The X-Files: Pilot
FBI Agent Dana Scully, MD, a skeptic at heart, is partnered with the unconventional Agent Fox Mulder, who investigates paranormal cases, known collectively as the X-Files. Their first investigation together takes them to a Pacific Northwest town where teenagers are winding up dead, and may possibly involve alien abduction. This episode not only introduced the platonic Mulder-Scully relationship, but also the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man, and the alien conspiracy arc.
Although we never saw any aliens in this episode, there was an episode of missing time normally associated with alien activity and the whirlwinds of light and leaves at the beginning and end of the episode didn't appear to be the kind of thing that the Majestic Consortium or "Purity Control" could have been responsible for.
The reason for believing thay Greys were involved in this episode is that the desicated corpse of Ray Soames, the boy whose body was exhumed, was shrunken, with a misshappen, enlarged head. Short, with an enlarged head; sort of sounds like what the little "Grey" aliens look like.
Deep Throat
When Mulder and Scully go to Idaho to investigate the mysterious deaths of test pilots, they uncover a secret government program using alien tefor developing new aircraft. Mulder is also first introduced to his first informant, a mysterious figure known as Deep Throat.
Probably not his real name, although it is the name on his Air Base Security badge. Mossinger was the local reporter who later turns out to be a security officer from Ellens Air Force Base. He certainly takes the cake for the most menacing transformation: From kindly, harmless reporter to steely nerved spy. He hardly flinched when Scully shoved a gun in his face. He also wins the award for best self-righteous indignation: "Everything you've seen here is equal to the protection we give it. It's you who've acted inappropriately." He delivers the line with such conviction you could almost believe he might be right.
Squeeze
A friend of Scully's from the Academy asks for her help in investigating a series of murders have only common denominator is the method of penetration scene of the murder - not counting the heavy extraction of victims. Scully turns to Mulder's aid, revealing Bag - X from the beginning of the century. Scully's friend has no interest in the X-Files and in little green (or gray, as Mulder in a promptly corrects him) men. Scully joins the investigation, but then again, you can't keep Mulder away from a good X-File…
This our first encounter with Eugene Tooms, AKA "squeez", a creature with unique features and a strange appetite, which undoubtedly was inspired by Dr. Hannibal Lecter...
Conduit
Mulder's memories of his sister's abduction twenty-one years earlier surface when he and Scully investigate a boy whose sister disappeared in a similar fashion.
Once again, we never get a look at the aliens in this episode either, but the seared camper roof, burnt trees tops, beach sand at lake Okobogee fused to glass, Kevin Morris's strange psychic connection to space-born data transmissions and Ruby Morris suffering from the symptoms of prolonged weightless all point to the presence of extra-terrestrials and not to the involvement of the Majestic Consortium.
The reason the Greys are connected to this episode is simply behavioral. Abduction + experiments + safe return = Greys.
The Jersey Devil
A dismembered body is found in the forest. According to the police report, the dismemberment was done by a human, but Mulder has another explanation, naturally rooted in an old X-File. Scully claims that the Jersey Devil is a myth, but of course that does not stop Mulder, nor does the local police's objection for the FBI's involvement in the investigation. Aided by a of Professor of Anthropology, Mulder and Scully discover the truth behind the "Jersey devil" myth.
In this episode Scully still lives under the illusion that she can have a normal life, including, amongst other things, going out to dinner with a man.
Shadows
Ghost In The Machine
Ice
A group of scientists studying the Arctic ice cap goes insane, and its members start to behave strangely, kill each other and finally commit suicide. Mulder and Scully go out with a team of experts to the facility where the scientists worked in order to try to find out what happened there. After a very warm welcome from the local dog, all sorts of facts begin to accumulate, indicating an usual at an alien cause for the disasters, or at least an ancient creature who who has been dormant under the ice for millions of years. When the creature begins to attack them one by one, they find that they are trapped in the facility with no way out. Scully wants to destroy the creature, but Mulder wants to study it with the intention of tracing its extraterrestrial origin. Which one of them will be the next victim of the creature, wo brings out aggression and violence in its victims?
Guest starring – actor Jeff Kober, a familiar Movie and TV villain.
The plot brings to mind the Movie "The Thing".
Space
We see some of the most sinister aliens at work sabotaging the U.S. Space Program. There can be no doubt that we are dealing with aliens in this episode. The "Wraith" bears a striking resemblance to the "Face on Mars." It is doubtful that the intention of this episode was that the "Wraith" was the ghost of Gus Grissom or the other astronauts who died in the Apollo launch pad fire.
These aliens seem to be connected to Cydonia, the name given to the region on Mars where the infamous "face on Mars" stares up from the surface of the red planet. The UFO-conspiracy theories about Cydonia and NASA's alleged cover up of the proof of life on Mars are too numerous to mention. There are also a number of pyramid-like rock formations in that region that have led to speculation by conspiracy theorist Richard Hoagland that the area is actually a dead alien city. Anther connection to Mars was the mention that the most recent Mars Observer probe had malfunctioned in August 23, 1993 and became lost in space. The implication in this episode was that the loss of the Mars Observer was due to more "alien sabotage".
These "ghost-like" aliens seem dedicated to keeping mankind blind to what's going on among the stars. They don't want their activities in our solar system discovered by a bunch of nuclear armed monkey (that's us folks), but what activities they are particularly covering up remain unknown. Despite being immaterial, the "Ghost-like" aliens appear very anthropomorphic (two arms, two legs, one head).
The alien "Wraith" possesses Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt during his Gemini space walk and acts like a sleeper agent, waiting for critical moments to act and sabotage the Space Program: the Challenger Shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope, and two recent Shuttle launches.
Fallen Angel
While an alien crash survivor tries to outrun a USAF UFO recovery team, Mulder investigates the government cover-up and watches UFO activist Max Fenig get abducted (who returns in "TEMPUS FUGIT")
This alien may have been a Grey using some kind of light bending camouflage. For one thing, the "Invisible" had an obviously small stature. Second of all, the "Invisible" abducted Max Fenig when its fellows came to rescue it. Later, in the episodes "TEMPUS FUGIT" and "MAX", Max Fenig was abducted by aliens that appeared to be Greys. Unless more than one species of alien is intent on abducting the same UFO geek, the "Invisible" was probably another Grey. A very well armed Grey. The radiation weapon it used to cook the Deputy Sheriff, the EMTs and later Operation Falcon's soldiers was devastatingly effective. And very similar to the weapon used by the Oilien in "PIPER MARU" and "APOCRYPHA". The "Invisible's" only apparent goal was to get off the Earth and take Max Fenig with it.
Eve
Fire
Beyond The Sea
Genderbender
These aliens masqueraded as a reclusive and austere religious sect called "The Kindred" living in near rural Steventon MA. They don't appear to have any advanced technology, buy at one point in the episode a group of Kindred "magically" appear to take the runaway sex-killer "Marty" back to his/her people to be delt with. They disappear just as quickly. Interdimentional travel? Matter transport? Who knows?
These aliens share much in common with the Shape Shifter and the Clones. First is their ability to change sex, sometimes at will and sometimes as part of the rejuevenation of their life cycle. But they don't seem to do any more than change back and forth between a male version of their genotype and a female version. Like the Clones and Shape Shifters they also have a body chemistry which is highly toxic to humans, as was repeatedly demonstrated by the fates that befell Marty's sexupartners. They may be related to the Shape Shifters in some way.
The "Kindred" only goal seems to have been to retain their anonymity while waiting to be rescued from the earth, which is exactly what happens at the end of the episode. The only question I have is if aliens are visiting the Earth all the time and abducting people, why did the "Kindred" have to wait so long to get picked up? They apparently waited over a century! Are they a different species from the Abductor Aliens? Did it take that long for a rescue mission to reach Earth?
Lazarus
Agent Scully joins a task force staking out a pair of bank robbers. The robbers do break into the bank, and in the firefight that insues one of the robbers and one of the FBI agents, a member of the task force, are killed. At the hospital, Scully insists that the efforts to revive the agent continue, while the robber is lying on the near by stretcher, also clinically death. The efforts are crowned with success, but which one ot the two came back from the dead? When Mulder joins investigation, he discovers more about the past of the two robbers, and puts Scully on the right tracks. Scully refuses to believe, but the evidence keeps piling up. Could the ghost of the robber have taken over the detective's body? If so, how do you make hin leave? And most important - how do you convince Scully before it's too late?
When Scully is taken hostage by the robber and his female partner, she tries to tell him the truth, and for a moment it looke like she succeeded, but in vain. In a last-resort decision, he is redeemed.
In Christian tradition, by the way, Lazarus was the man resurrected by Christ, in what is considered one of his greaterst miracles..
Young At Heart
A murderous bank robber who was apprehanded with Mulder's assiatance when Mulder was an inexperienced rookie goes back to his old tricks. During his trial, the robber swore revenge against Mulder. The problem is that by all indications, the robber died in prison. Could he really have returned from the dead to take his revenge? Mulder is convinced that he has, thought everyone around him thinks otherwise. Does someone in the prison stage the murderer's death, or is there a much darker secret behind this? And if not, who war the man who swore to hunt Mulder down and killed his good friend? Were the prisoners the guinea pigs of the scientist who managed to reverse the aging process? As usual, Scully comes to the rescue and reveal the truth, which as usual in the cases of scientists trying to play God, is more gruesome than any imagination, and as is customary in the show, it leads a conspiracy.
CSM can be seen at the end interrogating mortally wounded sociopath John Barnet for the location of Dr. Ridley's immortality formula.
E.B.E
Deep Throat deliberately misleads Mulder on a wild goose chase as an E.B.E. is transported across the country. This episode also introduced the Lone Gunmen, Mulder's trio of conspiracy hacks.
Deep Throat relayed this incident to Mulder, but in typical Deep Throat fashion, he changed the details. In CSM's version of the event, the UFO went down in 1991. The cause of the crash wasn't specified, but while discussing the properties of the crashed UFO, Deep Throat mentions that the 1991 UFO is nearly identical to the one that the Marines couldn't shoot down over Viet Nam in 1969.
When Deep Throat used the incident of his having to execute the E.B.E. as his justification for leaking Majestic related materials he sandwiched his truth between lies. In the version Deep Throat related to Mulder, Deep Throat carried out the execution of an E.B.E. per the U.N. resolution, but the year was 1969 and the Marine fighters did shoot down the UFO over Viet Nam. Were Deep Throat's lies to Mulder deliberate? Or perhaps after a career of lies, deception and disinformation, lying was simply more natural to Deep Throat than simply telling the truth? We may never know. All we can be sure of is that once again Deep Throat concealed a lie between two truths.
While no aliens are seen in this episode, we do get to see them interact with humans. The alien spacecraft that was shot down by the Iraqi fighter acted as if it was either observing or playing cat and mouse with the fighter. After it was shot-down, the aliens continued to tail the truck transporting the crash survivor across the country. At one point they interfere with the truck, causing it to stall out, but they don't take the opportunity to rescue their captured companion.
Miracle Man
The best visual representation of a traditional MIB on The X-Files was Leonard Vance, the horribly burned assistant to Rev. Hartley
Shapes
A land dispute between a white cattleman and and his Indian neighbors leads to the killing of a young Indian. Apperaently a simple story, but who is killing the cattle? Could it be the work of a supernatural being, as the cattleman and his son claim? Indians are reluctant to help, but Mulder utters the phrase that became his trademark, "I want to believe". The Indians have their own version in relation of this land dispute, and Mulder tries to gain the cooperation of a local lawman. Apparently the very first X-File in history, dating from J. Edgar Hoover's time, was a similar case of a killing by an animal. Could the killer be a man who can turn himself an animal? When it seems that a cremation will put a premature end to the investigation, the cattleman is also killed in the same circumstances. Who is the mysterious predator and who will be its next victim? And what is the meaning of the Indian legend about an evil spirit that can turn a man into a beast?
Darkness Falls
A group of loggers disappears in the forest, and the main suspects are environmentalists who oppose wood cutting. As usual, Mulder discovers that the case has a precedent going back to 1934, and together with Scully he goes to investigate the disappearance with representatives of both two rival camps. In the forest they find a strange cocoon containg a human body, one of the missing loggers. The leader of the environmentalists shows up with tales of strange insects that descend from the sky and devour people whole. He also warns them all of the dark, for the strange insects fear the light. Of course, no one believes him. But the felled trees tell a different story, is there a connection between trees and parasitic insects? And perhaps this is an unusual kind of insect from volcanic eruption centuries ago? And perhaps this is just punishment loggers who cut down the old tree? And last but not least – will help arrive before it's too late?
Tooms
Eugene Tooms is scheduled to be released from the asylum where he was hospitalized. The doctors believe that his release poses no threat, but Mulder vehemently objects. His testimony before the parole board is mocked and rejected, and the Board approves the release. Scully calls for the help of the detective who investigated Tooms's previous series of murders, and together they uncover some new details about his exploits. Meanwhile Mulder continues to follow Tooms, who is aready looking for new victims, and convinces Scully to join him. Thomas manages to push Mulder back by framing him with assault. Mulder naturally denies everything, but the police believe Tooms, and CSM intervenes. Again, Scully's scientific investigation gets results, but will they manage to stop the "Squeezer" before he slips back into a 30 years hibernation?
Skinner realizes the X-Files were not a waste of manpower.
Born Again
A police officer commits suicide by jumping from a window. A little girl was in the room with him, and she claims that there was another person in the room. Apart from that, the window was closed. The officer's colleague is convinced it was a suicide, but asks Mulder and Scully for help. Mulder, wconnects with the girl, is convinced she has psychokyntic forces, but the the girl's therapist laughs at him. Meanwhile, Scully discovers that the person the girl saw is another police officer, but the problem is that a this police officer was killed nine years ago. Is there a connection between the girl and the police officer who committed suicide? Or the death of both police officers? When another policeman is killed in a freak accident, the child is again close to the scene. The investigation uncovers a nine year old corruption case involving four police officers. Will Mulder and Scully be able to save the fourth before he too is killed? And the big question – could the first police officer who was killed have been reincarnated in the body of the little girl in order to go on a murderous revenge spree?
Roland
The Erlenmeyer Flask
A shocking finale for the show's first season, with Scully finding what looks to be an alien fetus, Deep Throat being killed off and the X-Files shut down. Also the first episode to reveal the alien-human hybrid experiments.
We see CSM deposit first an alien mind- control-tracking device and later an alien fetus in a huge warehouse-vault at the Pentagon. Not at CIA HQ in Langley VA.
The Crewcut Man terrifies Dr. Berube before killing him and taunts Mulder as he lies helpless from the effects of exposure to toxic alien-hybrid blood.
The hybrids created by Dr. Berube's experiments were immune to cancer, and perhaps a whole range of other human ailments. So perhaps the goal of the hybribization experiments using gene therapy was to create some kind of universal panacea. Of course, there were other side benefits such as the ability to extract oxygen from water, superhuman strength, and the ability to survive massive physical trauma and shock. All big plusses if the goal of the experiments is to improve the quality of your soldiers.
Little Green Men
Based on information provided by Senator Richard Matheson, Mulder rushes down to the Arecibo Radio Observatory where an alien message may have been picked up.
Mr. X tipped Mulder to the alien signal being received by the Arecibo Radio Telescope
Skinner knows CSM was not his kind of people. Skinner appears to be a man with a strong sense of right and wrong. A man who equates following the rules as the best way to ensure that "justice" will be done. Short cuts are hard for him to accept. Skinner is a man who values the law above everything. Skinner recognized that the Cigarette Smoking Man was willing to fuck the law in the name of protecting "National Security," a nebulous term that the Cigarette Smoking Man feels free to define as it suits his needs. Skinner could never stomach that kind of "moral expediency." Hence, his relationship with CSM has continued to deteriorate.
We see a blurry image of the alien, and it vaguely appears to be a Grey. Plus the image drawn by the Puerto Rican appeared to be the stylized face of a Grey, with the large black, almond-shaped eyes.
The Host
Mulder is pulled off a routine surveillance mission in order to investigate a murder which initially seems to be just as routine. Mulder believes Skinner is out to get him, until Scully volunteers to perform the autopsy. The body is the body of a sailor from a Russian ship, and in it Scully finds a living creature, seemingly a common parasite. At the same time, sewer workers are attacked by a strange creature. The investigation reveals that this is a indeed an X-File, and there is a connection between two beings – a connection leading to a genetic mutation that leads to the source of the Chernobyl disaster. Meanwhile, Mulder receives a mysterious phone call anonymous tip claiming to be a friend of Mulder's in the FBI.
Mr. X may be the one who sent the newspaper to Scully (although it could also have been Skinner), but beyond that, his role in that episode was just to act as a cheerleader from the sidelines, reminding Mulder "You have a friend in the FBI." Regarless, there's no information that affects the Majestic Consortium.
Mr. X demonstrates that he knows Skinner is sympathetic to Mulder's work on the X-Files. How does Mr. X know Mulder has "a friend at the FBI?" One possible answer is that if Mr. X works for Majestic, as does CSM, then perhaps Mr. X is aware of Skinner's resentment of Majestic's influence. If he has access to Majestic's files on Skinner, then Mr. X would know that Skinner is not considered 100% reliable by Majestic and may be considered Mulder's ally.
Blood
Mulder and Scully set out to investigate what causes honest and law-abiding citizens to suddenly turn into vicious murderers, and what is the source of the mysterious messages picked up on the displays of different electronic devices.
Sleepless
With the X-Files still closed, Mulder is assigned a new partner, Alex Krycek. Together, they investigate ex-soldiers who may have been part of a sleep-deprivation experiment. However, Krycek seems to be sabotaging his new partner's efforts at finding the truth. This episode also marks the first appearance of Mulder's second informant, Mr. X.
CSM's agent Alex Krycek stole the files relating to the military's "Sleepless Soldier" experiment from Mulder.
Mr. X sends a 911 tape to Mulder and later gives him a file on the Vietnam-era experiments in removing the part of the human brain which regulates sleep. A nasty government experiment, but one which didn't really affect the Majestic Consortium.
Skinner asks Mulder who sent him the 911 tape and the obituary of the Doctor who was killed by the illusionary fire. Mulder responds that the only source he ever trusted was dead, implying he has no idea who sent the tape. This scene could indicate that Skinner is aware that a new source (Mr. X) is seeking Mulder out.
We see Krycek as a confident and arrogant agent, obviously flushed with feelings of superiority over the people he's betraying.
Duane Barry (1)
Former FBI Agent Duane Barry, who claims to be an alien abductee, kidnaps Scully in the hopes that the "aliens" will take her instead.
Krycek keeps his cool as the Cigarette Smoking Man's eyes and ears. But he acts like he isn't comfortable with the murders of the Sky-Mountain tram operator and of Duane Barry and pretends to be even less comfortable not knowing what happened to Dana Scully. He tries to get CSM to provide him with answers he claims he has a right to. But CSM rebukes him, telling Krycek he has "no rights. Only orders." It seems that while landing a job with the Majestic Consortium isn't too difficult, the most secret of black projects, employment doesn't equate to access to secrets
We see (from Duane Barry's perspective) his abduction and torturous experimentation by alien Greys. But since we have since discovered that the experiments performed on Duane Barry were connected to Dr. Ishimaru/Zama and were part of the Majestic Consortium's Purity Control project. So it may be that the Greys seen by Duane Barry were implanted false memories put there to cover Barry's real memory of capture and experimentation by humans.
In the role of Duane Barry – Actor Steve Railsback ("The Stunt Man")
Ascension (2)
Despite his best efforts, Mulder is unable to catch up with Barry and Scully, and finds only Barry at the top of Skyland Mountain. Scully's disappearance then prompts Assistant Director Skinner, who seems partial to Mulder's cause, to re-open the X-Files. The relationship between Krycek and CSM is also revealed here.
Mr. X warns Mulder that Senator Matheson cannot help Mulder find out who abducted Scully because the Senator is compromised in some way. Here Mr. X actually steers Mulder away from answers about the Majestic Consortium.
Mr. X indicated that Majestic had something on Matheson which, if revealed, wend the Senator's career. Unable to act directly, Matheson resorts to using Mulder to act on the information that he himself cannot.
3
One Breath
While Mulder and Scully's family mourn her death, Scully turns up in a local hospital, unaware of what happened to her, while an angry Mulder confronts CSM.
Note the following exchange with Mulder:
Mulder: "You should be the one to die."
CSM: "Why? Look at me. No wife. No family. Some power. I'm in the game because I believe what I'm doing is right."
Mulder: "Right? Who are you to decide what's right?"
CSM: "Who are you?" Who indeed, Agent Mulder? Who indeed?
CSM once believed he was acting for a greater good and that not merely promoting his own personal success and profit, but later episodes seem to indicate that he no longer believes in his own cause.
William B. Davis, who plays CSM, has often said in interviews that he plays CSM as a man who's "on a crusade to save the world." CSM probably was once a true believer. Tired, exhausted, and burnt out with no family or personal life, but still a fanatic who'll do whatever is necessary for the mission he's charged with. Of course, the one thing the Cigarette Smoking Man has forgotten is that the ends can never justify the means. In fact, the means usually dictate the end. In fact, It can be argued that the means CSM has used over the years have been so morally questionable that now he doubts the rightness of the causes he once championed.
Mr. X had no compunction about using Mulder. He tells Mulder "You're my tool, d'you understand? I come to you when I need you." Later Mr. X uses Mulder to apprehend Dr. Chester Banton, the quantum physicist with the "dark matter" shadow, and confines Dr. Barton to a lab where he will live out the rest of his life as a human lab-rat.
Mr. X discourages Mulder from continuing his investigation to find out who abducted Scully, saves Mulder's life, then returns to "give" the men responsible to Mulder so that Mulder can murder them. This does nothing to advance Mulder's cause, and in fact, if Mulder had killed Scully's abductors, there would have been no way for him to get any answers out of them.
Who was the woman at the cigarette machine who delivered the Cigarette Smoking Man's whereabouts to Mulder? Skinner seemed to confirm to Mulder that he was responsible for having her contact Mulder, but the question remains: Who was she? Is she FBI? Did she merely relay the information from Skinner to Mulder? Or is she with Majestic? Did Skinner contact her and get her to pass the location of CSM's safe-house to Mulder, by-passing Skinner completely? If she is Majestic, how does Skinner know her?
Firewalker
A team of vulcanologists studying an active volcano discovers a new and unknown life form which managed to survive in the scorching core of the volcano. The team is equipped with the most sophisticated research robot, "firewalker". When one of the team members is found dead, Mulder and Scully are called for help. Scully, still recovering from her abduction (translation: she's back from maternity leave) insists on joining Mulder. What is the connection between the creature who managed to neutralize the robot cameras, and the strange behavior of the team members, and what awaits Mulder and Scully in the crater?
Red Museum
Originally designed to be a crossover episode with CBS' "Picket Fences", this episode had Mulder and Scully investigating the disappearances of cattle and children. It is revealed that they have been subject to injections of alien hormones by Dr. Larson, an associate of the shadowy government conspiracy.
There's that evil, amused smirk on the Crewcut Man's face as he's about to ignite the gasoline soaked meat-packing plant and incinerate Agent Mulder. The Crew cut Man, a lethal professional, is ignominiously killed by a grieving father of one of his victims; an amateur. He died too quickly to be embarrassed, and his death delivered no satisfaction for avenging the death of Deep Throat.
The experiments Dr. Larson was performing involved treating humans and cattle with growth hormones derived from extra-terrestrials. The results were kids that quickly matured, grew extra-large and were extra-aggressive. Perfect combination if you're looking to improve your military recruits.
Excelsius Dei
Mulder and Scully investigate a series of strange events in a nursing home for the elderly with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. What is the connection between the attack on a nurse and the murder of the orderlies and the treatment given to the elderly?
Aubrey
What is the connection between the murders that occurred in 1942 and the disappearance of two detectives who investigated them, and the strange behaviour of the female detective currently investigating similar murders? Is it possible that memory is an inherited genetic trait that can skip a generation?
Irresistible
A mental patient mutilates bodies of young women and cut off their hair and nails, and it's only a matter of time before he start killing in order to fulfill his fetishistic fantasies. Mulder and Scully try to catch him.
Guest Star - Bruce Weitz ("the biting detective" from Hill Street Blues).
Die Hand Die Verletzt
Fresh Bones
Mr. X appears to tell Mulder next to nothing about the intentions of Col. Warton towards the Haitian refugees, except to imply that the Military thinks Col. Warton is getting revenge for the men he lost in Haiti to Voodoo Magic. This later turns out to be false, but perhaps even Mr. X was unaware that Col. Warton was a Voodoo shaman.
Colony (1)
Mulder tracks the mysterious deaths of identical-looking abortion doctors, uncovering what appears to be an alien colonization scheme. This episode also featured the Samantha clone and the first appearance of the Alien Bounty Hunter.
These aliens first appeared in the episodes "COLONY"and "END GAME". Here everything seemed simple. The "Gregors" and "Samanthas" are alien-human hybrid clones created by aliens who intend to inherit the Earth once man makes the planet uninhabitable for humans. Then a hulking shape-shifting alien assassin (originally called "The Pilot" but later refered to as "The Bounty Hunter") appears and begins slaying all the Gregors and Samanthas and destroying the abortion clinics they'd been using to harvest fetal tissue. Why? The Samantha clone claimed that she and the Gregors' project was seen as a dimunition of the alien race, an abomination. Or perhaps, it was simply an unapproved project. The Clones and the Bounty Hunter are extra-strong and durable and seem only to be able to be killed by a precise piercing of the base of the skull by a long sharp object.
The Bounty Hunter and Mulder had a similar clash on the submarine USS Alligence in this episode. There Mulder begged for information about his sister from the Bounty Hunter, who, for reasons of his own, told Mulder his sister was still alive and saved Mulder from his own toxic blood fumes after Mulder shoots him.
The Bounty Hunter displays a toxic blood chemistry, fatal to humans upon exposure, and the ability to change shape and appearance in the blink of an eye.
End Game (2)
Is the woman claiming to Samantha Mulder telling the truth? The Alien Bounty Hunter, who can take on any form he wants, is disguised as Mulder in order to get to Mulder. Scully gets the real Mulder's warning, but too late. "Samantha" tells Mulder what is the only way to destroy the Bounty Hunter, and tells him that the identical twins are nothing but alien clones, but Mulder is still doubtful. He enlists Skinner's help, and together they go to make the exchange - "Samantha" for Scully. Thdeal goes south, Samantha disappears, and Mulder has to break the bad news to his father. He still does not know the truth about his father's involvement in Samantha's first disappearance. He discovers that she left him a note with the address of meeting place, while at the same time Scully informs him that her body was found. Mulder goes to the meeting place and finds several "Samanthas". They ask for his help and assure him that they know where Samantha is, but the Alien Bounty Hunter beats him to it, and all the "Samanthas" are gone. "disappeared. Mulder meets the mysterious Mr. X, who sends it back to where it all began, to the submarine stranded under the ice cap. The one who managed to get the information out of Mr. X is none other than Skinner... In the submarine, Mulder encounters the Alien Bounty Hunter who refuses to tell him where his sister and throws him off the submarine, which disappears under the ice. Scully confronts the hospital staff in order to give Mulder the right treatment and save his life. As usual, Mulder's version cannot be corroborated by evidence, and Scully still has hopes of finding a scientific explanation, since, as she puts it, it was science that saved Mulder's life…
Mr. X knows about the attempt to capture the ABH's ship.
Mr. X finally coughs up some decent information: the location of the disabled nuclear sub that the alien assassin (known as "the Pilot" or "the Bounty Hunter") is heading towards. He also passes the same information on the Assistant Director Skinner after Skinner "reasons" with him.
Skinner goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Mulder. He follows Scully, figuring that she would eventually find Mulder, and perhaps he intended to keep the goons from Majestic from interfering with her search. Watching her go to Mulder's apartment, Skinner would have seen her set up the "X" signal in Mulder's window. He also would have seen X arrive and see the lights come on in Mulder's apartment when Mr. X encountered Scully. Skinner may have had an idea that Mulder had a new informant after Mulder received the 911 tape in "SLEEPLESS". He may have guessed that the "X" signal was a means of signaling Mulder's informant. It wouldn't have been hard for him to intercept Mr. X in the elevator on the way out if he'd been watching Scully's back.
The ABH who killed the "Gregor" and "Samantha" clones shows a surprising understanding for Mulder's will to protect his sister's clone. When Mulder pleads for information about the location of his sister, the alien not only assures him that she is alive and well, but also saves Mulder from his own's blood toxicity.
Fearful Symmetry
Mulder and Scully investigate possible alien abductions of zoo animals.
What are the aliens up to now? Artificially impregnating zoo animals and stealing their fetus? Is it a Alien administered conservation project? It sure seems different from the aliens other projects on Earth (human-alien hybridization/establishing colonies etc'). But again, it seems to be the kind of activity performed by the Greys: abduction and experimentation.
Dod Kalm
A navy ship disappears in the North Sea. The survivors are found fifty years older than they were when the ship disappeared, but one of them hasn't aged. Could the ship have travelled in time? And what causes the rapid aging?
Humbug
Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders in a small town populated mostly by former circus people. Are the causes of the murders natural or supernatural, or is it all a Humbug?
The Calusari
F Emasculata
CSM assists Pink Pharmaceuticals in covering up their experiments on the prisoners, but his goals weren't that simple. Why would CSM deliberately involve Mulder (Mr. "The Truth Will Out") when he's trying to cover something up?
There might be an intriguingly byzantine motive for such action. CSM may have intended to show Mulder that sometimes the truth has to be covered up in order to serve a "greater good." In this case, the panic would have spread faster than the disease and cost even more lives. Showing Mulder that the truth sometimes has to be cover-up may have been a first step toward ideologically converting Mulder, perhaps even a first step toward bringing Mulder into the Majestic conspiracy. After all, if you can't beat 'em, recruit 'em. CSM may someday offer to share the truth with Mulder, but only if Mulder will help cover it up. This may be significant later.
CSM still had enough real or apparent authority to sit in on FBI meetings and get information on Mulder's on-going investigations. He even sent Mulder an assignment when it suited him. Skinner resents CSM's presence but appears to be under political (or other) pressure to continue to cooperate with this man he clearly loathes.
The Grey Haired Man first appears as one of the two CDC doctors decontaminating Cumberland prison. In that episode he was called Dr. Simon Auerbach, and his CDC credentials turned out to be bogus. Dozens of prisoners died and were stuffed into the prison's incinerator while "Dr. Auerbach" supervised. Of course, this may not be the same character, just the same actor playing two different roles.
Nicholas Lea had this same problem when he showed up first season to play the near-victim of a sex-crazed alien in "GENDERBENDER", before moving on to the role we've grown to hate him in: Alex Krycek.
Soft Light
Mr X flim-flams Mulder and uses the information he gets from Mulder to kidnap Dr. Chester Banton for use in experiments in how to harness the dark matter that permeates Dr. Banton's atomic structure.
Our Town
Anasazi (1)
The Thinker, the fourth member of the Lone Gunmen, steals the Majestic Files from a Department of Defense database and gives them to Mulder on a data tape. When Bill Mulder is about to reveal his involvement with the conspiracy, he is killed by Krycek. Mulder then travels to Arizona, where he finds a buried railcar full of alien-looking bodies. However, CSM shows up and sets the railcar ablaze, with Mulder inside.
The Lone Gunmen toss out the name "GARNET", and claim that GARNET is a "multi-national black-ops unit" staffed by "School of the Americas alumni... trained killers." GARNET was after the Thinker, the cyber-anarchist who hacked the MJ documents out of the DoD computer. According to UFO-Conspiracy literature (it is often contradictory) GARNET is the name of MJ-12's counter-intelligence and information security section. They go out and steal and destroy evidence of UFO encounters, intimidate witnesses to prevent them from talking about what they've seen, spread disinformation about the UFO abduction phenomena, and run covert operations to discredit and discourage civilian UFO investigators. Since the Cigarette Smoking Man is obviously running the operation to retrieve the MJ documents and cover up the government's alien-studies projects, I'd have to guess that CSM is the head of GARNET and serves the Majestic Project as its chief of counter-intelligence and information security. CSM's most apparent goals are to keep Mulder away from Majestic's alien-studies projects. However, CSM has shown an interest in covering up other government black projects.
Mr. X was probably not above disposing of Mulder if he thought it was in his best interests to do so. When Scully is shot at through the window in Mulder's apartment, the shooter must have thought she was Mulder. Also, he may have been Mr. X. Why? Mulder was messing around the MJ Documents and then tried to get in touch Mr. X, thus putting Mr. X in grave danger. Mr. X may have tried to kill Mulder so Mulder couldn't lead the goons from GARNET back to him. It just doesn't seem likely that CSM and company would try for such a clumsy assassination attempt on Mulder when they were already dbehavior altering drugs in his water to destroy his credibility and career and setting him up for the murder of his father.
CSM was telling the truth when he told Mulder that Bill Mulder approved the project and was fully cognizant of its implications.
Undoubtedly Samantha, Mulder's sister was taken as leverage to ensure Bill Mulder kept his mouth shut. The fact that Bill Mulder chose Samantha as the hostage (and the now-obvious relationship between Mrs. Mulder and CSM) casts doubts on Samantha's parentage. Did Bill Mulder pick her to be sacrificed because Samantha was CSM's daughter, not his?
When Krycek reappears, he looks like a common street thug, veritably boiling with anger toward Fox Mulder (and any member of the Mulder family); as if Krycek holds Mulder responsible for all Krycek had lost in his fall from FBI agent to "need-to-know" thug.
The Cigarette Smoking Man didn't intend for Krycek to kill Mulder when he sent Krycek to Mulder's Georgetown apartment. I think it much more likley that CSM intended Mulder (who was dangerously paranoid and aggressive due to the effects of CSM's "soft water") to kill Krycek, preferably using the weapon Krycek used to shoot Bill Mulder, thus linking Fox Mulder to both Murders.
CSM has always maintained that Majestic doesn't want to kill Mulder, at least not until he's been thoroughly discredited. Punching your boss and being accused of shooting your father and your ex-partner goes along way toward discrediting a person.
On the Majestic Board we have an Italian representative, a Japanese representative and a German representative (sounds familiar?) All are very concerned about the theft of the Consortium's secrets.
The Blessing Way (2)
Scully first meets the Well-Manicured Man, who warns her of a possible assassination attempt. Meanwhile, Krycek shoots Melissa Scully, thinking that she is Dana Scully. Finally, Skinner, Mulder, and Scully share a Tarantino moment, pointing their guns at one another
The Well Manicured Man (or WMM) is one of the members of the council of Elders that runs the Majestic Project and (judging from the photo Mulder found among his father's personal effects) he was also a long time associate of Deep Throat, Bill Mulder and The Cigarette Smoking Man. The WMM warns Scully about her impending assassination at Bill Mulder's funeral. He claims to be acting out of enlightened self-interest, because Scully's death will draw too much attention to the Majestic Project. But is that really the case? He tells Scully that she will be killed either by a close friend or by two assassins waiting for her in her home. His warning makes Scully so paranoid and distrustful she almost kills the one person she should be trusting: Skinner. Was WMM's warning meant to help her or to keep her off balance and isolated so that Krycek and the hit team could take her out? WMM was probably not trying to help Scully.
A look at CSM at his worst: desperate, panicky and covering up his mistakes. We now know that he does the cold-blooded and ruthless things he does because he's protecting more than just the world's most dangerous secrets. He's protecting his life. The Majestic Project does not tolerate failure. If CSM can't do his job, then he'll be replaced, and somehow I doubt he'll be allowed to quietly retire like Bill Mulder. With no family or friends to threaten, the only way CSM can be kept quiet would be to kill him. Or worse. Purity Control is always looking for new test subjects.
That's why Skinner's bluff about the Navajos memorizing the tape worked against CSM. CSM wasn't worried about the public believing Albert Hosteen and his friends if they blabbed about the contents of the tape. He was worried his comrades on the Majestic council of Elders would hear about the Navajos and kill him for having lied to them about the breach in security.
There is one extra clue about Deep Throat's relation to Purity Control. Deep Throat appears in a photograph taken outside the secret medical-records repository in West Virginia with Bill Mulder (Mulder's father), the Cigarette Smoking Man, Nazi war criminal Victor Klemper, and The Well Manicured Man (another member of the council of Elders which runs the Majestic Project). This indicates that all four were close colleagues and that all four were intimately involved with the collection of the medical and DNA data.
What can we conclude from this? Maybe only that Deep Throat wanted Purity Control shut down enough to put his life on the line. Perhaps he was morally offended by the use of human test subjects, but didn't feel he had enough influence on the Majestic Project board of directors to shut the project down. Perhaps speaking out openly against the project would have called his loyalty to Majestic into question and endangered his life. So he goes to Mulder, figuring that if Mulder's on the trail of Purity Control either Mulder will expose the project or the Cigarette Smoking Man's goons from GARNET (the Crew-Cut Man, for example) would swing into action and shut the project down before its exposed.
There's just no way to tell if Deep Throat's views represented the views of a faction within Majestic, or if he was acting alone. But with the appearance of Mr. X and his reference to Deep Throat as "my predecessor", it would seem that Deep Throat had already contacted others within the Majestic Consortium who shared his views.
The relationship between CSM and Skinner hit rock bottom as the two of them exchanged threats and insults. They let each other know exactly what they thought of each other. CSM even panicked in front of Skinner ("Where's the DAMN tape!" he screamed). After Skinner told CSM to "pucker up and kiss my ass!" it is doubtful whether CSM will be sitting in on any more Bureau meetings.
Cardinal, Alex Krycek's partner, assisted in the botched assassination attempt against Dana Scully which resulted in the death of Melissa Scully. It's hard to tell which man, Cardinal or Krycek, pulled the trigger on Melissa. On slow-motion advance, the shooter (momentarily illuminated by the gun's muzzle-flash) appears to be Krycek, but Cardinal drops the gun at the scene.
We never saw the results of Dr. Klemper's experiments, although the hybrids we saw gassed in the rail road car in may have been the products of Klemper's experiments. They had huge, misshapen heads, large black eyes, long fingers and leathery wrinkled skin. They may have retained the toxic biology of the aliens since they were killed by a hydrogen-cyanide gas grenade rather than by bullets, which would have exposed the trigger men to toxic alien blood. Dr. Ishimauru/Zama's hybrids were slightly more human appearing. They still had the large heads, but they were more rounded and less elongated. They still had elongated fingers, but their eyes appeared more human and their skin was not leathery. Their biology appears to be less toxic than the other hybrids since the soldiers that executed them wore no gasmasks and suffered no ill effects from their blood. Dr. Berube's hybrids, while they may have later developed alien physiological traits, appeared completely human on the surface. Their blood, nonetheless remained highly toxic.
See also "PAPER CLIP".
Paper Clip (3)
The name originates in the practice of marking with paper clips the files of Nazi scientists smuggled from Germany to the United States during World War II because they agreed to work for it, and therefore were not prosecuted and punished for war crimes they committed.
Mulder learns of his late father's involvement in Operation Paper Clip, a project attempting to create an alien-human hybrid with the help of WWII war criminals. Mulder and Scully also find an abandoned West Virginia mine full of medical files. Krycek is double-crossed by his employers, turning him into a rogue agent. Oh yeah, Skinner tells CSM "this is where you pucker up and kiss my ass!"
The First Elder orders the hit on Mulder and Scully.
The Well Manicured Man grills the Cigarette SmokingMan about his ham-fisted attempts to dispose of Scully as well as CSM's covering up of his having failed to eliminate Mulder or recover the MJ documents data tape. The hostility between CSM and WMM seems real, but it may be a hostility based on differences as to means, not ends. Both want to protect the Majestic Project, but the WMM is more subtle than CSM. WMM nearly got Scully, Mulder and Skinner to shoot each other just by whispering a couple of well phrased lies to Scully. Remember that "Tarentino-esque" moment at the begining of "PAPER CLIP" where Mulder, Scully and Skinner are all pointing guns at each other?
Imagine how well that situation would have worked out for the Majestic Consortium if just one of them had started shooting. All three of Majestic's greatest enemies undone in a split second. Anyone who survived the shootout whould be finished as an FBI agent. Meanwhile, CSM rolled out the special forces teams, covert assassins and psychotropic water supply and all he succeeded in doing was getting Mulder's neighbors to shoot each other, burning a freight car, beating up some Indians, getting Melissa Scully killed, and scorching Krycek's jacket.
The Well Manicured Man later tells Mulder and Scully that the government has been engaging in a genetic engineering project using alien DNA since the late 1940s. Not particularly useful information considering that Mulder had already convinced himself that this was indeed the case. WMM also tells Mulder that his father was duped into participating in the project and that Samantha was taken in order to keep Bill Mulder from exposing the project. Of course, when asked by Mulder why he is telling Mulder all this, the WMM answers "It's what you want to know, isn't it?" Perhaps Scully is right; perhaps WMM is just telling Mulder what he wants to hear.
Mrs. Mulder's assertion that it was Bill Mulder's choice which child would be taken indicates that Bill Mulder may have had a reason to draw a distinction between Samantha and Fox. Samantha may not have been his child. Add to the way CSM obviously covets Bill Mulder's "normal" family life and the conclusion is inescapable. CSM is Samantha's father.
Krycek pulls the trigger on Melissa Scully (at least on slow forward advance the shooter looks more like Krycek than his partner "The Hispanic Man," Louis Cardinal, but it's Cardinal who drops the gun at the scene). Krycek doesn't seem particularly remorseful about shooting an innocent woman, only upset because he's flubbed the mission. Later he ambushed Skinner to recover the MJ document's data tape. While Skinner is being restrained by two trained assassins, Krycek pounds away with sadistic satisfaction, as if he's venting his anger on Skinner, who had never done anything to him prior to that point. But there is something in Krycek's expression as he sits stewing in the passenger seat of the car that's about to blow up. Maybe it's a look of disgust or contempt for his situation and his cohorts. That introspective look of self-loathing is cut short as Krycek narrowly escapes being flash-welded to the roof of the car. Perhaps Krycek is disgusted that his life-long plan to infiltrate the U.S. Intelligence community has ended with himself being reduced to a disposable, deniable asset with little access to the secrets he was hoping to steal.
What about CSM's "unprovoked" attempt on Alex Krycek's life? It always seemed unnecessary to kill Krycek. What was the purpose? Because he'd been identified because of his earlier infiltration of the X-Files? Because he failed to kill Mulder or Scully? Failure doesn't expalin the attempt on Krycek's life, otherwise Louis Cardinal would have been sitting in the car right next to Krycek when it blew up. But what if Krycek's KGB connection had been discovered by CSM? What if CSM knew he was a communist double-agent? Well, like CSM said, "Payback's a bitch, Ivan." Now, in retrospect, CSM's attempt on Krycek's life makes sense. If CSM knew, or suspected that Krycek was a mole, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
Krycek had the MJ documents data tape and used it to keep CSM's assassins at bay for a time, but later went into business selling the secrets on the tape to foreign powers. But why would Krycek, a KGB agent, go into business for himself? The answer is that he didn't go into business for himself. Krycek's days of selling MJ files' secrets around the globe was a KGB operation. The tape was encrypted after all, and it would have taken the assistance of the KGB's code-breakers to decrypt.
Mulder suggested that Krycek had assistance in decrypting the tape when they clashed in Hong Kong. The operation is classic KGB material: the KGB makes money off the French (and any other western powers) by selling useless and out-of-date Majestic secrets. The KGB makes money to support its operations (extremely important with the former Soviet Union being nearly broke) and spreads disinformation among its enemies. No doubt the KGB kept the pertinent information for themselves.
Cardinal, Krycek, and an un-named partner return to ambush Skinner and steal the MJ Document data tape. Cardinal and the un-named covert-ops thug later try to kill Krycek and destroy the data tape with a car-bomb, but fail.
The Greys make a quick appearance, scurrying past Scully in the dark tunnels of the West Virginia DNA data archive as she and Mulder hide from the hit team sent by the Majestic Consortium. It is unknown weather these aliens deliberately or accidentally show Mulder and Scully a back way out of the mine.
Dr. Klemper's experiments during WWII involved exposing test subjects to extreme low pressures. His experiments were designed to help pilots survive at higher altitudes (and eventually in space). Perhaps, because the alien visitors are space travelers, Klemper's hybridization experiments with aliens were meant to adapt humans to the environment of space.
See also "THE BLESSING WAY"
D.P.O
Can a person kill with lightning bolts? Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders involving a boy with mighty and dangerous powers.
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
Who is killing psychics and fortune tellers? And who really has the ability to see the future? Mulder and Scully investigate.
The List
2Shy
The Walk
Oubliette
Nisei (1)
Nisei is a second-generation Japanese, i.e. born in the US to native Japanese immigrants.
Scully learns more about what happened to her during her abduction, and the connection to the railcar experiments of Dr. Ishimaru/Zama.
Mr. X warns Scully to keep Mulder off the train transporting the Alien-human hybrid. Once again trying to keep Mulder away from the affairs of the Majestic Consortium.
Mr. X gets Mulder the names of the four murdered colleagues of Dr. Ishimauru/Zama. He also provided Mulder with a fax of a satellite photograph of the rail car Dr. Ishimauru/Zama was using for his unauthorized experiments and to smuggle to Alien-human hybrid out of the country.
Skinner indicated that he too had been shaken by his confrontation with CSM and was not willing to push his bluff about Albert Hosteen and the 20 other Navajos having memorized the MJ documents too far.
The Red Haired Man rather neatly disposed of two Japanese "diplomats" (read: spies)
A Grey being dissected by a team of Japanese surgeons. However, the corpse could have been a hybrid rather than a full-blooded Grey.
The Red Haired Man hinted (mostly by playing on Mulder's paranoia) that the alien-human hybrids were a weapon "more valuable than `Star Wars' or nuclear weapons." The hybrids were the proto-types for a standing army immune to radiation, chemical and biological warfare agents.
731 (2)
Mulder hops on a train containing an alien-human hybrid, while Scully is given a prosaic explanatioby The First Elder of her abduction - she was the victim of secret radiation experiments
The "sanitization" of Dr. Ishimaru/Zama's experiments.
Of course CSM was back to his smooth, cool self by the time he reappeared to pick up the pieces. CSM was equally smooth in the way he handled the problem of the lost MJ Document data tape, his errant agent Krycek and the alien that wanted its ship back. He didn't even flinch when confronting the alien he'd been tracking since the Zeus Faber incident.
CSM's deal with the alien entity that was possessing Krycek was to trade the data tape and Kyrchek for allowing the alien access to its ship. If the alien's intention was to leave the Earth, CSM seriously disappointed it. The alien wasn't anticipating gaining access to its ship only to find itself sealed in a disused missile silo. A very slick move on CSM's part. Didn't even have to break his word either
Mr. X tells Scully that the chip from her neck is the key to unraveling the mystery of her abduction. Mr. X later pulls Mulder out of the rail car before it explodes.
The Red Haired Man beats the holy crap out of Mulder. The man sent to back him up, Mr. X, would turn out to have his own agenda.
The Leper said that Dr. Ishimauru/Zama's experiments on hybrids involved exposing them to things that resulted in "terrible burns". Perhaps Dr. Ishimauru/Zama was testing the hybrids' resistance to various terrestrial and perhaps extra-terrestrial weaponry.
Guest appearance: Japanese actor Robert Ito and Canadian actor Stephen McHattie.
Revelations
War Of The Coprophages
Syzygy
Grotesque
Piper Maru (1)
A French salvage vessel, in search of a crashed UFO in the Pacific Ocean, inadvertently picks up the Black Oil. The Black Oil then finds and possesses Krycek. Meanwhile, Scully learns from an old family friend of a failed salvage mission in the 1950s that marked the first appearance of the Black Oil.
Alex Krycek denied being the triggerman, but what else would you expect Krycek to say with an extremely angry Fox Mulder shoving a gun in his guts. "Oh sure Fox, I popped your dad right in the head. You should have seen the Jackson Pollack his brains made on the bathroom tile." All current evidence points to Krycek having killed Bill Mulder on CSM's orders. Bill Mulder was about to spill the beans to his son Fox about the "merchandise". That's reason enough to have Bill Mulder killed. After all, what possible reason do we have for believing CSM when he told Mulder "We had nothing to do with it"?
Cardinal returns again to gut-shoot Skinner after Skinner refuses to back-off the investigation of who killed Melissa Scully. If Cardinal had wanted Skinner dead, it would have been simple to finish him off following the first shot. Since Cardinal didn't finish Skinner off, his orders must have been to wound Skinner, thus delivering a severe warning to Skinner that anyone can be gotten to; everyone is vulnerable. The Cigarette Smoking Man denies his involvement in the shooting to his fellow members of the board of the Majestic Project, but there is no evidence to suggest his denials are anything but lies. After all, Cardinal was at CSM's side during CSM's confrontation with the alien-possessed Alex Krycek, so we know CSM gives Cardinal his marching orders. CSM wanted to send Skinner a message, and he used Cardinal to deliver it.
The Grey Haired Man is one of the two men "from the intelligence community" who delivered a none-too-subtle threat to Asst. Director Walter Skinner to back off the investigation of Melissa Scully's murder.
The Oilien came to earth in 1945, and was shot down by US Army Air Corps P-51 Mustang fighters, according to the Well Manicured Man. There was a mid-air collision that brought down the fighter and the UFO. In 1945 the U.S. Submarine Zeus Faber tried to locate the downed UFO, but its mission was compromised by one of the UFOs occupants (who had somehow become separated from its craft). This Oilien took over the submarine's captain and tried to find its ship. The Oilien abandoned the Zeus Faber when the crew mutinied and turned on the captain. The UFO was salvaged by the Majestic Project in 1995 and a few months later a French salvage team from the ship Piper Maru came in contact with the Oilien which had taken up residence in the corpse of the P-51 pilot that had crashed with it's UFO.
The Oilien was highly radioactive, apparently inadvertently leaking lethal amounts of radiation, which killed the crew of the Zues Faber and the French ship Piper Maru. The Oilien could also use radiation like a weapon, which it used to deep-fry six French agents, and five of Cigarrette Smoking Man's GARNET agents. This weapon seems almost identical to the alien weapon used in "FALLEN ANGEL" to kill the Deputy Sheriff, EMTs and Operation Falcon's team members. It seems to have access to its hosts' memories since it found its way back to French crewman Gauthier's apartment while in that body, and found the hidden MJ file data tape and CSM while inhabiting Krycek. The Oilien's single apparent goal is to return to its ship. To do this, it cuts a deal with CSM and exchanges the stolen MJ file data tape for the location of the salvaged 1945 UFO. In the end, the Oilien and its host Krycek are sealed in a sealed missile silo in North Dakota by the double-crossing CSM. Whether the Oilien escaped its entombment with its ship at the same time Krycek did, remains unknown.
See also "APOCRYPHA".
Apocrypha (2)
Black Oil-possessed Krycek makes a deal with CSM for the data tape in exchange for access to the captured alien spacecraft.
The Well Manicured Man manipulates Mulder into telling him more than he reveals to Mulder. WMM didn't know that Krycek was still alive or that the MJ Documents Data tape is the source to the leak of information to the French. Once again the information he gives Mulder is nothing Mulder didn't already know.
We see the Well Manicured Man grilling the cigarette Smoking Man about what he's doing, particularly CSM's unilateral actions (moving the salvaged UFO without permission, arranging to have Skinner gut-shot). He seems very concerned that CSM is acting with little or no accountability to the Majestic Board of Elders.
It would seem that WMM and CSM see each other as rivals and WMM fears the power CSM has acquired by being the Majestic Project's "Mr. Fixit." By doing every dirty job that needs doing, CSM may have more access to military and intelligence assets than any single member of the Board of Elders, and perhaps this concerns WMM.
Something very interesting about CSM's behavior in the episode that draws an interesting parallel to Mulder. We see CSM's colleagues in the Majestic Board of Elders questioning his unauthorized unilateral actions. He does what he wants without authorization and justifies defying procedure because he gets results. Perhaps in the context of the Majestic Project, CSM is as much of a "procedure be damned" lone wolf as Mulder is with the FBI.
They both share a fanatical and idealistic side. Mulder in his quest to prove the existance of aliens, and CSM in his quest to protect America from all threats foreign and domestic. Mulder's quest is wearing him down emotionally and morally. CSM's quest has burned out his idealism and morality. Mulder is on his way to becoming CSM, a parallel that should not be overlooked.
In a flashback to 1953 we saw a young Bill Mulder and Cigarette Smoking Man interviewing a dying sailor from the submarine Zeus Faber which was infiltrated by a radioactive alien entity. Bill Mulder, during his interview referred to the "thing" possessing the submarine's captain as an "entity." It looks like knew the sailor was not mad and was telling the truth. It would seem that the young Bill Mulder knew the Zeus Faber had been invaded by an alien "entity."
We learn that Cardinais Nicaraguan, a graduate of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (a school for counter-insurgency training) and an international mercenary. That probably means he was a member of Nicaraguan dictator Anastacio Somoza's National Guard prior to that country's communist revolution, and a member of the CIA supported CONTRA force afterwards. Cardinal apparently tries to finish Skinner off by arranging to have Skinner transferred to another hospital and ambushing the ambulance en route. This ambush may have been arranged in order to prevent Skinner from making a positive I.D. The Well Manicured Man warns the Cigarette Smoking Man that there would be dire consequences if Skinner identified the man who shot him. However, it would seem to be simpler to eliminate Cardinal than kill Skinner, so why would CSM send Cardinal on another run at Skinner, unless, of course CSM figured either Cardinal would get Skinner, or Scully, burning with rage over her sister's death, would kill Cardinal. Either way, it would have solved CSM's problem. If Cardinal just turned up dead, it would look like he was silenced by a larger conspiracy. Having Cardinal killed trying to eliminate the witness to his "random shooting" lends credibility to the idea that he was a "lone nut" and not the errand-boy of a larger group. If Skinner was killed, that still solves the problem. However, Scully showed great restraint and strength of character and refrained from killing Cardinal. This forced CSM to arrange for Cardinal's jail-house "suicide," proving once-again that anyone can be gotten to; everyone is vulnerable. Like every classic bully, Cardinal cowers instantly when confronted with someone with power over him.
Pusher
Teso Dos Bichos
Hell Money
Jose Chung's From Outer Space
Proof that when you watch "The X-Files", you never know what to expect. With its twisted sense of humor, shifting points-of-view leading to multiple interpretations, tie-in with the overall mythology arc, and Alex Trebek (!), this is one of the best episodes.
As Mulder and Scully investigate an apparent abduction, they find that the stories from those involved get weirder and more contradictory the further they get. Scully's facial expressions are hilarious as she puts up with all the inane nonsense going on around her, the alien autopsy spoof is priceless, and don't forget the plug for "Space: Above and Beyond" by the UFO-geek that said "I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons without learning anything about courage" (that same week, Duchovny appeared as an A.I. on "Space"). With respect to the conspiracy arc, it seemed that some UFOs are piloted by the USAF.
A first look at traditional Men In Black as they are portrayed by the majority of UFO-conspiracy literature. Jesse "the Body" Ventura and Alex Trebek make appearances as un-earthly Men In Black, exhibiting knowledge about the people they are intimidating that no-one could possibly know, and engaging in overly complex and nonsensical, albeit threatening, conversation.
The Greys seen in this epsiode are definitely costumes or the result of false memories created by USAF psy-ops personnel to cover their real activities.
One of the main themes of this episode is that perception is not necessarily reality. When someone, in this case the government, has the ability to affect your memory, what can you rely on?
Avatar
The Grey Haired Man is CSM's chief field operative in the plan to frame Asst. Director Skinner for murder. During that operation a prostitute and her madame were killed as part of the frame up and cover up.
Quagmire
Wetwired
Mr. X indirectly assists Mulder in uncovering a mind control project which appears to be very similar to the mind control program in "BLOOD". Mr. X was also assigned by CSM to "sanitize" the project and it's personnel in order to remove all evidence. Mr. X sends Mulder a "cutout" or go-between known as The Plain Clothes Man (PCM) who provides Mulder with his first leads.
Later Mr. X, after successfully eliminating all the witnesses and evidence, reports to CSM that "informant" who contacted Mulder had been eliminated. Once again Mr. X's extreme ruthlessness is demonstrated. He sent the PCM to Mulder and then murdered the PCM to cover his own ass.
CSM is cleaning up after a mind control project (makes you wonder who sent the message "ALL DONE BYE BYE" to Mulder's cell phone).
Talitha Cumi (1)
The connection between CSM and the Mulder family was deepened. Not only were Bill Mulder and CSM colleages, but Mrs. Mulder and CSM seem to have been more than just friends. Their exchange at the Mulder's summer home was laden with sexual and emotional tensions that indicate a former physical relationship of some kind.
When a man named Jeremiah Smith miraculously heals a gunshot victim in a thinly-disguised McDonalds, Mulder and Scully become drawn further into the conspiracy of colonization. Mulder also learns of a prior relationship between his mother and CSM.
The confrontation between CSM and the alien Jeremiah Smith gives more insight into CSM's motives for participating in the Majestic Consortium's "Project". In "THE MUSINGS OF A CIGARRETTE SMOKING MAN", CSM is portrayed as a young idealistic "warrior poet," who is willing to do anything to "save" America. He even murdered Martin Luther King, a man he respected and admired, because his "higher purpose" demanded it. The loathsome things he has convinced himself were necessary to "save the world" no longer seem justifiable. CSM may have lost faith in his crusade. Given the opportunity, he would have given up his endless black-ops crusade to do the one thing that makes him happy: Writing. So why does he continue to do a job he doesn't believe in? Like Jeremiah Smith said, CSM is afraid. CSM "want to be one of the commandants, when the process begins." He sees the Majestic Consortium's "Project" rolling forward and he knows that if he's not part of the conspiracy, he'll be a victim of it. CSM is holding on for dear life. He truly has a tiger by the tail: He can't quit, he can't fail and he doesn't believe in the cause he serves.
Mr. X starts the ball rolling by showing Mulder the pictures of CSM and Mrs. Mulder. He sets Mulder to looking for an item his father, Bill Mulder, may have been holding onto. That item turns out to be one of the alien "ice-pick" weapons last seen in "COLONY" and "END GAME". Once again, Mr. X is not there to give Mulder any answers, he just wants the weapon. Why he wants it, and for whom, it never explained but he very nearly kills Mulder to get it.
Jeremiah Smith, the renegade alien, taunts CSM by changing his shape to resemble two men, Bill Mulder and Deep Throat, both of whom were close associates of CSM. CSM reacted with discomfort to see the faces of his dead comrades accusing him from beyond the grave. Judging from CSM's reaction, he gave the order for Bill Mulder's execution.
Herrenvolk (2)
Mulder is taken by Jeremiah Smith to a Canadian farm where Samantha drones are harvesting an alien crop and aggressive bees with deadly stings are kept. While Scully learns that millions of human beings have been tagged via the Smallpox Eradication Program, Mr. X is assassinated, and Mulder makes contact with the assistant to the Special Representative of the Secretary General, Marita Covarrubias (also referred to as the Uniblonder).
The First Elder is also ruthless in defending the integrity of the Majestic Consortium (he ordered the execution of Mr. X.)
Despite their hostile posturing, CSM seems to still have feeling for Mrs. Mulder. Otherwise why would he have had the alien Bounty-Hunter heal Mrs. Muld's stroke? He told the Bounty-Hunter Mrs. Mulder had to be healed in order to prevent losing the option of controlling Fox Mulder using his mother for leverage. But there's an expression on CSM's face when Mrs. Mulder opens her eyes that looks like relief and gratitude at her recovery.
The Grey Haired Man's most reviled act, as far as most fans are concerned, has to be his assassination of Mr. X on the orders of CSM and the First Elder.
Jeremiah Smith has the Bounty Hunter's abilities of shape shifting, and would appear to be identical incapabilities. Both Jeremiah Smith and the Bounty Hunter demonstrate an miraculous ability to heal the sick and injured. More Samantha clones appear, along with some nazi-looking boy clones, but they don't appear to be anything more than mindless drones. Biological robots tending the crops which Jeremiah Smith hints may not be terrestrial in origin. Certainly the bees which have been making honey from "alien ginsing" have become lethally toxic. There is a colonization effort afoot in these epsiodes too which the Majestic Consortium seems to be aware of and collaborating with.
Jeremiah Smith's job at the Social Security service seems to have been creating identities for hundreds of thousands of "non-persons": Alien clones slipped into human society needing electronic backgrounds in order to blend in. The Bounty Hunter returns again to kill Jerimiah Smith, but not because this project was unapproved, but because Smith drew attention to himself by healing the people wounded in a random fast-food shooting. Whether this is the same Bounty Hunter that killed the Gregors and the Samanthas cannot be known for certain, but he did seem to understand Mulder's desire to protect the clone of his sister.
Mr. X meets his untimely demise. He comes to Scully with information (false information planted by the First Elder to smoke out the traitor) that Mrs. Mulder is in danger from the Majestic Consortium. Then he is lured back to Mulder's appartment with a false "X" in the window and gunned down by The Gray Haired Man. But, even in death Mr. X has one last piece of information to impart: "SRSG" scrawled in his own blood. This last scrap of information may be the most valuable information Mr. X ever imparted since it leads Mulder to a new informant - Marita Covarrubias, the Assistant to the Special Representatice to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Mulder contacted Marita Covarrubias after Mr. X, dying from multiple gunshot wounds, scrawled the innitials "SRSG" in his own blood. She tells Mulder that her boss, the Special Representative is unavailable, and that the farm in Alberta (which was apparently staffed by alien clones) was found abandoned, the mysterious crop the aliens were tending mearly ginsing. However, she gives Mulder a photo of the clones working the fields, telling him "Not everything dies, Agent Mulder." I believe that she was letting him know that while she can't speak freely in her office, she has answers he is seeking.
Home
Teliko
Mulder goes to Marita Covarrubias for information about the West African seed that kept turning up around the victims of the "Menalin Vampire." At first she rebuffs him, saying she can't help, but Mulder presses on saying "You made an overture to me. You left an opening." She responds by getting him the Port Authority and FAA reports on the passenger from Burkina Faso who died under similar circumstances on a trans-atlantic flight. She also points Mulder towards the Burkina Faso Embassy and clears Mulder's way to Minister Diabira with a well-placed phone call.
Unruhe
A woman who goes into a store to have her passport photo taken disappears, and her boyfriend is found dead near by. Is the key to the mystery is found in pictures that are not exactly standard passport photos? Mulder and Scully investigates.
A note about the title: After the Japaneae, the French and the Spanish, npw it's the German's turn. Scully says that UNRUHE means "unrest" in German, and she ought to know...
The Field Where I Died
Sanguinarium
Mysterious deaths in a plastic surgery clinic lead Mulder to believe that the cause was not human error, but human sacrifice.
In the plastic surgery ward at Chicago Memorial Hospital anyone can become prettier, for a price. The price can sometimes be very frightening when the surgeon goes mad during surgery. Scully and Mulder are called to investigate, and Scully believes that the cause is the influence of sleeping pills the doctor took, and then Mulder discovers a pentagram - a symbol of protection in the Occult - on the operating room floor. Scully is skeptical, then another doctor goes out of his mind, and a connection is discovered between a nurse and the previous deaths that occurred in the clinic. Before the truth is revealed, she dies...
The Musings Of a Cigarette-Smoking Man
The episode that allegedly tells CSM's life story (according to which version? Not clear...). In the beginning, CSM appearently viewed himself as an idealistic warrior-poet, and was even willing to kill a leader he loved and admired (Martin Luther King) for what he regarded as the greater good. His doubts and frustrations were expressed in his writing (a career that didn't go so well - his story went through some major editing after it accepted for publication ...) He surrounds himself with aides who betray him (Krycek, the Gray-Haired Man, Marita Covarrubias ...) It is clear that he had seniority, first in the CIA and later in another unknown intelligence agency, a position which gave him control over military forces.
Froheke investigates the mysterious Cigarette Smoking man's past and his discoveries could cost him his life. He shares his suspicions with Mulder and Scully his, while CSM eavesdrops holding a sniper rifle in his hands. He discovers that in the past, CSM was a friend of Mulder's father and even recruited him as a partner to his conspiracies, one of which was the assassination of President Kennedy. After that mission he smoked his first cigarette...
We see CSM being recruited out of the U.S. Army Special Forces, where he had been working as a CIA asset for covert operations. Later he is seen wielding authority over U.S. Military forces. So CSM works for a military intelligence agency like the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, Army, Navy or Air Force Intelligence or an agency so secret we mere mortals haven't heard of it yet. Or perhaps we have?
In 1968, even J. Edgar Hoover deferred to CSM, whose existence was never suspected by presidents. He was responsible for operations against Martin Luther King, but his secret dream was to have stories he has written under an assumed name. Published. Since then he's been responsible for wars, assassinations of heads of state (and what not ...) but in spite of the tremendous power he weilded, his life is lonely and empty, and he is looking for new challenges and new enemies...
When a story he has written is finally published by the magazine, but the editors have the temerity to change its ending, he sits on a park bench reflecting on the pointlessness of his life, and we return to the room with the sniper rifle, and Froheke is at the crosshairs...
Deep Throat executes a wounded Grey.
According to "Deep Throat", there is an agreement between East and West requiring each party to immediately destroy any captured alien (UN Resolution 1013, it is unclear if whether it was adopted by the General Assembly or the Security Council...) the corsortium has dealings with foreign military and intelligence services and with the UN, and some of these intelligence services – the Japanese ("731", "NISEI"), the Soviet KGB ("TUNGUSKA", "TERMA"), and the French ("PIPER MARU") - spy afer the Consortium and plot to steal its secrets.
An additionalpeek into the inner workings of Deep Throat's mind. In this episode we see The Cigarette Smoking Man and Deep Throat as colleaues of long standing, maybe even friends. Its the twilight of the Cold War and these two veteran shadow warriors are examining the materials recovered from a crashed UFO, including the occupant.
Having lost a coin-toss with CSM, Deep Throat reluctantly carries out U.N. Resolution 1013 and executes the injured alien.
CSM counsels against killing a wounded Extraterrestrial Biological Entity by saying "A live E.B.E. would advance Bill Mulder's project by years."
Tunguska (1)
Everyone's favorite backstabber, Krycek, shows up and introduces Mulder and Scully to the Black Cancer. With the help of the Uniblonder (Marita Covarrubias), Mulder goes with Krycek to the Tunguska crater, where he is double-crossed by Krycek and used for a Black Cancer inoculation experiment.
The Well Manicured Man finds himself needing the Cigarette Smoking Man's services. He begins by "killing the messenger": Hurling insults at CSM because some breach of The Project's security has occurred, namely that a diplomatic pouch containing a hunk of Martian rock containing the bio-hazardous material colloquially known as the "Black Cancer," has been intercepted by Fox Mulder and that Mulder has run off to Tunguska to look for answers.
Later when the Russian agent Vassily Peskow murders Project specialist Dr. Bonita Sayer (who was moonlighting as WMM's mistress) WMM turns to CSM to discover her killer's identity and exact revenge against him. CSM delivers the killer's identity, but misses him before Peskow escapes to Russia. This leaves WMM seemingly in CSM's debt, and at a significant disadvantage since CSM discovers that WMM and the late Dr. Sayer were carrying on a sexual relationship.
Mulder seeks Marita out to get information on the source of the diplomatic pouches being smuggled into the U.S. by the minions of the Majestic Consortium. Not only does she discover, after a phone call or two, that the source of the material is Tunguska, Siberia. Marita even provides Mulder with a diplomatic passport to asssit him in getting into the former Soviet Union. When Mulder asks her why she would help him she answers "Because there are those of us who believe in you... in your search for the truth."
CSM and Skinner have their first face to face encounter in 31 episodes. CSM was hanging around the edges of the episode "AVATAR", but never confronted Skinner in his moment of weakness, prefering to gloat from behind a two-way mirror. CSM returned to hound Skinner for the missing diplomatic pouch containing the Martian meteorite fragment, which tells you how important the pouch was to CSM. Skinner tells him to piss off. While Skinner actually knew nothing about the pouch, he wouldn't have told CSM anything even if he did.
Krycek tells Mulder that he was saved by the Militia group while they were looking for military surplus salvage at the abandoned missile silo that he was sealed in. However, when questioned by Mulder, Terry Mayhew, the Militia group's leader denies it. He claims Krycek approached him using the name "Arntzen." It isn't clear how Krycek got out of that silo, but it is doubtful that the KGB or the Militia had anything to do with it. Perhaps he was inadvertently freed when the "Oilian" escaped the silo, or was rescued by other extra-terrestrials.
The toxic extra-terrestrial substance found in the impact site at Tunguska Siberia does seem to be related in some ways to the "Oiien" seen in "PIPER MARU" and "APOCRYPHA". Like the Oilien, the Black Cancer is the same color, and texture, appearing much like crude petroleum. Both substances are organic and are capable of surviving for long periods of time under extreme conditions: the Oilien at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the Black Cancer sealed in rock beneath the Siberian tundra.
Both the Oilien and the Black Cancer seem to be able to pass through air-tight barriers. The Oilien penetrated the air-tight deep diving suit worn by the French salvage team, the Black Cancer penetrated the Level 4 Contamination Suit. Both substances cause the tell tale signs of black cloudiness in the eyes. Both substances cause the central nervous systems to shut down in a kind of paralysis. But with the Oilien, the creature is able to impose its will upon its host and direct it. The Black Cancer cannot.
The Oilien and the Black Cancer may be related. Perhaps the Tunguska blast of 1908 was caused by the crash of an alien space-craft crewed by the creatures known as "Oiliens." The crash blew the crew into millions of pieces, shattering their consciousness and minds, leaving nothing except the indestructible fragments of their bodies imbedded in the tundra. The Black Cancer is the fragmented bodies of the Oilien crew. The fragments still act instinctually to occupy hosts, but cannot impose it's consciousness because it doesn't have any.
See also: "TERMA"
Terma (2)
Mulder discovers that all the prisoners in the Gulag are basically guinea pigs for the deadly poison that killed the courier at the airport and led to the opening of a Congressional investigation. He manages to escape from the Gulag and recah St. Petersburg, while Scully is arrested for contempt of Congress. Mulder arrives to the hearings, but too late. All the evidence that this deadly poison was a joint American-Russian development were destroyed.
Krycek, actually a KGB sleeper spy, sends retired KGB agent Vassily Peskow to the United States to single-handedly wipe out the Consortium's Black Cancer Inoculation Project. Mulder, who survived the inoculation test, escapes the gulag, while Krycek, who is not so fortunate, loses his arm.
A whole new aspect to the character of Krycek and may help to explain some of the events in past episodes. We know know Krycek is a KGB double agent assigned to infiltrate the FBI, the Majestic Consortium, or perhaps both. He appears to have been a second generation "sleeper" agent. That is an agent that spends years, or decades inactive, working his way into secure positions and organizations until he has obtained a desired position and is "awoken" or activated. "Second generation sleeper" because in "TUNGUSKA" Krycek mentions that his parents were cold-war emigres from Russia. Krycek's parents were probacly KGB spies as well who came to America with a plan to create the perfect double agent: Alex Krycek. A man groomed to be the perfect recruit for the FBI, CIA or any other intelligence agency.
Peskow goes on the mission, alone and with almost no support. One of the things I loved about Peskow was the image of this ultra-deadly (if a bit arthritic) KGB killer taking the bus to his first target, Dr. Bonita Sayer. It was the perfect metephor for the KGB, broke, wearing threadbare cloths, old and weary, but still ruthless, competent and deadly.
Peskow single-handedly (with perhaps some scouting and preparation for the mission performed by Krycek) murders the Majestic Consortium's expert on the Black Cancer (Dr. Sayers). He steals the Black Cancer infested meteorite from the secure NASA-Goddard Lab, kills all of the Majestic Consortium's test subjects at the Boca Raton nursing home and destroys the meteorite (and perhaps the Majestic Consortium's other Black Cancer samples). Peskow succeeds in setting the Majestic Consortium's Black Cancer immunization project back years.
Peskow has worked with Krycek before, and knew him by both the name Krycek and Arntzen, the name Krycek used to infiltrate the right wing militia group. What is curious is that Krycek seemed to outrank Peskow despite Peskow's "seniority" to Krycek.
Paper Hearts
El Mundo Gira
In a camp of Mexican day laborers a romantic triangle develops between two brothers and a girl. After a mysterious accident, the girl is found dead. According to the neighbor, who was an eyewitness, the killwas the mythical creature "El Chupacabra", or "The goat sucker". One of the brothers, Soldead, accuses his brother Eladio of the murder. Eladio is arrested, but manages to escape, leaving behind bodies of people who died from a strange fungal infection. Mulder goes after him. The brothers manage to meet, but Soledad is no longer human; he has become "El Chupacabra".
Leonard Betts
Never Again
Mulder goes on vacation and asks Scully to complete an investigation he started, she reluctantly agrees, and the investigation takes an unexpected turn and brings about an encounter with a man who has a very unique tattoo.
With actress Jodie Foster as the voice of "Betty".
Memento Mori
Scully is hospitalized because of the cancer ravaging her body, which may have been a result of her abduction two years prior. Mulder searches for a cure, and comes across a group of clones named Kurt, who identify Scully as an unwitting egg donor for the Consortium's experiments. Skinner also cuts a deal with CSM, in exchange for a cure for Scully's cancer; he basically "sells his soul". After repeatedly pissing in CSM's eye, Skinner finds himself in the unenviable position of asking CSM for his assistance in curing Scully's terminal cancer. CSM no doubt has the ability to help Scully, his own cancer and Mrs. Mulder's stroke having been cured by the intervention of Jerimiah Smith and the alien Bounty Hunter. The question is not "can" CSM save Scully, but rather "will he?"
The Grey Haired Man executes one of the renegade alien clones (who went by the name Kurt Crawford) with one of the Alien Ice-picks as seen in "COLONY", END GAME, "TALITHA CUMI" and "HERRENVOLK". He also very nearly blows Mulder away as Mulder is trying to escape from the alien controlled fertility clinic.
We encounter "the Kurts"; Alien-human hybrid clones almost identical in the way they die and decompose into green ooze as the Gregors and Samanthas in the episodes "COLONY" and "END GAME". But here we have the alien clones working side by side with the same government project which harvested Scully's ova. While loyal to the project which created them, the Kurts' goal is to try to prevent the deaths of their "birth mothers" who apparently are being allowed to die so as to reduce the Majestic Consortium's exposure.
We see a second example of these aliens working with the Majestic Consortium. Since "NISEI" and "731"., it has been obvious that Scully's (and quite probably insane FBI agent Duane Barry's) abductions were the result of a secret government experiment run by Dr. Ishimaru/Zama. Many other alien abductions seem to be cover for "Purity Control" which seeks to hybridize human and alien DNA.
Kaddish
Unrequited
Mulder contacts Marita again to get information about the assassinations of high ranking Generals by the seemingly invisible assassin Nathaniel Teager.
Marita doesn't provide the information Mulder was looking for, but after getting Mulder to pony-up what he knows, she completes the missing links between the murdered Generals and the next victim. This gives Mulder insight into Teager's motives and the motives of the men who may be manipulating Teager's quest for revenge to assist in a further cover-up. Interestingly, the information she provides isn't from some shadowy "black ops" agency. She tells Mulder she gleaned the link between the Generals from a recent newspaper story.
Tempus Fugit (1)
On Scully's birthday, UFO abductee Max Fenig ("FALLEN ANGEL") is one of the innocent victims of a plane crash instigated by the USAF, attempting to shoot down a UFO. While protecting a witness to the plane crash, the lovelorn agent Pendrell is accidentally killed by one of Majestic's agents.
Max (2)
A crashed UFO is recovered from a lake near the site of the plane crash. The aliens return, taking back in mid-air the energy source stolen by the Majestic Consortium connected Defense contractor (and perhaps it was even stolen from the Greys by Majestic first). Several Greys are killed when the Air Force shoots down their spacecraft, but they still manage to abduct humans for experimens.
NTSB investigator Scott Garrett was Part of the cover-up the crash of Flight 549 and the UFO crash retrieval operation. Garrett may be one of the most reviled MIBs in X-Files history since he accidentally shoots and kills Agent Pendrell (a supporting character of long standing who has acted as a kind of avatar for those with crushes on Gillian Anderson) during a shootout with Scully.
Garrett is a true believer, or at least he portrayed himself as one. When Mulder tells Garrett that Garrett will die too if there's any gunplay on the airplane they're both on, Garrett replies "A man, if he's any man at all, knows he must be ready to sacrifice himself to that which is greater than he... Look out your window Agent Mulder. D'you see the lights? Now imagine if one of those lights flickered off. You'd hardly notice, would you? A dozen? Two dozen lights extinguished? Is it worth sacrificing the future, the lives of millions, to keep a few lights on?" With the future on the line, Garrett could morally justify any action, so long "the future, the lives of millions" was protected. So he accidentally shot the wrong target? So the USAF accidentally took out the airliner along with the alien invaders? Hey, collateral damage is to be expected.
But Garrett didn't show any remorse or empathy for his fellow agent when he recovered the plastic gun and erased the fingerprints and face of the assassin who died on Flight 549. He hardly blinked when one of the UFO recovery team's divers was (perhaps fatally) irradiated by the UFO's damaged power source. He killed Airman Armando Gonzales without compunction, and would have done the same to Airman Louis Frisch except for Scully's intervention. But he put himself on the line every time something really dangerous was called for: Making a hit on a protected target in a crowded bar; or boarding a plane with the intention of stealing an item from an armed target and making a HALO jump ala "D.B. Cooper" in order to make his escape. While he didn't hesitate to sacrifice others, he also didn't shirk from situations where he too could be sacrificed.
The E.B.E.s take Garrett and the missing power source component in a mid-flight abduction. His fate remains unknown. However, Garrett is probably due for some extensive anal probing by the E.B.E.s. And who says there's no justice?
Synchrony
Small Potatoes
Zero Sum
Skinner repays the debt to CSM from "MEMENTO MORI", by covering up a suspicious death resulting from Majestic's experiments. The Consortium conducts a field test of smallpox-infested bees.
The First Elder personally oversees the first trial of the genetically modified bees as a means of spreading the smallpox virus. He has no faith in of CSM's promises that is well.. The real purpose of the experiment, by the way, is not clear; is it to find a weapon, or to find a cure?
First there are her efforts to thwart the smallpox bio-warfare test and her attempts to help Skinner in his efforts to discover what he was tasked to cover-up for the Cigarette Smoking Man. Her efforts seem genuine but then there is Marita's own connection to The Cigarette Smoking man. At the end of the episode it is revealed that Marita takes her orders from CSM. Whether all her actions or only some are dictated by CSM's orders remains unknown.
What is also unknown is who was standing in the background listening on Marita's other phone while she was speaking to CSM. Was it Mulder? Was it somother member of the Majestic Consortium? Perhaps an agent of the First Elder, who is growing obviously exasperated with CSM's empty reassurances that the "Mulder" situation is under control? Either way, Marita probably means trouble for both Mulder and CSM.
Skinner finds himself morally and ethically compromised by CSM, not to mention set up for a murder charge. All together, the encounter between CSM and Skinner was a draw. Skinner slips the noose with Mulder's help, but is still made to look the fool. On the other hand, he gets his first introduction to Marita Covarrubias, who may or may not be a potential ally (despite the connection to CSM) and Skinner genuinely shocked the "black-lunged son of a bitch" when he nearly blew his head off. For half a second CSM thought Skinner had killed him. It helps to remind the bastard that he may push too far, one time too many.
Elegy
Demons
While under the influence of drugs and hypnosis, Mulder recalls seeing CSM at his parents' summer house shortly before Samantha's abduction.
It turns out that Samantha isn't Mulder's sister, she's his half-sister. The speculation that CSM is Fox Mulder's father isn't supported by any evidence.
Gethsemane (1)
Mulder is led to what appears to be the frozen body of an alien, but soon he finds his beliefs unraveled as he is convinced that his pursuit of the truth has been a mere Department of Defense disinformation campaign.
Scully believes that CSM and his cohorts in the Majestic Consortium are using Mulder to perpetuate disinformation and support their "Big Lie": namely that aliens are responsible for crimes committed by rouge elements of the Intelligence Community.
Then Mulder turns up supposedly dead. Well, if the frozen alien is a fake, good enough to fool an anthropologist, then perhaps Mulder's corpse is a similar fake produced by CSM's GARNET goon-squad. But why would CSM fake Mulder's death?
Redux
After faking his own death, Mulder is convinced by Defense Department operative Michael Kritschgau that the alien hoax was a smokescreen to deflect public attention away from the military's unethical projects. Scully finds evidence of the source of her cancer, just as her condition worsens.
Redux II
CSM attempts to recruit Mulder for the Consortium's cause, a hearing into Mulder's actions uncovers a Consortium mole within the FBI, and Scully's cancer goes into remission, as a result of the "cure" that Mulder found in the Pentagon.
The First Elder ordered the attempted assassination of Cigarette Smoking Man.
Unusual Suspects
Guest appearance by Richard Belzer, Detective Munch from "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law and Order" (and probably the holder of the world record in playing the same character in different television shows).
Detour
Mulder and Scully are on their way to the Bureau's think tanks convention in Florida, and their car swerves off the road. They go out to call for help and find themselves trapped in a forest where a monster is on the rampage. Aided by local agents, they search for the monster.
Post-Modern Prometheus
A Frankenstein ("The Modern Prometheus" according to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein") style mystery involving a single mother, a comics-loving boy, a mad scientist and... singer Cher (who refused to participate in this episode herself and went on to regret it).
Christmas Carol
While at her brother's house for Christmas, Scully finds a girl orphaned by the murder of her parents, led by a mysterious phone call from a woman who sounds exactly like Melissa Scully. Scully is intrigued by the girl, Emily Sim, and further investigation reveals Emily to be her biological daughter, and that she is part of a mysterious clinical trial of a pharmaceutical company,
Emily
Scully attempts to adopt Emily, while Mulder investigates the Dimsdale Convalescent home, where Emily may have been conceived artificially. A barrage of medical tests on Emily also reveals that her biology is half-alien. Could she be indeed Scully's daughter?
Kitsunegari
Robert model, AKA "PUSHER" is capable of projecting his thoughts into other people's minds and make them do things against their will, including murder. Mulder puts out an alert, but the Feds ignore his warnings, until the killing spree begins.
Schizogeny
Bobby Rich, a 16 year old boy, is abused by his stepfather. When the father is found dead, Mulder and Scully are called to investigate. Bobbie is the main suspect in the murder, but when another abusive father is found dead in suspicious circumstances, secrets from the past are revealed.
Chinga
Agent Scully goes on vacation in Maine and gets involved in an investigation of crimes where the victims appearently hurt themselves, at the request of a strange young girl. Renowned author Stephen King is credited for writing the script.
Kill Switch
Scully and Mulder investigate the death of a computer genius, and are targeted by a murderer who loves to brutally torture his victims.
Another script written by author William Gibson ("Neuromancer").
Bad Blood
Scully and Mulder disagree over how they should explain away their part in a strange death which occurred while they were investigating an X-File in Texas.
Patient X
Former UFO abductees are mysteriously summoned to remote locations, where they await the arrival of aliens. However, groups of Faceless Men arrive and burn the congregations to death. Meanwhile, Krycek attempts to trade a witness to one of these burnings for all research and information on Majestic's Black Cancer Inoculation Project. Agent Spender, the son of an alleged abductee, is first introduced here.
The Red And The Black
After Scully survives the most recent burning, she undergoes hypnosis to find out what happened to her. Mulder is told by Krycek of an alien resistance leader being held prisoner by the Consortium, and when he goes to intercept a truck carrying the alien, Mulder witnesses a rescue attempt. Meanwhile, a vaccine provided by Krycek, supposedly for use against the Black Cancer, is found to be useless on an incapacitated Marita Covarrubias.
Travrlers
In 1990, when Mulder was still a profiler at the Behavioural Sciences Unit, he investigated a mysterious murder case involving three people who became test subjectss against their will, two FBI agents and Mulder's father. What was the part of Mulder Senior's in this affair which took place 38 years earlier,during the McCarthy era of persecution against communists in the U.S.?
Minds's Eye
A blind woman sees visions of murders and knows details that only the murderer can know. She is arrested as a suspect in the murders but is released for lack of evidence. Mulder and Scully continue to investigate, with the help of police detectives, and discover the woman's mother was murdered when she was pregnant, which gave her the special ability to see through the mirderer's eyes, but who is the real murderer and what are his motives?
All Souls
A priest seeks Scully's help in comforting a family which has lost daughter under mysterious circumstances, she investigates and discovers that the girl was a one of a quadruplet of girls suffering from severe birth defects, each adopted by a diffrenet family. The girls die one by one in the same way, and Scully's faith is put to a difficult test. Are the Good and the Bad waging a battle to the death for the souls of the girls?
Pine Bluff Varient
Mulder goes under cover in order to infiltrate a radical militia group threatening to use a deadly weapon. The main goal is to apprehand the head of the group, Jacob Haley, and Scully, who is unaware of this, follows Mulder, and when she discovers the truth, she helps him to uncover the truth behind the activities of this dangerous group.
Follie A Deux
Gary Lambert, a vinyl coating salseman and an ordinary person in every respect, is convinced that his boss is a monster. Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate, and Mulder is taken hostage and even finds himself confined to a mental institution.
The End
The Consortium attempts to assassinate a 12-year old chess master. Mulder and Scully discover that the boy possesses a heightened level of activity in the brain called the "God Module", which may unlock the mysteries of the X-Files and shed light on the link between humanity and the aliens. However, CSM abducts the boy and turns him over to WMM, and sets Mulder and Scully's basement office on fire, destroying the X-Files.
The X-Files – Fight the Future
The first Movie based upon the show was met with a rather lukewarm response by both the biggest fans and the general public who went to see the Movie knowing nothing about the show. The truth? In spite all the promises by the creators, it wasn't much more than any double episode of the show.
The Beginning
After the explosion in his office ("THE END") and the escape from the secret location in the Arctic ("FIGHT THE FUTURE"), Mulder tries to restore the X-Files, but his superiors turn the X-Files over to agent Spender, the son of CSM (or maybe not). Mulder and Scully investigate a series of deaths in a nuclear power plant involving the mysterious alien, but their superiors refuse to accept their report and order them to sever all contact with the X-Files.
Drive
Triangle
Mulder finds himself aboard a luxury ship lost in the Bermuda Triangle in September 1939, and the story unfolds in both periods, as in 1939 Mulder tries to save the ship from the Nazis, while in the present Scully, with the help of the Lone Gunmen, tries to get to Mulder who was lost at sea.
Dreamland-A
Scully and Mulder go to meet an informant in Area 51, the known secret test site of the air force, and following an encounter with a UFO Mulder switches identities with one of the employees of Area 51, married to a cranky woman with two annoying teenag sons. Mulder takes advantage of the situation to gather information, but of course Scully does not believe him when he tries to convince her that the man she thinks is Mulder is not Mulder at all.
Dreamland is the nickname for Area 51, the Air Force base near Groom Lake, Nevada which is reputed to be the US Government's base for conducting experiments with alien technology. "Dreamland" actually stands for "Data Repository Establishment and Management Land".
Dreamland-B
"Mulder"'s strange behavior finally raises Scully's suspicion, the but the efforts to get things back to normal are met with difficulties, because the employee who took Mulder's identity refuses to give it up. The real informant from the Area51, and the three "Lone Gunmen", come to their aid.
Fletcher comments that Saddam Hussein is really a dinner theatre actor named "'John Glinitz". The name is a combination of the writers names: John Shiban, Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz.
Scully says to Mulder-in-Morris's-body, "I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly" which is what Zira (Kim Hunter) said to Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes.
How The Spirits Stole Xmas
Mulder convinces Scully to come with him on Christmas Eve to a house known for generations to be haunted and a location where murders and suicides abound. Scully reluctantly agrees, and in the house they experience a strange encounter with an elderly couple (Edward Asner - "Lou Grant" and Lily Tomlin - "9 to 5") who may, or may not, be ghosts…
Terms Of Endearment
Mulder steals an X-File thrown away by agent Spender after a call for help accidentally reaches him, and he goes to investigate a series of deaths of babies born with strange deformities. Is the father of the babies just a slick bigamist insurance agent, or is he the devil himself and the children are the children of Satan?
Guest Starring: Bruce Campbell ("Brisco County" etc').
Rain King
S.R. 119
Tithonhs
Scully is sent to assist an FBI agent investigating a series of murders, related to a police photographer who claims to have won eternal life, and all he wants is to face death and die. Is he telling the truth, or is he guilty of the murders? Mulder joins the investigation and discovers some surprising facts about the photographer.
Watch out for veteran actor Geoffrey Lewis, who did a lot of work with Clint Eastwood.
Two Fathers
Cassandra Spender returns unexpectedly after a year-long disappearence, and tells a story that no one believes, not even Mulder, the only person she is willing to talk to. Her son, agent Spender, has no choice but to let Mulder into the investigation. He confronts his father, CSM, and when he discovers the truth, he decides to switch sides.
One Son
Mulder and Scully continue their efforts to find Cassandra Spender, who became the first successful human-alien hybrid, and the fate of the entire conspiracy depends on her. Agent Spender's concern for his mother leads him to choose a course of action which has disastrous reprecussions for himself and for all the co-conspirators.
Aqua Mala
Arthur Dales, the FBI agent who discovered the X-Files 40 years ago, calls Mulder and Scully to investigate the disappearance of a family during a hurricane. Could a sea monster which has surfaced from the deep because of the storm be responsible for the dissappearence?
Monday
Mulder stumbles upon a bank robbery and is warned that the moment will repeat itself over and over again unless he does something.
In the tradition of Movies such as "Groundhog Day" and "12:01", the girlfriend of a failed bank robber informs Mulder and Scully that they are stuck in a day that repeats itself over and over and again, like a broken record, and in order to get things back to normal, they must find out what is the event that caused this and undo it, otherwise everybody will be killed during the bank robbery. Now all there's left to do is to convince Scully to cooperate…
Arcadia
Scully and Mulder, back with the X-Files, pose as a married couple to investigate a series of disappearances in a beautifully designed neighborhood considered to be the fulfillment of the American dream. Is there a connection between the disappearances and the obsession with rules and regulations of the head of the homeowners' ascociation and the things he imports from the Far East?
Alpha
Trevor
Pinker Rawls, an inmate who was left locked in a trunk during a tornado, has an unparalleled ability to walk through walls and turn metals into powder. When he disappeares from the work camp, Scully and Mulder try to find out what it is that Rawls wants more than anything and they are in for a surprise.
Milagro
Mulder has a mysterious new neighbor who claims to be a writer. The new neighbor develops a strange relationship with Sculley, being secretly in love with her, but Mulder suspects that he is also the mysterious killer who kills lovers and cuts their hearts out.
The Unnatural
In this "was or was not" themed episode, Arthur Dales, a former police officer in Roswell, New Mexico (the brother of Arthur Dales, the discoverer of the X-Files, and of a female Arthur Dales...) tells Mulder a story about a great black baseball player who actually was (or was not) an alien.
Three Of A Kind
Byers and his friends, the Lone Gunmen, try to save Susan Modsky, the brilliant scientist who was kidnapped ten years earlier (in the first encounter between Mulder and the Lone Gunmen), that they looking for in every gathering of security and covert operations personnel. Scully, believing it was Mulder who called her, agrees to help them.
Field Trip
Another "was or was not" themed episode, where Mulder and Scully go to investigate the disappearance of a young couple in a region known to be prone to alien landings, fall victim to a giant (and perhaps carnivorous) mushroom secreting a hallucinogenic substance, and are abducted (or maybe not) by the aliens.
Biogenesis
In the final episode of the season, an object found on a West African coast generates a series of murders and strange occurrences. Scientists disagree about the meaning of the object, and of course Mulder and Scully do too. Was a verse from the Book of Genesis really found on an extraterrestrial artifact? And what do Skinner, agent Fowly, Krycek and the Cigarett Smoking man have to do with this? The object has a particularly bad impact on Mulder, who is hospitalised in a secure psychiatric ward.
The Sixth Extintion-A
Scully continues her investigations in Africa, while Mulder's condition is getting worse and the doctors are at a loss. In spite of his condition, he manages to contact Skinner and ask for his help, Skinner enlists the help of Michael Kritchgau, a Former CIA agent, in spite of the objection of agent Diana Fowly, who confesses her love for Mulder. Scully leaves Africa and returns home to Mulder. The mysterious object found on the beach disappears.
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION-B: Amor Fati
Mulder's mother accuses his doctors of incompetence and discharges him from the hospital. Scully gets a surprise visit from Albert Hosteen (Native American actor Floyd Red Crow Westerman). Meanwhile, Mulder experiences encounters with some characters from the past, including some some who were considered dead, such as "Deep Throat" (actor Jerry Hardin), and the Cigarette Smoking Man, who makes Mulder an offer he can not refuse.
Hungrey
Mulder and Scully investigate a murder in a fast food restaurant, and as usual disagree about the identity of the suspect. The investigation puts them on the tracks of a person with a unique hunger.
Millenium
In the eve of the Millennium Mulder and Scully go after a man who exhumes dead bodies in order to ressurect them for the Judgment Day and the End of Time, even though, according to Scully, the millennium actually only begins in 2001. They enlist the help of former agent Frank Black (actor Lance Henriksen from "Millennium" in a guest appearance), and together they are surprised to find out, like all of us, that the sky did not fall on their heads with the coming pf the Millennium.
Rush
A teenage boy gains superhuman speed which enables him to commit crimes without getting caught, but with the heavy cost of an addiction to excitement and physical destruction. Mulder and Scully try to help the boy when he is unjustly accused of a crime, and are disappointed to find that the thing that gave the boy his superhuman speed is a gift reserved only for teenagers and and not for "old folk" like them.
The Goldberg Variation
Mulder and Scully are called to investigate an attempted murder in a building belonging to a gangster (actor Rami Zada) and discover that Henry Weems, who survived the attempt after a 30 stories drop, is a very lucky person – in cards, in life in general, and in love.
Orison
Orison is a charismatic priest in the prison where, among others, Donnie Pfaster, the man who abducted Scully in "IRRESISTIBLE"is serving his time. Mulder and Scully are called to investigate the connection between the priest and the mysterious prison breaks of prisoners, including Donnie Pfaster, who is after Scully,in another version of the eternal struggle between good and evil.
The Amazing Maleeni
Malini, a carnival magician, accepts a challenge from a heckler in the audience and is found dead, decapitated. Mulder and Scully investigate how he managed to turn his head in a 360 degrees rotation, and whether it was a murder or a magic trick gone wrong, and what, if anything, did the heckker have to do with this.
Signs And Wonders
The body of a man who died of snake bites is found in a car, but no snakes. Was someone using the snake, a symbol of the Original Sin, as a murder weapon, or is the motive a lot more human and mundane? And how does the church whose believers worship snakes fit into this?
Sein Und Zeit
Amber Lynn, a five years old girl, mysteriously disappears from her home and her parents are suspected of murder. A woman in prison was arrested for the murder of her son, who also disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Mulder's mother committed suicide by overdosing on pills after learning that Mulder is investigating the disappearance of the children. What is the connection between all of the above and Samantha, Mulder's sister, who had disappeared so many years ago? The Investigation leads Mulder and Scully to a site where many murdered children are burried, but Samantha is not among them, and neither is Amber Lynn.
Closure
The child-killer is caught, but does not confess to the murder of Samantha or Amber Lynn. Mulder is approached by a person claiming to be a psychic and able to to assist in finding the missing children who are neither dead nor alive, but it turns out that he also had a boy who disappeared in mysterious circumstances and is suspected of his murder. Mulder reveals more information about the circumstances of his sister's disappearance, and the involvement of CSM in the matter, and comes to a completion, a closure, of the case of Samantha's disappearance.
X-Cops
Mulder and Scully investigate a report about a monster roaming the streets of a residential neighborhood, and find themselves live on TV in a reality police show, which has its cameramen follow the uniformed police officers who were also called to the scene.
First Person Shooter
A virtual game goes out of control and the three Lone Gunmen, Langley, Froheke and Byers, come again to the rescue of Mulder and Scully, who were called to the offices of the company that developed the game.
The script, by the way, was written by author William Gibson ("Neoromancer").
Theef
Mulder and Scully investigate a case of an attack against the family of a respectable doctor. Is it possible that the attacker has supernatural powers enabling him to make any person contract the disease that he chooses? Things get complicated when it turns out that the attacker accuses the respectable doctor of murdering his daughter.
En Ami
CSM contacts Scully, claiming to have a cure for her cancer. As proof of his claim, he takes her to a child miraclously cured of cancer even though his parents concientiously object to the treatment. He tells her he wants to atone for his sins before he dies, and his only condition is that Mulder will be kept in the dark. Is he telling the truth, or is this another one of his schemes? The Lone Gunmen lend a hand.
Chimera
Can a sense of betrayal turn a woman scorned into a monster targeting women with whom her husband had an affair? And what do the scavenging crows have to do with this? Mulder investigates while Scully sits alone in a stakeout for an X-File of her own.
All Things
A chance meeting with an old acquaintance causes Scully to take stock and reflect on the choices she made in her life, while Mulder goes to investigate the appearance of crop circles in England - which turns out to be a wild goose chase.
Hollywood Ad
A Hollywood producer wants to follow Mulder and Scully around in an investigtion of an X-File relating to a mysterious church text, in order to make a Movie based on the investigation. Garry Shandling and Tia Leoni ("The Naked Truth", David Duchovny's real-life wife) play Mulder and Scully in the Movie, and the results...
Brand X
In the town of Winston-Salem (Jerusalem) in northern Oregon, the center of the cigarette industry, "Morley's", which makes the Cigarette Smoking Man's brand of cigarettes, conducts experiments on Tobacco beetles with disastrous results. Could the beetles have turned from tobacco leaves eaters into deadly carnivors? Mulder and Scully investigate, and Mulder is attacked by the beetles.
Fight Club
Lulu and Betty are the spitting image of each other, although apparently there is no connection between them. For three years and across 17 states they chase each another, with each encounter between them looking like an explosion which releases destructive energy, causes riots and fights and even worse, and the climax is when they both fall in love with the same man, a semi-professional wrestler, giving a new meaning to the phrase "this town is not big enough for both of us". Mulder and Scully investigate the origins of the connection between the two women and uncover some surprising facts about them and also the about the man they are both in love with.
Je Souhaite
The dream of two brothers becomes a nightmare when a woman claiming to be a Genie, as in the Arabian Nights, gives them three wishes, and the wishes begin to come true. When Mulder gets three wishes of his own, he is faced with a dilemma - how to choose the perfect wish.
Requiem
The season finale where finally return to conspiracy, abductions and alien stories, and encounter old enemies and friends (and not always sure which is which) - including the Cigarette Smoking Man, Krycek, Marita Cubarrubias and others, in a story beginning with the investigation of a UFO crash (which as usual everybody tries to deny and cover up) and ending with a very surprising announcement by Scully.
See you next season!
Within
After Mulder's disappearance, the new deputy-director Kersh puts Agent John Doggett (actor Jason Patric) in charge of the task force, to the dismay of Scully and Skinner. After disagreements and conflicts, Scully comes to the conclusion that the real target of Mulder's kidnappers is the boy Gibson Praise, who is part alien.
Without
Scully, Skinner and Doggett manage to rescue Gibson Praise from the aliens, after several unpleasant encounters with the Alien Bounty Hunter – who can take on any shape, including Mulder's or Scully's, but Mulder is yet to be found.
Patience
Scully and Doggett investigate a series of murders committed by a half-human half-bat creature that patiently stalks its victims for 44 years.
Roadrunners
Scully goes on her own to investigate the murder of a young man found in the desert after being beaten to death, and is captured by a mysterious cult of people who have a special way of worshipping God. Doggett comes to her rescue. For strong stomachs only!
Invocation
A boy who disappeared 10 years ago suddenly reappears. The problem is that he hasn't aged a single day. Scully and Doggett investigate and try to catch the kidnapper before he can harm the boy's brother, who was born after the abduction. Menwhile we discover more about Agent Doggett's past.
One of the best episodes of the season (so far).
Redrum
A successful prosecutor is accused of murdering his wife and claims to be innocent. No one believes him, because his only evidence is his claim that for him, time is moving backwards. Doggett and Scully investigate and gradually discover the truth about the murder, and meanwhile the prosecutor also has to deal with a hard truth from his past.
Via Negativa
Doggett and Skinner investigate the murder of members of a cult led by a person who believes he has found the "third eye", which once opened, allows him to reach a higher plane of consciousness and actually separate the mind from the body, leaving one in one place and the other in another. Scully cannot help, but gives Doggett his first acquaintance with the Lone Gunmen.
Surekill
In a variation on the famous detective novel theme of a murder in a locked room, Doggett and Scully investigate how a murderer managed to get to his victim who was locked in a holding cell at a police station. The investigation leads them to a small pest control company, owned in partnership by a pair of twins and their beautiful and manipulative assistant.
Salvage
An investigation of the death of a junkyard owner leads Scully and Doggett to a person whose blood turned into metal after he came in contact with a hazardous substance in the yard, and he wants to take revenge on those who he believes were responsible.
Badlaa
Scully and Doggett investigate the murder of an overweight man who returned from a trip to India. When they discover that the victim weighed after death more than he weighed in his life, the question arises whether the killer could have "hitched a ride" in the victim's body. But what is the connection between the murder and the mysterious Siddhi cult from India?
The Gift
The search for Mulder continues, and Doggett and Skinner are called to continue an investigation started by Mulder before his mysterious disappearance. They come to a small community whose members hide a creature that has a very special gift - an ability to take sickness from the sick and death from the dead, as Doggett quickly learns firsthand. Is there a connection between the creature and the circumstances of Mulder‘s disappearance?
Medusa
Per Manum
This is not Happening
Deadalive
Three months after Mulder's funeral, surfacts are revealed about the circumstances of the return of other abductees. Skinner opens Mulder's grave, in spite of Doggett's objection, and lo and behold, Mulder is still alive, but barely. Scully struggles to find the right course of treatment. Krycek's intervention forces Skinner to make a difficult decision, but as it turned out, this was the right decision for Mulder.
Three Words
A man tries to break into the White House claiming that he wants to give the President vital information about an alien invasion, and is killed by security personnel. Absolom, who claims he can rescue abductees, escapes from prison and kidnaps Doggett in order to make him help get the information, located in a secure database of the Census Bureau. Absolom is also killed by security, and Mulder breaks into the database aided by the three Gunmen. Will the truth come out this time?
Empedocles
A man who was fired from his job finds himself in the scene of an accident, where the man suspected of killing agent Doggett's son was killed. Later on he kills the people who fired him, and another woman who happened to be there. Is the killer's evil a contagious disease transmitted from person to person and across time? Agent Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) is convinced of it and enlists Mulder's help. Doggett rejects Mulder's help, but Scully, hospitalized because of pregnancy complications, convinces Mulder to help Doggett and Reyes anyway.
Vienen
An investigation into the death of oil worker forces Doggett and Mulder to cooperate when they are trapped on an offshore drilling facility with an entire crew, except for two, infected with the "black oil" virus. Meanwhile Scully conducts an investigation of her own to find out why those two workers were not infected, and confronting Deputy Director Kersh, who orders her to stop the investigation because of the pressure exercised by the oil company that owns the facility.
Alone
Scully goes on maternity leave and Doggett gets a new partner, young and enthusiastic and extremely well versed in Mulder and Scully's exploits. When they both go out together to investigate a murder involving a new species of a reptile, Scully is forced to stop her maternity leave and come to Doggett's aid, along with Mulder who was suspended from the FBI, but does not let that fact stop him from getting involved in the investigation.
Essence
Existence
Nothing Important Happened Today I
The first episode of the ninth (and very last), season Mulder disappears again, and Scully has concerns about her baby, in spite of her insistence that he is completely normal. Doggett and Reyes confront Kersh and his henchmen, including a former love interest of Reyes's (actor Cary Elwes), who do everything to obstruct the investigation against them. Skinner, who initially gives them explicit orders to stop the investigation, assists them. The three Lone Gunmen, who lost their very own spin-off show, also help out. This is set against a series of murders of Doggett's army buddies, commited by a human being adapted to life in the water (played by larger than life Lucy Lawless, AKA the unforgettable "Xena").
Nothing Important Happened Today II
As usual in the show, we find that things are never as they seem. Is Shannon McMahon telling Doggett the truth or is she trying to trick him? Is she part of the new conspiracy exposed in the previous episode, or is she trying to uncover the truth? Is Kersh trying to help Doggett? And is Brad Follmer trying to help Monica Reyes? And what is the secret of Scully's baby? And the biggest question – where is Mulder? And if you think you're going to get answers...
D Monicus
Scully accepted a position as a forensic science professor at the FBI Academy, but that does not stop her from helping Doggett and Reyes investigate a series of murders allegedly committed by a Devil worshipper. But is the suspect really a Devil worshipper, just an imposter, or the Devil himself? Doggett refuses to believe the latter, but Reyes has no doubts, and Scully's scientific evidence should tip the scales.
4-D
Doggett and Reyes chase a particularly elusive killer, Doggett is shot and Reyes is the main suspect. Reyes has moved and Doggett comes to bring her a housewarming gift. Could the two events have occurred simultaneously? Or did the killer find a way to travel between parallel universes? Scully and Skinner come to Reyes'a aid.
Lord Of The Flies
A boy affiliated with a group of enthusiasts of particularly crazy stunts is killed while performing a stunt. When the test reveals that he was killed by extremely violent insects, an arrogant entomologist is called and is immediately attracted to Scully. Together they uncover information about the violent insects that attacked the boy, while Reyes and Doggett reveal the secret of another boy, who has a strange affiliation with the insects.
Trust No 1
Scully exchanges emails with Mulder who has gone underground, and gets a surprising offer - information that will enable Mulder to expose the super-soldiers pursuing him and return home safely. But can the source of the information be trusted? Doggett and Reyes object, but Scully has no choice, and even if Mulder does not return at the end (at least not in this episode), at least now he knows that the super-soldiers can be destroyed.
John Doe
Doggett finds himself locked up in a Mexican jail, in a town where the police is under the control of a drug cartel. He suffers from amnesia, and does not even remember his own name. How did he get there and how did he lose his memory? Scully, Reyes and Skinner go to help, and Kersh undermines their efforts again. In this episode we learn a little about Doggett and the past trauma that haunts him.
Hellbound
What is the common denominator between the murders that occurred in 1868, 1909, 1960 and 2001, except that all the victims were skinned alive? Could it be reincarnation? And what is Reyes's part in this? What does the killer know that Reyes doesn't? With the help of Scully and Doggett, she tries to find the answers.
Guest Star - Don Swayze (brother of ... )
Provenance (1)
An investigation of an illegal border crossing leads to the exposure of another attempt to kill Scully's baby, and this time one of the killers is an undercover FBI agent sent to infiltrate a cult of UFO fans (or fanatics) in Canada. Have the cult members really found a spaceship similar to the one Scully found on the African coast? What is the connection between them and the baby? Scully enlists the Lone Gunmen, but will they be able to help?
Providence (2)
Reyes and Scully manage to expose the kidnappers of Scully's baby with information given to them by the undercover agent who tried to assassinate the baby in Scully's home. The kidnappers, members of a cult that believes aliens are the children of God and that Scully's son was destined to be their leader, offer Scully a deal – the release of the baby for proof that Mulder is dead. Of course Scully refuses. Brad Follmer alerts Kersh to the irregularities in the investigation report of the agent's death in the hospital. But a new "villaine" enters the scene, probably also a member of the super-soldiers group - referred to as "The Toothpick Man".
Audrey Pauley
Reyes is involved in an accident and is hospitalized. She is diagnosed as brain-dead and the doctor informScully and Doggett that she has signed an organ donor card and all the preparations have been bade for harvesting her organs for transplant. Scully accepts the decision (out of an unshakable faith in the doctors, which is rather strange, considering all of her encounters with various doctors...) But Doggett vehemently objects and refuses to believe that Reyes is indeed dead. An encounter with a strange and eccentric woman, named Audrey Pauley, living in an alternate world of its own, causes him to open an investigation that exposes a murderous conspiracy by one of the hospital's doctors.
Note the resemblance to the plotline of the Movie "Coma".
Underneath
In a story very reminiscent of the mytological "Twin Peaks" (the name of the murderer wasn't even changed), new DNA evidence exonerates a convicted murderer. Doggett, who together with his partner arrested the murderer13 years ago, tries to prevent the murderer's release. Scully agrees to help, but how do you handle the DNA evidence? And perhaps Reyes's theory, that this was an extreme case of split personality, is correct? Or in other words, how do you catch a murderer hiding in the body of an innocent man?
Scary Monsters
Agent Leyla Harrison, the sworn fan of Mulder and Scully's who is well versed in all the mysteries of the X-Files (as we have learned in "ALONE"), asks Scully's help in investigate what she claims is anX-File. Scully brushes her off and she turns to Doggett and Reyes, and the three of them set out to investigate what begins as concerns for the safety of a cute boy and ends with them being trapped in a deserted monster- infested home. But where do the monsters come from and who is really in danger? The truth is revealed thanks to Scully's scientific work and Doggett's lack of imagination, proving, in the tradition of Stephen King, that real evil is inside us and all the various monsters are only its material manifestations.
Note the boy saying I MADE THIS - this is the phrase heard in a child's voice against the closing credits of every episode in the show.
Improbable
Reyes's dealings with numerology pot her on the trail of a serial killer who kills women in threes, but what is his real serial pattern? And who will be his next victim? In spite of Scully's forensic evidence and Doggett's unreserved support of, the killer manages to evade Reyes and Scully, but a surreal encounter with an eccentric person, fond of music and games, puts them on the right track, but what exactly is his involvement in the case?
Note a very brilliant performance by veteran star Burt Reynolds, charming as ever but still refusing to part with his wig, and a particularly surreal ending scene.
Jump The Shark
Maurice Fletcher (the "Man in Black", the "Area 51" employee who switched identities with Mulder in the double episode "DREAMLAND", and was responsible for the fact that Mulder's apartment finally had a bed in it...) offers Doggett and Reyes a deal – information about a super-soldier in exchange for protection. His information seems dubious at first, and they turn to the three Lone Gunmen, the conspiracy theorists, for help. When it turns that the alledged "super-soldier" is an old friend of the three, they agree to help.
This episode sees the tragic ending of the Three Gunmen's exploits (why, why!?) when in a last heroic act they save the world from a plot to spread a deadly virus. Their independent show was also dropped after one season only. God bless their memory!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that this is an unprecedented television event – that the heroes of a dicontinued show die in another show. But since it it is the X-Files after all, perhaps there are more surprises in store for us...
William
The countdown for the return of the Mulder begins!
A mysterious man, his entire body scarred by severe burns, breaks into the X-Files office and is captured by Doggett. He is willing to talk only with Scully, and he says that he is also a victim of the conspiracy which had Mulder running for his life. He is taken for medical examinations, and Doggett suggests the possibility that the man is none other but Mulder himself, but Scully refuses to believe, in spite of the scientific evidence. The man claims that the severe burns were caused by an injection of a chemical designed to turn him into an alien. He manages to inject William, Scully's baby, with a substanc, and then it turns out that the man is actually agent Jeffrey Spender, the son of CSM (or not) and Mulder's half-brother (or not), but did he intend to harm the baby or save it? Scully is not willing to take that chance and makes the most difficult decision of her life.
David Duchovny co-wrote and directed this episode.
Release
A cadet in the FBI Academy, an apprentice of Scully's, shows an amazing talent for solving crimes. One of these crimes is the murder of Luke Doggett, agent Doggett's son. Scully and Reyes doubt the credibility of the cadet's story, but try to help. When the cadet's true identity is revealed, the connection between the killer and Assistant- Director Fullmer, and a dark secret of Fullmer's, are also revealed. Luke Doggett's murder mystery finally gets to be solved (unlike other mysteries, waiting to be solved them for nine seasons...)
Please note, by the way, how the screenwriters named the cadet - Rudolph Hayes...
Sunshine Days
What is the connection between the two deaths that occurred in the strange house, which looks like it came right out of the set of the famous TV show "the Brady Bunch", and its even stranger occupant, who had miraculous powers? While Reyes and Scully are amazingly well versed about the mythological show, Doggett chooses to go "by the book". Together they gradually discover the man's tragic secret and manage to help him open a new page in his life, not before both Doggett and Skinner get a first hand experience with the man's powers.
By the way, in this episode, the stage for the Mulder's return is already being set, and Scully proves she can count – she mentiones that this is the 200th case she has investigated since her arrival to the X-Files.
The Truth (1)
He's back, he's back, he's back!
Mulder is caught breaking into a top-secret military facility (is there another kind?). He is accused of killing Noel Rohr, a super-soldier and a former friend of Doggett's from the Marines. He is tried for murder in a special military tribunal. The tribunal is chaired by Kersh, and on the panel we find the mysterious "Toothpick Man", the only one Kersh is afraid of. The list of witnesses testifying on Mulder's behalf is very long - Marita Covarrubias, Gibson Praise, Jeffrey Spender, and many more. The Indians descendants of the Anasazi, who are hiding Gibson Praise, also come to help. Ghosts from the past of the show pop in (Krycek, X, etc. ...) and some of them surprise us with their behavior. But the trial is just a sham, and all the efforts of Skinner, acting as defense counsel, to present evidence of the super-soldiers conspiracy are in vain, even though Rohr's body was not found. Mulder himself refuses to testify and reveal what he has found in the break-in, in spite of pleas by Skinner, Scully, Doggett and Reyes. He wants to turn the murder trial into a trial of the truth.
During the trial, we finally get answers to some of the nagging questions of the show, but even more questions remain unanswered.
The secret facility is very reminiscent of the Cheyenne mountain facility from "Stargate", both from the outside and the inside. Could the same site have been used for location shooting?
Please note the quote from "Silance os the Lambs" (and the striking resemblence between agents Scully and Starling)...
As the prosecutor - veteran actor William Devane.
The Truth (2)
Mulder's trial continues, and so does the parade of witnesses testifying on his behalf, this time it's the turn of Gibson Praise, Doggett and Reyes. The ghosts keep parading, and the three Lone Gunmen are also accounted for Mulder himself still refuses to testify. Even Scully's evidence that the body supposedly found is not Rohr's makes no difference. Mulder is sentenced to death, but help comes from a most unexpected source.
Doggett and Reyes are try to protect Gibson Praise but find that someone has beat them to it and made all the X-Files disappear. Kersh and Skinner walk into the Toothpick Man's office and don't come out. Mulder and Scully reach the Indians, who kept the terrible secret for over 2000 years, followed by Doggett and Reyes. Mulder finds out the truth about the person who sent him to break into the secret military facility – none other than our old friend the Cigarettes Smoking man, who has also found refuge with the Indians. After a final confrontation with super-soldier Rohr ends with his destruction by the mysterious metal, the Indian village is destroyed, and the Cigarette Smoking Man is killed (this time for good, hopefully...) Mulder and Scully escape together and find shelter in Roswell, New Mexico (where else?), where they await the fateful date set for the alien invasion in the times of the Maya, December 23, 2012. Now all there is to do is wait and see ...
In "Dark Skies", by the way, the date was the Millennium; lucky for us, that's behind us too... In "The First Wave", however, the date of the invation was set according to the prophecies of Nostradamus.
Mulder and Scully's adventures are over but not done…
The X-Files – I Want to Believe
My Struggle
Thirteen years after the original series run, the next mind-bending chapter of the thrilling series THE X-FILES has arrived. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have been contacted by Tad O'Malley, a popular conspiracy theorist web-TV show host who believes he has uncovered a significant government conspiracy. With the assistance of FBI Asst. Dir. Walter Skinner, O'Malley seeks to enlist the help of former X-Files agents Mulder and Scully, who have since severed ties with the FBI. Through O'Malley they are introduced to Sveta, a possible alien abductee who shares shocking information with them that will challenge everything that Mulder has ever believed about the existence of aliens and the government's role in covering them up.
Founder's Mutation
When a scientist suddenly kills himself, Mulder and Scully's investigation leads to a laboratory where extreme genetic experimentation has been breeding subjects with dangerous powers.
Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
Witnesses claim a strange creature was responsible for killing a person in the woods; Mulder confronts some of his own demons.
Home Again
Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate the murder of a city official, which it seems no human could have committed. Meanwhile, Scully deals with a personal tragedy, which brings up many old feelings about the child she gave away for adoption
Babylon
When an art gallery that's showing potentially offensive artwork is bombed, Mulder and Scully seek some way to communicate with the comatose bomber in order to prevent a future attack. Meanwhile, a pair of younger FBI agents on the case push Mulder and Scully to examine their own beliefs as Scully seeks answers from neuroscience and Mulder from mysticism.
My Struggle II
The investigations that Mulder and Scully previously began with conspiracy theorist and web-TV show host Tad O'Malley seem to have awakened powerful enemies. A widespread panic begins as people all over the country suddenly start falling gravely ill, and Scully must look within to try and find a cure. Meanwhile, Mulder confronts the man whom he believes to be behind it all, but another figure from Mulder and Scully's past may prove to be the key to their salvation.
My Struggle III
Picking up after the last event series' cliffhanger, Mulder and Scully learn that they aren't the only ones desperately searching for their long-lost son, William. The very fate of the world may depend on it.
This
An old friend reaches out to Mulder and Scully in a seemingly impossible way, revealing a chilling secret.
Plus One
A spate of deaths, in which the victims were plagued by their own doppelgangers, lead Mulder and Scully to a pair of twins playing a dangerous game.
The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat
Exploring the idea of The Mandela Effect, in which large groups of people remember an alternate history, Mulder and Scully find out how the X-Files themselves may really have originated.
Ghouli
When a pair of teenage girls attack one another, each believing the other to be a monster, Mulder and Scully find that their investigation could possibly lead back to their long-lost son, William.
Kitten
Skinner goes AWOL when his past comes back to haunt him. As Mulder and Scully try to track him down, their growing mistrust of him reaches its apex.
Nothing Lasts Forever
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