"The X Files" Chimera (2000)

Director:

Cliff Bole

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
David Amann (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

2 April 2000 (Season 7, Episode 16)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Mulder and Scully are on a stakeout of a female serial-killer of prostitutes. Mulder gets called away...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Gina Mastrogiacomo	...	Jenny Uphouse
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ashley Edner	...	Michelle Crittendon
Charles Hoyes	...	Howard Crittendon
Michelle Joyner	...	Ellen Adderly
John Mese	...	Sheriff Phil Adderly
F. William Parker	...	Dr. Blankenship
Wendy Schaal	...	Martha Crittendon

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Michelle Joyner played Ellen Adderly. Ellen's baby, Katy Adderly, was played by Ms. Joyner's real-life twin boys.

Goofs:

Continuity: Ellen Adderly's scar switches from being on the left shoulder, to the right, and back to the left.

Quotes:

Mulder: Mulder.
Scully: Mulder, please tell me I can go home.
Mulder: Oh, hey, Scully. How's the stakeout?
Scully: Well, the furnace broke and I can just about see my breath in here.
Mulder: Ouch. I'm sorry to hear that.
Scully: That... and I've witnessed a couple hundred things I'd like to erase from my brain. Eww. But as of yet, no mystery woman.
Mulder: Well, she'll come, you know? It's just a matter of time. She'll show up - I'm sure of that.
Scully: Yeah, well not before I die of malnutrition.
Mulder: Hey, Scully, tough it out. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Right? No, no, no, no. No capers, thank you.
Scully: I'm sorry. What?
[...]

Overly-desperate Housewives

Chimera kind of reminds me of 'War of the Coprophages' in that Mulder works out a case by himself while Scully is somewhere else, though still in the episode. Though Chimera is nowhere near as good as 'War of the Coprophages'. Mulder gets called away from a stakeout to check out the disappearance of a housewife in an upscale neighborhood. The story doesn't give off an original feel as Mulder once again throws out crazy-sounding theories about folklore that earns him curious looks from the locals. The only thing that's different is that Scully isn't around to reign Mulder in and make them seem a bit more respectable. As always, Mulder makes his leaps and catches on to what's really happening. I guess it's the uninteresting guest characters that also don't help to make this episode more interesting. There is a cute line when Ellen Adderly asks Mulder if he has a significant other. He tells her, "Um, not in the widely understood definition of that term.", referring to his abnormal relationship with Scully. It is interesting that this may be the first time that two x-files are solved in one episode. While Mulder is solving the mystery of the ravens and broken mirrors, Scully stays on the original stakeout and solves that mystery, concluding that it wasn't an x-file at all. However, Chimera's unoriginality and uninteresting guest characters leaves it to wallow in mediocrity and leaving the viewer to wonder if he'll see it "nevermore".