"The X Files" Patient X (1998)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Kim Manners

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Chris Carter (written by) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

1 March 1998 (Season 5, Episode 13)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Faceless alien rebels are committing mass murders. Mulder and Scully meet a multiple alien abductee...

Plot Keywords:

Title Spoken By Character | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Nicholas Lea	...	Alex Krycek
Veronica Cartwright	...	Cassandra Spender
Laurie Holden	...	Marita Covarrubias
Brian Thompson	...	Alien Bounty Hunter
Jim Jansen	...	Dr. Heitz Werber
John Neville	...	The Well-Manicured Man
Chris Owens	...	FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Spender
Alex Shostak Jr.	...	Dmitri
Don S. Williams	...	Elder #1
Ron Halder	...	Dr. Floyd Fazio
Kurt Max Runte	...	Ranger
John Moore	...	Elder #3
Raoul Ganeev	...	Guard (as Raoul Ganeen)

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Quotes:

Mulder: One more anal-probing gyro-pyro levitating ecoplasm alien anti-matter story and I'm going to take out my gun and shoot somebody.

Role Reversal

After the hilarity of Bad Blood, the X-Files goes serious again with the two parter of Patient X and The Red and the Black. These two episodes don't have as much action as I like my mythology episodes to have, but the heightened drama makes up for it. I find it interesting at the beginning when Mulder is at some kind of alien abduction conference. If he is a disbeliever now, which he has been since the beginning of the season, then why is he attending this conference? It seems strange that he'd still want to attend. Veronica Cartwright is an excellent addition as a guest actor, as Cassandra Spender. She stands firm in her belief even when Mulder dismisses her. I love Scully's lines after she learns of Mulder's actions at the conference, saying that Mulder has invalidated his own work. There's some beautiful piano music by Mark Snow as Scully struggles to deal with learning about implants being in the burn victims, making it personal for her. We are introduced to the character of Jeffrey Spender in this episode. It's a very quiet introduction, considering the larger part he will be playing in the rest of the series. What makes Patient X so interesting to me is the role reversal of Mulder and Scully. You don't see it in the Monster of the Week episodes, even though Mulder has stopped believing since the season premiere. Seeing Scully come around to believing Cassandra's story is quite intriguing. Also, the introduction of the faceless men injects new life into the mythology and piques my interest even more. And, as usual, the cliffhanger leaves you at the edge of your seat.