Season 7 : Signs and Wonders (7X09)

Written by: Jeffrey Bell
Directed by: Kim Manners

Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate after the body of a young man, Jared Chirp is discovered with 116 snake bites in the small town of Blessing, McMinn County, Tennessee. Jared's body was found in his car will all of the doors and windows locked but no snakes were found at the scene, not to mention the fact that some of the snake bites came from snakes who hibernate during the winter. The agents suspect Jared was murdered, but Mulder is puzzled by snakes being used as the murder weapon.

Until Scully points out that serpents and religion go hand in hand and wonders if the use of snakes is symbolic to the killer. A theory given credence when it turns out that Jared belonged to the 'Church of God with Signs and Wonders', a fundamentaist congregation that practice snake handling as part of their worship. Suspicion soon falls on the church leader Reverend O'Conner, when it transpires that he has been persecuting Jared and his girlfriend, Gracie who is Reverend O'Conner's daughter, since she got pregnant and the pair turned their backs on the Church of God with Signs and Wonders in favour of a less fundamental church in the same area.

But when Reverend O'Conner is himself the victim of a snake attack, Mulder and Scully uncover evidence that suggests Jared was killed because he found out that he was sterile and so could not be the father of Gracie's baby. Opening up the possibility of some wider evil at work in the community.

Notes:
'Signs and Wonders' is a common biblical phrase used to describe the acts used to convince followers of the nature of Christ and his apostles, for example:
Second Corinthians 12:12: "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles."

A deleted scene included O'Fallon singing to his church group. It was cut due to time restraints.

Enoch O'Connor's namesake can be found in the bible book of Genesis. An ancestor of Noah, the prophet Enoch "walked with God" and was transferred so as not to see death.

A mic boom operator is visible on the lefthand side of the screen wearing a white t-shirt, beige shorts, and sneakers. He's carrying the boom mic and following Mulder and Scully. You can see him when Mulder and Scully arrive at the "Church of God with Signs and Wonders" for the first time...when Mulder delivers the line "That's funny, I knew a couple Catholic schoolgirls who were experts at it."

Quotes:
Scully: "Snakes."
Mulder: Lots and lots of snakes. Very pissed off ones, from the look of it. That's the former Mr. Jared Chirp of McMinn County, Tennessee.
Scully: Oh, my God.
Mulder: 116 separate bite marks. Judging from the wound measurements there were 50 different snakes involved — mostly copperheads and rattlers.
Scully: But it says here that he was found dead in his car.
Mulder: Yeah, with a pistol in his hand. He fired six shots, into the floorboards, into the passenger seat, even into his own right kneecap, and the windows were shut and the doors were locked.
Scully: But, uh, what happened to all the snakes?
Mulder: No one seems to know that. There was not a scale found. I just got off the phone with a herpetologist at the Smithsonian, and he's stumped — especially because these rattlesnakes tend to hibernate in winter.

Scully: Tennessee. Snakes. Thank you, Mulder. Thank you so much. I say we arrest him and catch the first flight out of here.

Mulder: He does seem like a likely suspect only the local sheriff's office ruled him out. Apparently, he was in Kentucky the night Jared Chirp died.
Scully: Well, Mulder, there are other people in his congregation.
Mulder: Jared Chirp died with a packed suitcase by his side. There's got to be somebody that knows where he was headed.

Reverend O'Connor: Your FBI partner could've learned something about herself if you hadn't stopped me. Some powerful good news, maybe.

Mulder: I'd say it's good news for you that she's not here right now... considering what you tried to do to her. Is that what you did to your wife? Alice O'Connor... succumbed to multiple snakebites in June, 1994. It happened during a church service or at least that's what you told local police. You got away with it... almost. What was, uh... the problem with your wife? Was she not... righteous enough for you? Just like your daughter's boyfriend... or Iris Finster?
Reverend O'Connor: Educated man... too smart to know any better.
Mulder: Smart enough to know you're a murderer.
Reverend O'Connor: Satan is near, and you don't even have eyes. You're just proud and fancy free.
Mulder: No one quite passes muster with you, huh? You feel the need to exact some kind of Old Testament revenge? What about your daughter? What were your plans for her?
Reverend O'Connor: I pray for her soul. I pray and I pray because she's lost.
Mulder: Because she no longer believes as you do?
Reverend O'Connor: You think because you're educated you're better than most? You ain't. Unless you're smart down here (points to his heart) the Devil's going to make a fool of you and you ain't even going to know it.

Reverend Mackey: Are you a righteous man, Agent Mulder?

Mulder: Stay where you are.
Reverend Mackey: It's just a simple question. Most people believe they're on the side of angels. But are they? If you were put to the test... how would you do?

Episode Number: 148
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, January 23, 2000
Prod Code: 7X09

Season 7: The Amazing Maleeni (7X08)

Written by: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Thomas J. Wright

When a magician, the Amazing Maleeni is heckled during a routine performance at the Santa Monica Pier in California by an unimpressed man in the audience. He announces he will attempt the feat of the Egyptian Dedi, and turns his head completely around on his neck, the audience applaud. But after the show the pier manager finds the Amazing Maleeni's headless body in his car.

The following day, Mulder and Scully examine the scene, although Scully is less interested believing it to be merely a murder case. Mulder is intrigued by video footage a tourist took of the Amazing Maleeni's trick, although they can not make out the heckler's face, Scully notices him throwing away a soda cup on film.

The fingerprints on the cup lead them to Billy LaBonge, a small-time magician with a criminal record. They question him, but he claims that The Amazing Maleeni was just an old man with a gambling debt. However when Scully's autopsy reveals that The Amazing Maleeni's (real name Herman Pinchbeck) head had been carefully sawed off and then stuck back on with spirit gum, and that he had died of a heart attach and been stored in a refrigerator for over a month, suspicion falls on Albert Pinchbeck, Herman's twin brother, and also a magician.

Mulder believes that Albert performed the show on the pier in his brother's honour, so that his reputation would be guaranteed after his death. And that he knows Billy LaBonge and is working with him, in an effort to pull off the perfect bank robbery.

Notes:
Ricky Jay (plays Amazing Maleeni) is himself a very famous magician, who is renowned for his ability for sleight of hand and card tricks, as well as a whole host of 'magical' abilities. He has appeared in many shows, done other acting roles and advised on a number of series and films.

Malini taking a magician's name and then spelling it different is a reference to Houdini. He got his name from the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin whom he later discredited.

The Amazing Maleeni was named for real-life magician Max Malini (1875 - 1942). Famous for relying on his own skill rather than props, Malini performed for Kings, Queens, and Millionaires.

Quotes:
Billy LaBonge: Yo. Can't you do anything that ain't a hundred years old? That ain't old school, that's decrepit.
Herman Pinchbeck: Young man, shall I come heckle you on your job? Make sure you count out the requisite number of McNuggets?
Billy LaBonge: Show me something. Come on... show me something!
Herman Pinchbeck: A callow challenge to be met by experience... and skill. To wit, the Egyptian, Dedi, whose most celebrated feat was to reattach a recently-severed head reuniting it with a still-warm body and no harm done. Western history knows three previous attempts at recreating this Noachian feat... each of the three ending in tragedy. This will be the fourth. May I have complete silence, please?
(He stretches his neck up and turns his head 360 degrees)
Crowd: Yeah! Senor Maleeni! Woo-hoo!
Young Boss: Let's give it up for the Amazing Maleeni.

Mulder: Neat trick, huh?

Scully: I can think of a neater one. How you convinced me to drop everything and get on the first plane to Los Angeles.
Mulder: Come on, Scully. This isn't intriguing enough for you? A magician turns his head completely around 360 degrees to the delight of young and old alike after which it plops unceremoniously onto the pier... see the picture?
Scully: Yeah, I saw the picture. And as for this Amazing Maleeni turning his head all the way around, like you said, Mulder: neat trick.
Mulder: But...
Scully: But... I'd guess this event was completely removed from the subsequent murder.
Mulder: You think this was a murder?
Scully: Don't you? Mulder, his head was cut off.
Mulder: Ah, observe the nearly complete absence of blood. Observe the paucity of fingerprints as evidenced by the LAPD's liberal use of lycopodium powder.
Scully: Why are you talking like Tony Randall?
Mulder: Know that the Amazing Maleeni was alive one moment and expired the next. Know also that no one saw his fleeing attacker nor heard the dying man's cries.

Scully: All right, I'm stumped... and I think I'm supposed to be.

Mulder: What do you think?
Scully: Well, first of all, and sorry to disappoint you but, uh, Mr Maleeni's head didn't just magically fall off. It was very carefully sawed. Very slow and exacting work probably with a fine-tooth meat saw. And check out this little detail. Spirit gum, Mulder. It held the head to the body. Just barely, of course.
Mulder: So he was murdered.
Scully: Well, no. As far as I can tell this man died of advanced coronary disease.
Mulder: Natural causes.
Scully: Yeah.
Mulder: So, basically he died of a heart attack, somebody crept up behind him, sawed his head off and then glued it back on all in the space of 30 seconds. So, does that make sense to you?

Herman Pinchbeck: Agents. An unexpected surprise. Good afternoon.
Scully: We'd like to have a word with you, Mr Pinchbeck.
Herman Pinchbeck: I'm fairly busy, actually.
Mulder: I'll bet.
(Mulder pulls 'Albert Pinchbeck' away from his desk)
Herman Pinchbeck: Hey! What...?
Mulder: Let's take a little spin, shall we?
Herman Pinchbeck: What's this all about?
Mulder: It's about misdirection, Mr Pinchbeck... or should I say The Amazing Maleeni?
(He dumps 'Albert Pinchbeck' onto the floor)
Scully: Mulder?!
Mulder: It's a trick, Scully. Voila.
('Albert Pinchbeck' stands up)
Herman Pinchbeck: Had you fooled.
Scully: You're Maleeni?
Herman Pinchbeck: Call me Herman.

Scully: You know, Mulder, there's still one thing that you haven't explained.

Mulder: What's that?
Scully: How the Amazing Maleeni was able to turn his head completely around.
Mulder: I don't know that.
Scully: I do. I'll show you. Observe.
(She places her hands awkwardly on the floor and turns her right arm a full 360 degrees)
Mulder: Gee! Very nice. How'd you do that?
Scully: Well... magic.
Mulder: No. Seriously, Scully, how'd you do it? You know, it's not the same thing. It's different with the head. Come on. Look at this.
(He does the disappearing thumb trick)
I'll show you...

Highlights from ''The Amazing Maleeni''

Episode Number: 147
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, January 16, 2000
Production Code: 7X08

Season 7: Orison (7X07)

Written by: Chip Johannessen
Directed by: Rob Bowman

Reverend Orison leads a service with a group of inmates in the chapel at the Marion maximum security penitentiary in Illinois. During the service his cries of "Glory, amen," are answered by the inmates stomping their feet in unison. Among the congregation is Donnie Pfaster.

After the service one of the prisoners, Brigham catches his fingers in an electric saw while working in the garment machine shop. With the guards and other inmates attending to Brigham, Donnie Pfaster escapes. Mulder and Scully as the agents who caught Donnie Pfaster, a death fetishist, in the first place are called in to help track him down.

Mulder suggests to Scully that she should remove herself from the case, considering her past history with Pfaster, but Scully is adamant that she should be with her partner. They interview Brigham, who is uninjured despite the accident that everyone witnessed, Brigham suggests it is a miracle. But Mulder recognises his use of of the phrase "Glory, amen," and the unconscious tapping of his feet as evidence of post hypnotic suggestion.

Suspicion soon falls on the Reverend Orison, Mulder belives he has the ability through ancient chants to induce mass hypnosis, enabling the inmates to escape unnoticed. Reverend Orison believes he is making amends for the time in his life when he was acquitted for a murder that he did commit. However it appears there are wider implication to his actions. Donnie Pfaster abuses his freedom to hunt down the one victim who eluded him, Scully.

Notes:
The definition of 'Orison' is "A Prayer".

The song that plays often through out the episode is "Don't Look Any Further" by Dennis Edwards & Siedah Garrett.

Quotes:
Marshall Daddo: He's a sick man.
Mulder: Sick would describe him. We found women's fingers in his freezer. He liked to eat them with his peas and carrots.
Marshall Daddo: So it's just women he's after?
Mulder: Just women. Been five years in here thinking about only that. I'm sure he's worked up quite an appetite.
Marshall Daddo: I happen to know you two agents have a particular forte — a thing for... what is it called? The supernatural? Now, the circumstances of the escape...
Scully: I promise you there is nothing supernatural about this man. Donnie Pfaster is just plain evil.

Mulder: Post-hypnotic suggestion. Did you see him?

Scully: You mean, did I see him raise his foot? Yes, I saw that.
Mulder: A programmed behaviour prompted and manifested by suggestion in this case, a rhythmic motion of the hands producing a unconscious act in a conscious state. (He raises and lowers his hand in front of Scully) Doesn't work on you.
Scully: I know what hypnosis is, Mulder.
Mulder: Group hypnosis.
Scully: If you're suggesting that Donnie Pfaster escaped from prison using a technique from a Vegas lounge act I'd think again.
Mulder: Mesmer was able to hypnotise and command entire audiences.
Scully: So, how would Donnie have acquired this amazing ability?
Mulder: I'm not saying that it was Donnie.
Scully: Well, then, who?
Mulder: Three inmates are missing from three separate prisons. One man has had possible contact with each of those cons. The prison chaplain. Glory. Amen. Not god, the chaplain. Scully, what?
Scully: That song — can you hear that?
Mulder: Barely.
Scully: I haven't heard that song since high school. That's the second time I've heard it in the last hour.
Mulder: Well, I think if it was a make out song I think it'd be ruined forever now, huh?

Reverend Orison: What is this?

Mulder: Blood of the lamb, Reverend. Handiwork of Mr Donnie Pfaster — a young girl he picked up at the bus stop.
Reverend Orison: Oh, Lord.
Mulder: Where is he, Reverend?
Reverend Orison: He took my car. She wasn't supposed to die.
Mulder: No. Donnie was supposed to die. You were supposed to kill him. That's why you freed him. God knows you're capable of it. (to Scully) The Reverend Orison is really Robert Gailen Orison — convicted in 1959 of first degree murder. Served 22 years in Soledad.
Reverend Orison: God spoke to me. He told me to look after Donnie.
Mulder: When god spoke to you, Reverend, did He happen to mention where Donnie was headed?

Scully: Go back to hell!

Donald Pfaster: Who does your nails, girly girl?
Scully: Let me go! The only reason why you're alive is because I asked the judge for life! The only reason why you're alive is because we didn't kill you when we could!
Donald Pfaster: You're the one that got away. You're all I think about.
Scully: I'm a federal agent. You do anything to me and they will not give you a break this time.
Donald Pfaster: I'm going to run you a bath.

Highlights from ''Irresistible''

Highlights from ''Orison''

Episode Number: 146

Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, January 9, 2000
Production Code: 7X07

Season 7: The Goldberg Variation (7X02)

Written by: Jeffrey Bell
Directed by: Thomas J. Wright

When Henry Weems is thrown off the roof of a building by mobsters he won $100,000 from in a card game and survives the fall. Chicago FBI agents staking out the mobsters witness the unidentified man's miraculous escape and bring it to the attention of Mulder and Scully who decide to investigate. Mulder theorises that the man has some kind of special healing ability although Scully believes he just got lucky.

A theory supported by the discovery of a cart filled with towels in the area the man landed. The discovery of an artificial eye in the cart leads them to Weems, who had made an appointment to get a new artificial eye fitted. They arrive at Weem's apartment building to question him, and go to the aid of the building superintendent, who requires assistance in turning off her water valve due to a leaky sink problem. However the valve breaks showering Mulder with water and causing the floor to give way beneath him, dropping him in to the apartment below, where Weems is in hiding.

Mulder returns his artificial eye but Weems refuses to testify against the mobster Jimmy Cutrona. Scully warns Weems that Cutrona will try to kill him again. Shortly after the agents leave a hitman arrives to kill Weems but is later found hanging by his shoelaces from the ceiling fan.

A background check reveals that Weems survived a plane crash in 1989 and has been 'blessed' with good luck ever since. Only it appears that when Weems has good luck someone else suffers bad luck as a direct consequence.

Notes:
Rueben (Rube) Lucius Goldberg (1888-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and author. A trained engineer and accomplished artist, Goldberg's "inventions" were known for making simple tasks amazingly complex by utilizing dozens of arms, wheels, gears, handles, live animals, etc to accomplish something as simple as squeezing orange juice or closing a window. The name Rube Goldberg has become associated with any convoluted solution to perform a simple task. The board game 'Mousetrap' utilises a Goldberg device as it's main feature.

This episode was too short, so they had to add a scene after the fact - the one where Mulder and Scully are in the car discussing the case. However, Gillian Anderson had already cut her hair signficantly shorter for the next episode (at the end of ''The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati'' we can see her with the hair already shorter), so she had to wear a wig for the scene.

Quotes:
Scully: Organised crime. The Bureau's been trying to build a racketeering case against him for the past few years. Gambling, extortion, murder.
Mulder: Which is why last night there were two agents parked across the street in surveillance. They witnessed a man being thrown from Cutrona's roof at 10:40 pm. This man fell for 30 floors, plus the distance down this shaft, because these doors just happened to be open — straight through, nothing but net.
Scully: Ouch.
Mulder: I'm guessing that's what he said. After, he got up, climbed out of here and scampered off into the night.
Scully: Mulder, you keep saying 'this man'. Who is this man?
Mulder: No idea. He got away. The agents gave chase, but no clear description.
Scully: Was this basement thoroughly searched?
Mulder: No. Technically, falling 300 feet and surviving isn't a crime.
Scully: And your theory is?
Mulder: What if this man had some kind of special capability? Some kind of genetic predisposition towards rapid healing, or tissue regeneration?
Scully: So, basically, what if we were looking for Wile E Coyote? You're saying that he is invulnerable, right? You know in 1998, there was a British soldier who plummeted 4,500 feet when his parachute failed and he walked away with a broken rib.
Mulder: What's your point?
Scully: My point is, that if there's a wind gust, or a sudden updraft, and plus, if he landed in exactly the right way, I mean, I don't know. Maybe he just got lucky.
Mulder: What if he got really, really lucky? That's your big scientific explanation, Scully? I mean, how many thousands of variables would have to convene in just the right mixture for that theory to hold water?
Scully: I don't know.
Mulder: No? Thousands.

Scully: Mr. Weems, why were you hiding in a vacant apartment?

Henry Weems: Not hiding — avoiding.
Scully: Avoiding whom?
Henry Weems: You people. Now that you found me let's just get it over with. No way am I testifying against Jimmy Cutrona.
Scully: Last night, Cutrona had you thrown off the roof of 1107 Hunter Avenue — is that correct?
Henry Weems: You didn't hear it from me. I'm not letting you people move me to Muncie, Indiana, to milk cows.
Mulder: More to the point, you survived a, uh... 300-foot fall essentially un... harmed.
Henry Weems: I don't know. Maybe... The wind was just right and I landed on a bunch of towels — no biggie.
Scully: You got lucky?
Henry Weems: Yeah, I guess, except... you should look at my... bruise.
Mulder: Oh...

Scully: So, let me get this straight. This is the man who initially won the money?

Maurice Albert: Mm-hmm.
Scully: And once you and he ascertained that the accident victim was still alive this man fled on foot?
Maurice Albert: Mm-hmm.
Scully: Afterwards, the man who was hit by the truck handed you the lottery card, and said...
Maurice Albert: 'Maurice, I want you to have this.''
Scully: Mm-hmm. Thank you, Mr. Albert. I think that will be all.

Highlights from ''The Goldberg Variation''

Episode Number: 145
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, December 12, 1999
Production Code: 7X02

Season 7: Rush (7X06)

Written by: David Amann
Directed by: Robert Lieberman

Three teenagers meet in the woods late at night in Pittsfield, Virginia but are interrupted by a Sheriff's deputy. Moments later the deputy lies dead, killed with his own flashlight. Mulder and Scully examine the deputy's body, the blow that killed him was so ferocious that his glasses were pushed through the back of his scull. They question the suspect, teenager Tony Reed whose fingerprints were found on the flash light, but he denies any part in the murder.

Mulder and Scully agree that Tony is innocent, although Mulder's theory of spirit involvement is not shared by Scully who prefers a more down to earth course of investigation, suggesting they question Tony's friends. Mulder and Scully visit Tony's school and speak with the two teenagers with Tony in the woods, the Sheriff's son Max Harden and his girlfriend Chastity.

Chastity shows concerned about Tony when Mulder and Scully tell her he may go to jail. However Tony is later released when the murder weapon mysteriously goes missing from the evidence room. Mulder and Scully review video footage of the evidence room that shows the flashlight simply disappears. A blur on the video footage attracts Mulders attention, later analysis by expert Chuck Burks reveals the blurred object is solid and matches the local high school colours.

When one of the teachers at the high school is later attacked by an unseen force in front of many witnesses, Mulder suspects Max posses some kind of paranormal ability and is using it to kill.

Notes:
Max tells Scully she must have been a "Betty" back in the day, which is slang for a hot chick.

Max: Yeah, too much teen spirit.
Mulder: You think? Smells like murder to me.
The above quote is a referance to the popular song "Smells Like Teen Spirit," by Nirvana.

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, tell me you've got more than SAT scores to show that this Tony Reed didn't commit this crime.
Mulder: Maybe. Take a look at the body. The former Deputy Ronald Foster. As you can see, the report doesn't quite do it justice.
Scully: Oh, my God, it looks like he was hit with a sledgehammer.
Mulder: Police flashlight. One blow. The damage to the maxillofacial bones and the cranium is consistent with a blunt-force trauma, but... I'd say that, uh, Tony eats his Wheaties.
Mulder: Check out the back of his head.
Scully: Ugh. His eyeglasses.
Mulder: Penetrated to the back of his skull. Babe Ruth couldn't hit this hard, let alone a high school sophomore.
Scully: Well, maybe if he was under the influence of PCP or some kind of stimulant.
Mulder: No, his tox screen came back negative.
Scully: Well, even so, I mean, stress and fear may have triggered an adrenaline response which is known to enable feats of near-superhuman strength.

Mulder: C'mon, you were cruisin', right? I mean, a small town like this. You're not exactly Livin' La Vida Loca. I know, I grew up in... Dullsville too. You know, nothing to do but drive and park.

Tony: How long ago was that?

Highlights from ''Rush''

Episode Number: 144
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, December 5, 1999
Production Code: 7ABX06

Season 7: Millennium (7X05)

Written by: Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Thomas J. Wright

A widow at her husband's funeral in Tallahassee, Florida is approached by a man, Mark Johnson who claims to have worked with her husband. After the other mourners have left Johnson returns to the funeral parlour and places a phone in the dead man's hand. A week later Johnson waits outside a cemetery, his phone rings and he walks towards a grave. Agents Mulder and Scully are called in to examine the empty grave, from the evidence available to them they conclude that someone broke out of the casket.

Scully theorises that someone made it look that way. At a briefing lead by Assistant Director Skinner however Mulder explains his own theory of Necromancy, the summoning of the dead. Skinner takes Mulder and Scully aside and explains to them that the dead man Crouch was part of the Millennium Group, a constancy organisation made up of former FBI agents.

Mulder and Scully visit a criminal profiler, Frank Black a former member of the Millennium Group, he is reluctant to help them as he is involved in a custody battle for his daughter. But he agrees to help in their investigation, explaining that the members of the Millennium group believe they can bring about the end of the world by killing themselves before the dawn of the new Millennium.

Acting on information from Frank Black, Mulder concentrates on trying to find Johnson, when Scully is attacked in the morgue by the dead deputy. The two agents put all their effort in to finding Johnson before it is too late.

Notes:
This is the only explicit "crossover" with the cancelled ''Millennium'' show. A previous character crossover featured Scully's favourite writer, José Chung (author of "From Outer Space"), in the ''Millennium'' episode "José Chung's Doomsday Defense", both episodes written by Darin Morgan.

After watching the ball drop on New Years' Eve we see the second on-screen kiss between Mulder & Scully.

When Skinner hands Mulder and Scully the Millenium Groups symbol, we can see that it's a Ouroboros. This is the same symbol that Scully got tattooed on her back in ''Never Again''.

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, you been spreading rumours?
Mulder: Why? You hear any good ones lately?
Scully: Not particularly. So what do you have here?
Mulder: Merry Christmas, by the way, Scully.
Scully: Thank you. Merry Christmas to you, too.
Mulder: Grave robbery with a twist. Check out the headliner, Scully.
Scully: Well it looks like someone on the inside was trying to get out.
Mulder: Indeed it does. To answer your question — no, I haven't been spreading any rumours, the local PD's been doing a pretty good job of that. Ever since they matched the fingerprints on the dead man to these. And to those up there on that headstone. There's a big juicy handprint on the back.

Skinner: I'm thinking more the Millennium Group. It was their symbol as well. Are you familiar with them?

Scully: Yes, somewhat. They were former FBI agents who offered consulting services to law enforcement. Somehow, they fell into disrepute.
Skinner: They operated in extreme secrecy. Rumours abounded that they had their own agenda which was less than altruistic if not improper or illegal.
Mulder: And that it was, in fact, a cult based upon Judeo-Christian 'Endtime' prophecies concerning the coming millennium. Was Raymond Crouch a member?
Skinner: I can't seem to find out. Apparently the group dissolved several months ago. They left no paper trail — nothing. However... I do have three other grave desecrations all within the last six months. Long Island... Northern California... Arizona. All three graves contained the bodies of former FBI agents. All three were recent suicides.
Mulder: How long were you going to sit on this?
Skinner: Owing to the Millennium Group's former ties with the Bureau this matter is... sensitive, to say the least. Investigate them. Keep a low profile.
Mulder: I think I know where to start.

Mulder: Mr. Black, the day after tomorrow is January 1, 2000. That's the significant date for these people. That doesn't leave us much time. Don't you want to see them stopped? Well, Mr Black, you are not what I was expecting.

Frank Black: Agent Mulder...
Mulder: Yes.
Frank Black: It's first and 18. Just let me watch this game in peace.
Mulder: It's third and ten, Notre Dame.
Frank Black: Happy New Year.
Mulder: Same to you.

Dick Clark: ...30 seconds now, 30. Get ready for the loudest cheering you'll ever hear in your life. Hug your friends and loved ones tight. What the heck, whoever that person is next to you. No time like the present. Are you ready? Here we go. Ten, nine... eight, seven, six... five, four, three, two, one... Happy New Year, 2000!
(Mulder and Scully exchange a kiss)
Mulder: The world didn't end.
Scully: No, it didn't.
Mulder: Happy New Year, Scully.
Scully: Happy New Year, Mulder.

Highlights from ''Millennium''

Episode Number: 143
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, November 28, 1999
Production Code: 7X05