Director: Rob Bowman
When Philadelphia resident Ed Jerse's marriage is annulled by a judge, he drowns his sorrows in a seedy bar. Under the influence of alcohol he has a Betty Page like tattoo with the words 'never again' done on his arm. But the following day he begins to hear a woman's voice taunting him, which lands him in trouble at work and culminates in him attacking and murdering the woman who lives in the apartment below him. Meanwhile Mulder not having taken any holiday in four years is forced by the FBI to take a week off or face loosing pay, leaving Scully in charge of the X-files.
But Scully is angry at Mulder when he dumps the surveillance of a Russian man, who claims to have evidence of UFO's, in her lap. Despite telling Mulder she would not, Scully travels to Philadelphia and tails the Russian around town, soon realising that he is just an extortionist, who knows nothing about any UFO's. She follows him in to a tattoo parlour and meets Ed Jerse trying to get his tattoo removed. The pair connect and a relationship blossoms, they go out for a drink in a seedy bar and Scully has her own tattoo done as a form of rebellion. She spends the night at Ed's apartment, in the morning two detectives call and inform Scully that the woman from the apartment below has been murdered.
Scully questions Ed who confides in her about the voice he hears. Scully believes the voice is an hallucination brought on by a chemical in the tattoo ink and tries to get Ed to take control before he kills again.
Notes:
The episode name "Never Again" is possibly a reference to the fact that this would be the last time Glen Morgan & James Wong would ever work with ''The X-Files''.
Guest voice of Betty, Jodie Foster, played Agent Clarice Starling in ''Silence of the Lambs'', the character (and Foster's portrayal of her) being Chris Carter's original basis for the character of Dana Scully.
The camera angles and long tracking shot backwards down the stairs are a conscious homage to a similar shot in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Frenzy''.
Gillian Anderson volunteered to have the ouroboros tattooed onto her back for real during filming. This could not be done due to the fact that it would take too long and would have been impractical.
Rodney Rowland (playing Ed Jerse) was at that time going out in real life with Gillian Anderson.
Quotes:
Betty: (Getting angrier) Another woman in my bed?! Burn the sheets. Burn her.. Burn HER!!!
Scully: So what makes this place a good place to go when you feeling down?
Ed: Ah it's kinda... Everyone here looks like their problems are worse than mine, makes me feel good about myself.
Mulder: I'm just at that special place and I wanted to share it with you. You know that Elvis bought all the furniture in just 30 minutes?
Mulder: All this because I . . . because I didn't get you a desk?
Scully: Not everything is about you, Mulder. This is my life.
Highlights from ''Never Again''
Episode Number: 86
Season Number: 4
First Aired: Sunday February 2, 1997
Production Code: 4X13
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