "extraordinary visual flair" and "atmospheric black and white" footage.[15] Furthermore, Gilbert positively critiqued Carter's writing and directing, saying he "keeps his balance between drama, low-key humor, [and] allusive wit".[15] Margaret Lyons of New York called the entry "one of the great TV episodes of all time".[34] Connie Ogle from The Miami Herald named The Great Mutato one of "the greatest monsters" that were featured on The X-Files.[35]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two stars out of five and criticized various elements of the episode's direction. They wrote, "Chris Carter the writer has come up with something playful and light and charming. And Chris Carter the director has stamped all over it and made it so arch and obvious and dull that it kills it stone dead."[36] Shearman and Pearson praised the idea of "a town which feels like an X-Files audience", but derided the episode's comic book setting and wrote that "this play on post-modernism just doesn't make any sense [in that format, because] a comic has action, a way of jumping from frame to frame ... this is languorous and self-indulgent."[36] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately negative review and awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four.[37] She wrote that the episode "falls flatter than the chemical pancakes used to anesthetize the victims of this episode" due to its "collection of situations and observances that bear little relation to each other."[37] Vitaris also criticized the scene wherein various characters are compared to animals, and commented, "the mean spiritedness of [the plot] is mind-boggling".[37] Finally, she called the episode's conclusion a "false ending".[37]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The complete nominations included nods for Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Art Direction, Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Single-Picture Editing, Outstanding Makeup, Outstanding Music Composition, and Outstanding Art Direction.[26]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "The Post-Modern Prometheus". XFiles.com. Fox Broadcasting Company. 30 November 1997. Archived from the original on 23 November 2001. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
2.Jump up ^ "The X-Files, Season 5". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp. 72–84.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f VanDerWerff, Todd (16 April 2011). "'The Post-Modern Prometheus'/'A Single Blade of Grass' | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club (The Onion). Retrieved 18 February 2012.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Deans, Meghan (23 August 2012). "Reopening The X-Files – 'The Post-Modern Prometheus'". Tor.com. Tor Books. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d Carter, Chris, et al. (1999). The Truth Behind Season 5 (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Meisler (1999), pp. 84–85.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Carter, Chris (2005). Audio Commentary for "The Post-Modern Prometheus" (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
9.Jump up ^ Koven (2010), p. 339.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Negra (2001), p. 177.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), p. 119.
12.Jump up ^ Meisler (2000), pp. 18–19.
13.Jump up ^ Carter, Bill (19 November 1997). "TV Notes; 'X-Files' Tries Frankenstein". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 11 June 2010.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Fischer, Dennis (October 1998). "The Great Lindala". Cinefantastique 31 (7/8): 39.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c Gilbert, Matthew (29 November 1997). "'The X-Files' Meets 'Frankenstein'". The Boston Globe (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 1 September 2012.(subscription required)
16.Jump up ^ "Definition of postmodernism". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
17.Jump up ^ Koven (2010), p. 341.
18.Jump up ^ Lacy (2004), p. 63.
19.^ Jump up to: a b Badley (2000), pp. 82–84.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c d Bumpus and Moranville (2005), p. 112.
21.^ Jump up to: a b Negra (2001), p. 176.
22.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al. (1997–98) (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
23.Jump up ^ CornellCornell et al (1998), p. 390
24.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), p. 284.
25.Jump up ^ "Prime-Time Ratings". The Orange County Register (Freedom Communications). 3 December 1997. Retrieved 20 March 2012. (subscription required)
26.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler (1999), p. 282.
27.Jump up ^ Duffy, Mike (29 November 1997). "Special 'X-Files' Episode Just That". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Knight Ridder). pp. A8. Retrieved 20 March 2012. (subscription required)
28.Jump up ^ "'X-Files' Spoofs Horror Classics". Mobile Register (Advance Publications). 30 November 1997. p. 8. Retrieved 20 March 2012. (subscription required)
29.Jump up ^ Sauter, Michael (14 May 2002). "The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season". Entertainment Weekly (Time Inc.). Retrieved 11 June 2010.
30.Jump up ^ Dass, Francis (20 April 2000). "A Late 'X-Files' Collection". New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press). Retrieved 29 July 2010.
31.Jump up ^ Green, Lionel (22 July 2008). "'The X-Files' Was a Rare Magic". Sand Mountain Reporter (Southern Newspapers). Retrieved 1 September 2012.(subscription required)
32.Jump up ^ Mink, Eric (27 November 1997). "'X-Files' is Still a Monster". Daily News (Mortimer Zuckerman). Retrieved 11 June 2010.
33.Jump up ^ Liner, Elaine (29 November 1997). "'X-Files' Marks the Spot Once Again – Tale of Alien Encounter Proves Show's Classiness". Corpus Christi Caller-Times (E. W. Scripps Company). Retrieved 20 March 2012. (subscription required)
34.Jump up ^ Lyons, Margaret (30 July 2012). "Breaking Bad's Biggest X-Files Allusion Yet". New York (New York Media, LLC). Retrieved 29 August 2012.
35.Jump up ^ Ogle, Connie (25 July 2008). "The X-Factor: As 'I Want to Believe' Hits Theaters, We Look Back at 'The X-Files' Greatest Monsters". The Miami Herald (The McClatchy Company). Retrieved 1 September 2012.(subscription required)
36.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson (2009), pp. 128–129.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
Bibliography[edit]
Badley, Linda (2000). "Scully Hits the Glass Ceiling: Postmodernism, Postfeminism, Posthumanism and The X-Files". In Helford, Elyce Rae. Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780847698356.
Bumpus, Eric; Moranville, Tim (2005). Cease Fire, The War Is Over!. Xulon Press. ISBN 9781597815826.
Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin, Topping, Keith (1998). X-Treme Possibilities. Virgin Publications, Ltd. ISBN 9780753502280.
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 9781933784724.
Koven, Mikel J. (2010). "The X-Files". In Lavery, David. The Essential Cult TV Reader. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813125688.
Lacy, Cherilyn (2004). "Women and Mad Science: Women as Witnesses to the Scientific Re-Creation of Humanity". In Bartter, Martha A. The Utopian Fantastic: Selected Essays From the Twentieth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Westport: Praeger. ISBN 9780313316357.
Meisler, Andy (2000). The End and the Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061075957.
Meisler, Andy (1999). Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061073090.
Negra, Diane (2001). Off-White Hollywood: American Culture and Ethnic Female Stardom. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415216784.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 9780975944691.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The X-Files
Portal icon Television portal
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" at XFiles.com
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" at TV.com
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Categories: 1997 television episodes
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Christmas Carol (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
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"Christmas Carol"
The X-Files episode
Christmas Carol TXF.jpg
Melissa and Dana Scully open presents on Christmas in a flashback. Gillian Anderson's younger sister Zoë was chosen to play Scully in the sequence.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 6
Directed by
Peter Markle
Written by
Vince Gilligan
John Shiban
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X05
Original air date
December 7, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr.
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Karri Turner as Tara Scully
John Pyper-Ferguson as Detective Kresge
Rob Freeman as Marshall Sim
Lauren Diewold as Emily Sim
Melinda McGraw as Melissa Scully
Joey Shea as Dana Scully (1968)
Ryan de Boer as Bill Scully Jr. (1968)
Zoë Anderson as Dana Scully (1976)
Rebecca Codling as Melissa Scully (1976)
Gerard Plunkett as Dr. Ernest Calderon
Patricia Dahlquist as Susan Chambliss
Walter Marsh as Pathologist
Jo-Anne Fernandez as Forensic Technician
Dan Shea as Deputy
Gregor Sneddon as FBI Courier
Eric Breker as Dark Suited Man #1
Stephen Mendel as Dark Suited Man #2[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" Next →
"Emily"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Christmas Carol" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Peter Markle. It aired in the United States on December 7, 1997 on the Fox network. "Christmas Carol" earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.8, being watched by 20.91 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received moderately positive reviewers from television critics, with many complimenting Gillian Anderson's performance.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully, on Christmas vacation with her family, receives a mysterious phone call that leads her to a case involving a little girl that she believes to be the daughter of her dead sister, Melissa.
"Christmas Carol" is the first of a two-part story that concludes with episode seven, "Emily". The episode was inspired by the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim. The young actress who originally played Emily was terrified of the hospital setting in the episode's sequel "Emily", and as a result the producers had to recast the role and reshoot all footage featuring her including her scene featured in this episode. Gillian Anderson's younger sister, Zoë, was chosen to play Scully in a flashback sequence.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her mother visit her brother Bill and his pregnant wife Tara around Christmas time. Scully answers the phone, and the person on the other line, who sounds just like her dead sister Melissa, tells her that someone needs her help. Scully traces the call to a nearby home in San Diego where a group of cops are investigating the suicide of a woman, Roberta Sim. The lead detective, Kresge, tells Scully that it was impossible for Roberta to have dialed, as she died before the telephone call was made. That night after dinner Scully reveals to her mother that due to her abduction and cancer she is unable to bear children. Scully flashes back to when as a child, she hid her pet rabbit from her brother in a lunchbox, only for it to suffocate and die. Scully receives another telephone call from the same person on her cell phone, which was once again made from the Sim home. Roberta's husband, Marshall, is meeting with two dark-suited men inside his house and has no desire to listen to and help Scully figure out what is going on.
Scully visits Kresge, wanting to look further into Roberta Sim's suicide, despite the fact that the police think it is a simple suicide. Scully finds a striking resemblance between the Sims' daughter, Emily, and her sister Melissa from when she was that age. Scully flashes back to a funeral she attended when she was a little girl but imagines Marshall Sim holding her hand. Scully insists on performing an autopsy on Roberta, thinking that she was murdered. Scully finds a needle puncture in Roberta's foot, causing her to believe that she was anesthetized and her suicide was staged. The police search the Sim's house and find a used hypodermic needle, which Marshall claims was used for injecting the anemic Emily with treatment. Scully spots the dark-suited men watching from a nearby car. Scully receives DNA data on Melissa, and matching it up to Emily's finds them nearly identical, causing her to believe that Emily is Melissa's daughter. Scully believes that Melissa gave birth to her while on the west coast and gave her up for adoption without ever telling the rest of the family. Scully flashes back to when she and Melissa were teenagers and were given cross necklaces from their mother for Christmas.
Kresge comes to see Scully, telling her that the Sims received several large payments from a pharmaceutical company, Prangen Industries. The two visit Dr. Calderon, who tells them that Emily was part of clinical trials and that Roberta was paid the money to keep her from pulling Emily from the program. Marshall Sim is arrested for the murder of his wife. Scully visits Emily and gives her the cross necklace. Marshall confesses soon after, but is found dead in his cell shortly after being visited by the two dark-suited men. Bill shows Scully a photo of Melissa shortly before Emily was born, which he thinks proves that she isn't Emily's mother. Scully meets with someone from an adoptive agency, wanting to adopt Emily. The woman is very hesitant considering Scully's job and the fact that Emily is a special needs child. Scully flashes back to talking with Melissa around Christmas time shortly before she joined the FBI. On Christmas morning Scully receives the results of a DNA test from the FBI proving that Melissa is not Emily's mother—she is.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
During the second week of October 1997, David Duchovny was scheduled to be away from Vancouver for promotional purposes for the movie Playing God. As a result, the producers delayed shooting of the episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus" and developed a Scully-centric episode to take its place in the queue. With the episode scheduled to air during December, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz decided to craft a Christmas episode and put Dana Scully into a situation similar to that of Scrooge in the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim. After failing to write an episode paralleling that story, the writers decided instead to feature Scully being visited by earlier versions of herself, resulting in the flashback sequences appearing in the episode. They also decided to have her be taken on an emotional journey by her descendent.[2]
Filming[edit]
The young actress who originally played Emily was terrified of the hospital setting in the episode's sequel "Emily", and as a result the producers had to recast the role and reshoot all footage featuring her including her scene featured in this episode. The show's casters replaced her with Lauren Diewold, who had previously appeared on an episode of Millennium. Due to the show's shooting schedule, the producers were unable to use Gillian Anderson to reshoot the necessary scenes in "Christmas Carol", resulting in Anderson's double being used instead, with the footage pieced together in the editing room.[3]
Props specialist Ken Hawryliw claimed the biggest challenge in producing the episode was finding Christmas paper from the 1980s for the flashback sequences.[2] Casting director Corrine Mays had difficulty finding an actress to play Dana Scully's 1976 self before executive producer Robert Goodwin came up with the idea of using Gillian Anderson's fourteen-year-old sister Zoë for the role. Gillian Anderson, while liking the finalized episode, believed that she never was able to capture the complex relationship between herself and Emily, stating: "I felt in the end that I was a little low energy, a little too melancholy. It was hard to find the right attitude for Scully in dealing with a child that's apparently hers; to find the right flavor of relationship to her and this disease she's going through, all mixed up with the aspect of the paranormal." Anderson also admitted that another issue she had was that "she had no history with this child" so she was unable to "play the kind of attachment I would feel if my own daughter, Piper, were going through the same thing.[2]
Reception[edit]
"Christmas Carol" premiered on the Fox network on December 7, 1997.[4] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.8, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 12.8 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[5] It was viewed by 20.91 million viewers.[5]
Several critics complimented Gillian Anderson's performance in the episode.
The episode received moderately positive reviews from television critics. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode an A and called it "generally a terrific episode".[6] Handlen wrote that he was "delighted to get another Scully-centric episode [especially] one that doesn't end up with her looking pale and deathly in a hospital bed."[6] Despite his approval of the script, he slightly criticized the series for writing Scully-centric episodes based solely on the idea that "something is being done to her" as opposed to against or with her.[6] John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a 8 out of 10, and wrote "Overall, this episode was an interesting and uncommon in-depth look at Scully's psychology. The writers rarely had such an opportunity, and along with Gillian Anderson, they run with the opportunity. The religious metaphor is a bit thick throughout, but this is actually a bit more subtle than would become the norm. Making the child sick works for the mythology, but in a lot of ways, it seems like a plot contrivance."[7]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four-and-a-half stars out of five. The two wrote that the script was "really sharp" and features "natural dialogue" that disguises the stumbles in the character study.[8] Shearman and Pearson also praised Anderson's performance, calling it "terrific" and noted that her acting "hint[ed] years before it happens to the relationship Anderson will enjoy with Robert Patrick", the actor who would go on to portray agent John Doggett.[8] Matt Hurwtiz and Chris Knowles, in their book The Complete X-Files called the episode "a showcase for Gillian Anderson's startling acting chops."[9]
Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique, on the other hand, gave the episode a negative review and awarded it one-a-half stars out of four.[10] She described the episode as "one [where] disbelief isn't suspended so much as hung by the neck until dead".[10] She heavily derided the episode's "overnight DNA tests", "helpful couriers that deliver the results at Christmas", and the fact that Scully fills out an adoption paper and is visited by a Social Service agent on Christmas Eve.
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 61–70
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler, pp. 70–71
3.Jump up ^ Meisler, p. 97
4.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack (23 April 2011). "'The Curse of Frank Black'/'Christmas Carol'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Christmas Carol". Critical Myth. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 128
9.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 121
10.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
ReferencesHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1-933784-72-5.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Christmas Carol" on TheXFiles.com
"Christmas Carol" at the Internet Movie Database
"Christmas Carol" at TV.com
[hide]
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Season 5
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"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
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"The Red and the Black"·
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Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
Christmas television episodes
1997 television episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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This page was last modified on 16 October 2013 at 05:01.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
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Emily (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Emily"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 7
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Vince Gilligan
John Shiban
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X07
Original air date
December 14, 1997
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr.
Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Karri Turner as Tara Scully
Lauren Diewold as Emily Sim
Patricia Dahlquist as Susan Chambliss
Gerard Plunkett as Dr. Ernest Calderon
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
John Pyper-Ferguson as Detective Kresge
David Abbott as Judge Maibaum
Bob Morrisey as Dr. Vinet
Sheila Patterson as Anna Fugazzi
Eric Breker as Dark Suited Man #1
Stephen Mendel as Dark Suited Man #2
Mia Ingimundsen as Nurse
Tanya Huse as Medical Technician
Donny Lucas as Hyperbolic Technician[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Christmas Carol" Next →
"Kitsunegari"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Emily" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Kim Manners. It aired in the United States on December 14, 1997 on the Fox network. "Christmas Carol" earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.4, being watched by 20.94 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully fights to protect her daughter’s life, while Mulder discovers her true origins. It is eventually discovered that Emily was created during Scully's abduction. Emily suffers from a tumorous infection and subsequently dies.
"Emily" is the second of a two-part story that began with episode six, "Christmas Carol". The young actress who originally played Emily was terrified of the hospital setting in the episode's sequel "Emily", and as a result the producers had to recast the role and reshoot all footage featuring her including her scene featured in this episode. Filming for the episode was also disrupted when angry demonstrators protested at one of the show's filming sites.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In a dream-like sequence Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) walks through a desert and picks up a gold cross necklace on the ground. Continuing from the previous episode, agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) arrives at the hospital in San Diego where Scully introduces him to Emily. Mulder tells Scully that Frohike has found that Emily's surrogate mother is a woman named Anna Fugazzi (slang for fake), and that there are no true records of how Emily came into the world. Mulder, along with Scully's family, attend a meeting regarding Emily's adoption at the San Diego Hall of Justice. Mulder tells the Judge that Emily was conceived from Scully's ova, which was taken from her during her abduction, which the Judge doubted on believing. Later, Scully receives an abandoned call from the County Children's Center, and she and Mulder head there, where they find Emily safe, but coming down with a fever. They find a greenish cyst on the back of Emily's neck. Later, when a nurse pierces the cyst with a needle, green liquid comes out, causing her to become gravely ill. Emily appears unaffected. Mulder believes that Emily has the same body chemistry that they have seen before with alien-human hybrids.
Dr. Calderon, Emily's doctor who works for a company called Prangen, refuses to transfer Emily's medical records to the County Children's Center, causing Mulder to visit him and rough him up when he refuses to do anything. Later Mulder follows Calderon after he leaves his office. Scully has imaging tests conducted on Emily. Calderon goes to see the Dark Suited Men, one of whom kills him by stabbing him in the neck with a stiletto. Both men morph into Calderon. Mulder follows as one of them leaves. The results of Emily's tests show her to be suffering from a tumorous infection. The other Calderon arrives at the hospital and injects Emily with an unknown green substance. He escapes by morphing into someone else. Scully believes that he is trying to continue the treatments and that the Sims were murdered because they were trying to stop him. Mulder heads to a building he saw Calderon enter, where he meets Anna Fugazzi, an elderly woman in a nursing home.
The doctor tells Scully that Emily is getting worse. A woman from the adoption agency arrives and wants to stop Scully from making decisions for Emily. Mulder connects the names of the women in the nursing home to recent births and finds that Dr. Calderon was treating them. Emily suffers from a terrible reaction after being placed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Mulder finds medical records with Scully's name on them at the nursing home, along with a live fetus in a refrigerated chamber. Mulder finds Calderon entering soon after, and Detective Kresge arrives as well. Mulder and Kresge confront Calderon, and Calderon attacks Kresge. Kresge reacts to the attack by aiming his gun at Calderon. Mulder warns Kresge not to shoot Calderon, but he does not obey. Calderon's gunshot wounds cause him to spew green blood which incapacitates Kresge. Mulder quickly leaves the building to avoid being affected by the blood. Calderon morphs into Kresge, and deceives Mulder and escapes. Mulder returns to the hospital, where Emily has gone into a coma. Days later Emily has died. Mulder visits Scully at the funeral chapel, telling her that Kresge is recovering and all evidence at the nursing home and Prangen is gone. The only evidence left is Emily's body, but the agents instead find sand bags in her coffin along with Scully's cross necklace, which she had previously given to Emily.[1]
Production[edit]
The young actress who originally played Emily was terrified of the hospital setting in this episode, and as a result the producers had to recast the role and reshoot all footage featuring her in the previous episode "Christmas Carol".[2] Director Kim Manners recalls, "I called Bob Goodwin and said, 'We're dead in the water here, pal. This little actress is not cooperating at all'. We recast that role and started up again the next day."[3] The show's casters replaced her with Lauren Diewold, who had previously appeared on an episode of Millennium. Due to the show's shooting schedule, the producers were unable to use Gillian Anderson to reshoot the previous episode's scenes, resulting in Anderson's double being used instead, with the footage pieced together in the editing room.[2]
The building used for the nursing home in this episode was picketed by anti-redevelopment protesters due to the building being converted into a condominium complex. As a result the producers kept a low profile by removing all X-Files insignia from their clothing. A number of protestors still arrived, forcing the police to get involved.[2]
Reception[edit]
"Emily" premiered on the Fox network on December 14, 1997.[4] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.4, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 12.4 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[5] It was viewed by 20.94 million viewers.[5]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics; many were more critical of the episode than "Christmas Carol". Todd VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club gave the episode an B and wrote that he did not "totally buy “Emily” […] even though I like large portions of" the episode.[6] VanDerWerff wrote positively of "most of the Scully scenes", noting that Anderson "found some of the raw sense of hope and loss" that the shots required.[6] However, he was critical of the episode's plot, arguing that it only "goes through the motions" and "is about everybody getting really worked up over a little girl we’ve just met."[6] He concluded that "two-parter is strongest when it grabs hold of this notion. But it’s at its weakest when it turns into just another episode of The X-Files."[6] John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a 7 out of 10, and wrote "Overall, this episode was not as strong as the previous installment, largely due to the shift from in-depth character exploration to a rehashing of earlier elements of the mythology. Emily is a good plot device in terms of personalizing the conspiracy’s depredations just a bit more, but at times, it seems like the writers are victimizing Scully a bit more than necessary. Unlike the later mythology episodes, however, this one manages to avoid any unnecessary new elements."[7]
Other reviews were decidedly more mixed to negative. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three stars out of five. The two wrote that "Mulder catches up with the store and immediately this all becomes a little more formulaic."[8] The two praised the episode's teaser, referring to it as "deathless prose", but were more critical of the plot, arguing that the episode "feels too soon to see yet more sequences of people standing around emoting as they watch the dying in the hospital", a reference to the show's earlier arc involving Scully's cancer.[8] Shearman and Pearson, however, did compliment the performance of both Diewold and Anderson, and called the finale scene "wonderful".[8] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique, on the other hand, gave the episode a negative review and awarded it one star out of four.[9] She heavily criticized the episode's characterization, noting that the episode's opening sequence was "ludicrous" and its revelations were "out of the blue".[9] Vitaris reasoned that, because Scully had spent time with her mother, remembered fondly her sister, and reconnected her faith in God in "Redux II", "this development just doesn't track." Vitaris also criticized Mulder's antics, calling him a "thug" for beating up "an unarmed man and kicking him while he's down."[9]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 87–96
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler, p. 97
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 121
4.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d VanDerWerff, Todd (30 April 2011). "'Emily'/'19:19'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Emily". Critical Myth. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, p. 130–131
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
ReferencesHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Emily" on TheXFiles.com
"Emily" at the Internet Movie Database
"Emily" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1997 television episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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Kitsunegari
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Kitsunegari"
The X-Files episode
A man is covered in blue paint.
The body of Nathan Bowman, covered in paint. The scene was created by drenching an in-house dummy with the correct shade of paint. One critic referred to the sequence as "striking".
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 8
Directed by
Daniel Sackheim
Written by
Vince Gilligan
Tim Minear
Production code
5X08
Original air date
January 4, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Michael Dobson as US Marshall
Kurt Evans as Todd
Michelle Hart as Trace Agent
Jill Krop as Reporter
Richard Leacock as Second Officer
Stuart O'Connell as First Officer
Ty Olsson as Young Orderly
Scott Oughterson as Old Orderly
Diana Scarwid as Linda Bowman
Collen Winton as Therapist
Robert Wisden as Robert Patrick Modell
Donna Yamamoto as Female Agent[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Emily" Next →
"Schizogeny"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Kitsunegari" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and Tim Minear, and directed by Daniel Sackheim. It aired in the United States on January 4, 1998 on the Fox network. "Kitsunegari" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.6, being watched by 19.75 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviewers from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully search for the infamous killer Robert "The Pusher" Modell (Robert Wisden)—a human with the ability to force his will onto others—after he escapes from prison. The agents soon discover that he is not their only concern; he has a sister, and she is just as capable of mind-control as he is.
"Kitsunegari" serves as a sequel to the third season episode "Pusher". The episode's title means "Fox hunt" in Japanese. Minear's original story for the episode was one where a convicted criminal who happened to be an atheist would have heard the voice of God, commanding him to kill a truly evil man. Series creator Frank Spotnitz suggested that Minear should use fan favorite Robert Modell.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Plot[edit]
In Lorton, Virginia, Robert Patrick Modell escapes from a prison hospital, after which the guard on duty dazedly says, "He had to go." Later, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) arrive at the prison and learn that Modell had suddenly woken up from his coma, induced by Mulder, six months previously.
Scully worriedly asks Mulder if he's deliberately playing Modell's game again by heading the investigation. The agents learn from Modell's physical therapist that the Little Sisters of Charity, who try to visit all the hospitalized inmates, have been seeing Modell. Modell calls the prison and talks to Mulder, who refuses to listen. The call is traced to a sports shop where a Carbo-Bar wrapper is left on the counter. Later, Modell is holding a picture of a young woman in a house where a man is covered in Cerulean Blue paint.
The agents identify the dead man as Nathan Bowman, who was the prosecutor at Modell's trial. "Kitsunegari", the Japanese term for "fox hunt", is written on the walls in blue paint. A paint smudge leads the agents to Nathan's wife Linda, a realtor who has an appointment with a "Mr. Fox Mulder" at a commercial property. Modell uses his influence to affect the first two officers to arrive, but he is not found. When she arrives, Linda tells the agents that her husband had talked about Modell. Mulder is confused as Modell's actions do not fit his previous modus operandi. He investigates a nearby building, where he runs into Modell. Modell tries to get Mulder to listen to him, and eventually breaks Mulder's resolve.
Mulder later tells Scully that he does not believe Modell is on another killing spree, and, after an odd interview with Linda, believes she is the killer and has the same powers as Modell. Skinner suspends Mulder, but Mulder vows to prove his theory right. He talks with Modell's therapist again, who mentions that a nun from the Little Sisters of Charity had called him a "conquered warrior". On a hunch, Mulder tries to show her a picture of Linda. The phone rings and, after stating she is with Mulder, she sticks her hand into a fuse box and is fatally electrocuted.
At the FBI safe house, a police car arrives with Modell. Modell enters the room that Linda is in and locks the door behind him. Mulder tells Scully the news of the therapist's death and urges her to keep Linda away from a phone. At the safe house, Skinner finds Linda's room door locked. He kicks the door down to find Modell and Linda, with Modell calmly saying that he has a gun. Without hesitation, Skinner shoots Modell when he sees a gun in Modell's hand, but once he is on the ground Skinner sees that his hand is curled into the shape of the gun.
As Modell is taken away on a stretcher, Mulder arrives and thinks that Modell forced Skinner to shoot him on purpose in order to protect Linda Bowman. Scully says that Linda has been taken home at which an annoyed Mulder leaves to see Modell in the hospital. A nurse enters the hospital room and tells Mulder that she has to change the patient's bandages. When Mulder leaves it's revealed that the nurse is actually Linda Bowman wearing a paper with "Nurse" written on it. Linda then talks Modell's heart into stopping. A nurse runs past Mulder and he follows her into Modell's room where Modell is pronounced dead. Mulder notices the "Nurse" paper has "214 Channel Avenue" on the back. That night, Mulder visits the address and finds Scully, pointing a gun at him and claiming to be controlled by Linda; she kills herself. Mulder hears footsteps behind him and turns around to see Linda Bowman pointing a gun at him; "Linda" states personal info about Mulder, revealing herself to indeed be Scully despite what Mulder sees. She fires a shot at a figure moving behind Mulder, and he then sees Scully in front of him, and a wounded Linda behind him. In Skinner's office, Linda Bowman's brain scan shows an advanced temporal lobe tumor, just like her fraternal twin, Robert Modell; the two had been separated at birth. Mulder has misgivings about nearly killing Scully and feels that he ultimately lost Linda's game.[1]
Production[edit]
The episode was written by Tim Minear and Vince Gilligan, and directed by Daniel Sackheim.[2] Minear's original idea for the episode involved a convicted criminal who happened to be an atheist. While in prison, he would have heard the voice of God, commanding him to kill a truly evil man, and then he would have suddenly found himself mystically transferred out of the prison. Although the police would be after him, only Mulder would believe he was working for the greater good. Minear noted that "I pitched it and I was going to do it, eventually, until we found ourselves at a point in the year where we needed a script really fast."[3] Executive producer Frank Spotnitz suggested to Minear that the "convicted atheist" should actually be Robert Modell from the third season episode "Pusher". After this was decided, Minear put aside the "Word of God" story, as it was called, teamed up with Gilligan, and the two wrote the final script.[3]
Robert Wisden, who had played the original role, was available for the episode. In addition to his appearance on The X-Files, he had also appeared on the Chris Carter-created series Millennium. Diana Scarwid was cast as Modell's sister. The body of Nathan Bowman, Linda's husband, was created by drenching an in-house dummy with the correct shade of paint.[3]
The scenes filmed to look as if they were at the Lorton Penitentiary cafeteria were actually filmed at a former hospital storage facility. In order to dress the set, the structure had to be completely cleared of debris and garbage; this required that several old pump housings be "jackhammered into smithereens".[3] The episode's title, "Kitsunegari" (狐狩り) is the Japanese term for "fox hunting". The series hired two Japanese translators to yield a proper translation of the phrase, due to the fact that "fox hunting" is not readily rendered in Japanese.[4]
Reception[edit]
"Kitsunegari" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on January 4, 1998.[2] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.6, with a 17 share, meaning that roughly 11.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 17 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[5] It was viewed by 19.75 million viewers.[5]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two wrote that, while "it lacks Vince Gilligan's trademark wit", the episode takes the plot threads started in "Pusher" to their "logical conclusions".[6] Shearman and Pearson explained that the episode's acting, most notably that of Robert Wisden and Diana Scarwid, "helps raise 'Kitsunegari' above the average."[6] Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it a C+. He wrote that, despite his love for "Pusher", "'Kitsunegari' isn't anywhere near as good as its predecessor".[7] Handlen cited the change in Modell's personality, his lack of a desire to kill, and Scully's portrayal as a "humorless scold who only sees the truth when required to for narrative convenience" as reasons why the episode was weak.[7] He concluded that "Kitsunegari" was "not very well put together".[7]
John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a largely negative review and awarded it a 4 out of 10. He wrote, "Overall, this episode was a disappointing sequel to one of the most popular episodes of the series. Bringing back Modell for this story was an ill-advised attempt to capitalize on impressions of continuity, especially since the character aspects of 'Pusher' were completely absent this time around. It's hard to believe that Vince and Tim, both strong writers on their own, were responsible for this material."[8] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four.[9] She called the entry "tame" compared to its original, although she understood the show's desire to write a sequel.[9] Vitaris also criticized the fact that Modell never murdered anyone and called the episode's basic plot "cheesy". She did, however, compliment several of the episode's set pieces, such as "Nathan Bowman covered in cerulean blue paint"—which she called "striking"—and the scene wherein "Linda stops the heart of the suffering Modell", calling the latter "sensately performed."[9]
See also[edit]
List of unmade episodes of The X-Files
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 98–109
2.^ Jump up to: a b R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, p. 110
4.Jump up ^ Meisler, p. 111
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
6.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 131
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack (7 May 2011). "'Kitsunegari'/'The Hand Of St. Sebastian'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
8.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Kitsunegari". Critical Myth. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
ReferencesHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Kitsunegari" on TheXFiles.com
"Kitsunegari" at the Internet Movie Database
"Kitsunegari" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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Schizogeny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Schizogeny"
The X-Files episode
A man with an axe prepares to decapitate a woman.
Ramirez prepares to decapitate the malevolent Karin Matthews. Many of the orchard sets were filmed on a real orchard near Vancouver. However, Matthews' demise was filmed on a soundstage.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 9
Directed by
Ralph Hemecker
Written by
Jessica Scott
Mike Wollaeger
Production code
5X09
Original air date
January 11, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Christin Anton as Teacher
Bob Dawson as Phil Rich
Myles Ferguson as Joey Agostino
Cynde Harmon as Patti Rich
Katharine Isabelle as Lisa Baiocchi
George Josef as John Ramirez
Chad Lindberg as Bobby Rich
Gardiner Millar as Eugene Baiocchi
Laurie Murdoch as Coroner
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Karin Matthews
Kate Robbins as Linda Baiocchi[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Kitsunegari" Next →
"Chinga"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Schizogeny" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on January 11, 1998. It was written by Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger, directed by Ralph Hemecker, and featured guest appearances by Bob Dawson, Myles Ferguson, Katharine Isabelle, Chad Lindberg, and Sarah-Jane Redmond. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Schizogeny" earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.9, being watched by 21.37 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to negative reviews, with several critics calling it the worst episode of The X-Files.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully become convinced that a greater evil may be lurking in the community when a teenager is suspected of murdering his father.
"Schizogeny", written by first-year staff writers Scott and Wollaeger, became humorously known as "The Killer Tree Episode" amongst the cast and crew. Many of the scenes shot for "Schizogeny" were filmed on a real orchard named Hazelgrove Farms near the small town of Fort Langley, British Columbia. The episode utilized various post-production techniques, in order to clear up vocal issues and to censor one line, which Fox's standards and practices department had issues with.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Conception and writing
2.2 Casting
2.3 Set and score
3 Broadcast and reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In Coats Grove, Michigan, teenager Bobby Rich is berated by his stepfather Phil for not finishing his lawn work outside the house. Bobby runs into a nearby orchard and Phil gives chase. When Bobby's mother, Patti, follows them into the orchard, she discovers Phil's body partially buried, seemingly drowned in mud. Kneeling beside Phil is Bobby, his eyes wide with terror.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are assigned to the case. At the scene, Scully hypothesizes that Bobby dug the pit that trapped his stepfather, and speculates that he had an accomplice. Patti tells Scully that, from her point of view, it appeared as if Bobby was attempting to help Phil out of the orchard pit when he died. She also reveals that her son has anger management issues and has been undergoing therapy for several years. When Mulder and Scully meet with Bobby's therapist, Karin Matthews, she describes Bobby as the victim of physical abuse. Mulder expresses his belief that Bobby is not to blame for Phil's death.
Bobby tells a fellow student, Lisa Baiocchi, that she must stand up to her overbearing father just as he had done with Phil. When Lisa returns home, a window explodes and a shadowy, arm-like appendage grabs her father by the throat after he demands she stop seeing Bobby. His lifeless body is discovered lying on the ground outside the house. Though Scully concludes that Mr. Baiocchi died as the result of being pushed out the window, Mulder discovers evidence suggesting he was pulled out by an outside force. Later, the agents learn that Lisa is another one of Karin Matthews' patients.
Mulder finds a small splinter of fresh wood embedded in Mr. Baiocchi's neck, and matches the fragment to a tree outside the Baiocchi home. A short time later, the agents are approached by a man named Ramirez, who claims that the trees are all dying because of a "very bad man." Meanwhile, Karin invites Lisa to stay at her home until her aunt can pick her up the following day. As Lisa listens from her bedroom, she overhears an argument between Karin and a male voice. When she descends into Karin's root cellar, she discovers the skeletal body of a man. Terrified, Lisa turns towards the door, only to have the door close and lock.
Mulder discovers that Karin's father was pulled from the mud of an orchard twenty years earlier. Ramirez tells him that the death brought about an end of a blight affecting the trees. Later, Mulder digs up Mr. Matthews' casket and finds it filled with roots, his body missing. When Lisa's aunt, Linda, arrives at Karin's house to retrieve her niece, she is attacked and killed by an unseen force as tree branches sway in the wind above her. Karin enters the root cellar, and is revealed to be the source of the male voice Lisa heard earlier.
When Mulder and Scully search Karin's house, they come upon the corpse—belonging to Karin's father—in the root cellar. They then find Lisa, frightened but unharmed, in the kitchen. Karin drives to Bobby's house and chases him into the orchard. Suddenly, Bobby is dragged downward into the mud. While attempting to rescue the teenager, Mulder simultaneously encourages Karin to break the cycle and to fight the voice inside her head. A tendon-like root snakes out of the mud and begins to drag Mulder downward. Ramirez appears, his axe in hand, and decapitates Karin, killing her. Mulder and Bobby are released by the unseen force.[1]
Production[edit]
Conception and writing[edit]
"Schizogeny" was written by first-year staff writers Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger, who had previously worked on The X-Files in non-writing jobs. Due to the episode's tree-based conceit, it eventually became known as "The Killer Tree Episode" amongst the cast and crew.[2] Executive producer Frank Spotnitz noted that "Schizogeny" underwent an abnormally lengthy writing process and was edited several times. He later said that the episode "went through many, many incarnations and versions."[3] The title is a reference to the scientific term for asexual reproduction.[3]
Casting[edit]
A picture of a man's head
Chad Lindberg was cast as Bobby Rich.
When it came time to cast the character of Bobby Rich, Chad Lindberg, who played a cystic fibrosis sufferer on the medical drama ER, was chosen. Katharine Isabelle, who portrayed Lisa Baiocchi, was the daughter of Graeme Murray, the production designer for The X-Files. Kate Robbins, who portrayed Lisa's aunt Linda, had previously appeared in the third season episode "D.P.O."[3]
Several lines in the episode were re-recorded. During post-production, editors feared that Rich's mumbly voice would make it hard for viewers to understand what he was saying, so he was brought back in to re-record his dialogue, which was then dubbed over the footage. In addition, during the scene wherein Mulder tells Scully that Bobby's nickname at school, the original version featured Mulder audibly saying "Dickweed." Fox's standards and practices department made the show change the name to "Dorkweed," which required David Duchovny to re-dub his line.[3]
Set and score[edit]
Many of the scenes shot for "Schizogeny" were filmed on a real orchard named Hazelgrove Farms near the small town of Fort Langley, British Columbia.[2][3] Other shots, mostly involving the sinking mud scenes, were shot on a soundstage at Lion's Gate Studios that was fitted with over 200 hazelnut trees.[2] The mud pit was made out of a large tank filled with peat moss, mud, and water.[2] The mixture was heated so that the actors would not be uncomfortable during the sinking scenes.[3] The shot that called for Karin Matthews' lifeless body to sink into the mud required a stunt woman to be slowly lowered into the pit.[3] The crew found it necessary to supply her oxygen during the shot because of the depth of the pit.[3] Toby Lindala and her art department created all of the props used in the episode, including the moving tree roots and the skeletal remains of Karin Matthews' father.[3]
Several of the sets were chosen because of their proximity to large trees. Lisa's house, for instance, was built next to a large willow.[2] An additional tree limb that was more than twenty feet long was attached to the real tree to give it a more menacing feel.[2] The tree limb that attacked Mulder's car was a branch of a massive tree that had fallen on a nearby plot of public land. The producers secured permission from the Canadian government and hoisted the tree with a crane and then dropped it onto a former police cruiser. Nigel Habgood, the series car coordinator, was able to refurbish the cruiser and it was later used in the episode "Kill Switch."[3] Mark Snow, composer for the series, was particularly proud of the music he wrote for the episode, noting that the story was a "dark tale with a wonderful aura about it."[3] He credits this ominous feel to woodwind instruments.[3]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Schizogeny" premiered on the Fox network on January 11, 1998.[4] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.9, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 12.9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[5] It was viewed by 21.37 million viewers.[5]
The episode received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with several reviewers dubbing it one of the worst episodes of the series. Francis Dass of the New Straits Times Press referred to it as "one of the weaker episodes" of the fifth season.[6] The A.V. Club reviewer Todd VanDerWerff gave "Schizogeny" a D–, and wrote that "'Schizogeny' just might be the very worst episode of The X-Files", noting that "the tone [of the episode] is off."[7] Furthermore, VanDerWerff felt that "the more Scott and Wollaeger try to continue explaining this and tie it into the idea of child abuse, the less it attains any of the power or tragedy they want it to have."[7] Starpulse, in a run-down of the best and worst episodes and villains of the series, named the killer trees the worst monster-of-the-week and wrote, "[Schizogeny] proved that even the X-Files' writers can come up completely dry on their scary creeps sometimes."[8] Critical Myth's John Keegan gave the episode 4/10, and, while praising the "interesting concept" of the episode, concluded that it was filled with "odd inconsistencies, [and] is definitely not one of the better episodes of the season."[9] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two wrote positively of the first part of the episode noting that "director Ralph Hemecker [brings] the eeriness to the fore, and [makes] this a more honest-to-truth scary slice of X-File than has been offered in ages."[10] Shearman and Pearson, however, argued that the episode's references to Psycho and its "lack of explanation" result in the episode approaching "nonsense."[10] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four.[11] She wrote that, "the plot of 'Schizogeny' is more tangled than the episode's paranormal root system, but underneath lies some powerful themes."[11]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 112–124
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Gradnitzer, p. 166
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Meisler, p. 125
4.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
6.Jump up ^ Dass, Francis (20 April 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press), retrieved 20 May 2012
7.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (11 May 2011). ""Schizogeny"/"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
8.Jump up ^ Payne, Andrew (25 July 2008). "'X-Files' 10 Best Episodes". Starpulse. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
9.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Schizogeny". Critical Myth. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 132
11.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
Bibliography[edit]
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X marks the spot: on location with the X-files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1, OCLC 42005360
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Schizogeny" on TheXFiles.com
"Schizogeny" at the Internet Movie Database
"Schizogeny" at TV.com
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1998 television episodes
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Chinga (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Chinga"
The X-Files episode
ChingaXFiles.jpg
The doll is incinerated in the microwave. Despite mixed critical reviews, several of the episode's scenes, such as this one, were praised by critics for their creepiness.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 10
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Stephen King
Chris Carter
Production code
5X10
Original air date
February 8, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Susannah Hoffman as Melissa Turner
Jenny-Lynn Hutcheson as Polly Turner
Carolyn Tweedle as Jane Froelich
Gordan Tipple as Assistant Manager
Harrison Coe as Dave the Fishmonger
Larry Musser as Jack Bonsaint
William MacDonald as Buddy Riggs
Dean Wray as Rich Turner
Henry Beckman as Old Man
Ian Robison as Ranger
Tracy Lively as Clerk
Elizabeth McCarthy as Shopper
Sean Benbow as Customer[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Schizogeny" Next →
"Kill Switch"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Chinga" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by noted author Stephen King and series creator Chris Carter, and directed by Kim Manners. The episode aired in the United States on February 8, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Chinga" earned a Nielsen rating of 12.8 and was viewed by 21.33 million viewers. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully takes a vacation to Maine, where she encounters a bizarre case where the victims appear to have inflicted wounds upon themselves—apparently at the behest of a strange young girl.
"Chinga" was co-written by noted horror author Stephen King after he requested to pen an episode of The X-Files. Carter rewrote portions of King's final draft, resulting in a shared writing credit for the entry. During filming, Gillian Anderson performed her lines in a tongue in cheek manner, which resulted in Carter informing her that her lines were not meant to be humorous and that the production staff was having to edit out various shots. The supermarket shots were filmed in an actual supermarket, a first for the series, according to art director Greg Loewen. Chinga, the titular evil doll, was created by sewing together various doll parts, including an oversized head and a wig created from multiple hairpieces.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 See also
5 References 5.1 Footnotes
5.2 References
6 External links
Plot[edit]
In the coastal town of Amma Beach, Maine, five-year-old Polly Turner and her antique doll, Chinga, accompany her mother, Melissa, as she goes to a local grocery store. Melissa attracts the attention of the store's butcher, Dave. Moments later, Melissa sees a ghostly image of Dave with a knife protruding from one eye. Horrified, Melissa tries to leave the store with Polly. However, as they make their way towards the store's exit, customers begin clawing at their eyes. Meanwhile, Dave, after seeing a monstrous reflection of Chinga, is compelled by an outside force to turn his knife on himself.
Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is coincidentally in the area, taking a vacation in Maine. After stumbling upon the carnage in the grocery store, Scully telephones Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and describes the bizarre situation. Mulder tells Scully that the incident might be the result of witchcraft or sorcery. Scully, however, can find no physical evidence that might support his theory. Assisted by the local police, Scully reviews the store's surveillance footage and notices Melissa Turner leaving the scene, the only customer unaffected. Jack Bonsaint, the police chief, tells Scully that some townspeople believe Melissa to be a witch. Deputy Buddy Riggs informs Melissa that Bonsaint will be questioning her. Riggs promises to help Melissa, but she warns him to stay away.
Bonsaint and Scully visit Melissa's home, but find it unoccupied. Bonsaint tells Scully that Melissa was once married to a local fisherman, but was widowed when he was inexplicably found dead aboard his fishing boat, the hook on his winch driven through his skull. Later, it is revealed that he found Chinga in a lobster trap and gave it to Polly as a present shortly before he died. Bonsaint also explains that there had been an incident between Polly and Jane Froelich, the proprietor of a local daycare center, when Jane slapped Polly over her behavior. Meanwhile, Riggs meets Melissa and Polly at an ice cream shop. Melissa describes how she has seen images of violent deaths, such as Dave's, before they occur. Riggs gives Melissa the key to a remote cabin and suggests that she leave town.
Scully and Bonsaint visit Froelich, who claims Melissa is the descendant of witches and that she is passing her cursed lineage to Polly. Later, while speaking with a park ranger, Melissa sees a bloody image of Froelich. Meanwhile, Froelich is confronted by the enlarged Chinga and is forced to slit her own throat with the shard of a phonograph record. After Melissa sees a vision of Riggs, the deputy is forced to bludgeon himself to death with his own night stick. Finally, Melissa sees a bloodied reflection of herself in a window, a hammer buried in her skull. She proceeds to burn the house down in an attempt to destroy the doll.
Scully and Bonsaint drive to the Turner home. Scully, peering through the windows, discovers Melissa attempting to set fire to the house, with her, her daughter and Chinga all trapped inside. Bonsaint breaks down the door as Melissa runs to a closet and grabs hold of a hammer which she turns upon herself. Thinking quickly, Scully grabs the Chinga doll and throws it inside a microwave oven in the kitchen. As the doll melts, Melissa drops the hammer and regains her senses. In the final scene, a fisherman is seen pulling up a lobster trap, and in it is the burned doll, which came back to life.[1]
Production[edit]
"Chinga" was co-written by noted author Stephen King.
The episode was co-written by noted horror author Stephen King. King initially approached series co-star David Duchovny and informed him that he loved the show and desired to write an episode.[2] Eventually, he called series creator Chris Carter and expressed his desire to write an episode of Millennium instead. Carter agreed, but once more, King changed his mind and it was decided that he would write an episode of The X-Files. King sent various drafts to Carter from his home in Maine; the two individuals never actually met one another. King's original story had some issues that Carter rewrote. Carter explained, "Stephen wasn't used to writing for Mulder and Scully [...] the Mulder-and-Scully story in his original draft didn't quite work".[2] Carter separated Mulder and Scully in the finalized draft and helped to finalize the script, hence their dual writing credit on the episode.[2] Kim Manners, the director for the episode, later said, "I was very excited to be able to direct a Stephen King piece, and when it was all said and done, there was very little Stephen King left in it. The nuts and bolts were his, but that was really one of Chris' scripts."[3] Unbeknownst to either Carter or King, the word "Chinga" can be considered a vulgar Spanish colloquialism.[2]
During filming, Gillian Anderson was unsure how exactly to perform her lines. She noted, "the way the script was originally read to me, initially seemed to me as if Scully kind of stepped up to the plate and played along with the sheriff's humor".[2] She reportedly performed her lines in a "tongue in cheek"-esque way before receiving a call from Carter.[2] He informed her that her lines were not meant to be humorous and that the production staff was having to "edit out a lot of stuff" in order to make up for this.[2] Several of the scenes in the episode were shot at the places they stood in for. The gas station scene was filmed at a real gas station across from the series' production headquarters. The supermarket shots were filmed in an actual supermarket, Shop Easy in Port Coquitlam, a first for the series, according to art director Greg Loewen.[2][4] The scenes required the store to be closed before Christmas and be installed with up-right freezers.[4]
Chinga, the titular evil doll, was created by sewing together various doll parts. An oversized doll's head was placed on the finished body and "the world's largest wig" adorned its head.[2] Props master Ken Hawryliw later reported that the hairpiece was actually the result of several wigs being sewn together. Most of the makeup effects were created by artist Toby Lindala, who "appreciate the chance to create these classics for a Stephen King project".[2] The "Death Under Glass" scene featuring Dave the Butcher with a knife in his eyes was created in post-production via a computer. Special effects supervisor Laurie Kellsen-George tested the scene on her nine and eleven year-old sons, explaining that "I gauge a lot of the show by whether my kids can stand them or not. If they can't, I figure I succeeded [...] 'Chinga' bothered them a lot."[2] Reportedly, during the self-mutilation scene in the supermarket, a real customer who had wandered onto the set saw the commotion and left in a panic.[4]
Reception[edit]
"Chinga" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on February 8, 1998.[5] It earned a Nielsen rating of 12.8, with a 18 share, meaning that roughly 12.7 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[6] It was viewed by 21.33 million viewers.[6] The episode later debuted in the United Kingdom on Sky One on April 19, 1998.[7] However, because the title "Chinga" is a Mexican Spanish swear word "equivalent to 'fuck' and in very common usage", the episode was retitled "Bunghoney" when it air in the UK.[8]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave a mixed review, awarded it a C–, and called it an episode that "seems like one of those ideas that sounds really, really great until someone thinks about for more than a minute."[9] Handlen argued that King was a wrong fit for The X-Files and that the resultant script was King "being asked to marry his voice to Carter's".[9] He derided the plot and wrote that it was written "like someone (Darin Morgan, only not funny at all) doing a parody for the most familiar King tropes."[9] Handlen, however, did praise the violence in the episode, noting that he is "a sucker for gore", but ultimately called the episode "lousy".[9] John Keegan from Critical Myth heavily criticized the episode's writing and gave it a 4 out of 10. he wrote, "Overall, this episode is quite a disappointment, considering that Stephen King would appear to be an obvious match for a series like this. Unfortunately, the final script doesn’t seem to be a true horror story or the whimsical character study that it clearly wants to be, and so it fails to satisfy on either account. There are some great character moments, but it’s not enough to save the episode."[10]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "clumsy".[11] The two argued that the premise of "Chinga" would have been better suited to a book or short story, as is King's forte. However, its translation to television resulted in an episode "so on the nose, it makes you wince."[11] Despite this, Shearman and Pearson complimented Carter's rewrites as wells as the various jokes thrown throughout the episode.[11] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely negative review and awarded it one star out of four.[12] She called the entry "a major disappointment" and wrote that it "isn't scary in the least". Vitaris even argued that "it's unintentionally funny" and that the scenes with Mulder that are supposed to play as humor do not.[12] Vitaris wrote that the episode was like the third season entry "Pusher", except with less focus; ultimately, the episode degenerates into "watching people get killed in various gruesome ways while Scully and Vonsant finally collect enough information […] in the nick of time."[12]
Despite the lackluster reception the episode garnered, several critics considered the entry scary. Katie Anderson from Cinefantastique named the scene wherein Dave the Butcher kills himself as the eighth "Scariest Moment" in The X-Files.[13] Television Without Pity named the episode the ninth "Most Nightmare-Inducing" episode of the series, noting that "[t]his Stephen King-penned episode is your classic demonic doll story."[14]
See also[edit]
Creepy dolls
Killer toys
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 126–138
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Meisler, p. 138
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 121
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 167
5.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
7.Jump up ^ Cornell, Day, and Topping, p. 411
8.Jump up ^ Cornell, Day, and Topping, p. 413
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Handlen, Zack (21 May 2011). "'Chinga'/'Midnight of the Century'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Chinga/Bunghoney". Critical Myth. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, p. 133
12.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
13.Jump up ^ Anderson, Kaite (April 2002). "The Ten Scariest Moments". Cinefantastique 34 (2): 50–51.
14.Jump up ^ "X-Files: The 11 Most Nightmare-Inducing Episodes Ever". Television Without Pity. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
References[edit]
Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin, Topping, Keith (1998). X-Treme Possibilities. Virgin Publications, Ltd. ISBN 9780753502280.
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
"Chinga" at TheXFiles.com
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"Chinga" at the Internet Movie Database
"Chinga" at TV.com
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Category
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
Screenplays by Stephen King
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Kill Switch (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Kill Switch"
The X-Files episode
KungFuScully.jpg
A virtual Dana Scully attacks a nurse in Fox Mulder's AI-controlled reverie. The scene was made by a freelance animator and received praise from several critics.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 11
Directed by
Rob Bowman
Written by
William Gibson
Tom Maddox
Production code
5X11
Original air date
February 15, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Patrick Keating as Donald Gelman
Peter Williams as Jackson
Rob Daprocida as Bunny
Jerry Schram as Gerald Boyce
Dan Weber as Charles Figgis
Kristin Lehman as Esther Nairn
Kate Luyben as Nurse Nancy
Stephen Collins as Cyril Pollard
Steve Griffith as Paramedic
Ted Cole as 2nd Paramedic[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Chinga" Next →
"Bad Blood"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Kill Switch" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered in the United States on the Fox network on February 15, 1998. It was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Kill Switch" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.1, being watched by 18.04 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics, with several complimenting Mulder's virtual experience.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully become targets of a rogue AI capable of the worst kind of torture while investigating the strange circumstances of the death of a reclusive computer genius rumored to have been researching artificial intelligence.
"Kill Switch" was co-written by cyberpunk pioneers William Gibson and Tom Maddox. The two eventually wrote another episode the show: season seven's "First Person Shooter". "Kill Switch" was written after Gibson and Maddox approached the series, offering to write an episode. Reminiscent of the "dark visions" of filmmaker David Cronenberg, the episode contained "many obvious pokes and prods at high-end academic cyberculture." In addition, "Kill Switch" contained several scenes featuring elaborate explosives and digital effects, including one wherein a computer-animated Scully fights nurses in a virtual hospital. "Kill Switch" deals with various "Gibsonian" themes, including: alienation, paranoia, artificial intelligence, and transferring one's consciousness into cyberspace, among others.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming and effects
3 Reception
4 Footnotes
5 External links
Plot[edit]
At a diner in Washington, D.C., a man tries to access files on a laptop computer, but is repeatedly denied. Meanwhile, several drug dealers receive anonymous phone calls about the whereabouts of their competitors; they are told that they are at the same diner. Two U.S. Marshals receive a similar phone call about an escaped prisoner. The drug dealers arrive in pairs as the man attempts to gain access to the files. Just as he does, the two Marshals appear and order everyone onto the floor, causing a shootout.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive and identify the bodies of the drug dealers. Mulder also identifies the man with the laptop as Donald Gelman, "a Silicon Valley folk hero" who aspired to create an artificial intelligence. Mulder takes Gelman's laptop and finds a CD inside. When puts it into the car stereo, it plays "Twilight Time" by The Platters. However, the agents take it to the Lone Gunmen, who discover that the disc contains a large quantity of encrypted data. The trio, however, are unable to decipher it. Upon Scully's suggestion, they access Gelman's e-mail account and find a message sent by someone named Invisigoth, saying that someone named David is missing.
The message contains a BIC code for an intermodal shipping container, which Mulder and Scully locate. When they approach it, a girl attempts to flee but is captured by Scully. The container turns out to be full of state-of-the-art computer equipment. The girl warns the agents that a laser-armed Defense Department satellite has pinpointed their location. They quickly leave the area as the container is destroyed. The girl, Esther Nairn, reveals that she uses the online alias Invisigoth, and tells the agents that Gelman succeeded in creating an artificial intelligence. She reveals that once the AI locates an enemy, it destroys them using the satellite. According to Esther, Gelman was creating "Kill Switch", a virus that could destroy the AI. However, the AI learned of Gelman's plans and killed him by luring the drug dealers and the police to the diner. The only way to destroy the AI is to find the computer on which it is stored. It turns out that David is Esther's friend, and also worked with Gelman.
Mulder uses a government source to find a secret T3 line in Fairfax County, Virginia, one that the AI uses to access the Internet. He also finds the trailer that is connected to the T3 line. Meanwhile, Esther forces Scully to drive to David's house. However, they find that the house has been destroyed. Esther admits that she and David had been planning to transfer their consciousness into cyberspace to enter the AI. Gelman, however, thought the idea was too dangerous. Esther also admits that she and David were in love, and were having an affair behind Gelman's back. Meanwhile, Mulder finds much computer hardware inside the trailer. He also finds David’s dead body, with a virtual reality helmet on his head. Suddenly, Mulder is constrained by moving cables and wires, and experiences a strange vision in which he is in a hospital where nurses threaten to amputate his limbs unless he reveals Kill Switch's location. Meanwhile, the AI locates Scully and Esther driving near a swing bridge. They become trapped on the bridge after the AI manipulates its drawing mechanism, causing Scully to persuade Esther to throw the laptop into the water. Just as it hits the water it is destroyed by the defense satellite's missile.
Scully and Esther find the trailer in which Mulder is trapped. Esther reveals that she still has the CD on which the Kill Switch is stored. Scully puts it into the drive into the AI, which then releases Mulder. She gets him out of the trailer, but Esther stays inside. She uses the satellite to locate the trailer's position, causing the missile to destroy the trailer, killing her. Mulder tells Scully that Esther's consciousness probably joined the AI. Later, the Lone Gunmen get a strange message on their computer reading, "Bite me". Just before the credits, we see a trailer similar to the one where the AI lived, with automatic security cameras monitoring a boy who approaches the trailer to retrieve a football.[1]
Production[edit]
The episode was co-written by noted author William Gibson.
Writing[edit]
The episode was written by acclaimed cyberpunk novelist William Gibson, together with fellow science fiction author Tom Maddox.[2][3] The authors and long-time friends had discussed various collaborations before and approached the production company with an offer to write an episode.[4] The result was "Kill Switch", which first aired on February 15, 1998. The episode made frequent appearances in reruns and its success encouraged Gibson to continue working in television, resulting in his writing of a second episode "First Person Shooter"—again in collaboration with Maddox—which aired on FOX two years later on February 27, 2000.[5][6] "Kill Switch" deals with recurrent Gibsonian themes: alienation, paranoia, the will to survive, emergent technology, the evolution of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and transferring one's consciousness into cyberspace.[7] The Vancouver Sun author Alex Strachan later compared many of the episode's themes to that of Gibson's books, most notably in his novels Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light.[7]
"Kill Switch" was written outside the mytharc of the series as a standalone story, which Gibson intended to be reminiscent of the "dark visions" of filmmaker David Cronenberg and to contain "many obvious pokes and prods at high-end academic cyberculture."[8] Gibson's initial idea for the episode eventually evolved into the episode's final act. This was later combined with Maddox's idea of a deserted house with shuttered windows, surrounded by a chain-link fence. The episode involved the merging of human and artificial intelligence on the World Wide Web, a concept that had been floating around cyber-futuristic circles at the time.[3] The episode's rewriting and revision process took a significant amount of time and it was over a year before the episode was completed due to other priorities that series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz had. When they were finally available, they made some revisions to the script, including upping Esther's attitude and Mulder and Scully's reactions to her. A scene involving Scully trying on a fake nose ring was deleted from the script.[3] Gibson originally started watching the series on the suggestion of his, at the time, 15 year old daughter.[7] During filming, Gibson spent a majority of his time on the set only "because [his] daughter insisted on being there."[7]
Filming and effects[edit]
"When you're writing a novel, there's no budget […] you just make stuff up, lots of really intricate stuff happens in this scene. So the script comes and its the biggest thing in terms of complexity, […] that I've ever looked at for X-Files."
—Rob Bowman, on the cost of the episode.[9]
According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz, "Kill Switch" was the single most expensive episode that was filmed in Vancouver.[9] In addition, the episode took a total of 22 days to film.[10] The episode's bridge scenes were filmed at the Westham Island Bridge, which spans Canoe Pass, British Columbia. The location had been discovered by Carter during a technical survey for the prior fifth season episode "Schizogeny". Because the bridge was the sole means to access part of the Fraser River farming community in the area, filming was heavily restricted. Logistical issues with the bridge itself, such as restrictions on how many people could stand on the bridge at a time, also posed troubles for filming.[11] Permission to film the scene wherein Esther throws the laptop into the river and it is subsequently vaporized by a missile required thirty days to obtain. The abandoned house that Mulder discovers was filmed at a historical landmark known locally as "Read House".[11]
The episode contained several scenes featuring elaborate explosives. The scene featured a missile destroying a shipping container was originally schedule to be filmed at one of Vancouver's waterfront facilities. After permission for detonating explosive had been cleared by the city, the port rescinded its permission, claiming that the shot was not in its "best interests".[11] The special effects crew for The X-Files decided to ship in as many containers as they could to a recycling center in the adjacent city of Burnaby, where filming went off "without a hitch".[11] The destruction of the trailer was filmed adjacent to the Boundary Bay Airport. After the explosion, the series received several complaints from people living as far as ten miles away from "ground zero", complaining about the explosion and shockwave.[11] The robot that attacked Mulder was inspired by the NASA Mars Rover. It was battery powered and cost $23,000 to create and operate.[12] The producers contracted with SPOT, a French-owned commercial satellite surveillance company to obtain the satellite photos of the Washington D.C. area used in the episode.[12]
A freelance computer artist created a 3-D image of Scully for the scene where she is fighting the nurses in the virtual hospital.[12] Gillian Anderson was very pleased with the scene. She later noted that "I happened to be in good shape at the time and was just raring [sic] to get in there and be taking those half-naked nurses out with some karate chops."[10] David Duchovny was not as exuberant; when showed the script and directed to "be impressed with [Scully's] karate skills", he responded that "But I have no arms. I've lost my arms. Why would I care about Scully's karate?"[10] Dean Haglund later called the sequence "one of the great fight scenes, ever".[9]
Reception[edit]
"Kill Switch" premiered on the Fox network on February 15, 1998.[2] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.1, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 11.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[13] It was viewed by 18.04 million viewers.[13] Editor Heather MacDougall won an Emmy award for her work on this episode.[3]
The episode received positive reviews from television critics. Brett Love of TV Squad stated that it was his favorite episode of The X-Files, noting that it did seem "dated", but the concept of artificial intelligence was well-realized in the episode.[14] John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a 8 out of 10, and wrote "Overall, this episode puts Gibson’s genre credibility to good use by taking standard concepts of cyberpunk and applying them to the series." He did note that there are "a few minor characterization issues", and that "not all of the concepts are pulled together as tightly as they could be", but other than those points, he concluded that it was "solid and [...] enjoyable".[15] Todd VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ and wrote that, while "William Gibson’s cyberpunk milieu wouldn’t necessarily seem to be the best fit for The X-Files", the episode "weirdly benefits from the lack of staff oversight."[16] He noted that it featured many elements to its plot, but was "a rare example of an X-Files episode that works, [despite the fact that] it tries to do too much."[16] VanDerWerff was complimentary towards the story and called it "propulsive"; he was particularly praise-worthy of the fact that Scully was featured heavily in the episode. He cited the scene wherein a virtual Scully roundhouse kicks a group of nurses as one of the best shots in the episode, and called it a "hysterical moment".[16]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five. The two wrote that its themes were "fresh and new" and that the plot had "real heart to it".[17] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[18] She praised the episode's directing and noted that the entry was "a great improvement over The X-Files's earlier A.I. episode, first season's "Ghost in the Machine".[18] Vitaris cited "Mulder's virtual experience" as the "highlight of the episode".[18]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 140–153
2.^ Jump up to: a b R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, p. 154
4.Jump up ^ "Tom Maddox Unreal-Time Chat". Shop Talk. 3 March 1998. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
5.Jump up ^ Fridman, Sherman (24 February 2000). ""X-Files" Writer Fights For Online Privacy". News Briefs (news article). Newsbytes PM.
6.Jump up ^ Johnston, Anthony (August 1999). "William Gibson : All Tomorrow’s Parties : Waiting For The Man". Spike. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d Strachan, Alex (14 February 1998). "Gibson writes this Sunday's X-Files". Local Entertainment (The Vancouver Sun). Retrieved 13 July 2007.
8.Jump up ^ Silberman, Steve (13 January 1998). "William Gibson to Write X-Files Episode". Wired. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Carter, Chris, et al (1999). The Truth Behind Season 5 (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: Fox Home Entertainment.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Hurwitz and Knowles, pp. 123–124
11.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 168–170
12.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler, p. 155
13.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
14.Jump up ^ Love, Brett (21 July 2008). "The X-Files: Killswitch". TV Squad. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Kill Switch". Critical Myth. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c VanDerWerff, Todd (28 May 2011). "'Kill Switch'/'Goodbye, Charlie'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
17.Jump up ^ Shearman and Pearson, p. 134
18.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
ReferencesGradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Kill Switch" on TheXFiles.com
"Kill Switch" at the Internet Movie Database
"Kill Switch" at TV.com
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Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
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Bad Blood (The X-Files)
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"Bad Blood"
The X-Files episode
BadBloodScreenshot.jpg
Ronnie Strickland: a vampire. The faux vampire teeth—which were sardonically labeled "funny fangs"—were created by makeup coordinator Toby Lindala. The glowing eyes were created with a fluorescent material.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 12
Directed by
Cliff Bole
Written by
Vince Gilligan
Production code
5X12
Original air date
February 22, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Luke Wilson as Sheriff Hartwell
Patrick Renna as Ronnie Strickland
Forbes Angus as Funeral Director
Marion Killinger as Detective
David Major as Vampire
Brent Butt as Coroner
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Kill Switch" Next →
"Patient X"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes
"Bad Blood" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. Written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Cliff Bole, and featuring guest appearances from Luke Wilson and Patrick Renna it aired in the United States on February 22, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. The episode received a Nielsen rating of 12.0, being watched by 19.25 million viewers. In addition, "Bad Blood" received largely positive reviews, with many critics praising the episode's humor.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully must report to their supervisor, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) after Mulder kills a young man he believes to be a vampire. After each recollecting their takes on the event, they realize that they have very different memories of the investigation.
"Bad Blood" was inspired by an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show wherein the main characters tell different versions of a fight they have had. According to critical analysis of the episode, "Bad Blood" explores the dynamics of the relationship between Mulder and Scully. In addition, the episode subverts the concept of the male gaze, allowing part of the tale to be told solely from Scully's point of view in contrast to Mulder's. The episode's makeup and special effect coordinators used various techniques to create many of the effects seen in the episode, such as the vampire teeth, the glowing eyes, and the bite marks.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing and filming
2.2 Casting and effects
3 Themes
4 Broadcast and reception
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Plot[edit]
After FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) kills a young man, who Mulder believes is a vampire, he and his FBI partner, Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) must report to their supervisor, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). Before they do so, they attempt to get their stories straight.
Scully tells her version of the story via a flashback to the previous day. She arrives at work and Mulder tells her about a murder in Texas, which he believes to be the work of vampires. In her version, Mulder is exuberant and over the top, while she is calm and mindful of her thoughts. The agents travel to the small town of Cheney, Texas where they meet Sheriff Hartwell (Luke Wilson). In Scully's story, Sheriff Hartwell is charming, while Mulder is insensitive and irritating. Mulder and Hartwell leave to investigate further while Scully autopsies the body. She discovers that the victim, whose last meal had been pizza, was incapacitated with chloral hydrate. She returns to the motel room and orders a pizza, but Mulder soon appears and sends her back to autopsy another body. She leaves him just as her food is delivered. When she finds that the second victim had also ingested chloral hydrate in a pizza, she realizes Mulder is in danger and returns to the motel room. She finds him about to be attacked by the pizza delivery boy, Ronnie. She shoots at Ronnie, who runs off into the woods. When she catches up to him, Mulder has gotten there first and hammered a stake into Ronnie's heart.
Mulder tells Scully his version. In his recollection, he is sensitive and polite to Scully, while she is dismissive and irritable, and clearly enamored with Sheriff Hartwell (who, in Mulder's version, is far less refined and has obvious buck teeth). While Scully is performing the autopsy, Mulder and Hartwell get a call to go to the local RV park, where there is "a situation". They find another dead body, apparently a victim of the same attacker. Mulder returns to the motel room; after Scully has left, he eats her pizza and realizes that he has been drugged. Ronnie enters, with glowing green eyes, and prepares to attack Mulder. Scully enters and shoots Ronnie, but the bullets have no effect. He runs out with Scully in pursuit. Mulder recovers from being drugged and chases after Ronnie. Back in the office, Scully says that no one will believe his story.
Meanwhile, a Texas coroner prepares to perform an autopsy on Ronnie's body. When he removes the stake, Ronnie wakes up and escapes. Skinner sends Mulder and Scully back to Texas to investigate. Scully stakes out the cemetery with Sheriff Hartwell, while Mulder goes to the RV park. As they wait, Sheriff Hartwell gives Scully a hot drink. He apologizes to her on behalf of Ronnie, and says that he makes them all look bad. He makes it clear that he too is a vampire and Scully realizes she has been drugged. Sheriff Hartwell's eyes turn green.
At the RV park, Mulder finds Ronnie. As he tries to arrest him, Mulder is surrounded by a group of people with glowing green eyes. He wakes up the next morning in the RV park, in his car. Scully tells him that she awoke in the cemetery. They are both unharmed and the vampires have disappeared. Back in Washington, they give Skinner their unified report.
Production[edit]
Luke Wilson appeared in this episode as Sheriff Hartwell.
Writing and filming[edit]
"Bad Blood" was written by Vince Gilligan, who had already written a number of episodes for the series; this was his fifth writing credit of the season. Aware that he had an episode to be filmed soon after the Christmas period of 1997, he had been working on a script that would involve a story being presented by Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries, with unknown actors playing Mulder and Scully. Under pressure to complete the script, Gilligan decided his idea would not work. He said, "I just couldn't figure out how to do it".[1] The series would later explore the idea of an X-Files crossover in the guise of non-fiction with the seventh season episode "X-Cops", also penned by Gilligan.[2]
With the help of co-executive producer Frank Spotnitz, he came up with a new idea. Spotnitz was inspired by an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, called "The Night the Roof Fell In", in which the characters of Rob and Laura Petrie tell different versions of a fight they have had. Gilligan said of the idea, "I just thought it was a cool way to tell a story."[1] With two versions of the same story taking up much of the episode, Gilligan knew that he would have to keep the plot simple and settled on a vampire story, that everyone would easily understand.[1] Both Mulder and Scully's version of the episode were filmed back to back, utilizing the "exact same sets and camera angles".[1] The RV park that was featured in the episode was formerly the site of a sawmill that had previously been used in the fourth season episode "Gethsemane" that had burned down.[1]
Casting and effects[edit]
Luke Wilson guest starred as Sheriff Hartwell; he had previously worked on 1998 comedy film Home Fries, which had been scripted by Vince Gilligan. Former child actor Patrick Renna played Ronnie Strickland. He said of the part, "before we started I asked if Ronnie was pretending to be a moron. They told me, 'No. He's really just a moron.'"[1]
The out of control RV was created by the show's special effects coordinator, David Gauthier; an auxiliary steering wheel was rigged up in the vehicle so that the driver would be able to steer the car from the back window, out of the camera's sight. Wilson and Renna were fitted with faux vampire teeth – which were sardonically labeled "funny fangs"—courtesy of special effects makeup coordinator Toby Lindala. Wilson later recounted that they fit comfortably in the actor's mouth, musing that "the retainers I had to wear as a kid never fit as well."[3] In order to create the glowing green eyes, fluorescent material was glued to the actors' eyelids. However, because they were unable to see, this gave the vampires a "somewhat vacant" stare.[3] The various corpses with fangs marks were created by makeup artist Laverne Basham. In order to create a suitable model, Gilligan bit the back of his hand to give Basham something to work with.[3]
Themes[edit]
According to Susanne Kord and Elisabeth Krimmer, "Bad Blood" explores the dynamics of the relationship between Mulder and Scully by "develop[ing] the dysfunctional potential of [their] routine interactions."[4] In "Scully Hits the Glass Ceiling: Postmodernism, Postfeminism, Posthumanism and The X-Files", Linda Badley suggests that The X-Files often subverts the concept of the male gaze through the whole series and "Bad Blood" includes an example of this, allowing Scully to be the one that gazes at Sheriff Hartwell.[5]
Michelle Bush, in her book Myth-X, described the episode as allowing the viewer "a peek inside [Mulder and Scully's] heads" by showing how they see themselves and each other, as well as "their insecurities about their attractiveness to the other".[6] The title "Bad Blood" can be applied to the tension between the two characters in the episode.[6] She described how in each of their stories they try to describe themselves in the way the other would find attractive.[7]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Bad Blood" was first broadcast in the United States on February 22, 1998, on the Fox network.[8][9] In its original broadcast, it was watched by 19.25 million viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings system.[10] It received an 12.0 rating/17 share among viewers meaning that 12.0 percent of all households in the United States, and 17 percent of all people watching television at the time, viewed the episode.[10] The episode was one of eight featured on Revelations, a DVD released prior to the release of the 2008 movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe.[11]
The episode received positive critical reviews. In a 2000 review of season five for the New Straits Times, Francis Dass called the episode "an absolute gem. The most hilarious X-Files episode I have ever seen."[12] Rebecca Traister of Salon.com called it "possibly the best X-Files episode of all time".[13] In a 2008 review of the Revelations DVD, which contained "Bad Blood", Erik Henriksen of The Portland Mercury praised the way the writers "managed to tweak their genre formulas" and said of the episode, "It's witty and quick and features a great performance from Luke Wilson".[11] In a review of Revelations for the Reading Eagle, Gina McIntyre called the episode "a hilarious riff on how [Mulder and Scully] view each other".[14] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote a positive review of what he described as one of his "top five favorite X-Files". He called the script "very smart" and compared the story to the plot of Rashomon. He said "Yes, 'Bad Blood' can be goofy, but it's a good kind of goofy, the kind that pokes holes in characters in ways that just make them more lovable."[15] Gillian Anderson has described "Bad Blood" as one of her favorites of the series, commenting "Oh, yes! I loved that episode. As far as I'm concerned it's one of our best ever. I think it really showed how well David and I can work together".[1] Review website IGN named it the eighth best standalone X-Files episode of the entire series.[16] Rob Bricken from Topless Robot named "Bad Blood" the funniest X-Files episode.[17] An article in The Montreal Gazette listed "Bad Blood" as the ninth best stand-alone episode of the series.[18]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five and wrote "Now that's how you tell a vampire story!"[19] The two praised Gilligan's use of humor as well as the episode's examination of both Mulder and Scully's differing points of views. Shearman and Pearson noted that "the gimmick here isn't supernatural, but structural", and called the episode's framing device "subtly done", which resulted in its "brilliance".[19] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files, named the episode one of the "Top 25 Episode of All Time" of The X-Files, ranking it at number 19.[20] He called the episode "a satiric X-File at is finest."[20] Not all reviews were so glowing. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a more mixed review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four.[21] Although she enjoyed the comedic elements of the episode, she was somewhat critical of the underlying issues, most notably the way Mulder and Scully viewed each other in the episode. She wrote that, "their relationship seems to be a strangely passive-aggresive one".[21] Vitaris also was critical of the fact that Mulder was not guilty over the fact that he may have killed an innocent boy.[21]
See also[edit]
List of unmade episodes of The X-Files
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Meisler (1999), pp. 170
2.Jump up ^ Shapiro (1999), p. 152
3.^ Jump up to: a b c Meisler (1999), pp. 171
4.Jump up ^ Kord & Krimmer (2005), p. 154
5.Jump up ^ Badley (2000), p. 63
6.^ Jump up to: a b Bush, p. 102
7.Jump up ^ Bush, p. 104
8.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), p. 156
9.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 284
11.^ Jump up to: a b Henriksen, Erik (July 15, 2008), "DVD Review: The X-Files: Revelations", The Portland Mercury, retrieved July 29, 2010
12.Jump up ^ Dass, Francis (April 20, 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press), retrieved July 29, 2010
13.Jump up ^ Traister, Rebecca (July 24, 2008), "Scully Have I Loved", Salon.com (Salon Media Group), retrieved July 29, 2010
14.Jump up ^ McIntyre, Gina (July 27, 2008), "DVD Focuses On Mulder-Scully Relationship", Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company), retrieved July 29, 2010
15.Jump up ^ Handlen, Zack (June 11, 2011), "Bad Blood"/"Luminary", The A.V. Club, retrieved January 14, 2012
16.Jump up ^ Collura, Scott, et al (May 12, 2008), "IGN's 10 Favorite X-Files Standalone Episodes", IGN, retrieved November 15, 2011
17.Jump up ^ Bricken, Rob (October 13, 2009), "The 10 Funniest X-Files Episodes", Topless Robot (Topless Robot), retrieved December 27, 2011
18.Jump up ^ "Top drawer Files: the best stand-alone X-Files episodes". The Montreal Gazette. July 24, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
19.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson (2009), p. 135
20.^ Jump up to: a b Kessenich (2002), p. 217
21.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
Bibliography
Badley, Linda (2000), "Scully Hits the Glass Ceiling: Postmodernism, Postfeminism, Posthumanism and The X-Files", in Helford, Elyce Rae, Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0-8476-9834-9
Bush, Michelle (2008). Myth-X. Lulu. ISBN 1435746880.
Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
Kord, Susanne; Krimmer, Elisabeth (2005). Hollywood Divas, Indie Queens, and TV Heroines: Contemporary Screen Images of Women. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-3708-8.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-00-257133-3
Shapiro, Marc (2000). All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-107611-2.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Bad Blood" on TheXFiles.com
"Bad Blood" at the Internet Movie Database
"Bad Blood" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
Vampires in television
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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Patient X (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Patient X"
The X-Files episode
DmitriXFiles.jpg
Dmitri, a young Kazakh, is infected by the black oil.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 13
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Chris Carter
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X13
Original air date
March 1, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias
Don S. Williams as First Elder
John Moore as Third Elder
Brian Thompson as Bounty Hunter
John Neville as Well-Manicured Man
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender
Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender
Willy Ross as Quiet Willy
Jim Jansen as Heitz Werber
Alex Shostak Jr. as Dmitri
Ron Halder as Dr. Floyd Fazio
Kurt Max Bunte as Ranger
Raoul Ganeev as Guard
Max Wyman as Dr. Lagerqvist
Barbara Dyke as Dr. Alepin
Bruno Verdoni as UN Officer
Andrew Star as Dmtri's Friend
Anatol Rezmeritsa as Commandant
Oleg Feoktistov as Doctor
Allen Franz as Man in VW Van[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Bad Blood" Next →
"The Red and the Black"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files characters
"Patient X" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, directed by Kim Manners and aired in the United States on March 1, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.6, being watched by 20.21 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received moderately positive reviews from critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, as a rebel alien race secretly attacks several groups of former alien abductees, the agents meet Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), a woman who claims to be a multiple abductee and wants to deliver a positive message about aliens. Agent Mulder, now skeptical about extraterrestrial activity, is disturbed when Agent Scully forms a special bond with the woman.
"Patient X" was a story milestone for the series. It introduced several new recurring characters for the series. It was the first episode to feature Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender and Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender. It is the first of a two-part story that concludes with the following episode, "The Red and the Black".
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Casting
2.2 Filming and visual effects
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In Kazakhstan, two young boys see an unknown object fall from the sky. Seconds later, they witness a man being burned alive and are captured by an Alien Bounty Hunter who has his eyes and mouth sewn shut. The next day, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden) leads an investigation of U.N. troops of the area. She runs into Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), who has caught Dimitri, one of the Kazakh boys. Krycek tells Marita to tell her superiors that "it is all going to hell".
Meanwhile, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) attends a lecture at MIT, where the testimony of Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), an alien abductee, is being presented. Mulder argues against other members of the lecture over the existence of alien life, claiming that it is a lie created to cover up a program of medical experimentation on civilians run by the military industrial complex. When the lecture ends, Mulder is met by Dr. Heitz Werber, who is surprised to see that Mulder has lost his belief in alien life since the last time they met. Werber tells Mulder that he is Cassandra's doctor, and asks him to visit her.
Meanwhile, Krycek, who has beaten Dmitri into telling him what he saw, orders his Russian colleagues to infect him with the black oil. Back in the United States, Werber introduces Mulder to the wheelchair-bound Cassandra, who considers him a hero of hers. She claims that the aliens are in a state of upheaval and that she will be abducted by them again. Mulder tells Cassandra there is nothing he can do for her and leaves.
In Russia, Krycek, working against the orders of his superiors, kidnaps the infected Dmitri and flees to the U.S., sewing shut the boy's eyes, nose, and mouth to keep the black oil from leaving his body. At FBI headquarters, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) meets Agent Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), Cassandra's son, who fears the damage to his reputation if his colleagues learn about his mother. He tells Scully to keep Mulder away from her.
Marita reports to the Syndicate, which expected colonization at a much later date. Krycek offers Dmitri to the Syndicate in exchange for all their research on a vaccine. Meanwhile, Scully talks to Mulder about his meeting with Cassandra. She realizes that she has much in common with Cassandra, including being abducted at Skyland Mountain and having an implant inserted in the base of her neck. Scully visits Cassandra, who immediately realizes that she's a fellow abductee. Scully tells her not to remove the implant. Cassandra assures Scully that she never will, as she looks forward to being abducted again.
A group of abductees meet at Skyland Mountain and are burned alive by more faceless Alien Bounty Hunters. Scully and Mulder visit the scene, with Mulder continuing to be very skeptical of any alien involvement. The Syndicate is shocked by the massacre. Mulder and Scully visit Cassandra again, who knew many of the people who died. They encounter Spender, who is upset about their visit with his mother. Krycek is met by Marita. When Krycek returns to the cell where Dmitri is held, he finds him gone, and the Well-Manicured Man there instead.
Scully finds that the victims of the attack had implants in their necks and all claimed to be abductees. Mulder believes they were led there by the military, not aliens. Mulder is called by Marita, who kidnapped Dmitri. Dmitri pulls the stitches off his eyes, resulting in Marita getting infected with the black oil. Mulder calls Cassandra, looking for Scully, but Jeffrey answers and reveals that Cassandra is gone. At that moment Cassandra is with a group of abductees, including Scully, at the Ruskin Dam, brought there by Syndicate assassin Quiet Willy. The abductees see a UFO appear in the sky. Suddenly screams are uttered as two faceless aliens arrive.[1]
Production[edit]
Veronica Cartwright's performance in the episode was lauded by critics and resulted in an Emmy nomination.
Casting[edit]
This episode marks the first appearance of Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender. Owens previously appeared in earlier episodes, the first being "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", in which he played the younger version of The Smoking Man.[2] Owens later reprised this role in episode "Demons".[3] During the fifth season of the show, Owen was cast to play the part of The Great Mutato in "The Post-Modern Prometheus".[4] After his stint on The X-Files, Owens attempted to get a job as a waiter in Vancouver, to no avail. One day, however, he ran into series creator Chris Carter at a bar, who humorously told him, "I didn't know they served guys with two faces here", a reference to his portrayal of The Great Mutato.[5] Carter explained that David Duchovny had "taken careful notice" of Owens acting abilities and requested that he return to the series in some capacity. Heeding Duchovny's advice, Carter created the role of Jeffrey Spender just for him.[5] In addition, the episode was the first to introduce the recurring character of Cassandra Spender, played by Veronica Cartwright. Rick Millikan, the series' casting director, was very pleased with Cartwright's performance, noting, "She's got a voice that adds a little creepiness and a little mystery that I thought played really well. She was just the perfect X-Files person."[6] "Patient X" was the first episode in which Nicholas Lea was credited under the Also Starring tag, alongside Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis.[7]
The Russian characters from the start of the episode came from a "great" Russian acting community in Vancouver, British Columbia who had defected from the Soviet Union. Both Lea and Laurie Holden were required to learn Russian for the first scene following the opening credits. Alex Shostak Jr., who portrayed Dmitri, worked 12–14 hours a day; make-up was applied to give the appearance that his eyes and mouth had been sewed up, and a small straw was pushed between his lips to give him water. During the filming of the episode, he was "literally" blind and guided by the crew members throughout the filming of his scenes.[7] Shostak provided the translation for his own lines from English to Russian.[8] Holden and Lea worked diligently together to perfect their lines in Russian. Holden explained, "we'd come up with these fun ways to test ourselves to know if we had really nailed it. Show tunes come to mind, but I also remember this one time my dialect coach had me call a Russian friend of his on his cell phone to see if he could understand me. I passed the test."[9]
Filming and visual effects[edit]
Filming the scene with the burning camp was "tricky", according to Kim Manners. When they were filming the scene, they had huge "safety precautions" ready for the cast and crew. The fires seen in the episode, were in reality propane fires. Manners wanted the shots to be as close to the fire as possible, so they used fireproof cameras. According to Manners, "they used a half a million dollar camera on a crane wrapped in asbestos" and ran it through the flames. For the following scene, the production crew set a man on fire, while using a fire suit. This stunt is known as a "full burn." Scenes like this are "very dangerous" as one can't breathe. In total, he was on fire between 25-30 seconds, which is seen as a lot by filming standards.[7] Special effects supervisor Tony Lindala supervised the creation of the faceless alien rebels, Dmitri's mutilation, and the incinerated victims of the rebels. Lindala also designed the rig used to infect Dmitri with the black oil.[8]
The set for the Russian gulag was built at North Shore Studios. Graeme Murray was the production designer at the time. The following scene with Dmitri in the gulag was "difficult." The ship scenes were filmed at a warehouse in Vancouver. When filming the Syndicate meeting, Manners wanted Marita Covarrubias to look as strong as possible since this marked the first appearance of a woman in the Syndicate meeting room. Since there was very little movement among the actors when filming the scene, they were forced to film in different angles and wide shots.[7]
Reception[edit]
"Patient X" premiered in the United States on the Fox network on March 1, 1998.[10] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.6, with a 19 share, meaning that roughly 12.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 19 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[11] It was viewed by 20.21 million viewers.[11] Veronica Cartwright was nominated in the category "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" in the 1998 Emmy Awards for her performance in this episode and its follow-up, "The Red and the Black".[12] The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien Colonist's plans to take over the earth.[13]
Critical reception to the episode was largely positive. Television Without Pity ranked "Patient X" the eighth most nightmare-inducing episode of the show, citing, in particular the abuse of Dmitri.[14] The article noted that "If The X-Files has taught us anything, it’s that if a G-Man asks us if we know anything about anything and we foolishly say yes, our mouths and eyelids will be sewn shut and we will be brainwashed to kill on demand."[14] The A.V. Club reviewer Todd VanDerWerff gave "Patient X" an B+, and wrote that the episode "feels epic, in a way the mythology episodes do at their best".[15] However, VanDerWerff noted that "The problem with breaking the status quo on a TV series is that your audience is always going to know in the back of its head that the status quo isn’t really broken."[15] He reasoned that the audience never fully believed that "Mulder could lose his belief in the all-consuming alien conspiracy" or accept the idea that "Scully could find herself dabbling with belief in [aliens]."[15] Despite these set-backs, however, he noted that "Patient X" was the episode where the series' mythology "gets moving again, after chasing its own tail throughout much of season four and reaching a sort of climax in the opening episodes of season five."[15] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five. The two described the tone of "Patient X" as "truly visceral", citing the faceless men incinerating people as well as the mutilation of the innocent Dmitri, who was "at the wrong place at the wrong time". Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson praised the episode for "shift[ing] the goalposts" and allowing Mulder and Scully to switch roles as the believer and skeptic.[16] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four.[17] Vitaris praised the episode's premise, writing, "'Patient X' is a rare episode in that it actually advances The X-Files mythology, with the news of a vaccine to combat the black oil".[17] However, she was critical of the episode's reliance on shock value, noting that the "camera seems to take a perverse delight in death, pain, and mutilation, with the distressing effect of numbing the viewer to the horror."[17]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp 173–184
2.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), pp. 75–82
3.Jump up ^ Meisler (1998), pp. 245–256
4.Jump up ^ Meisler (1999), pp. 72–84
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 185
6.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles (2008), p 126
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d Manners, Kim (2000). Audio Commentary for "Patient X" (DVD). Fox Home Entertainment.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), pp 196–197
9.Jump up ^ Fraga (2010), p. 23
10.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler (1999), p. 284
12.Jump up ^ "Veronica Cartwright". Emmys.com. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Kim Manners, et al. The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization (DVD). FOX.
14.^ Jump up to: a b "Photo Gallery - X-Files: The 11 Most Nightmare-Inducing Episodes Ever - TV Shows & TV Series Pictures & Photos". Television Without Pity. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d VanDerWerff, Todd (18 June 2011). "'Patient X'/'The Mikado'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
16.Jump up ^ Shearman and Pearson (2009), p. 136–137
17.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
BibliographyFraga, Erica (2010). LAX-Files: Behind the Scenes with the Los Angeles Cast and Crew. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781451503418.
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1-933784-72-5.
Meisler, Andy (1998), I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files, Vol. 3, Perennial Currents, ISBN 0-06-105386-4
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Patient X" on TheXFiles.com
"Patient X" at the Internet Movie Database
"Patient X" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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The Red and the Black (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"The Red and the Black"
The X-Files episode
ScullyHypnosisTR&TB.jpg
Dana Scully, under hypnosis, recalls memories of her alien encounter.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 14
Directed by
Chris Carter
Written by
Chris Carter
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X14
Original air date
March 8, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender
Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender
Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
John Neville as Well-Manicured Man
Don S. Williams as First Elder
George Murdock as Second Elder
John Moore as Third Elder
Willy Ross as Quiet Willy
Brian Thompson as The Bounty Hunter
Alex Shostak Jr as Dmitri
Jim Jansen as Dr. Heitz Werber
Chapelle Jaffe as Dr. Paton
Miehal Suchanek as Young Jeffrey Spender
Derek Thomas Versteeg as MP
Jack Finn as Young Boy
Jenn Forgie as Nurse
Klodyne Rodney as Medic[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Patient X" Next →
"Travelers"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files characters
"The Red and the Black" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, directed by Carter and aired in the United States on March 8, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.0, being watched by 19.98 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received moderately positive reviews from critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder has Scully put under hypnosis to learn the truth about her abduction after Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright) goes missing and her son Jeffrey (Chris Owens) angrily attempts to push his way up in the FBI. The Syndicate, meanwhile, quicken their tests for the black oil vaccine, sacrificing their own to do so.
"The Red and the Black" continues from the previous episode, "Patient X" and features the return of Mulder's belief in extraterrestrials, a belief he initially lost in the season opener "Redux". Director Rob Bowman was originally slated to direct the episode, but filming issues resulted in Carter directing it. Carter later described the episode, along with "Patient X", as being "the most challenging and logically complex projects of the season."
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Casting and filming
2.2 Effects
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In the mountain wilderness of Canada, someone in a cabin writes a letter, addressed to "Son" and expresses hopes that they may reconcile. The envelope is addressed to the FBI, and is given to a boy courier for mailing.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) arrives at the Ruskin Dam and finds a number of burned corpses, including those belonging to Quiet Willy and Dmitri. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is found with only minor burns, one of approximately fifty survivors who were found nearby in the woods. Jeffrey Spender arrives looking for his mother, Cassandra (Veronica Cartwright), who is missing. Mulder meets with Scully about the incident, but she does not remember anything. Jeffrey sees Mulder and warns him not to get involved with his mother, who remains missing.
The Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) and other Syndicate Elders watch as their black oil vaccine is administered to Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), which has yet to work. Later, The Well-Manicured Man meets with Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), who is being held captive aboard a Russian freighter. The Well-Manicured Man believes that the Russians possess a functional vaccine to the black oil, or else Krycek would not have infected the boy. With a working vaccine, resistance to the alien Colonists is possible.
A spacecraft crashes at Wiekamp Air Force base in West Virginia, and the surviving Rebel passenger is captured by the military. Mulder shows Scully more photos of the victims and, having found more implants in them, believes the implant in Scully may be able to answer all of their questions. The Syndicate meets over the capture of the Rebel. The Well-Manicured Man wants to align with the Rebels, but the other Syndicate members are reluctant and want to make sure the Russian vaccine from Krycek works.
Under hypnosis, Scully recalls the Rebels burning her fellow abductees, and recalls a Colonist spacecraft killing the Rebels and abducting Cassandra. During a meeting with Walter Skinner, Mulder continues to insist that the events that have been caused by the military and not by aliens. Meanwhile, the Russian vaccine seems to have no effect on Marita. The First Elder tells the Well-Manicured Man that they have already decided to turn the Rebel over to the Colonists. Jeffrey shows Scully a video of him talking about aliens while under hypnosis while he was a child, claiming his mother had forced him to make those statements.
Krycek is released and attacks Mulder in his apartment. He claims that a war is raging between the aliens and that the Rebel immolations are meant to halt the impending colonization of Earth. He also claims that the captured Rebel is critical to their plans and must not die. Mulder and Scully head to Wiekamp Air Force Base, where the Alien Bounty Hunter—who is disguised as Quiet Willy—has come to kill the Rebel. However, Mulder witnesses a second Rebel arriving to seemingly kill the Bounty Hunter and rescue the captured Rebel. The Well-Manicured Man watches as the Russian vaccine is revealed to have been successful on Marita. Mulder is released by the military but is confused by what he saw. At FBI Headquarters, Spender receives the letter from Canada. In Canada we see the boy return the unopened letter to the cabin and the sender is revealed to be The Smoking Man (William B. Davis).[1]
Production[edit]
The opening of the episode was filmed at Grouse Mountain, near Vancouver.
Casting and filming[edit]
Series creator Chris Carter explained that the cast listing for the episode, along with "Patient X" was "longer than most cast lists you'll ever see on a TV series".[2] In order to allow for the increased expenses of hiring additional actors, Carter and the producers of the series talked Fox into allowing the episodes to be slightly more expensive because they would lead into the soon-to-be-released X-Files movie. Carter explained, "we convinced them to spend the extra money to do this extra special work because it was all leading up to [...] when the X-Files movie would be released."[2] In addition, the child he gave the message to was a young boy and the son of production manager J.P. Finn.[2] Rob Bowman originally intended to direct the episode but, due to reshoots, he was unable to do it, resulting in Carter directing. Bowman later recounted, "I was supposed to direct 'The Red and the Black' […] but we were prepping for the reshoots [of The X-Files movie] so I couldn't do it. […] Chris had to direct this episode. He was so mad at me."[3] When filming the scene where Mulder and Scully go to a medic station, Carter made homage to the medical drama ER, filming it entirely with a Steadicam.[2]
The opening scene was filmed at Grouse Mountain, above the city of Vancouver, Canada. Most of the scenes at the Ruskin Dam were shot approximately 50 miles east of Vancouver, while the abduction sequence involved a full scale replica of the dam. The various scenes with the Syndicate testing the black oil vaccine on Marita Covarrubias were filmed at an abandoned hospital in Vancouver. Carter commented that they chose it because it had "an interesting observation space above it that we used", which was difficult to shoot in.[2]
Effects[edit]
A full-scale replica of the Ruskin Dam bridge was created for the episode.
"The Red and the Black" was a technically difficult episode, which Carter later described, along with "Patient X", as "the most challenging and logically complex projects of the season."[4] The scene where Cassandra Spender was elevated into the colonist craft was shot by having a stuntwoman sit in Cassandra's wheelchair and be lifted upward via a crane, which was removed from the shot during post-production. The lights of the alien spacecraft were shot using a lighting rig combined with computer effects by Special Effects Supervisor Laurie Kalisen-George. The crashed alien spacecraft was sixty feet in diameter, twice the length of any other spaceship seen before on the show, and dragged along the ground to create a skidmark. Twenty-five explosions were set off to simulate the saucer crash; the remains of the wreckage were then burned to create the rest of the footage.[5] The scene took an entire night to film.[2]
The opening scene featuring the alien rebels incinerating a group of Russian alien abductees was filmed without actual Russian cars. Picture car coordination Bigel Habgood noted, "I couldn't get real Russian cars, so I decided to get creative and go seriously European. We burned a couple Saabs, and a BMW 2002. I'm sorry we couldn't get any Yugos."[5] For the scene after the intro wherein Mulder discovers the charred remains of abductees, the prop and the production design departments had to create specialized fake bodies. Carter later noted that it's "harder than it looks to create a charred, dead body."[2] The stage for the alien abduction scene was built from scratch: construction supervisor Rob Maier was tasked with creating a full-scale replica of the Ruskin Dam bridge in order to ease up the shots.[5] The tagline for this episode is "Resist or Serve".[2] The tagline was later used for The X-Files game, The X-Files: Resist or Serve as well as the official book covering the fifth season of the show. The list of victims viewed by Scully in her hospital room was made up of X-Files staffers.[5]
Reception[edit]
"The Red and the Black" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on March 8, 1998.[6] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.0, with a 18 share, meaning that roughly 12.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[7] It was viewed by 19.98 million viewers.[7] The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien Colonist's plans to take over the earth.[8]
Critical reception to the episode was largely positive. The A.V. Club reviewer Zack Handlen gave "The Red and the Black" an A–, and wrote positively of the "galactic war" between the colonists and the rebels that is referenced in the episode, noting that it marked the point where "shit is about to get real".[9] Despite this, Handlen criticized the series for not following through on its tale of alien war, noting that the premise "never really [took off]--at least […] I've never heard anyone refer to [the last seasons of the show] as 'the seasons when the The X-Files mythology finally paid off.'"[9] Handlen, however noted that "The Red and the Black" worked because "the performances are great as always, and because the second part of this two parter rarely feels bogged down or draggy."[9] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three stars out of five. The two called the episode a "typical mythology runaround" and noted that the plot was "complicated but the simpler scenes of confrontation are very well handled."[10] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[11] Vitaris praised the episode's premise and wrote that it represented "a second half of a two-parter that is as strong as the first half."[11]
A variety of critics praised the hypnotism scene. Robert Shearman called the scene "gorgeous" and praised Gillian Anderson's acting abilities.[10] Paula Vitaris was extremely impressed with the scene's blocking, calling the rendition "virtually orgasmic in intensity" and concluded that "Anderson is marvelous".[11]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 187–196
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Carter, Chris (2005). Audio Commentary for "The Red and the Black" (DVD). FOX Home Entertainment.
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles p. 151
4.Jump up ^ Meisler, p. 196
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d Meisler, p. 197
6.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
8.Jump up ^ Kim Manners, et al. The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization (DVD). FOX.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack (25 June 2011). "'The Red and the Black'/'The Pest House'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 138–139
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
BibliographyHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"The Red and the Black" on TheXFiles.com
"The Red and the Black" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Red and the Black" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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Travelers (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"Travelers"
The X-Files episode
TravelersXFiles.jpg
An alien-spider emerges from Edward Skur's mouth and attacks Hayes Michel. The scene was created with a special facial appliance that allowed the creature to crawl out of Skur's mouth.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 15
Directed by
William A. Graham
Written by
John Shiban
Frank Spotnitz
Production code
5X15
Original air date
March 29, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Fredric Lane as young Arthur Dales
Garret Dillahunt as Edward Skur
Brian Leckner as Hayes Michel
David Moreland as Roy Cohn
Eileen Pedde as Mrs Skur
Dean Aylesworth as young Bill Mulder
David Fredericks as FBI Director
Mitchell Kosterman as Sheriff
Roger Haskett as Coroner
Jane Perry as Dorothy Bahnsen
J. Douglas Stewart as Landlord
Cory Dagg as Bartender
Eric W. Gilder as old Edward Skur
Darren McGavin as Arthur Dales[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Red and the Black" Next →
"Mind's Eye"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files characters
"Travelers" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files, and the 111th episode of the series overall. It was written by John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, directed by William A. Graham and aired in the United States on March 29, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.9, being watched by 15.06 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this flashback episode, a young Fox Mulder visits retired FBI Agent Arthur Dales (Darren McGavin), who tells him about one of the first X-Files, a case that Mulder's father, Bill, was involved in.
"Travelers" was written as a tribute to Howard Dimsdale, a screenwriter who was victimized by Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s and explored the idea that "the witch-hunt [of the 1950s] was actually a smoke screen to conceal something else". Noted actor Darren McGavin appears as Arthur Dales. McGavin was requested for the part especially by Chris Carter and had been approached to play various characters on the series before. In order to create a "convincing period movie", various special effects were used, including a special facial appliance that allowed the "alien spider" to crawl out of Skur's mouth and into his victim, and a bleaching job for the final film to give it an aged feel.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing and casting
2.2 Filming
2.3 Continuity
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In 1990, a man named Edward Skur is shot by a police officer during an eviction and the last word he speaks is "Mulder". Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), at this point working with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, believes that the man may have had some connection to his father, Bill. Mulder discovers that Skur was reported to have died in 1952. He seeks out Arthur Dales (Darren McGavin), a retired FBI agent who investigated Skur in the 1950s. At first, Dales is reluctant to discuss the case and warns Mulder away. However, Mulder's threat of a subpoena persuades Dales to tell his story.
In a flashback to the 1950s, Dales (Fredric Lane) and his partner Hayes Michel are sent to arrest Skur (Garret Dillahunt) for being a communist. When Dales is told that Skur hanged himself while in custody, he feels guilty and returns to Skur's house to apologize to his wife. While there, he sees Skur alive and tries to recapture him. In the following struggle, an appendage emerges from Skur's mouth. Skur is forced to flee when a neighbor interrupts the fight. Dales' partner and Mr. Cohn warn Dales to change his report about the attack. He does so, but feels guilty about it.
Later, Dales and Michel are called investigate the death of a German doctor in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The local police deny calling them, and Dales finds a coaster for a bar with "come alone" written on the back. At the bar, Dales meets Bill Mulder, an agent from the State Department. Bill tells him that Skur, Gissing, and Oberman were experimented on and Gissing and Oberman have killed themselves. Skur killed the German doctor in revenge for what was done to him, and he will kill Dales and Michel too because Skur believes they are part of the plot. Dales tries to warn Michel but he is too late and Skur kills him. Dales tries to investigate but MR Cohn covers it up.
A secretary, Dorothy Bahnsen (played by Jane Perry),at the FBI office helps Dales find a file that mentions Gissing. (She explains that she files all the unsolved cases under X because there is more room under X than U.) Gissing's body is still in the morgue and Dales convinces the technician to cut open the body where they find a strange creature has been sewn into Gissing's chest. Dales goes to Skur's wife and tells her what was done to her husband and that he wants to expose the experiments. Skur's wife goes down into the backyard bomb shelter to tell Skur, but he is overcome by his parasite and kills her.
Cohn picks up Dales and takes him to the office of the Director who gives him a speech about patriotism and convinces him to help bring in Skur. They take Dales back to the bar to meet Skur, who attacks Dales. Bill Mulder and the other agent wait outside until they think Dales is dead before rushing in to find that Dales has handcuffed Skur and is still alive.
Back in the present Fox Mulder is dismayed to hear what his father was involved in. He asks Dales how Skur escaped and Dales speculates that someone might have helped Skur escape hoping that the truth of what was done to him may one day be revealed. And we see Bill Mulder driving down a road with Skur and giving Skur the keys to the car and walking away. [1]
Production[edit]
Writing and casting[edit]
The episode was written as a tribute to Howard Dimsdale, a screenwriter who was victimized by Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. Dimsdale wrote several movies under the pseudonym "Arthur Dales", and thus, his name was the inspiration for the character of the same name in "Travelers".[2] For many years, Dimsdale had taught at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles; two of his students were executive producer Frank Spotnitz and co-producer John Shiban. The two decided to combine many of Dimsdale's stories of "paranoia, treachery, and double-dealing" with the idea that "the witch-hunt was actually a smoke screen to conceal something else".[2] The writers soon realized that by setting the episode in the past, they would be able to "trace the roots of both Fox Mulder and the X-Files".[3]
Darren McGavin (right) makes his first appearance as Arthur Dales in the episode.
This episode does not feature Scully, as Gillian Anderson was busy still filming her final parts of Fight the Future. Noted actor Darren McGavin appears as Arthur Dales. He was requested for the part especially by Chris Carter. Casting director Rick Millikan noted, "McGavin was Chris's inspiration for writing this series. He always had Darren in mind to use somewhere, and that was really his doing. He said 'I want Darren McGavin for this,' and he happened to be available, and we got him."[4] McGavin had originally been casting directors' first choice for the role of Senator Matheson for the second season opener "Little Green Men".[5] McGavin was later sought out to be Mulder's dad, but he again eluded the staff. In the end, McGavin finally agreed to appear on the show playing Dales, the agent who originally founded the X-Files.[5]
Filming[edit]
Due to the time crunches of the fifth season, a "convincing period movie" was created in "less time than humanly possible" by members of The X-Files's production staff.[3] Costume designer Jenni Gullet set about renting and creating vintage clothing from the fifties; art director Gary Allen collected older copies of National Geographic to make J. Edgar Hoover's office seem realistic to the period. Allen also constructed the bomb shelter, because his father was a contractor who had actually built several.[3]
Special effects supervisor Toby Lindala created the "alien spider" as well as a special facial appliance that allowed the creature to crawl out of Skur's mouth and into his victim. The final film was slightly bleached in post-production to give it a "vintage appearance".[3] The production staff was pleased with the final product, noting that it does justice to both "the painful controversies of the 1950s" and The X-Files as a "contemporary TV series".[3] The episode also contained several in-jokes. The song playing in the German doctor's house is a specially recorded cover of the popular song "Lili Marleen"; the song's record cover reads "Paula Rabwini", a reference to one of the series' producers, Paul Rabwin. Agent Hayes Michel was named after the fiancé of Mary Astadourian, one of series creator Chris Carter's executive assistants.[3]
Continuity[edit]
In several shots, Mulder can be seen wearing a wedding band. This was David Duchovny's idea; he explained "That was just me, you know, fooling around. I had recently gotten married, and I wanted to wear it." He later described the situation as "so Mulder to never have mentioned that he was married".[6] Series creator Chris Carter later told Duchovny that the situation "creates a problem. If we ever do a show that takes place seven years ago, you'll have to be married."[6] However, Duchovny reassured Carter by pointing out that there were not very many episodes, if any, that had been planned to take place seven years prior to the events in this episode. The inclusion of the detail caused an "Internet frenzy" and the minor detail was never resolved on screen.[6]
Reception[edit]
"Travelers" premiered in the US on the Fox network on March 19, 1998 and in the United Kingdom on February 3, 1999.[7] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.9, with a 15 share, meaning that roughly 9.9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 15 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[8] It was viewed by 15.06 million viewers.[8]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. In a 2000 review of season five for the New Straits Times, Francis Dass noted that the episode possessed a "nice retro feel throughout".[9] Dass was also complimentary towards the fact that "Mulder senior is shown in action" during the episode.[9] Todd VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club gave the episode a B and wrote positively of it, noting that, although the entry was designed as a "stall", it felt like a "weird backdoor pilots for [a show] that never happened."[10] He noted that the episode "isn’t as good as it could have been" but argued that the story was "still a mostly fun".[10] In addition, VanDerWerff wrote positively of McGavin's guest starring role and was complimentary towards the "alien spider thing", describing it as "wonderfully gross".[10] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five and called it "fresh and urgent".[11] The two wrote that, while the episode was a stopgap, it "cannot be better placed."[11] They argued that "Travlers"'s use of the "Communist witch hunt" conceit and its idea that "serving" means being a patriot, whereas "resisting" means being a traitor —a reference to the previous episode's tagline—themes were well-played.[11] Shearman and Pearson, furthermore, praised McGavin's acting, noting that he was "the series' spiritual father".[11]
Other reviews were more critical. John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode 5 out of 10 and wrote, "Overall, this episode is an odd divergence from the normal series format, prompted by the production schedule for the feature film. [...] Acceptable as a stand-alone episode, it simply doesn’t fit within the overall scope of the series, and that makes it hard to judge objectively."[12] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely negative review and awarded it one star out of four.[13] She noted that the episode, much like the earlier season five entry "Unusual Suspects" was "filler", but that, unlike the earlier episode, "Travelers" was "not particularly entertaining."[13] Vitaris criticized the character of Arthur Dales and wrote that he was "not an intriguing character".[13] However, she did praise the visuals, describing them as "outstanding".[13]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 198–211
2.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 210
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Meisler, p. 211
4.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 131
5.^ Jump up to: a b Lowry, pp. 162–163
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Schilling, Mary (5 February 1999). "Secrets and Lies". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
7.Jump up ^ R.W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
9.^ Jump up to: a b Dass, Francis (20 April 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press), retrieved 29 July 2010
10.^ Jump up to: a b c VanDerWerff, Todd (2 July 2011). "Travelers'/'Owls'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c d Shearman and Pearson, pp. 138–139
12.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "Travelers". Critical Myth. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c d Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
BibliographyHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053309.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Travelers" on TheXFiles.com
"Travelers" at the Internet Movie Database
"Travelers" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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Mind's Eye (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mind’s Eye (The X-Files))
Jump to: navigation, search
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"Mind's Eye"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 16
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Tim Minear
Production code
5X16
Original air date
April 19, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Lili Taylor as Marty Glenn
Blu Mankuma as Detective Pennock
Richard Fitzpatrick as Gotts
Henri Lubatti as Dr. Wilkenson
Peter Kelamis as Ada Costa[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Travelers" Next →
"All Souls"
List of The X-Files episodes
"Mind's Eye" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on April 19, 1998 on the Fox network. It was written by Tim Minear and directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week"" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Mind's Eye" received a Nielsen household rating of 10.4 and was watched by 16.53 million viewers. The episode received moderately positive reviews, with many critics praising Taylor's performance as Glenn.
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. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a murder that seems to have been committed by a blind woman, Marty Glenn (Lili Taylor), but Mulder suspects that she is capable of seeing images in some other way. Eventually, it is revealed that Glenn, while blind, can see the actions of her murderous father via her mind's eye.
"Mind's Eye" was inspired by the concept of "remote viewing", or being able to see events beyond the range of normal vision. Minear sought to make Glenn the opposite of Audrey Hepburn's character in the 1967 film Wait Until Dark, in which Hepburn played the part of an innocent but terrorized blind woman. "Mind's Eye" marked the rare television appearance of Taylor, who primarily worked on well-regarded independent films. In fact, Taylor herself requested to appear in the series.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Casting and filming
3 Broadcast and reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
While Marty Glenn (Lili Taylor) is walking around her apartment in Wilmington, Delaware, she experiences a vision: someone brandishing a knife approaches a man standing in front of a bathroom sink. Later, local police are called to a motel, where they find a murdered man on the bathroom floor. Glenn is discovered hiding in the shower holding a bloody sponge. The police arrest her, only to realize that she is blind. Detective Lloyd Pennock (Blu Mankuma) calls in Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) because he believes Glenn (who has been blind since birth) possesses a "sixth sense" that makes her capable of committing this crime.
During an interrogation, it becomes obvious that Glenn, who is being uncooperative, possesses knowledge of the crimes that only the guilty party should know. Mulder decides to administer a polygraph while Scully looks over the crime scene. In the bathroom, Scully discovers a leather glove hidden behind an old razor disposal bin. Mulder, meanwhile, becomes convinced that Glenn somehow did observe the murder. Suddenly, Glenn experiences another vision: the murderer approaches a woman, Susan Forester, at a bar. In the vision, Glenn is able to see the name of the bar. When her premonition ends, she requests to make a phone call; she calls the bar and warns a man named Gotts (Richard Fitzpatrick)to leave Forester alone. Scully brings to glove and shows it to Glenn. She informs her that her fingerprints were found on it and that it fits her. Pennock conlcudes that the evidence is enough to charge Glenn, but Mulder still doesn't think she did it. Scully proposes that Glenn may not be blind, and an eye examination is undertaken. During the test, Glenn experiences another vision and Mulder points out that the measurement mode screen used to gauge whether Glenn can see has a reaction. Despite this, the examiner concludes Glenn is truly blind. Mulder, however, believes Glenn's ocular reaction is a physical response to an image in her mind's eye. After the district attorney concludes that charging a blind woman solely based on fingerprints would not be enough to convict her, Glenn is released.
While walking home, Glenn experiences a vision of Gotts attacking Forester. Glenn eventually makes her way to the crime scene where she finds the victim's body. She returns to the police station and confesses to the murders. To convince the police that she is the murderer Glenn tells Pennock where Gotts hid the heroin he stole from the first victim, but none of the prints on heroin belong to Glenn, furthering Mulder's argument that she is, in fact, innocent. Mulder approaches Glenn and tells her that he researched her mother's murder—she died from a stab wound to the kidney, the same way Gotts kills his victims. Mulder concludes that Glenn was given her ability when her then-pregnant mother was killed by Gotts. It is revealed that Gotts is actually Glenn's father and that he had spent thirty years (her whole life) in prison. Glenn sends Mulder and Scully to the bar that Gotts was last seen at, while Pennock takes her back to her apartment to pick up some things before entering protective custody. While packing Glenn has a vision of Gotts in the apartment lobby; she knocks Pennock out, takes his gun and waits. Mulder figures out that Glenn had been experiencing Gotts' sight for the thirty years he was in prison; in effect spending her whole life in prison. Mulder and Scully arrive at Pennock's apartment to find Gotts dead by his daughter's hands. Glenn is convicted of his murder and is sentenced to prison, but she is finally free of her father's vision.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
"Mind's Eye" was written by Tim Minear—his first credit for the series—and directed by Kim Manners. He was inspired to write the episode after hearing about the concept of "remote viewing". Purportedly, the process allows one to view events—either through one's eyes, or through the eyes of others—beyond the range of normal vision. Reportedly, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency spent $20 million on a research project to determine if the ability exists.[2]
Minear initially had trouble conceptualizing his idea, noting that "it might be a good idea for a short story, but how do you make the whole thing work visually?"[2] To combat this issue, Minear decided to make the remote viewer blind. He sought to make the blind woman "not Audrey Hepburn", a reference to the 1967 film Wait Until Dark, in which Hepburn played the part of an innocent but terrorized blind woman.[2] He later said, "I wanted to make [Glenn] a bitch, because the fact is that disability doesn't necessarily ennoble a person."[2] After several meetings with fellow writers John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz—who provided storyboard support—Minear was allowed to begin work on the episode.[2]
Casting and filming[edit]
"Mind's Eye" marked the rare television appearance of Lili Taylor, who primarily worked on well-regarded independent films.[2][3] Taylor was cast as Glenn; initially, the producers for the show felt that Taylor would not be interested, but she actually was a fan of the show and series co-star Anderson. Taylor, in fact, had contacted the series' casting director, Rick Milikan, and requested a role. Blu Mankuma, who played the part of Detective Pennock, had previously appeared in the first season episode "Ghost in the Machine". Mulder's line "even if the gloves do fit – you can still acquit", a reference to the leather gloves of the O. J. Simpson murder case, was improvised by Duchovny during filming.[2]
During the filming of the episode, art director Greg Loewen pointed out that, in her apartment, Glenn would not need lamps and ceiling lights. The lighting department for the show, however, countered that "although The X-Files was a dark show, it wasn't that dark."[2] The "staccato" and "nightmarish" remote visions that Glenn experiences were created in post-production by visual effects supervisor Laurie Kallsen-George.[2]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Mind's Eye" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 19, 1998, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 10, 1999.[4] It earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.4, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 10.4 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[5] It was viewed by 16.53 million viewers.[5] "Mind's Eye" also was nominated for several Emmy Awards. Taylor was nominated for an award in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series—a nomination shared by fellow X-Files guest star Veronica Cartwright—although Cloris Leachman won.[6][7] Editor Casey O Rohrs was nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing.[2][6][8]
The episode received moderately positive reviews from television critics, with many praising Taylor's performance as Glenn. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it a B+.[9] He was slightly critical that Glenn's ability to see visions was not sufficiently expanded upon; he ultimately called Mulder's explanation "crap".[9] However, Handlen praised guest star Taylor and Duchovny, noting that "Taylor is convincing in the role, and Duchovny does a good job making his lines sound more logical than they actually are."[9] He ultimately concluded that the entry is" not a bad episode, exactly" but that "it's far from a great one."[9] John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a positive review and awarded it an 8 out of 10.[10] He labeled the episode "a strong stand-alone installment" helped by the "powerful" chemistry between Duchovny and Taylor.[10] He noted that "there are some interesting philosophical themes at work".[10] Keegan concluded that "[t]he lack of context within the season arc itself could have worked against it, but the episode manages to stand on its own."[10]
Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four.[11] Vitaris drew comparisons between the installment and the third season episode "Oubliette". However, she noted that because "the new episodes doesn't have the specific connection 'Oubliette' drew between Lucy and Mulder's sister Samantha, it doesn't touch the heart as deeply."[11] She did, however, praise Taylor's performance, writing "it is [Taylor] who makes 'Mind's Eye' truly memorable."[11] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three stars out of five.[12] The two called the entry "solid, if unspectacular", noting that, once the premise is developed, "there's really not much depth to be mined from it."[12] Shearman and Pearson, however, concluded that "the episode works nonetheless, thanks to a superb central performance from Lili Taylor [who] gives the best guest star turn of the year, lending a strength, an anger, and a redeeming humour to a blind woman who has adapted the world to her disability."[12]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 212–224
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Meisler, p. 224
3.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 131
4.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
6.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 282
7.Jump up ^ "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series 1998". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "The X-Files". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Handlen, Zack (9 July 2011). "'Mind's Eye'/'Roosters' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d Keegan, John. "Mind' Eye". Critical Myth. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, pp. 139–140
Bibliography[edit]
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Mind's Eye" on XFiles.com
"Mind's Eye" at the Internet Movie Database
"Mind's Eye" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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All Souls (The X-Files)
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"All Souls"
The X-Files episode
XFilesSeraphim.jpg
The lion-headed part of a Seraphim, as seen by Dana Scully. The effect, created via CGI, took hours to complete.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 17
Directed by
Allen Coulter
Teleplay by
Frank Spotnitz
John Shiban
Story by
Dan Angel
Billy Brown
Production code
5X17
Original air date
April 26, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Arnie Walters as Father McCue
Patti Allan as Mrs. Kernoff
Eric Keenleyside as Lance Kernof
Emily Perkins as the Nephilim
Jody Racicot Father Gregory
Lorraine Landry as Vicki Belon
Glenn Morshower as Aaron Starkey
Lauren Diewold as Emily
Bob Wilde as George Vincent Dyer
Tim O'Halloran as the Sergeant
Tracy Elofson as Seraphim[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Mind's Eye" Next →
"The Pine Bluff Variant"
List of The X-Files episodes
"All Souls" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode originally aired on the Fox network on April 26, 1998. The episode's teleplay was written by Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban, from a story by Dan Angel and Billy Brown; it was directed by Allen Coulter. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the mythology, or overarching fictional history, of The X-Files. "All Souls" received a Nielsen household rating of 8.5 and was watched by 13.44 million viewers in its initial broadcast. It received mixed reviews from television critics.
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. In this episode, the unexplained death of a young girl with polydactyly (among other health problems) prompts Father McCue (Arnie Walters) to ask Scully for her help, but her investigation leads her to a mystery involving Nephilim—children of mortal women and angels. Scully soon learns that Aaron Starkey (Glenn Morshower), a department of social services worker and demon in disguise, is after the girls, in order that the Devil may control their power.
The original version of "All Souls" was a simple story about Mulder, Scully, and angels. Shiban and Spotnitz, however, overhauled the idea and added elements of the earlier "Christmas Carol" and "Emily" story arc, making "All Souls" the unofficial third part. The entry also contained several elaborate effects, which were achieved via makeup and CGI. After they viewed the final cut of the installment, Shiban and Spotnitz decided to frame the action around Scully confessing her story to a priest in a confessional.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming
3 Broadcast and reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In Alexandria, Virginia, sixteen-year-old Dara Kernof (Emily Perkins), a severely mentally and physically challenged girl confined to a wheelchair somehow manages to leave her house in the middle of the night. Her father, Lance (Eric Keenleyside), finds her in the middle of the street, with her arms raised upward, kneeling before a Dark Figure. Suddenly, lightning flashes and the Dark Figure disappears. When Lance reaches Dara, he realizes she is dead and that her eyes are gone, as if having been burned out of their sockets.
Father McCue (Arnie Walters) contacts Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and asks for her help in the case. Scully visits the Kernofs, and learns that Dara was adopted six years earlier. Due to her severe spinal deformities, there is no explanation as to how Dara walked out of the house. Lance is convinced that it was the Devil that stood over her in the street. Scully examines Dara's body with a pathologist Vicki Belon (Lorraine Landry), who notes her surgically removed extra fingers. Belon reluctantly proposes that the girl was struck down by God, as if she was a mistake.
Meanwhile, a man named Father Gregory (Jody Racicot) visits a psychiatric hospital attempting to visit a girl named Paula Koklos (Perkins), Dara's twin sister. However, he is blocked by Aaron Starkey (Glenn Morshower), a social worker. That night, Paula dies when a man enters her room. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), locates Dara's birth records and reveals that she was a quadruplet. Shortly thereafter, Starkey reveals that Paula was about to be adopted by Father Gregory. When the agents visit the priest, he insists he was trying to protect Paula from harm. Later, while examining Paula's body, Scully experiences a vision of Emily (Lauren Diewold).
Mulder performs further research on the adoption records and uncovers information on a third sister (Perkins), who is apparently troubled and homeless. With Starkey's help, Mulder canvases abandoned buildings in a desolate part of town. However, the Dark Figure finds and kills the girl. After finding Father Gregory at the scene, Mulder believes that he is responsible for the murders. Under questioning by Mulder and Scully, Father Gregory insists that he tried to protect the girls' souls from the Devil, and that the fourth girl must be located. While the agents step out of the interrogation room, Starkey enters and demands to know the location of the fourth girl. When Gregory does not answer, he is burned alive by Starkey, who is revealed to be a demon.
Scully is approached by the Dark Figure, who is revealed to be a Seraph, an angel who descended from the heavens and fathered four children with a mortal woman. God sent the Seraph to return the girls to Heaven in order to keep the Devil from claiming them as his own. Scully and Starkey find the fourth girl, Roberta Dyer (Perkins) at Gregory's church. However, Scully sees Starkey's horned shadow, revealing his true origins. Scully tries to help Roberta escape, but the women are confronted by the Seraph. She reluctantly lets go of Roberta's hand and lets her enter Heaven. Later, Scully tells Mulder they should have been protecting the girls from Starkey, not Gregory. She also believes that they are now in a place where they were meant to be.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
Frank Spotnitz wrote the episode, along with John Shiban.
The script for "All Souls" was written by John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Allen Coulter.[2] The original genesis for the episode was an idea developed by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, two story board editors for the series that had left after Christmas of 1997. In this incarnation, the plot was radically different; according to Shiban, the story was "about Mulder and Scully and angels, but it never quite worked the way it was originally conceived."[3] Shiban and Spotnitz decided to over-haul the script and feature elements of the earlier "Christmas Carol" and "Emily" story arc. The episode, according to Andy Meisler, thus became the unofficial third part in the story. Shiban and Spotnitz wanted to include the "very universal" idea of Scully exploring feelings for her deceased daughter.[3] In addition, by making Scully the believer and Mulder the skeptic, the writers added "the Mulder-Scully criss-cross" that was a major theme for the fifth season.[3]
In order to counter some of the darker aspects of the script, Shiban and Spotnitz—on the behest of co-star David Duchovny—added several bits of comic relief to be offered by Mulder. According to Duchvony, "It was in the more straight ahead investigative shows, the creepier, scarier shows, that I would try to make sure that we kept this kind of humanity alive through humor of it."[4]
Filming[edit]
Shiban and Spotnitz decided to frame the action around Scully's confession to a priest (confessional pictured).
Scenes at "St. John's Church"—the church featured in the episode—were shot in the actual St. Augustine Church in Vancouver, British Columbia.[3] In order to secure permission for filming, the script was sent to the church's local Archdiocese for approval by a Monseigneur. Eventually, the script was approved and filming commenced. The production crew, however, scouted several other churches in case permission to film at St. Augustine fell through, although none of them had "the ornate physical presence" of the chosen church.[5] Special stain-glass windows were created that featured an angel ascending into Heaven, to go along with the themes of the episode. Father McCue's book about the Nephilim was created by assistant art director Vivien Nishi with guidance from Spotnitz.[3] Scenes at Father Gregory's church were filmed at in an older boiler room at George Pearson Hospital. This location had previously been used in the earlier fifth season entry "Kitsunegari" as a cafeteria. The production crew initially worried that the high windows in the building would not allow the cameras enough time to film, as the light coming through would dramatically shift as the day wore on. A solution was devised in which some of the windows were lit up via artificial means.[5]
The episode also contained several elaborate effects, which were achieved via makeup and CGI. Makeup artist Laverne Basham and hairstylist Anji Bemben were given the task of creating four distinct looks for the quadruplets, all played by Emily Perkins. In addition, they were also responsible for making Jody Racicot appear older. This task proved particularly difficult because Racicot did not have any hair to dye grey and had "the tightest skin of any thirtysomething guy [they'd] ever seen."[3] The visual effects to create the shifting heads of the Seraphim were created by means of CGI and took visual effects supervisor Lauri Kailsen-George a long time to complete; she did not finish until "hours before airtime."[3] The scene was created by having actor Tracy Elofson wear a lion mask to track the scene. Then, the different heads were filmed against a green screen and added in. Various light effects were then interlayed to "make it look scary" and more "angelic".[6]
After they viewed the final cut of the episode, Shiban and Spotnitz decided that they were "far from the end".[3] Feeling that something was missing, the two decided to frame the happenings of the episode with two scenes featuring Scully in a church confessional. Vancouver producer J.P. Finn was chosen to play the role of the priest in the scene, due to his "hushed delivery and map-of-Ireland features".[3] Initially, Gillian Anderson was sent the script for the last-minute shot—which comprised two-and-a-half pages—well in advance. On the night before the reshoot, however, the crew sent her the further rewrites, which were much greater. Anderson refused to rush her performance, noting that, not only would it be difficult for her to memorize her lines, it would also undermine the emotion she was supposed to put into the scene. The crew ended up shooting a day later. Due to this, Finn never actually filmed with Anderson. In order to make up for the added scenes—a total of seven pages worth—the first cut of the episode had to be trimmed "scene by scene and line by line".[3]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"All Souls" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 26, 1998, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 24, 1999.[2] It earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.5, with a 12 share, meaning that roughly 8.5 percent of all television-equipped households, and 12 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[7] It was viewed by 13.44 million viewers.[7]
"All Souls" received mixed reviews from television critics. Dave Golder from SFX magazine named the episode's Nephilim as among of the top "10 TV Angels". He applauded the episode's role-switching, allowing Scully to be the believer and Mulder to be the skeptic.[8] John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode an 8 out of 10 and called it "[a]nother gem of the fifth season".[9] He cited that the episode was "the last strong Scully-centric episodes for quite some time" and was a "stunning exploration of her questions of faith."[9] Furthermore he wrote that "a number of important psychological questions are addressed, and the stage is set for her decisions in Fight the Future."[9] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club wrote positively of the episode and awarded it a "B+". Despite calling the entry "an occasionally too-slow episode", VanDerWerff praised Anderson, lauding her performance as "another […] potential Emmy tape in a season full of them".[10] Furthermore, he enjoyed the juxtaposition of Scully's skepticism and her religious beliefs, noting that the series could have taken the idea into the realm of irony, but instead played it "with a deathly seriousness" that allowed it to work.[10]
Other reviews were more negative. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely critical review and awarded it one star out of four.[11] Vitaris wrote "with its trip into blatant religiosity, 'All Souls' comes off like a bad episode of Millennium".[11] Furthermore, she was critical of the scenes wherein the Nephilims' souls were taken, noting the excessive religious imagery: "as [Dara's] soul is taken, the camera pans to the right and stops to linger on a telephone pole that forms a cross."[11] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode one star out of five. The two derided the fact that the episode's killer appears to either be God or an angel commanded by God, along with the fact that the four girls are destined to die because they are disabled and "have no right to live".[12] Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson concluded that, while religious worship is not a passive act, it is treated so in the episode.[12] Ultimately, they concluded that while "looking at death from a different angle is fascinating" it would be explored better "in 'Closure'."[12]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 226–238
2.^ Jump up to: a b The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Meisler, p. 239
4.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 131
5.^ Jump up to: a b Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 176–177
6.Jump up ^ Paul Rabwin (1998). Special Effects with Paul Rabwin – Seraphin [sic] Head Morph The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
8.Jump up ^ Golder, Dave (5 January 2012). "10 TV Angels – The X-Files 'All Souls'". SFX (Future Publishing). Retrieved 27 July 2012.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Keegan, John. "All Souls". Critical Myth. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (16 June 2011). "'All Souls'/'Siren' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman and Pearson, pp. 140–141
Bibliography[edit]
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, U.S.: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"All Souls" at XFiles.com
"All Souls" at the Internet Movie Database
"All Souls" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: 1998 television episodes
The X-Files (season 5) episodes
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The Pine Bluff Variant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"The Pine Bluff Variant"
The X-Files episode
GooeyCorpse.jpg
The effects of the biological weapon, which causes rapid degeneration of human flesh. The special effects and mood for the scene were critically applauded.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 18
Directed by
Rob Bowman
Written by
John Shiban
Production code
5X18
Original air date
May 3, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Daniel von Bargen as Jacob Haley
J.B. Bivens as Field Agent
Armin Moattar as Goatee Man
Sam Anderson as Leamus
Michael MacRae as August Bremer
Kate Braidwood as the Usherette
Ralph Alderman as the Manager
Trevor Roald as Martin
Kett Turton as Brit
Douglas Arthurs as Skin-Head Man
John B. Lowe as Dr. Leavitt
Michael St. John Smith as the CIA Operative[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"All Souls" Next →
"Folie à Deux"
List of The X-Files episodes
"The Pine Bluff Variant" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by John Shiban and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode aired in the United States on May 3, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology, or fictional history. "The Pine Bluff Variant" received a Nielsen household rating of 11.4 and was watched by 18.24 million viewers in its initial broadcast. It received largely positive reviews from television critics as well as fans on the internet.
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. In this episode, Scully grows suspicious of Mulder when she thinks he may be helping a terrorist organization. Scully begins to wonder if he is now a traitor to the FBI. It is eventually revealed that Mulder is working as a mole in the group, and he is trying to stop them before they are able to use a biological weapon—that may have been created by members of the US government—which causes rapid degeneration of human flesh.
"The Pine Bluff Variant" was based on the idea of Mulder going undercover, a topic that Shiban had wanted to work on for a majority of the fifth season. Shiban argued that the conceit worked for the series because the theme of Mulder questioning his beliefs was a major element of the fifth season. The episode was indirectly influenced by the 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, written by John le Carré. The title is also a reference to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a real United States military base with stockpiles of chemical weapons.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Filming
3 Broadcast and reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), and several other FBI agents take part in an undercover operation in a Washington park to catch Jacob Haley (Daniel von Bargen), the member of an anti-government militia called the New Spartans. As Skinner and Scully monitor the operation from a van, Mulder and the other agents slowly close in on Haley. Haley hands an envelope to the Goatee Man (Armin Moattar) before escaping. The agents discover that Goatee Man's flesh has been eaten away by an unknown toxin.
Scully becomes concerned that Mulder let Haley get away, but he dodges her queries. Later, she informs a counter-terrorism task force headed by Skinner and U.S. Attorney Leamus (Sam Anderson) that the Goatee Man was killed by a biological agent. Skinner explains that August Bremer (Michael MacRae), the leader of the New Spartans, is involved in an internal power struggle with Haley. Scully follows Mulder and sees him meeting with Haley. When she tries to pursue them, she is surrounded by government agents and brought before Skinner and Leamus, who inform her that Mulder is infiltrating the group as an undercover agent.
Mulder is taken to a New Spartans' secluded hideout, where Haley accuses him of spying for the government. Mulder is tortured by the Skin-Head Man (Douglas Arthurs) — one of his fingers broken in the process — until he claims that the spy must be somewhere within the New Spartans. Meanwhile, Bremer tests the biological weapon in an Ohio movie theatre, killing fourteen people inside. Investigating the scene, Scully becomes confused as to how the contagion was spread, as it is not airborne. Mulder and Scully meet at his apartment, where she tends to his finger and discusses the operation. Bremer, however, is secretly recording their conversation.
Mulder meets with Skinner and Leamus, telling them at the New Spartans are planning to rob a bank and that Haley wants copies of surveillance files on the group, in an attempt to discover the spy's identity. Leamus, expecting the request, hands over a redacted microfilm for Haley to see. Scully discovers that the biological weapon was engineered by the U.S. government, and concludes that someone purposely sent Mulder on a suicide mission. She realizes that the pathogen is spread through touch, and that New Spartans plan to spread it via the money in the bank. Meanwhile, Mulder joins the New Spartans as they infiltrate the bank and spray the money with the pathogen.
After the fake robbery, Bremer accuses Mulder of being the mole; Haley, however, intercedes, and claims that Bremer is the real mole. To further his argument, Bremer plays back the tape of Mulder and Scully. The militia group turns against Haley. Bremer offers Haley a set of car keys and tells him he can leave the group unharmed. Haley agrees and drives off. Bremer, along with the Skin-Head Man, marches Mulder into a desolate area and prepares to execute him. However, Bremer instead kills the Skin-Head Man and tells Mulder to run, lest they both be discovered.
Mulder rushes back to the bank to warn people about the contaminated money and finds that Scully has already had the bank quarantined and the money taken away. Scully confronts Leamus about this being a covert government weapons test. Leamus responds that it is their job to protect the public from the truth. Later, we see Haley slumped over in his getaway car, his face eaten away by the pathogen that was sprayed on the car keys.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
A picture of a virus
The episode is based around the idea of biological weapons (Smallpox virus pictured).
"The Pine Bluff Variant" was written by John Shiban. For much of the show's fifth season, Shiban had an index card that simply read "Mulder Undercover". He had long wanted to do a story like this, noting, "It always seemed to fit to me—putting Mulder in a situation [where we] don't know his allegiance".[2] Shiban argued that the conceit also worked because the theme of Mulder questioning his beliefs was a major element of the fifth season. Shiban petitioned Frank Spotnitz several times about the idea until "the right time and the right way" presented itself.[2]
The episode was influenced by the 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, written by John le Carré. Both the book and author are favorites of Shiban. Because the Cold War had been over, he used the opportunity to introduce a new "bogeyman", in this case domestic terrorism.[2] The writing staff used then-recent fears about Saddam Hussein's alleged production of biological weapons to craft the basic premise of the script. The title is also a reference to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a real military base with stockpiles of chemical weapons.[2] Shiban also recalled that the 1995 action film Heat was an inspiration.[3]
Filming[edit]
To play the part of terrorists Jacob Haley and August Bremer, the production staff cast Daniel von Bargen and Michael MacRae, respectively. Von Bargen was chosen due to his experience in several films, whereas MacRae had previously been cast in the first season episode "The Jersey Devil". Kate Braidwood, the woman who played the movie theater usherette, is the daughter of first assistant director Tom Braidwood, who portrayed Melvin Frohike in the series.[2] The mother and child that are in the bank during the holdup scene were played by the wife and daughter of Todd Pittson.[4]
Scenes at the movie theater were filmed in a recently closed theater in Dunbar–Southlands, British Columbia. The location featured the "architectural and design characteristics of a small-town cinema situated within an appropriate neighbourhood".[5] The faux corpses were created by make-up artist Toby Lindala; when he brought them to the set, however, there was no room to store them, and so he kept them temporarily in the craft services room.[5] A Canadian government money depository filled in for the First Sovereign Bank of Pennsylvania that is robbed in the episode. The production staff assembled more than 15,000 dollar bills of various denominations—which valued somewhere near $40,000—for use during the scenes at said bank.[2][4] Production initially had to stop due to the fact that, during the filming of the scene that involved the money, there was only one police guard on duty. Fearful that an actual armed robbery might have been attempted, back-up was called in and filming continued as planned.[4]
The scene in the teaser is supposed to be set in Folger Park, located in Washington, D.C. It was actually filmed in Vancouver, like the rest of the episode, and the Capitol building in the background was created via CGI.[3] The scene with the biotoxin melting a man's face in the opening scene was also created with computers.[3]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Pine Bluff Variant" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 3, 1998. The episode later debuted in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 3, 1999.[6] It earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.4, meaning that roughly 11.4 percent of all television-equipped households were tuned in to the episode.[7] It was viewed by 18.24 million viewers.[7]
"The Pine Bluff Variant" received largely positive reviews from a variety of sources. Andy Meisler, in his 1999 book Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, noted that the episode was particularly well received by fans on the internet, due to its realistic conceit.[2] Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club wrote positively of the entry and awarded it an "A".[8] He called it "an excellent episode" that is "notable for its tension" and the fact that it "seemingly tells a story that has little to do with the X-Files or Mulder and Scully's search for the truth—right up until the final twist."[8] Furthermore, Handlen called Shiban's script "by far his best" and noted that the melted corpses in the episode provided "a striking, deeply creepy visual".[8] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five.[9] The two called the entry "cleverer than most" latter season episodes that feature Mulder or Scully undergoing a psychotic break, due to its "straight-forward thriller" sensibilities.[9]
Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half star out of four.[10] Vitaris called the episode "an absorbing hour of entertainment."[10] She did, however, identify the red herring in which Scully suspects Mulder as the weakest part of the story, noting that Mulder "would [never] throw in with terrorists".[10] Other reviews were more mixed. John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode a 6 out of 10.[11] He wrote that, while the episode "brings to light some interesting aspects of the latter half of the fifth season" the "internal logic of the story is often suspect."[11] He concluded that, despite "a number of scenes that presage the feature film and point out important character dynamics", there are an equal number of "plot contrivances and conveniences" that bog the episode down.[11]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 240–253
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Meisler, p. 253
3.^ Jump up to: a b c John Shiban (writer) (5 November 2002). The Pine Bluff Variant: Episode Commentary (DVD). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 178
5.^ Jump up to: a b Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 177
6.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin, et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
8.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack (23 July 2011). "'The Pine Bluff Variant'/'In Arcadia Ego' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, pp. 141–142
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c Keegan, John. "The Pine Bluff Variant". Critical Myth. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
Bibliography[edit]
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X marks the spot: on location with the X-files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Meisler, Andy (1999). Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-257133-1.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 4
"The Pine Bluff Variant" on XFiles.com
"The Pine Bluff Variant" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Pine Bluff Variant" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
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Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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Folie à Deux (The X-Files)
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"Folie à Deux"
The X-Files episode
SkinnerBug.jpg
Walter Skinner is nearly attacked by Pincus in his true form. Many members of the production staff derided the effects used to create the creature.
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 19
Directed by
Kim Manners
Written by
Vince Gilligan
Production code
5X19
Original air date
May 10, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Brian Markinson as Gary Lambert
John Apicella as Greg Pincus
Cynthia Preston as Nancy Aaronson
Roger Cross as Agent Rice
Owen Walstrom as Mark Backus
Dmitry Chepovetsky as Supervisor
Leslie Jones as Gretchen Starns
Nancy Kerr as Nurse
Brenda McDonald as Mrs. Loach[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Pine Bluff Variant" Next →
"The End"
List of The X-Files episodes
"Folie à Deux" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners. The episode originally aired on May 10, 1998 in the United States on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology, or fictional history. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.0, being watched by 17.63 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. It received largely positive reviews from critics.
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. In this episode, Mulder encounters a delusional man, Gary Lambert (Brian Markinson), who believes his boss, Greg Pincus (John Apicella), may be a monster—and decides to take an entire office building, including Mulder, hostage to prove it. Lambert is eventually killed, but somehow, Mulder inherits his ability to see Pincus as a monster. After Mulder claims that Pincus is a monster, he is locked in a psychiatric hospital, only to be saved by Scully: the only person who believes him.
The episode's antagonistic bug creature was created by means of a prosthetic suit that was worn by a stuntwoman. The suit was highly ridiculed behind the scenes. To fix the perceived issues with the monster, the production team gave the film to visual effects editor Laurie Kallsen-George, who digitally altered the footage until it was deemed suitable. The episode's title is a reference to Folie à deux, a form of insanity shared by two people. It usually begins with one person who conceives of a delusional belief and then spreads it to another; thus, those two share the same delusion.
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing and effects
2.2 Locations
3 Broadcast and reception
4 References 4.1 Footnotes
4.2 Bibliography
5 External links
Plot[edit]
Gary Lambert (Brian Markinson), a telemarketer at an Illinois company called VinylRight, believes that his seemingly normal boss, Greg Pincus (John Apicella), is an insect-like monster that only he can see.
Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) orders Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to go to Chicago to do a threat assessment of a taped manifesto that mentions VinylRight, which has seen a violent incident at its Kansas City office. Mulder suspects that the case is a deliberate waste of time and tells Scully not to accompany him. During his meeting with Pincus, Mulder learns that the tape was sent to a local radio station with a demand that it be played twenty-four hours a day; on the tape, a man – later revealed to be Lambert – claims that a monster "hides in the light" and stalks employees at VinylRight. Mulder calls Scully and asks her to find past X-Files containing the phrase.
After one of Lambert's co-workers, Nancy Aaronson (Cynthia Preston), is turned into a living corpse by Pincus – while appearing normal to everyone else – Lambert flees to his apartment and arms himself with an AK-47. Meanwhile, Scully calls Mulder to tell him that she found the phrase "hiding in the light" in a 1992 case from Florida that involved similar accusations of hidden monsters. Mulder admits that Scully should come to Chicago to help him with the investigation. He returns to the VinylRight office and unwittingly walks into the middle of a hostage situation, being held captive by Lambert along with Pincus and the other employees.
As Scully arrives on the scene, Lambert divides his hostages into "real people" and "monsters", claiming that Pincus has turned several employees into zombies. Lambert shoots one of the purported zombies when he tries to disarm him. When Lambert demands a camera to broadcast his warning, Scully arranges for a SWAT officer disguised as a cameraman to be sent in the building. Lambert, not knowing that the camera broadcasts only in a closed circuit, tells viewers about Pincus being a monster. As the lights are cut, Lambert forces Mulder to look behind him and see that Pincus, for an instant, is a large insect. Just then, the FBI breaks into the room and kills Lambert before he can open fire.
Mulder questions Pincus and learns that he was present in during the VinylRight incidents in Kansas City and Florida. At his office, Mulder maps out all the reports of monsters "hiding in the light" against places Pincus has lived and worked. He tries to convince Scully that Lambert might have been right, but she accuses him of succumbing to a "Folie à Deux", or shared psychosis, with Lambert. Mulder asks Scully to do an autopsy of Mark Backus to see if there is any evidence of Lambert's claims, but Scully refuses.
In an effort to prove Lambert right Mulder goes to Lambert's home with Agent Rice. There, Mulder finds a map of Pincus' movements and incidents of reported monsters, like the map Mulder made. Looking out a window Mulder sees a corpse like Nancy Aaronson, a co-worker Lambert called a zombie, watching him. He runs outside to confront her but she drives away in a car with Pincus. Meanwhile Skinner asks Scully why Mulder has returned to Chicago. Scully covers for him and finds herself committed to performing the autopsy on Mark Backus. She is still reluctant and orders her assistant to only perform an external examination. He observes that the body has been dead for between 48 to 72 hours instead of the 24 hours since the shooting.
Back in Oak Brook, Mulder has followed Pincus to the house of VinylRight employee Gretchen Starns. Mulder looks through the window and sees the monster leaning over the woman as she watches TV. Mulder breaks the window and then kicks in the door. Inside the house he sees that Starns has been transformed into a zombie. Behind him, out of his sight, the monster walks across the ceiling. Mulder catches a glimpse of it crawling up the outside of the house. Later at the FBI office, Starns and Pincus complain to A.D. Skinner about Mulder's behavior. Mulder, seeing Pincus begin to transform into the creature again, draws his weapon. He is restrained by a disbelieving Skinner and then sedated in a hospital.
Mulder tells Scully that he saw the monster doing something to the back of his victim's head and begs her to look for evidence on the back of Backus's head. Scully examines Backus's corpse and finds three puncture marks at the top of the spine marking the corners of an equilateral triangle.
Mulder, still restrained in his bed at the hospital, sees the silhouette of the monster at the window. He screams for the nurse, but she has already been bitten and opens the window to let the monster in. Scully tries to visit Mulder but the nurse refuses access. Suddenly Scully sees the nurse as a corpse, realizes that Mulder is in danger, and runs into Mulder's room. There she sees the monster on the wall and shoots at it. It leaps through the partially open window, breaking the glass and wooden frame.
Back at the FBI office Scully testifies to Skinner that she believes Mulder is mentally sound and fit for duty, noting that Pincus and several others mysteriously disappeared, there was an intruder in Mulder's room, and that Backus did have some sort of chemical in his system. Afterward she tells Mulder that she said it was Folie à deux. But she does not specify who the two were.
The episode ends with a different man at telemarketing agency noticing the same ominous signs of the creature.[1]
Production[edit]
Writing and effects[edit]
The episode was written by Vince Gilligan.
"Folie à Deux" was written by Vince Gilligan. He later recalled that the inspiration for the episode was the idea that "there's a monster around that only you can see—the clinical definition of madness" and called the conceit "scary".[2] The title is a reference to Folie à deux, a form of insanity shared by two people. It usually begins with one person who conceives of a delusional belief and then spreads it to another; thus, those two share the same delusion.[3]
The episode's antagonistic bug creature was created by means of a prosthetic suit that was worn by a stuntwoman. The suit was highly ridiculed behind the scenes. Actor Markinson, upon seeing the costume, said "this is what's driving me crazy?"[2] Director Kim Manners was highly critical of the monster and later told people that after the episode would air, his career would be "over".[2] Gilligan attributed the problems due to the episodic work schedule, he noted, "we're usually on such a short schedule that there has to be a weak link somewhere".[2] Gilligan also stated that the "over engineered" aspects of the suit made it somewhat comical.[2] To fix the perceived issues with the monster, the production team gave the filmed footage to visual effects editor Laurie Kallsen-George, who "took the footage with the monster in it, erased the monster completely, took the monster to a different screen […] animated it, and added speed blur".[2] The effects took a large amount of time to complete. They were only finished at 7:30 the morning the episode was scheduled to air.[2][4] In the end, the monster is not clearly visible in the installment, which allowed the scariness of the episode to be more real, according to Gilligan.[2]
Locations[edit]
Several of the scenes set at Gretchen Starns' house were filmed in a "turn-of-the-century" home in North Vancouver, British Columbia.[5] Initially, the producers wanted to set the sequence at a tract home, and emulate the "pastel community" featured in movies like Edward Scissor Hands (1990) and The Truman Show (1998).[6] However, when a tract home with the necessary attributes did not turn up, the crew decided to shoot the scene in a "spookier" location.[5] Special effect rigging was then installed on the house to allow the bug creature to scale the wall.[5] The elaborate sequence in which the insect creature crawls across a ceiling was made by creating an upside-down mock house set. The actress portraying the creature then crawled on the set and the footage was flipped in post-production.[2] The scenes featuring an armored car smashing through the wall of VinylRight were filmed on a specially constructed soundstage.[7]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Folie à Deux" originally aired on the Fox network on May 10, 1998, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 10, 1999.[8] This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.0, with a 17 share, meaning that roughly 11.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 17 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[9] It was viewed by 17.63 million viewers.[9]
"Folie à Deux" received largely positive reviews from television critics. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a glowing review and awarded it an "A".[10] He praised the way it "starts out as what seems like a Mulder-centric episode, then slowly inverts on itself to become a Scully-centric episode".[10] VanDerWerff also positively critiqued the manner in which "the monster [...] works on a metaphorical level as well".[10] He concluded that the episode's main theme—that "[m]adness is always better when shared by two"—was a "great idea" that resulted in "one of the greatest episodes the show ever did".[10] John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode a 7 out of 10 and called it "a pleasant enough diversion" from the then-upcoming series feature film.[11] He wrote that, while the episode fits the mold of "the traditional late-season summary of the evolving character dynamic", the entry manages to frame Scully’s psychology "in the limelight" without actually "emphasiz[ing] Scully herself".[11]
Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[12] Vitaris praised the conceit and called the episode "the scariest […] of the year".[12] She applauded the "now you see it, now you don't" appearance of the bug creature and noted that Pincus' casting was "just right".[12] She concluded that the episode was "so well realized" and that "there is so much to enjoy".[12] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five. The two compared the entry to the previous fifth season installment "Bad Blood", calling "Folie à Deux" its "logical extension".[13] Shearman and Pearson argued that the episode "provide[s] a comedy and an effective monster story at the same time."[13]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 254–267
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Meisler, p. 267
3.Jump up ^ Sharon, Idan (3 February 2011). "Shared Psychotic Disorder". Medscape. WebMD. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Meisler, p. 131
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 180
6.Jump up ^ Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 179
7.Jump up ^ Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 181
8.Jump up ^ The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d VanDerWerff, Todd (6 August 2011). "'Folie a Deux'/'Anamnesis' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Keegan, John. "Folie a Deux". Critical Myth. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c d Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
13.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman and Pearson, pp. 142–143
Bibliography[edit]
Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X marks the spot: on location with the X-files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"Folie à Deux" at XFiles.com
"Folie à Deux" at the Internet Movie Database
"Folie à Deux" at TV.com
[hide]
v·
t·
e
The X-Files episodes
Seasons: 1·
2·
3·
4·
5·
6·
7·
8·
9
Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
"Christmas Carol"·
"Emily"·
"Kitsunegari"·
"Schizogeny"·
"Chinga"·
"Kill Switch"·
"Bad Blood"·
"Patient X"·
"The Red and the Black"·
"Travelers"·
"Mind’s Eye"·
"All Souls"·
"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: 1998 television episodes
The X-Files (season 5) episodes
Screenplays by Vince Gilligan
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The End (The X-Files)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
"The End"
The X-Files episode
The End TXF.jpg
The X-Files office on fire after being set by The Smoking Man
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 20
Directed by
R. W. Goodwin
Written by
Chris Carter
Production code
5X20
Original air date
May 17, 1998
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors
William B. Davis as The Smoking Man
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender
Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Mimi Rogers as Diana Fowley
John Neville as Well-Manicured Man
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Jeff Gulka as Gibson Praise
Don S. Williams as First Elder
George Murdock as Second Elder
John Moore as Third Elder
Martin Ferrero as Shooter
Michael Shamus Wiles as Black Haired Man
Orest Blajkevitch as Anatole Klebanow
Patrick Phillips as Clinician #1
Paul Moniz De Sa as Clinician #2
John Trotter as Clinician #3[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Folie à Deux" Next →
"The Beginning"
List of Season 5 episodes
List of The X-Files characters
"The End" is the 20th episode of the fifth season, and 117th overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on May 17, 1998. "The End" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on March 17, 1999 on BBC One. The episode was written by executive producer Chris Carter, and directed by R. W. Goodwin. "The End" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.9, being watched by 18.76 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.
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. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, the assassination of a chess grandmaster leads Mulder and Scully into an investigation that they soon discover strikes at the heart of the X-Files; they learn that the real target was a telepathic boy named Gibson Praise.
The episode, which was penned down by series creator Chris Carter, was originally supposed to be the series finale for the show, allowing the series to evolve into a film franchise following the release of the 1998 feature. However, the series proved too profitable for Fox and a sixth season was ordered. The episode would be the last to be filmed in Vancouver: production for the subsequent seasons moved to Los Angeles, California. "The End" features what would become the recurring character of Diana Fowley, portrayed by Mimi Rogers. As a season finale, it created loose ends for both the feature film and the subsequent season opener, "The Beginning".
Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Production 2.1 Writing
2.2 Casting and filming
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
In a stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, an international chess tournament is held between Anatole Klebanow, a Russian grandmaster, and Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka), a young American prodigy. In the rafters, the Shooter, an MIB assassin, prepares to fire at Gibson. However, Gibson senses the Shooter's presence and manages to discreetly dodge the shot, which kills Klebanow instead.
Elsewhere in Canada, the Smoking Man (William B. Davis) is found by Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea). At FBI Headquarters Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) reveals to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) that Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) is leading the case investigating the shooting. Despite Spender's request that Mulder not be involved, he bursts into the meeting and offers the explanation that the assassin was firing at Gibson, not the Russian. In the meeting is Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers), an acquaintance from Mulder's past. The Smoking Man is reunited with the Syndicate members, including the First Elder and the Well-Manicured Man, who want him to help them with the situation concerning Gibson. Fowley accompanies Mulder and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they go visit Gibson. Mulder believes that Gibson can read minds, hence why he is so good at chess. Scully learns that Mulder and Diana know each other from long ago.
Mulder goes to see the shooter, despite Spender's objections. Mulder wants to give the shooter immunity in exchange for testimony, which the shooter refuses. Gibson proves his abilities to a group of clinicians while Scully and Fowley watch. The Guard at the prison hands the shooter a flattened Morley cigarette box that says he's a dead man. Scully visits the Lone Gunmen, wanting them to analyze the data from Gibson. She asks them who Diana is, and they tell her she worked closely with Mulder when he discovered the X-Files. The Smoking Man meets with Jeffrey in the FBI parking lot, but disappears when Mulder spots them talking. Scully and Mulder present to Skinner on Gibson, who shows extraordinary brain activities. Mulder believes that Gibson is the key to everything in the X-Files and wants to make a deal with the shooter. Diana and Skinner think this may result in adverse attention from the Attorney General and the X-Files could be closed down if things go wrong, but Mulder dismisses that risk.
Mulder meets with the shooter again, who tells him that Gibson is a missing link. Mulder believes that Gibson has genes that are dormant in most humans. The Smoking Man dismisses the Well Manicured Man's concerns about Mulder's actions. At the prison the guard kills the shooter. Diana Fowley, protecting Gibson in a hotel room, is shot shortly afterwards and Gibson is captured by the Smoking Man's minions. Skinner tells Mulder of the shooter's death and that a flattened Morley cigarette box was found in his cell. Mulder confronts Spender, accusing him of working with the Smoking Man. The Smoking Man turns Gibson over to the Well Manicured Man. Scully is informed by Skinner that the Justice Department is seeking to have the X-Files shut down. Mulder realizes that this was all part of a plan. The Smoking Man takes Samantha's X-File from Mulder's office and lights the room on fire. As he leaves he meets Jeffrey, and tells him that he's his father. By the time Mulder and Scully arrive the X-Files are completely destroyed.[1]
Production[edit]
The episode contains a "chess motif" of The Smoking Man "play[ing] Mulder to a checkmate".
Writing[edit]
Originally, the fifth season of The X-Files was supposed to be the show's last.[2] In this manner, the finale of season five would have segued the series into a movie franchise. David Duchovny explained, "we were saying, 'Okay, we're going to do five. We'll get out of here at five.' And then five came around, and no one was going anywhere."[3] The series proved to be so lucrative for Fox that two additional seasons were ordered. Thus, "The End" was created to segue into The X-Files movie, as well as the sixth season premiere, "The Beginning".[4]
Near the beginning of the episode, Praise plays a Russian grandmaster at chess. The Complete X-Files notes that the "chess motif" was carried on throughout the episode, most notably in the fact that The Smoking Man "plays Mulder to a checkmate, using Jeffrey as a pawn."[3] Because of this, and his past actions, many perceived The Smoking Man as the true villain of the story. William B. Davis, who played The Smoking Man, however, felt that the character was the hero of the story. He noted, "I used to go to conventions and try to convince everyone [sic] that I was the hero of the series and Mulder was the bad guy. […] I got a lot of laughs, but it's certainly true of how one plays the character. Nobody thinks they're evil."[3]
Casting and filming[edit]
The opening of the episode was filmed at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
The episode introduced two new characters in Gibson Praise, played by Jeff Gulka, and Diana Fowley, portrayed by Mimi Rogers. Kim Manners later said of Gulka, "There was something about that kid's personality that really came off on screen. He really exuded an intelligence that was pretty special. Chris saw what Bob Goodwin did with him and he knew that this kid was a special storytelling tool for the chronicle of the X-Files".[3] Chris Carter said that Fowley "was a character you were destined to hate because she was a competitor for Mulder's affection with Scully.[3] Gillian Anderson said, "She didn't make it easy on Scully. I think she was aware of her effect on Mulder and on the situation.[3]"
This episode was the last episode of the series to be filmed in Vancouver, Canada prior to production moving to Los Angeles, California. The move was influenced in part by David Duchovny, who after five years of filming wanted to be closer to his wife.[3] The audience at the chess match was made up of local fans as a "thank you" to the city for hosting the production during its first five years. The chess match was filmed at Rogers Arena— then known as GM Place—the home of the Vancouver Canucks as well as the Vancouver Grizzlies at the time. While the producers expected five thousand people to show up, twelve thousand appeared.[5] Instructions were given to the crowd by director R. W. Goodwin using giant video screens attached to the scoreboard. During breaks between shooting concession stands, music and videos were made available to the attendees. Actors Duchovny and Anderson also answered questions for the audience and over $20,000 worth of equipment was raffled off. Chris Carter directed the second unit filming for the episode in order to be with the show's Canadian crew members.[5]
The intro replaced "The Truth is Out There" with "The End."
Reception[edit]
"The End" premiered on the Fox network on May 17, 1998, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 17, 1999.[6][7] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.9 with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode.[8] A total of 18.76 million viewers watched this episode during its original airing.[8] The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien Colonist's plans to take over the earth.[9]
The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode a mixed review and grade it a C+. Handlen criticized the episode's lack of resolution, noting that "The show can feed our social paranoia […] but when it comes time to deliver on all this, to finally pull back the curtain and move on to the next stage, it fumbles things."[10] Furthermore, he called the Mulder/Scully/Fowley love triangle "immediately off-putting" and criticized Mimi Rogers characterization. However, Handlen did call The Smoking Man's return "thrilling" and wrote that the burning of Mulder's office was "arguably one of the most iconic visuals in the run of the series".[10] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two criticized the closing down of the X-Files division, due largely to the fact that "we've seen [it] before", a reference to the divisions's closing at the conclusion of the show's first season. However, Shearman and Pearson wrote that "'The End' works in spite of itself", citing the arrival of Diana Fowley and the confrontation between The Smoking Man and Jeffrey Spender as positive points in the episode.[11]
Other reviews were more positive. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[12] She wrote that the episode "is an effective, sometimes even moving, conclusion to a scattershot season." Vitaris wrote that the entry was "far superior" to the season four season finale "Gethsemane" and praised the various character introductions, most notably that of Gibson Praise and Diana Fowley.[12] She did, however, criticize the reappearance of Krycek and the fact that The Smoking Man was again working for the Syndicate. Critical Myth reviewer John Keegan gave the episode a 9 out 10 rating and wrote that, "Overall, this episode was a very good season finale, making sense of the season’s character arcs while setting the stage for the feature film. While the effect was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the episode also had to set up situations for the sixth season, it highlights Cancer Man’s strategic strengths in a way that previous episodes didn’t fully exploit."[13] In a 2000 review of season five for the New Straits Times, Francis Dass called "The End" a "gem" and praised the acting of Jeff Gulka, noting that he was a "great child actor".[14]
References[edit]
Footnotes
1.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, pp. 269–280
2.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 117
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Hurwitz and Knowles, pp. 131–133
4.Jump up ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 139
5.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 281
6.Jump up ^ R. W. Goodwin et al (booklet). The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season (Liner notes). Fox.
7.Jump up ^ "Television Wednesday". The Guardian. March 17, 1999. p. 50. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Meisler, p. 284
9.Jump up ^ Kim Manners, et al. The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization (DVD). FOX.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (13 August 2011). "'The End'/'A Room With No View'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Shearman and Pearson, pp. 143–144
12.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique 30 (7/8): 29–50.
13.Jump up ^ Keegan, John. "The End". Critical Myth. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Dass, Francis (20 April 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times (New Straits Times Press), retrieved 29 July 2010
BibliographyHurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784725.
Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-257133-1
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 5
"The End" on TheXFiles.com
"The End" at the Internet Movie Database
"The End" at TV.com
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The X-Files episodes
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Season 5
"Redux"·
"Unusual Suspects"·
"Detour"·
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"·
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"Emily"·
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"Schizogeny"·
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"Bad Blood"·
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"The Red and the Black"·
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"The Pine Bluff Variant"·
"Folie à Deux"·
"The End"
Categories: The X-Files (season 5) episodes
1998 television episodes
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