Director: Rob Bowman
With Mulder's return from New Mexico, Assistant Director Skinner reveals he has the missing Dat tape and will use it to bargain for the two agents lives. He also informs Scully that her sister Melissa has been shot. Scully is unable to go to the hospital for fear of being ambushed, so they arrange for Albert Halsteen to join Mrs Scully at her daughter's bedside.
Skinner also goes to the hospital only to be attacked by Krycek who steals the Dat tape. Tipped off by the Lone Gunman, Scully and Mulder go in search of an old Nazi scientist, brought to the US as part of Operation Paper Clip at the end of the Second World War. Victor Klemper claims to have known Mulder's father and directs them to an abandoned mine in West Virginia. At the Strughold Mining Company they discover a filing system with detailed medical records of millions of people, including Dana Scully and Samantha Mulder.
Mulder sees a large alien space ship hovering over the mine, as he watches the mine is surrounded by a government hit squad. The two agents escape via a back entrance and return to see Klemper, however they are met by the Well Manicured Man, who tells them that Klemper is dead. He recants that Klemper's arrival coincided with the recovery of an alien space ship in the 1947 Roswell Incident. Leading Mulder to believe that Klemper was experimenting with alien/human hybrids. Despite the loss of the Dat tape, Skinner manages to bargain with the Cigarette Smoking Man.
Notes:
Dedication: "In Memoriam. Mario Mark Kennedy, 1966-1995" Kennedy was a major fan of the show who organised many on-line sessions on the Internet. He died in a car accident shortly before the 3rd season premiered.
The little gray aliens that run past Scully in the mine were played by eight and nine-year-old children.
The crew was unable to use a real white buffalo calf. Instead they opted to shoot a very light-colored calf and bleached it in postproduction.
Walter Gotell is no stranger to clandestine work, having played General Gogol, head of the KGB, in half a dozen James Bond movies.
The opening titles for this episode is a different edited version and this is its only occurance in the first three seasons. The swirly face man and "paranormal activities" (which I always thought were the really dorky parts anyway!) have been deleted and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's credits have been moved up in the sequence.
In the mine with the medical records we see Samantha's file clearly. In the season 1 episode "Conduit" we see the X-File Mulder opened on her. In the previous episode she is listed as Samantha T. Mulder and her birthdate is 1/22/64. Here we see her name as Samantha Ann Mulder and her birthdate as 11/21/65.
Quotes:
CSM: You wanna work a deal? Is that what this is? Let me tell you something , I don't work deals.
Skinner:I just thought you should know of certain potentialities.
CSM: Do you have the tape?
Skinner: As I said , I may have located it.
CSM: Do you have the damn tape!!?!
Skinner: Drop your weapon! Put it down, Scully!
Scully: No way.
Skinner: I said put it down!
Scully: I said no! You're setting me up!
Skinner: I'm trying to help you.
Scully: Then put your weapon down and sit down.
Skinner: Not a chance.
Scully: You said you weren't here to kill me, Skinner, now prove it.
Skinner: I didn't come here to have a gun shoved in my face either.
Scully: Damn it, Skinner!
(Mulder kicks down the door to his own apartment and aims his gun at Skinner.)
Mulder: Drop your weapon! I said...Back off... I said put it down!
Skinner: What the hell is this? What are you pulling here?
Mulder: Mom, listen to me. When Samantha... before she was gone, did Dad ever ask you if you had a favorite? Did he ever ask you that?
Mrs. Mulder: Fox, please...
Mulder: Mom, did he ever ask you to make a choice?
Mrs. Mulder: Don't do this...
Mulder: Mom, listen to me! I need to know! Did he make you make a choice?
Mrs. Mulder: No. I couldn't choose. It was your father's choice and I hated him for it. Even in his grave, I hate him still.
Episode Number: 51
Season Number: 3
First Aired: Friday September 29, 1995
Production Code: 3X02
1 comment:
Well written article.
Post a Comment