"The X Files" All Things (2000)

Director:

Gillian Anderson

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Gillian Anderson (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

9 April 2000 (Season 7, Episode 17)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Scully is finishing up the autopsy of a person at a hospital. A file mix-up involving the autopsy folder...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Title Spoken By Character | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carol Banker	...	Carol
Colleen Flynn	...	Colleen Azar
Stacy Haiduk	...	Margaret 'Maggie' Waterston
Stephen Hornyak	...	Dr. Kopeikan
Nicolas Surovy	...	Dr. Daniel Waterston
Elayn Taylor	...	Nurse #2
Scott Vance	...	The Healer
Cheryl White	...	Nurse #3

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Rhythm is a recurring theme. Beyond the music these include: 1) opening scene, sound of water dripping from faucet starts before video starts and continues on 2) the slide projector changing slides 3) at the hospital the nurse that hands Skully the medical file is tapping her pencil 4) the cord on her blinds is tapping the wall 5) the heart monitor in Dr Waterson's room 6) Skully's turn signal when she's talking to Mulder on her cell phone 7) The Apothecary sign squeaking

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Scully is reanimating her friend in the hospital, when the camera rotates and the scene becomes visible from behind Scully, you can see a hand of a crew member.

Quotes:

Scully: Time passes in moments... moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen, to consider whether the path we take in life is our own making...

Movie Connections:

References The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Soundtrack:

The Sky is Broken

Mobylicious

all things is different. Plain and simple. If you are looking for a standard, creepy, mysterious x-file, you are not going to find it here. Gillian Anderson wrote and directed this episode that shows a side of Scully we haven't seen.

I like how Gillian gets the rhythm of the episode going with the dripping water. It sets the tone. The Moby music is different but nice. Mark Snow did a nice job of incorporating it into his score. Three is a significant number in this episode. I don't know why. I know that three is a good karmic number. The first slide shows three crop circles, Waterston's room number is 306. Colleen's house number is 3.

Gillian uses a lot of slow motion during the course of the episode, mostly to good effect. I thought the one unnecessary use of slow motion was when Scully was receiving the folder from the nurse. In the episode audio commentary Gillian said that it was hard getting the tapping pencil to be rhythmic. I agree.

I like how Scully hides from the daughter behind the magazine. The name of the magazine is Feng Shui Life Magazine. Hmmm. Once she goes into his room, there's this rhythmic pinging sound. I felt it was out of place. When she goes home, the toggle(I got this from the audio commentary as well) is knocking against the wall. The rhythms are nice when they are a natural sound, like the water dripping or the toggle knocking, but that pinging in his room is just out of place. Scully has a Mac with a web cam on the top of it. I never knew Scully was this techno-savvy. Who is she tele-conferencing with from home? Mulder?

Gillian's opening shots for scenes start with shots on a specific object then zoom out. As mentioned in her commentary, there are contrasts between the two hospital rooms. #304 is red, brown, warm, and happy. #306 is blue, dark, and sad. Nice use of contrasts.

My favorite line of Scully's is when she's saving Waterston's life. "Who's paying attention?!?!?" Taking control. Just like in the movie. After he goes into a coma, it looks like a music video as Scully walks into a D.C. Chinatown. I like how the creaking sign interrupts the music. The scene of the transparent Waterston was weird. Gillian said that her vision in the Buddhist temple was her attempt at adding a paranormal aspect to the episode.

Another thing I dislike about the episode is Scully having the guy come in to do the new age/psychic kind of healing of Waterston. It is out of character for her. That's something her sister Melissa would of done, not Scully. Scully's dream sequence is kind of freaky. I like how later the shot transitions from the back of Waterston's head to Scully's head.

It's interesting how the pony-tail lady turns into Mulder at the end. However, the jacket and hat that Mulder is wearing are not his color or style. It is out of character for him. Although, I do like his hat "Stone Henge Rocks".

Lastly, some additional items from GA's commentary. She had to shorten her script considerably. Her original script made it more obvious that she did not have an affair with Waterston. She broke it off when she found out he was married so that she wouldn't break up his family. However, it was too late. Waterston's wife suspected he had an affair and hung herself. Gruesome. Also, the cardiac arrest scene was originally one shot like in 'Triangle', but GA had to do close-ups to add more drama to the scene. And finally, Gillian says she loves the final scene of the episode.

This is a good hour of television. Gillian Anderson does so me interesting camera work that is not standard for the X-Files. The few things that are out of character for Mulder and Scully and the lack of it being a traditional x-file prevents it from being in the top tier of X-Files episodes. all things is not everyone's cup of tea, for sure, but it shows that Gillian Anderson can do more than just act.