Season 5: Post-Modern Prometheus (5X06)

Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Chris Carter

Mulder and Scully find themselves on the trail of a modern day Frankenstein when a single mother, Shaineh Berkowitz sends a letter to Mulder, after seeing him on Jerry Springer show, asking him to investigate the appearance of a strange monster eighteen years earlier when her son was conceived. The two agents travel to Bloomington, Indiana to meet with Shaineh and hear her story. The creature she describes who attacked her is the exact likeness of a comic book character her son Izzy created called The Great Mutato. But Izzy claims that other members of the local community have seen the monster also.

He and his friends take the two agents to a wooded area where they lay a trap for the monster using a peanut butter sandwich. They soon encounter the creature from a distance and the group gives chase but they loose track of the monster in the darkness. Mulder meets an old man who claims the monster is his son, Dr. Francis Pollidori, a renown scientist who experimented in genetic manipulation, possibly a tragic victim of his own genetic tampering.

Mulder and Scully find themselves the centre of attention in the local community following a newspaper article quoting Mulder confirming the monsters existence. They realise that Izzy has been recording their conversation. The two agents endeavour to locate the creature and find themselves wondering who the real monsters are as wild hysteria and mob mentality takes control of the town.

Notes:
The title is a homage to Mary Shelley's famous book ''Frankenstein'' - which is actually titled Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. From Greek mythology, Prometheus was a demi-god who made men out of clay, and is probably best remembered as being the one who stole fire from Olympus and taught mortal men how to use it - an act that got him punished by Zeus. His punishment was to be chained to a rock and to have an eagle eat his liver every day.

''The Post-Modern Prometheus'' was nominated for seven Emmy awards in 1998; Outstanding Writing, Directing, Art Direction, Cinematography, Single-Picture Editing, Makeup and Music Composition. Graeme Murray, Greg Lowren and Shirley Inget walked away with the award for Outstanding Art Direction.

Mulder and Scully were originally supposed to kiss as they dance at the end of this episode. However, Chris Carter thought it was too much, so he cut it.

At the end of this episode (during the famous dance scene) the song playing is "Walking in Memphis" and sung by Cher. The role of Cher was written for Cher herself, a major X-Files fan. She declined at the time as she thought that her appearance would be a bit tacky. She regretted this decision after viewing the episode when it aired.

Jerry Springer makes a cameo playing himself.

The role of Shaineh Berkowitz (played by Pattie Tierce) was originally written for, and offered to, comedienne and actress Roseanne but she turned down the offer.

Chris Carter asked the hairstylist Anji Bemben to make certain people look like certain animals. The newspaper reporter had to look like a chicken, another one had to look like a goat, and yet another one like a pig.

An ad lib by David Duchovny was cut from the final version. After the waitress at J.J.'s County Dinner dumps coffee in his lap, he complains: "Why'd you go and do that for? Now my crotch is going to be up all night!".

Quotes:
Shaineh Berkowitz: Hey! Hey, that's it! That's the song that was playing when I got knocked up!

Scully: Mulder, I'm alarmed that you would reduce this man to a literary stereotype. A mad scientist.
Mulder: I'm alarmed that you would reduce these people to a cultural stereotype. Not everybody dreams to get on Jerry Springer.

Scully: Peanut butter sandwiches?
Mulder: You think baloney would be more effective?

Mulder: This fly has legs....
Scully: ... growing out of his mouth.
Mulder: Why you would do that?
Pollidori: Because I can.

Mulder: This is all wrong, Scully. This is not how the story's supposed to end.
Scully: What do you mean?
Mulder: Dr. Frankenstein pays for his evil ambitions, yes. But the monster is supposed to escape, to go search for his bride.
Scully: There's not going to be any bride, Mulder. Not in this story.
Mulder: Well, where's the writer? I want to speak to the writer.

Mulder: Scully, do you think it's too soon for me to get my own 1-900 number?

Scully: But common sense alone will tell you that these legends, these unverified rumors are ridiculous.
Mulder: But nonetheless, unverifiable, and therefore true in the sense that they're believed to be true.
Scully: Is there anything that you don't believe in, Mulder?

End scene from ''Post-Modern Prometheus''

Episode Number: 102
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, November 30, 1997
Production Code: 5X06

Season 5: Detour (5X04)

Writer: Frank Spotnitz
Director: Brett Dowler

Agents Mulder and Scully join fellow FBI agents Kinsley and Stonecypher as they travel to Florida to take part in an FBI creative team seminar, which Mulder thinks is a complete waste of time. However the car is stopped en-route by a State Troopers road block, Mulder seizes the chance to use his detective skills more productively and gets out of the car. He becomes even more interested after the local Search and Rescue Leader, Michele Fazekas explains that three men have disappeared without a trace in the local woods and strange tracks have been discovered that can not be identified as man or animal.

Mulder arranges from Scully and himself to book in to a motel for the night, a move which is soon rewarded when Louis Asekoff, the son of one of the missing men, claims that a creature with red eyes chased him from his home. Scully puts it down to an overactive imagination and the horror film he was watching however Mulder finds tracks at Louis' house and links the current case to an old X-file from the 1950's when a town in West Virginia was terrorised by primitive looking men with red eyes who the locals dubbed 'moth men'.

Mulder theorises that these attacks on humans could be in response to local developments encroaching on the woods. Mulder and Scully join Michele Fazekas and Jeff Glaser in the search for the strange creature in hope of catching it before it hurts anyone else. But soon it is difficult to tell who is the hunter and who is the hunted.

Notes:
Singing "Joy to the World" to Mulder was one of Gillian Anderson's favorite X-Files moments.

The actress that plays Michele (Coleen Flynn) in this episode can also be seen in the 7th season episode "All Things".

There were some serious production problems with this episode. It rained almost every day during filming bringing the shooting time up to 19 days. In comparison, a normal episode only takes 8 days to shoot.

Scully's hair goes from being rather straight to curly and back between scenes. The production crew was aware of the problem when they were shooting the episode, but couldn't do anything about it as the heavy rain brought out the natural curl in Anderson's hair.

Quotes:
Scully: Where are you going?
Mulder: I'm gonna check something out.
Scully: You know Mulder, sometimes I think some work on your communication skills wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Mulder: I'll be back soon, and we can build a tower of furniture. Okay? (Cheeky grin, and exits)

Mulder: I don't wanna wrestle.
Scully: Get over here. I'm gonna try and keep you warm.
Mulder: One of us has got to stay awake, Scully.
Scully: You sleep Mulder.
Mulder: If you get tired, you wake me.
Scully: I'm not gonna get tired.
Mulder: Why don't you sing something?
Scully: No, Mulder.
Mulder: If you sing something, I'll know you're awake.
Scully: Mulder, you don't want me to sing - I can't carry a tune.
Mulder: It doesn't matter, just sing anything.
Scully: "Jeremiah was a bullfrog..."

Scully: If I can separate the shell from the casing, maybe I can get the powder to ignite.
Mulder: And maybe it'll start raining weenies and marshmallows.
Scully: Do I detect a hint of negativity?
Mulder: NO! Yes, actually. Yeah.

Mulder: Hey, Scully, who did you identify with - Betty or Wilma?
Scully: I dunno; I certainly identified with Betty's bustline.
Mulder: Yes. I identified with that.

Mulder: How do I say this without using any negative words, Scully?
Scully: You want me to tell them you're not going to make it to this year's teamwork seminar.
Mulder: You see that? We don't need that conference. We have communication like that -- unspoken. You know what I'm thinking.

Highlights from "Detour''

Episode Number: 101
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, November 23, 1997
Production Code: 5X04

Season 5: Unusual Suspects (5X01)

Writer: Vince Gilligan
Director: Kim Manners

In a flash back to 1989, Agent Mulder is found acting paranoid in a blood spattered warehouse in Baltimore by Detective John Munch along with Langly, Frohike and Byers (the future members of the Lone Gunman). In an attempt to explain Byers recants the events that led up to them being found in the warehouse. He met a woman called Holly at a computer convention who claimed that her daughter had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, she then gave him an Internet address to locate her daughter.

Byers hacked in to a government computer but the relevant file was encrypted, however Frohike on the next booth agreed to help decrypt the file. Holly then identified Mulder as her ex-boyfriend so Byers and Frohike approached Mulder only to discover he was an FBI agent. With the help of Langly who was also exhibiting at the convention, they hacked in to the FBI computer for information on Mulder, but instead discovered that Holly's real name is Suzanne Modeski and that she was wanted for bombing an FBI lab.

Suzanne admitted her story was fabricated, in fact she was trying to prevent the government from testing paranoia-inducing gas, that she helped develop, on an unsuspecting public. Mulder while attempting to arrest Suzanne Modeski had a shoot out with some government officials, which left him in a psychotic state caused by exposure to the paranoia-inducing gas and allowed Suzanne to escaped. Detective Munch is skeptical until Mulder verifies the story is true.

Notes:
Due to the fact that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson would still be tied up in California shooting ''The X-Files'' movie at the end of August 1997, the producers decided to create an episode that was centered around The Lone Gunmen. This way, 1013 could complete the network episode order and have their leading stars freed up and complete principal shooting on "Fight the Future". The scenes with David Duchovny were shot several weeks after shooting of this episode wrapped up.

The script of this episode never called for Mulder to wear a wedding ring. This was David Duchovny's idea who thought it would be cool to toy with the notion that Mulder could in the past have been married.

Gillian Anderson does not appear in this episode.

This episode featured the appearance of ''Baltimore homicide'' detective John Munch played by actor Richard Belzer, who also played the same character as a recurring character on the shows ''Homicide'' and ''Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'', and as a guest star on the shows: ''Law and Order'', ''Law and Order: Trial by Jury'', and ''The Beat''. Richard Belzer also set a TV record by becoming the first person to play the same character on three different prime time series during the same week. Detective John Munch appeared on the ''Law & Order/Homicide'' crossover "Baby It's You" on November 12 and November 14 and then this epiosde on the 16th.

Quotes:
Detective Munch: Here's a tip: aluminium foil makes a lovely hat and blocks out the government's mind control rays. Keep you guys out of trouble.

Suzanne Modeski: No matter how paranoid you are, you aren't paranoid enough.

Frohike: You look like a gentleman who'll appreciate 33 channels of crystal clear television.
Mulder: No thanks, handsome.
Frohike: Ah, a man of distinction!

Episode Number: 100
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, November 16, 1997
Production Code: 5X01

Season 5: Redux II (5X03)

Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Kim Manners

Mulder rushes to the hospital and finds Scully unconscious and on a ventilator. Assistant Director Skinner tells him that Scully is close to death. Mulder refuses to co-operate with Skinner or the FBI inquiry team. The Cigarette Smoking Man has his own troubles, other members of the shadowy syndicate he is part of are angry with him for allowing Mulder to escape from the DARPA facility, but he argues that Mulder is far more valuable alive.

Scully regains consciousness and informs Mulder of her suspicions about Skinner, but Mulder is skeptical. The Cigarette Smoking Man contacts Mulder and explains that the vial he gave to the Lone Gunman contains a microchip implant that will cure Scully's cancer. Scully agrees to give it a try despite objects from her mother Margaret and brother Bill. The Cigarette Smoking Man arranges for Mulder to meet who he claims is Mulder's sister Samantha, she explains that some time after her abduction she was told that the Cigarette Smoking Man was her father.

Mulder is unsure whether to believe she is his sister or not. Later the Cigarette Smoking Man asks Mulder to quit the FBI and work for him instead, but Mulder refuses. Brought before the inquiry panel, Mulder informs them that Section Chief Blevins is the mole within the FBI, shortly thereafter both Blevins and the Cigarette Smoking Man are gunned down, although his body is not found. Mulder informs Skinner that Scully's cancer has gone into remission.

Notes:
There are no notes for this episode. If you have one, please let me know. Thank you.

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, if I can save you, let me.

Mulder: Please tell me you're here with severe chest pains.
CSM: You should be glad for why I'm here, pay you some respect.
Mulder: Go to hell.
CSM: For your cleverness, and your resource, what you managed to do for Scully.
Mulder: What are you talking about?
CSM: Well, breaching the security at the Defense Department Facility. Finding the cure for her disease.
Mulder: What I found was useless.
CSM: On the contrary, it's essential to her survival. If you like, we could step outside and I might explain myself? I'm here tonight as a friend, Agent Mulder.

Scully: So why'd you come here if you already made up your mind?
Mulder: Because I knew you'd talk me out of it if I was making a mistake.

Highlights from ''Redux II''

Episode Number: 99
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, November 9, 1997
Production Code: 5X03

Season 5: Redux (5X02)

Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Kim Manners

Twenty-four hours before Scully identified Mulder's body in his apartment, Mulder receives a tip from Kritschgau that he is being watched. After discovering a pinhole in his ceiling he encounters Scott Ostelhoff spying on him from the apartment above, after a short scuffle a shot rings out. Mulder tells Scully that he killed Ostelhoff while he has trying to destroy a record of phone calls he made to the Bureau.

They conclude that their own agency is behind a cover up and that they are unwitting pawns in the conspiracy. Mulder persuades Scully to help him fake his own death in an attempt to uncover the truth. After Scully goes to Mulder's apartment to identify 'his' body, she traces the number that Ostelhoff was calling to the same exchange that Assistant Director Skinner is on. Test results on the ice core sample taken from the mountain reveal a new life form. When Scully compares this new organism with her own DNA, they match, she concludes that her cancer is a result of being exposed to the organism.

The Cigarette Smoking Man tells his fellow conspirators that he does not believe Agent Mulder it dead. Meanwhile Mulder uses Ostelhoff's ID card to break in to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency facility and finds a metallic vial that may contain a cure for Scully, only to have the Lone Gunman discover it is just de-ionized water. However it appears all Mulder's effort was in vain when Scully collapses while presenting evidence to an FBI inquiry panel.

Notes:
For the first time in the series a brief synopsis of previous events is given at the very beginning of the episode, as in "Previously, on the X-Files..."

''The X-Files'' upgrades to Widescreen from this Season.

The premiere also features an altered tagline, this one being 'All Lies Lead To The Truth', symbolic of Mulder's journey of following the path of lies to find Scully's cure.

The vault that Mulder accesses at the DOD is the same seen in the ''Pilot'' and "Erlemeyer Flask'' of Season 1, where Cigarette Smoking Man stores the implant and the alien foetus.

The card Mulder finds in the file cabinet lists Scully's birthdate as 2/23/64.

Quotes:
Michael Kritschgau: Hey! How'd you get in here? (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency)
Mulder: Through the front door.
Michael Kritschgau: You can't bypass security.
Mulder: You can when you have the card.
(He holds up Scott Ostelhoff's security card)

Scully: Mulder? What are you doing? Why are you sitting in my bedroom in the dark?
Mulder: It was too crowded in my apartment, I couldn't sleep.
Scully: I'm not kidding, Mulder.
Mulder: Good, 'cause neither am I. There's a dead man on the floor of my apartment and it's only a matter of time before he starts to stink the place up.

Scully: If science leads me to these ends, it is not lost on me that the tool with which I've come to depend on absolutely cannot save or protect me, but only bring into focus the darkness that lies ahead.

Mulder: In four years I have shared my partner's passionate search for the truth and if my part has been a deception, I have never seen her integrity waver or her honor compromised. But now I ask her to lie to the people lying to us, a dangerous lie to find the truth, to find the men who would be revealed at its enemy, as our enemy, as the enemy within.

Scully: Mulder, how long has this been going on?
Mulder: Maybe since the beginning, since you joined me on the X-Files.
Scully: That would mean that for 4 years we've been nothing more than pawns in a game, that it was a lie from the beginning. Mulder, these men... You give them your faith and you're supposed to trust them with your life.
Mulder: There are those who can be trusted. What I need to know is who among them is not. I will not allow this treason to prosper, not if they've done this to you.
Scully: Mulder, we can't go to the Bureau making these accusations.
Mulder: No, but as they lie to us, we can lie to them. A lie to find the truth.

CSM: You've been watching Mulder. You had a man on him. No one bothered to inform me of this.
Elder: I know nothing of this man.
CSM: I will not be cut out like this. You need my expertise. Is this being run from the DOD?
Elder: If it is, I am unaware of it.
CSM: I've always kept Mulder in check. I put this whole thing together. I created Mulder.
Elder: Agent Mulder is dead. Our FBI source confirmed it this morning. Mulder killed himself. Mulder was an asset. Without his partner, you may have underestimated his fragility.
CSM: I've never underestimated Mulder. I still don't.

Clip from ''Redux''

Episode Number: 98
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, November 2, 1997
Production Code: 5X02

Season 4: Gasthesmane (4X24)

Writer: Chris Carter
Director: R. W. Goodwin

When two anthropologists, Arlinsky and Babcock find an alien preserved in ice at the summit of a mountain in Canada, they ask for Mulder and Scully's help in verifying the alien's remains. As Mulder goes with Arlinksy to collect the alien, Scully examines the ice core taken from the same location. Shortly thereafter Scully is assaulted and thrown down a flight of stairs. Finger prints from the stairwell are matched to a Pentagon researcher Michael Kritschgau, who Scully identifies as the person who attacked her.

She confronts him in an underground garage and arrests him, but Kritschgau warns Scully that if he goes to jail, the same people who gave her cancer will kill him. Mulder and Arlinsky take the alien body to a warehouse to perform an autopsy, Scully contacts Mulder there and arranges for him to meet Kritschgau. He tells Mulder that the alien is a fake, that he was only meant to see the body to believe the lie. That it is all an elaborate hoax by the government to divert attention away from itself.

Mulder accused Kritschgau of lying. But Scully explains to Mulder, that the people behind the hoax, gave her cancer to make him believe their lies. This realization stuns Mulder....Later Scully is called to Mulder's apartment, where she identifies a body. The next day Scully appears in front of a group of FBI officials lead by Section Chief Blevins, she informs them that Mulder was found dead in his apartment, the apparent victim of a self inflicted gun shot wound to the head.

Notes:
'Gethsemane' is the place where Jesus was betrayed by Judas - probably a reference to Scully's (apparent) betrayal of Mulder.

The finale's tagline is changed to 'Believe The Lie', which is what Kritschgau was trying to get Mulder to do. Mulder repeats the line in 'Redux'.

The first cut of this episode ran 12 minutes too long. A lot of scenes in the mountains were cut.

The flashbacks during Scully's testimony are to "Pilot" and "Paperclip''.

Charles Cioffi, playing Sector Chief Blevins, returns the to ''The X-Files''. He first appeared in the pilot episode.

Michael Kritschgau is named for a former drama teacher of Gillian Anderson's.

This episode marks the first on-screen appearance of Scully's brother, Bill Jr. after his scene in ''Memento Mori'' were cut.

Quotes:
Scully: Four years ago, Section Chief Blevins assigned me to a project you all know as the X Files. As I am a medical doctor with a background in hard science, my job was to provide an analytical prospective on the work of Special Agent Fox Mulder, who's investigations into the paranormal were fueled by a personal belief that his sister had been abducted by aliens when he was 12. I come here today, four years later, to report on the illegitimacy of Agent Mulder's work. That it is my scientific opinion that he became over the course of these years a victim. A victim of his own false hopes and of his belief in the biggest of lies.

Scully: Mulder, the only lie here is the one you continue to believe.
Mulder: After all I've seen and experienced, I refuse to believe that it's not true!
Scully: Because it's easier to believe the lie. Isn't it?
Mulder: (hurt) What the hell did that guy say to you, that you believe his story!?
Scully: He said that the men behind this hoax... behind these lies... gave me this disease to make you believe.
(Mulder turns and walks away)

Mulder: You think it's foolish?
Scully: I have no opinion, actually.
Mulder: You have no opinion?
Scully: This is your holy grail, Mulder, not mine.
Mulder: What's that supposed to mean?
Scully: It just means that proving to the world the existence of alien life is not my last dying wish.
Mulder: How about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny?

Episode Number: 97
Season Number: 4
First Aired: Sunday, May 18, 1997
Production Code: 4X24

Season 4: Demons (4X23)

Writer: R. W. Goodwin
Director: Kim Manners

After a vivid vision from his childhood of his mother and father arguing, Mulder wakes in a motel covered in blood with no memory of how he got there. He telephones Scully who drives to the motel to help him. Scully discovers that two rounds have been fired from Mulder's gun but he has no recollection of firing his weapon. Scully traces the owners of a car parked outside Mulder's room, they travel to the home of David and Amy Cassandra, only to find them both shot dead.

Blood from the two victims match the blood on Mulder's shirt and he is taken in to custody by the local police, but is later released when evidence concludes that the Cassandra's were involved in a murder-suicide. Traces of the anaesthetic Ketamine is found in Mulder's blood, which Scully realises could account for his memory loss. It turns out that Amy was an alien abductee, who was undergoing treatment by a local psychiatrist, Dr. Goldstein to recover memories using an unconventional therapy to stimulate electronic impulses in the brain.

Mulder again has a vision this time about the relationship between his mother and the Cigarette Smoking Man. As Mulder confronts his mother accusing her of choosing his sister Samantha to be abducted instead of him. Scully tries to explain to Mulder that it is the drugs affecting his mind, that his memories can not be trusted. Mulder realises he was being treated by Dr. Goldstein too and in a desperate attempt to discover the truth, he returns to finish his treatment.

Notes:
Like Cassandra Spender in Season 5, Amy and David Cassandra are named after the Greek phrophetess Cassandra, who was cursed by the god Apollo. Not unlike Mulder, everything Cassandra said was true, but no one ever believed her.

This is the only episode written by producer R.W. Goodwin.

Quotes:
Mulder: I had those peoples' blood on my shirt, Scully. I was missing for two days. I have no recollection of my actions during those two days. There were two rounds discharged from my gun. I had the keys to this house, the keys to their car. Do the words "Orenthal James Simpson" mean anything to you?

(Mulder hears his parents arguing in the next room.)
Mrs. Mulder: How can you do this to our family?!
Mr. Mulder: I'm not doing it! It's not just me. These orders arecoming down from...
(His father appears in the doorway, looks at him, and slams the doorshut. Mulder looks over and sees a young Cancer Man in another room, smoking a cigarette.)
CSM: You're a little spy.
Mrs. Mulder: No! No!

Mulder (pointing his gun at Scully): Get away!
Scully: Are you going to shoot me, Mulder? (he nods) Is that how much this means to you? Mulder, listen to me. You have been given a powerful hallucinogen. You don't know that these memories are yours.This is not the way to the truth, Mulder. You've got to trust me.
Mulder: Shut up!
Scully: Put down the gun. Let it go.
(Outside, the officers hear shots.)

Scully: (writing on her computer) Although cleared of any wrongdoing in the deathsof Amy and David Cassandra, agent Mulder still has no recollection ofthe events that led to their deaths. His seizures have subsided, withno evidence of permanent cerebral damage, but I'm concerned that thisexperience will have a lasting effect. Agent Mulder undertook thistreatment hoping to lay claim to his past--that by retrieving memorieslost to him, he might finally understand the path he's on. But if thatknowledge remains elusive, and if it's only by knowing where he's beenthat he can hope to understand where he's going, then I fear agent Mulder may lose his course, and the truths he's seeking, from hischildhood, will continue to evade him... driving him more dangerously forward in impossible pursuit.

Highlights from ''Demons''

Episode Number: 96
Season Number: 4
First Aired: Sunday, May 11, 1997
Production Code: 4X23

Season 4: Elegy (4X22)

Writer: John Shiban
Director: Jim Charleston

When Angie Pintero, the owner of a bowling alley discovers the body of an injured girl caught inside a pinspotter carriage, he rushes outside to get help only to discover a crowd gathered around the lifeless body of the same girl he saw inside. Mulder and Scully interview Angie about the incident, Mulder arrives at the conclusion that Angie encountered the dead girl's ghost. This is the latest of three such encounters resulting in three dead girls being found in as many weeks.

The only clues in the latest incident are, the phrase 'She is me' scratched in to the wax surface of the bowling alley lane where Angie encountered the spirit. And an anonymous phone call to the local police about the latest victim using the same phrase. The agents trace the source of the call to the New Horizen Psychiatric Center and to a mentally disturbed patient Harold Spuller who fits Scully's profile of the killer as a compulsive person with a desire to organise. Mulder however believes that the apparitions are the key to the case. Scully goes to the wash room to deal with her nose bleed and sees the apparition of a young woman.

Moments later Mulder calls her, another victim has been found, it turns out to be the woman that Scully saw in the washroom. Mulder interviews Harold and realises that he knew all of the victims from the bowling alley. Harold sees the ghost of Angie, moments later they find him dead from a heart attack. Mulder theorises that only those near death themselves are able to see the apparitions.

Notes:
An elegy is a poem expressing grief for someone who is dead.

This episodes name changed from 'Tulpa' to 'Revenant' before becoming 'Elegy'. A 'Tulpa' is a ghostly manifestation of a thought-form produced by the mind. 'Revenant' is one that comes back following an absence or one who returns after death.

The scenes in the mental hospital were reminiscent of the film ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', especially since the actor who portrayed Chuck Forsch also played Charlie Cheswick in the famous movie, and the character of Nurse Innes is similar to that of the sadistic Nurse Ratchett.

Although there are many actors who have played several different parts on the show within its 9 seasons, Christine Willes is one of the few to have a small recurring role as the same character. She returns in this episode playing FBI counsellor Karen Kossoff, who previously appeared in season 2's ''Irresistible'' and ''The Calusari''.

Quotes:
FBI Agent: The guy claims he saw the victim.
Mulder: No, not the victim. The victim's apparition, what the Irish call a fetch, what is more commonly known as a rayeth.
FBI Agent: Oh, okay.

Mulder: What is that look, Scully?
Scully: I would have thought that after 4 years you'd know exactly what that look was.
Mulder: What, you don't believe in ghosts?
Scully: And that surprises you?

Mulder: You can believe what you want to believe, Scully, but you can't hide the truth from me because if you do, then you're working against me... and yourself. I know what you're afraid of. I'm afraid of the same thing.

Highlights from ''Elegy''

Episode Number: 95
Season Number: 4
First Aired: Sunday, May 4, 1997
Production Code: 4X22

Season 4: Zero Sum (4X21)

Writers: Howard Gordon and Frank Spotnitz
Director: Kim Manners

When Jane Brody, a mail sorter with a delivery company is killed by a swarm of bees, Detective Ray Thomas e-mails details to Agent Mulder. But Assistant Director Skinner intercepts and deletes the file. He travels to Virginia to incinerate Jane Brody's body and posing as Mulder swaps a vial of Jane Brody's blood with another sample. He is met by Detective Ray Thomas, who thinks he is Mulder and tells him that there is not enough evidence to warrant an investigation.

The clean up operation completed, Skinner returns to Washington only to have Mulder pay him an unexpected visit explaining that someone is covering up the details about the bee attack and the death of Detective Ray Thomas. Skinner is shocked to hear that the Detective is dead, he meets the Cigarette Smoking Man and accuses him of killing Ray Thomas. Later it is revealed that Ray Thomas was killed with a government issue gun, Skinner realises his own gun is missing and that he is being framed.

When a photograph shows Skinner with Ray Thomas, Mulder accuses him of working with the Cigarette Smoking Man from the beginning. He denies this claiming that he did not follow his advice to Mulder about making a deal with the Cigarette Smoking Man in return for a cure for Scully. Mulder makes contact with Marita Covarrubias to find out what she knows about Skinner. She turns to the Cigarette Smoking Man who is with her, he tells her to tell Mulder what he wants to hear.

Notes:
Dedication: In Loving Memory of Vito J. Pileggi.

Scully does not appear at all in this episode due to the fact that Gillian Anderson was away filming her part in the movie ''The Mighty''.

When Skinner is going through Mulder's files, you can clearly see a file labeled "Foo Fighters" near the back of the cabinet he is searching. The term refers to unexplained flying objects observed by pilots during World War II and also to the rock band, which contributed a song to ''The X-Files - Fight the Future" soundtrack.

The schoolyard scene with the bees attacking the children and their teacher is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," which contains a similar scene involving birds.

Quotes:
CSM: Now, unless you intend to kill me, I would like to answer my phone.

CSM: You're in no position to question the terms of our arrangement.
Skinner: Then we have no arrangement.
CSM: You'll find it's not that easy to walk away from, Mr. Skinner.
Skinner: No?
CSM: A man digs a hole; he risks falling into it.

Episode Number: 94
Season Number: 4
First Aired: Sunday, April 27, 1997
Production Code: 4X21