The X-Files - 5.

Japanese title: Kyuuketsu
translation: Bloodsucking

Spanish title: Mala Sangre
translation: Bad Blood

US Airdate: February 22, 1998

writers: Vince Gilligan

director: Cliff Bole

STARRING:

David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully

Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner

Guest Cast:

Patrick Renna as Ronnie Strickland

Luke Wilson as Sheriff Hartwell

Forbes Angus as the Funeral Director

Brent Butt as the Coroner

Marion Killinger as the Detective

THE AGENTS RECOUNT THEIR VERSIONS OF EVENTS THAT LED TO THE KILLING OF A

TEENAGER SUSPECTED OF BEING A VAMPIRE.

A dark figure chases a terrified teenage boy, Ronnie Strickland, through a field in Texas. When Ronnie trips and falls, the figure pulls out a wooden stake and plunges it through his chest. Scully's voice calls out, and when the figure turns, we see that it is Agent Mulder. Pulling open the teenager's mouth, Mulder shows Scully two sharp incisors, much like vampire fangs. Upon closer examination, Scully determines the fangs are, in fact, a set of fake plastic teeth. Mulder realizes he has made a most egregious error.

When the agents return to their offices, they agree to discuss the events that led up to the killing before they speak with Skinner (as they both face potential prison sentences). Scully recounts her story first. As the tale unfolds, Mulder and Scully examine slides of dead cattle, the victims of a series of exsanguinations in a small Texas town. Mulder reveals that a vacationer from New Jersey, Mr. Funt, met the same fate, and authorities located two small puncture marks on his neck. The agents fly to Texas, where they meet with Sheriff Hartwell, a handsome man who immediately catches Scully's attention. With Hartwell's permission, the agents examine the victim's body. Mulder notices that Funt's shoes are untied, but is unsure of the clue's meaning. While he and the sheriff stake out a local cemetery, Scully performs an autopsy on the corpse. Later that night, Scully and Mulder regroup at their motel to discuss their findings. Scully reveals that the victim was

drugged with chloral hydrate, more commonly referred to as knockout drops. Scully believes someone doped Funt and then withdrew his blood using a syringe, perhaps emulating vampires seen in the movies. Mulder then reveals that there has been another victim. As a tired Scully sets out to perform yet another autopsy, Ronnie the Pizza Guy (the same teenager Mulder staked in the opening teaser) shows up with a delivery. Scully tells the teenager to deliver the pizza to Mulder as she heads for her car in the motel parking lot.

During the second autopsy, Scully realizes that both victims consumed pizza as their last meal. She races back to the motel, where she finds a drugged Mulder lying on the floor. The pizza guy springs into view, prompting Scully to fire several rounds. This concludes Scully's version of events that led up to the teenager's death. Mulder, however, disagrees with Scully's details, and tells his version of the story.

As Mulder's version unfolds, it becomes clear that he is painting himself in a good-natured light, while Scully is depicted as being suspicious of his every word. After examining slides of the dead cows, the agents fly to Texas, where Scully finds herself attracted to Sheriff Hartwell. In Mulder's version, however, Hartwell is affected with large buck teeth and a substantial loss of I.Q. The agents split up: Scully performs the first autopsy, while Mulder and Sheriff Hartwell stake out the cemetery. While surveilling the cemetery, Mulder begins pouring sunflower seeds on the ground, explaining that vampires are obsessive-compulsive. Should a vampire appear, it would have to pick up the seeds--just like it would have to untie shoelaces. The sheriff is dispatched to investigate a disturbance at an RV park. Mulder tags along. There, the pair discover the body of the second victim. Tired and frustrated, Mulder returns to the motel, where he regroups with Scully. He informs his partner of the need for a new autopsy, and after Scully leaves, he accepts the pizza delivery from Ronnie. Later, he finds himself in a drug-induced stupor. Ronnie enters the motel room, his

fangs exposed, his eyes glowing red. Thinking quickly, Mulder manages to throw sunflower seeds onto the floor. Unable to resist the obsessive-compulsive disorder, Ronnie drops to his knees and begins picking them up. Scully finishes the second autopsy, and realizing Mulder is in danger, races to the motel. She draws her weapon and fires, striking Ronnie right in the chest. Though still in a drug-induced haze, Mulder gives chase, eventually staking Ronnie.

Back in the present, a coroner inadvertently reanimates Ronnie's corpse by removing the stake. Skinner informs the agents of the new development, and the pair fly back to Texas. There, the pair meet up with Sheriff Hartwell. As Scully and the sheriff stake out the cemetery, Mulder makes his way to the RV park, certain it contains Ronnie's resting place.

Sheriff Hartwell, it turns out, is a vampire. He drugs Scully's coffee, and she passes out. Meanwhile, Mulder discovers Ronnie's coffin inside an RV. Using handcuffs, he traps the vampire inside the box. When the vehicle is surrounded by the undead, Mulder uses two pizza breadsticks to form a cross. The vampires shrug off the cross and pull Mulder downward. The next morning, a groggy Scully finds an unconscious Mulder inside his rental car. Mulder awakens--only to discover that the RV lot is now completely empty. The agents recount their bizarre tale to Skinner... who can only stare back at them.

Notes

Not finished, as you can see, I will update as soon as I can, thanks for your patience.

Quotes

____________________

Scully: "Skinner wants our report in one hour. What are you going to tell him?"

Mulder: "What do you mean what am I going to tell him? I'm going to tell him exactly what I saw.

What are you going to tell him?"

Scully: "I'll tell him exactly what I saw."

Mulder: "Now, how is that different? (she gives him a look that's mildly exasperated) Look, Scully, I'm the one who may wind up going to prison here. I got to know if you're going to back me up or what."

Scully: "First of all, if the family of Ronnie Strickland does indeed decide to sue the FBI for ... I think the figure is $446 million ... then you and I both will most certainly be co-defendants and second of all ... I don't even have a second of all, Mulder. $446 million. I'm in this as deep as you are and I'm not even the one that overreacted. I didn't do the ... (she makes a stabbing motion) with the thing."

Mulder: "I did not overreact. Ronnie Strickland was a vampire."

Scully: "Where is your proof?"

Mulder: "You're my proof. You were there. (she heavily exhales) OK, now you're scaring me. I wanna know exactly what you're gonna tell Skinner."

Scully: "Oh, you want our stories straight."

Mulder: "No, no, no, I didn't say that. I just want to hear it the way you saw it."

Scully: "I don't feel comfortable with that."

Mulder: "Prison, Scully. Your cell mate's nickname is going to be Large Marge. She's going to read a lot of Gertrude Stein."

____________________________________________________________

(in Scully's version, as they look at the slides of the dead cows)

Scully: "Is there any sign of ...?"

Mulder: "Two small puncture wounds on the neck."

Scully: "I wasn't asking that."

Mulder: "Too bad. We got 'em. Check it out." (he clicks to the next slide, a close-up of two puncture marks on the side of the neck of a cow)

Scully: "Well, these may be syringe marks. Their placement meant to emulate fangs. Such ritualistic blood-letting points towards cultists of some sort, in which case... (she notices a look of bemusement on Mulder's face) What?"

Mulder: (laughs) "Yeah, that's probably it, satanic cultists. Come on, Scully."

Scully: "You're not gonna tell me you think it's that Mexican goat sucker thing."

Mulder: "El Chupacabra? No, they got four fangs, not two, and they suck goats, hence the name."

Scully: "So, instead, this would be ..."

Mulder: "Classic vampirism."

Scully: "Of a bunch of cows."

____________________________________________________________

(in Scully's version of the tale)

Sheriff Hartwell: "You really know your stuff, Dana."

(cut to present day in the office)

Mulder: "Dana?! He never even knew your first name."

Scully: "You're gonna interrupt me or what?"

Mulder: "No. Go ahead ..... Dana."

Scully: "Anyway ... that's when you had your big ... breakthrough ... whatever."

(cut back to yesterday, the examination room)

Sheriff Hartwell: "Agent Scully, you really know your stuff."

Mulder: "Sheriff, you say this man is exactly as you found him?"

Sheriff Hartwell: "Yes, sir, to the letter."

Mulder: "Have you noticed that this man's shoes are untied?"

Sheriff Hartwell: "Yeah, they sure are."

Scully: "Mulder, what's your point?"

Mulder: "This means something. Sheriff, do you have an old cemetery in town off the beaten path, the creepier the better?"

Sheriff Hartwell: "Uh, yeah."

Mulder: "Take me there now."

Scully: "Mulder..."

Mulder: "Scully, we're going to need a complete autopsy on this man, the sooner the better."

Scully: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What am I even looking for?" (she walks over to Mulder, who puts his hands on her shoulders and pulls her close)

Mulder: "I don't know." (he releases her and walks out, she smiles at the sheriff)

Scully: "He does that."

____________________________________________________________

(the autopsy, in Scully's version)

Scully: "4:54 PM, begin autopsy on white male, age 60, who is arguably having a worse time in Texas than I am ... although not by much. I'll begin with the "y" incision. (the blade falls to the floor) Yee-haw." (very unenthusiastically)

(time passes, we now watch as she plops the various organs onto a scale tray)

Scully: "Heart weighs 370 grams, tissue appears healthy. (PLOP) Left lung weighs 345 grams, tissue appears healthy. (PLOP) Large intestine... 890 grams, yadda yadda yadda."

(later, the corpse is opened up and Scully is hunched over him looking in the stomach)

Scully: "Stomach contents show last meal close to the time of death, consisting of... pizza! Topped with pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms... mushrooms... That sounds really good."

(she works the kinks out of her neck and continues)

(onscreen we see the words, "Davey Crockett Motor Court - Night" as Scully's voiceover continues)

Scully: "Having completed the autopsy I checked into the Davey Crockett Motor Court."

Mulder: "The name of it was actually the Sam Houston Motor Lodge." (the name onscreen changes to Sam Houston Motor Lodge)

____________________________________________________________

(Scully's version, after she shoots at Ronnie, saving Mulder)

Scully: "Mulder? Are you okay?" (she turns his face to her and softly slaps it to wake him up. He wakes up and starts singing)

Mulder: "Who's the black private dick who's a sex machine with all the chicks? (falsetto) Shaft! Can you dig it? They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother... (falsetto) Shut your mouth! Talkin' 'bout Shaft."

(cut to present day, in the office, Mulder bolts out of his chair)

Mulder: "I did not!"

____________________________________________________________

(Mulder's version of events, as they arrive at the funeral home)

Mulder: "That's a whole lot of caskets."

Mortician: "Largest in-stock selection in the state."

Mulder: "Why would a town with a population of only 361 need that?"

Mortician: "Repeat business. (he's the only one who chuckles) Mortician humor. Excuse me."

(he leaves)

Mulder (voiceover): "Apparently your mind was somewhere else." (Sheriff Hartwell walks in and

Scully is dazzled. In Mulder's version, though, he has massive buck teeth!)

Scully: "Hoo, boy."

____________________________________________________________

(Mulder's version, as he arrives at the hotel with mud all over him)

Scully: "What do you mean you want me to do another autopsy?! (Scully is sitting on the side of the vibrating bed, screaming and talking fast, her voice vibrating) And why do I have to do it right now?! I just spent hours on my feet doing an autopsy, all for you. I do it all for you, Mulder. You know, I haven't eaten since 6:00 this morning, and all that was, was a half a cream cheese bagel, and it wasn't even real cream cheese, it was light cream cheese. And now you want me to run off and do another autopsy? (she notices the mud) What the hell happened to you?" (Scully gets up and walks to the door)

Mulder (voice over) : "Finally ... you left."

Scully: "Don't you touch that bed."

(she slams the door behind her and the picture on the wall comes loose on the left side and swings)

____________________________________________________________

(outside Skinner's office, Scully keeps messing with Mulder's tie, straightening it)

Scully: "Mulder, please just keep reminding him you were drugged."

Mulder: "Would you stop that?"

Scully: "It wouldn't hurt."

Mulder: "Stop it." (Skinner opens his door and sticks his head out)

Skinner: "Scully, Mulder..." (they stand quickly)

Mulder: "I was drugged!"

Skinner: "I want you back in Texas. Ronnie Strickland's body has disappeared from the morgue. Apparently in conjunction with this, a coroner's been attacked-his throat was ... bitten."

Mulder: "The coroner's dead?"

Skinner: "No, his ... throat was bitten. It was sort of ... gnawed on. Daylight's burning, agents." (he goes back into his office)

Scully: "But... he was dead."

Mulder: "I noticed that."

Scully: "With a stake through his heart."

Mulder: "I noticed that, too."

____________________________________________________________

(in Skinner's office)

Scully: "Well, I can neither confirm nor deny agent Mulder's version of events which occurred outside my presence."

Mulder: "And I can neither confirm nor deny agent Scully's version of events, but, um..."

Scully: "Anyway... I was drugged."

Mulder: "That is... essentially, exactly the way it happened."

Scully: "Essentially."

 (scene fades to black, credits begin to roll)

Mulder (voiceover) : "Except for the part about the buck teeth."