19 March 2007

Season 2: Excelsis Dei (2X11)

Writer: Paul Brown
Director: Steven Surjik

When nurse Michelle Charter working at the Excelsis Dei Convalescents Home in Worcester, Massachusetts claims to have been raped by an invisible entity, the details are brought to Scully's attention. Mulder for once is sceptical, there are several X-files relating to 'entity rape' but all have been inconclusive. Scully argues that a crime has been committed and must be investigated. They interview Michelle Charter, she tells them that the spirit that attacked her was of one of the residence at the home.

Mulder and Scully interview the accused man Hal Arden, but he assures them he does not have the strength or sexual drive to rape anyone. Shortly after they interview him Hal starts choking and dies. The head doctor John Grago is upset when he hears of Hal's death, he like many of the other residence had been responding well to a new drug Depranil, sending Alzheimers in to remission. However when an autopsy on Hal reveals trace amounts of Ibotenic acid, a hallucinogenic drug in his system, Dr John Grago does not know how it got there.

The situation worsens when one of the orderlies is pushed out of a window by an invisible force whilst chasing Hal's roommate Stan. Mulder discovers a room full of mushrooms being grown in the basement by an Asian orderly called Gung. He has been giving them to the residents to enable them to speak with the dead. Gung is convinced that the rape and deaths have been carried out by the angry spirits of former residents of the home.

Notes:
'Excelsis Dei' is Latin for "Glory of God".
In the original script it was implied that the nurse who was attacked, Michelle, was a lesbian.

Quotes:
Scully: What if there's a connection?
Mulder: Between the rape case and the Alzheimer's? When they're not drawing childlike pictures they're brutal sex offenders?
Scully: Dr. Grago's therapy produces acetylcholine. Too much cholinergic activity causes a psychotic state similar to schizophrenia.
Mulder: You think that Michelle Charters was raped by a 74-year-old schizophrenic?
Scully: It's possible.
Mulder: An invisible 74-year-old schizophrenic?
Scully: Well, maybe it's not in the medication. Maybe it's the place itself.
Mulder: Are you saying that the building's haunted? If you are, you've been working with me for too long, Scully.
Scully: I'm talking about an environmental reason behind what's happening there. Even the disinfectant couldn't mask that smell. Who knows what's breeding behind the walls or in the sub-structure. Some fungal contaminants have been known to cause delusions, dementia, violent behavior.

Episode Number: 35
Season Number: 2
First Aired: Friday December 16, 1994
Production Code: 2X11

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