The X-Files - 4.

French title: Teliko

US Airdate: October 18, 1996

writer: Howard Gordon

director: Jim Charleston

STARRING:

David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

Assistant Director Skinner ..... Mitch Pileggi

Businessman ..... Don Stewart

Flight Attendent ..... Maxine Guess

Samuel Aboah ..... Willie Amakye

Seat Mate ..... Geoffrey Ayi-Bonte

Dr. Simon Bruin .... Bob Morrisey

Marcus Duff ..... Carl Lumbly

Agent Pendrell .... Brendan Beiser

Alfred Kittel ..... Dexter Bell

Marita Covarrubias .... Laurie Holden

Diabria .... Zakes Mokae

Lt.Madsen .... Sean Campbell

MULDER AND SCULLY COMBINE FOLKLORE AND SCIENCE TO SOLVE THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN.

Four African-American men have vanished off the streets of Philadelphia. An FBI/Police task force has come up with no leads...until the body of the most recent victim is discovered. Surprisingly, violence isn't the cause of death. The body's bizarre lack of pigmentation hints at some unknown ailment. The Centers for Disease Control calls in Scully to unravel the medical mystery. Mulder, however, believes that more than a simple pathogen is involved. His investigations lead to a cover-up of a similar death on a flight from West Africa, and the presence of a toxic plant native to that area. Meanwhile, Scully discovers that the victim's pituitary gland-- which produces melanin among other hormones--has somehow been destroyed.

While their investigation is under way, the killer strikes again. This time a young black student is stalked and kidnapped from a bus stop. The evidence leads Scully and Mulder to a recent West African immigrant, Samuel Aboah. They arrest him when he attempts to escape. Hospital tests reveal that, among other peculiar abnormalities, Aboah lacks a pituitary gland.

A tip from his UN informant sends Mulder to Minister Diabira, a diplomat from the West African country of Burkina Faso. Reluctantly, Diabria admits he had ordered the cover-up of the first murder -- because he knew the identity of the killer. It was one of the mythical Teliko: evil spirits of the air, who emerge at night to suck the life and color out of their victims. Who would have believed that a terrifying West African folktale could come to life in 20th century America? No one...except Mulder.

Mulder explains his theory to a skeptical Scully: the Teliko are not ghostly entities, but members of a lost African clan, who have survived over generations by hunting down other humans to steal what they lack: hormones from the pituitary gland.

According to the newsgroup, telikos is Greek for final. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Everybody repeat after me now..."Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate". The tagline for this ep and I count 3 times you're gonna hear it, so here's what it all means: "Deceive": Persuade of what is false, mislead ; use deceit, "Inveigle": Entice, seduce (into place, conduct etc., into doing), "Obfuscate": Darken, obscure (mind etc.) ; stupefy, bewilder.

Contains a much-talked about scene where Scully crawls through a factory vent, flashlight in hand, very artistic, but some VCRs may cause strain if you rewind and appreciate it too much, so be careful ;-)

(as Scully is performing an autopsy)

Mulder: "Hey, I heard you were down here slicing and dicing. Who's the lucky stiff?"

____________________________________________________________

(looking at the body, a once black man, now albino)

Mulder: "There's a Michael Jackson joke in here somewhere but I can't quite find it."

____________________________________________________________

Scully: "Mulder, not everything is a labyrinth of dark conspiracy, and not everybody is plotting to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate."

____________________________________________________________

Agent Pendrell : "Shouldn't we wait for Agent Scully? Just so I don't have to repeat myself."

Mulder:"She's not coming."

Pendrell: "Why not?!"

Mulder: "She had a date."

Pendrell: (sighs and looks dejected)

Mulder: "Breathe, Agent Pendrell, it's with a dead man. She's doing an autopsy."

____________________________________________________________

Marita Covarrubias: "I can't help you." (she turns to walk away, Mulder grabs her arm)

Mulder: "You can't, or you won't? You made an overture to me. You left me an opening. Tell me I'm wrong, tell me there's nothing here and I'll walk away. Either way, I need to know."

____________________________________________________________

Scully: "Where are you going?"

Mulder: "To find someone who I know plotted to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate."

____________________________________________________________

Mulder: "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

Minister Diabira: "I did not have much of a choice. Someone from the UN talked to the ambassador directly....."

____________________________________________________________

Minister Diabira: "Even if I tell you what I know, you'll never believe it."

Mulder: "You'd be surprised at what I believe, sir."

Minister Diabira: "I had hoped if I closed my eyes, it would go away this time."

Mulder: "This time?"

Minister Diabira: "My people... the Bambara... are farmers. I grew up hearing the old stories, believing them as only a child can believe."

Mulder: "What kinds of stories?"

Minister Diabira: "The Teliko... spirits... of the air... It was said they rested by day in close, dark places deep inside tree hollows and in holes beneath the ground. Too small even for a child to hide himself. Only when the sun fell, when the rest of the world was sleeping, would they come out." (we see Aboah has disappeared...camera pans to food cart)

Mulder: "Come out to do what, sir?"

Minister Diabira: "I was seven years old. Lying awake one night, I saw him. He was standing over me. His hair was like straw... his eyes like water... staring down at me. I closed my eyes and screamed and felt myself being swept up into the air. But when I opened my eyes I saw my father holding me."

Mulder: "Then it was a nightmare."

Minister Diabira: "That's what my father said, and I believed him... until the next day... when they found my cousin dead among his cattle... (he picks up a photograph from his desk) ...looking exactly like this man. Which is why when this photograph came across my desk three months ago, I knew the Teliko was more than just a children's story. (the camera pans down the food cart to the drawer, which opens to show Aboah's eyes) I knew it was real, I knew he was here!"

____________________________________________________________

Dr. Bruin:"You'd be amazed at what I've seen removed from people's throats in emergency rooms."

____________________________________________________________

Mulder: (looking at food cart) "I think this was the getaway vehicle. (looks up and says with mock disgust) He didn't even touch his jello."

____________________________________________________________

Scully: "So you're basing this theory on a folktale?"

Mulder: "It's just another way of describing the same truths, right? I mean, all new truths begin as heresies and end as superstitions. We fear the unknown, so we reduce it to the terms that are most familiar to us, whether that's a folktale, or a disease, or... conspiracy."

Scully: "Well, even if you're right, I mean, especially if you're right, why would he leave his own country to come here?"

Mulder: "Free cable! (Scully looks away) I don't know, the same reasons that anybody comes to this country... liberty, the freedom to pursue your own interests."

____________________________________________________________

(after Scully's shot the albino, Mulder's been hit with a dart and is down for the count. Note: a good Start sound for your computer)

Scully: "It's okay Mulder, I'm here, okay?"

____________________________________________________________

Scully's voiceover at end:

"Special Agent Dana Scully, field journal entry number 74. Despite acute trauma to his pituitary gland, Marcus Duff was discharged early this morning from Mt. Zion Medical Center. He is expected to testify before a grand jury in the capital case against Samuel Aboah, who is being charged with five counts of murder. It remains uncertain, however, whether Aboah will live long enough to stand trial. His response to hormone therapy has been poor; his deterioration, progressive. My conviction remains intact that the mechanism by which Aboah killed and, in turn, survived can only be explained by medical science and that science will eventually discover his place in the broader context of evolution. But what science may never be able to explain is our ineffable fear of the alien among us, a fear which often drives us not to search for understanding, but to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate. To obscure the truth not only from others, but from ourselves."