Director: Ralph Hemecker
Agents Mulder and Scully travel to Coats Grove, Michigan to investigate after a teenage boy, Bobby Rich is accused of killing his stepfather. Bobby had an altercation with his stepfather Phil over his incomplete lawn work. Bobby threatened him with a shovel and then ran off, Phil gave chase in to the orchard near their home. Shortly afterwards Bobby's mother Patti found Phil buried up to his shoulders in mud with Bobby kneeling next to him. Scully's autopsy of Phil reveals he had twelve pounds of mud in his stomach, Scully speculates that Bobby dug the hole to trap Phil and an accomplice held his head down in the mud.
They interview Bobby who claims to have been abused by Phil for many years. But Patti claims that Bobby was trying to help Phil escape from the mud, she also tells them that Bobby is under going psychological counselling for anger. Mulder and Scully pay a visit to Bobby's therapist, Karin Matthews. She explains that Bobby is a victim of physical abuse. Mulder expresses his opinion that Bobby did not kill his stepfather. Bobby tells a fellow student and another of Karin's patients, Lisa Baicchi about how he stood up to his tormentor Phil.
Later that evening Lisa's father angrily tells her not to see Bobby anymore, Lisa stands up to him. Moments later her father smashes through the bedroom window and falls to his death. But evidence seems to indicate he was pulled out of the window, leading Mulder to believe there is a greater evil at work in the local community.
Notes:
Scully's line about the town getting "400 inches of rain a day" is a reference to a comment David Duchovny jokingly made about Vancouver during his appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mulder's response "Now that's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think" made the reference particularly humorous.
'Schizogony' (spelled slightly differently than the title) means reproduction by multiple asexual fission.
Katherine Isabelle, who played Lisa Baiocchi, is the daughter of X-Files production designer Graeme Murray.
When Mulder says the line: "A 16-year-old kid who's classmates lovingly refer to as Dorkweed", it is obvious that "Dorkweed" is dubbed over. From Mulder's mouth movements the original word looks like "Dickweed" or "Dickwad".
Quotes:
Mulder: I don't think this was an act of grave robbing, Scully.
Scully: No, that's what *we* were doing.
Mulder: "Ich Bin Ein Auslander". I am an outsider. You know when Kennedy told the Germans 'Ich Bin Ein Berliner' he was actually saying 'I am a cocktail sausage'?
Bobby: Who's Kennedy?
Mulder: Hey Scully, is this demonstration of boyish agility turning you on at all?
Episode Number: 106
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, January 11, 1998
Production Code: 5X09
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