The X-Files - 5.

German title: Cassandra 1

Japanese title: no change

Spanish title: La Paciente X
translation: The Patient X

US Airdate: March 1, 1998

writers: Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz

director: Kim Manners

STARRING:

David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

Nic Lea as Alex Krycek

Alex Shostak as Dmitri

Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias

Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender

Max Wyman as Dr. Per Lagerqvist

Barbara Drake as Dr. Dominique Alepin

Ron Halder as Dr. Floyd Fazio

Jim Janser as Dr. Heitz Werber

Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender

Don S. Williams as First Elder

John Moore as 2nd Elder

John Neville as Well-Manicured Man

Willy Ross as Quiet Willy

Brian Thompson as Bounty Hunter

Kurt Max Runte as Ranger

Raoul Ganeen as Guard

Anatol Rezmeritsa as Commandant

Plotline

THE AGENTS SEARCH FOR ANSWERS WHEN UFO ABDUCTEES GATHER EN MASSE--AND

ARE BURNED ALIVE.

In Kazakhstan, former Soviet Union, two teenage boys watch as a UFO disappears behind a mountain top. The boys run off to tell their families, but as they sprint through the woods, they come upon an area filled with burning automobiles. A screaming man, his body ablaze, appears out of the dense smoke, causing the boys to run. One of them, Dmitri, takes refuge in the woods. The next morning, he is discovered by Krycek, who is in the company of a unit of Russian soldiers. With the boy in custody, Krycek and his men approach Maria Covarrubias, who, along with U.N. troops, is sifting through the burned out wreckage. Krycek tells Maria he knows who she works for--and to tell her superiors he has a witness (Dmitri).

Back in the United States, Mulder takes part in a visiting lecturers forum. He disagrees with the opinions voiced by his fellow panelists regarding a woman referred to as "Patient X," an apparent

abductee who seeks answers as to why aliens are on Earth. Mulder maintains that there is no complicity between the military and alien abductions. Instead, he believes the government is developing biological warfare and hiding the fact by concocting stories about "little green men." When the discussion ends, Mulder is approached by Dr. Werber, the man who performed regression hypnosis on him five years earlier (leading Mulder to believe his sister was abducted). Werber reveals that he is Patient X's doctor. He arranges a meeting between Mulder and the woman, Cassandra, believing that she will change his mind regarding his new theory. Cassandra believes the aliens are on Earth to deliver a message. But something, she fears, has gone wrong.

Krycek extracts information from Dmitri by subjecting him to a beating. He then orders a Russian doctor to expose the teenager to the alien black oil. The liquid enters Dmitri's body through his mouth and nose. Dmitri, his eyes and mouth sewn shut, is then transported back to the US on a Russian freighter. Meanwhile, Covarrubias briefs Syndicate members on the mysterious burn site in Kazakhstan. Covarrubias believes the act was aimed at the Syndicate, and reveals that Krycek captured a witness at the site. Krycek phones the group and offers to trade Dmitri for all research information pertaining to a vaccine against the black oil.

At the FBI building, Scully is approached by Agent Spender, who identifies himself as Cassandra's son. Spender tells Scully that his mother is a very disturbed woman. Later, Scully tells Mulder about the conversation. She then peruses Cassandra's medical file, growing intrigued when she realizes Cassandra claims to have been abducted at Skyland Mountain, the same site where Scully was taken by Duane Barry. The file also reveals that Cassandra has an implant in the base of her neck. Mulder brushes off the findings, agreeing with Spender's conclusion. But so intrigued is Scully by the developments that she pays Cassandra a visit at the psychiatric hospital. There, she grows unnerved when Cassandra tells her that some nights she awakens feeling as though she must be somewhere, but not knowing where to go.

Meanwhile, a group of abductees gather at Skyland Mountain. As an Unknown Man drives down the mountain road, he encounters faceless men chasing another man. One of the faceless men drives a metallic wand into the Running Man's back, setting him ablaze. Later, Mulder and Scully inspect the site. The situation forces Scully in the opposite position she would normally take, for despite a lack of evidence, she believes the event is linked to her abduction. The agents are contacted by Cassandra, who warns "they" must be stopped. The agents are then approached by Spender, who explains that his mother was part of a UFO cult.

Back at the Syndicate office, group members conclude that the latest burning is aimed at sabotaging their work. Quiet Willy is dispatched to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, Covarrubias rendezvous with Krycek at the freighter, which is docked in New York Harbor. The two share a hungry kiss, then exit so they can be alone. When Krycek returns, Dmitri has vanished. The Well-Manicured Man appears, demanding to know where the boy has gone.

After examining the evidence, Mulder concludes the victims of the mass burning were led to Skyland Mountain by the government when it triggered the implant devices. But he is at a loss to explain why they were killed. Their conversation is interrupted by a call from Covarrubias, who informs Mulder of the similar incident in former Soviet Union, and of the witness, Dmitri. Suddenly, the black oil oozes from Dmitri, and Covarrubias drops the phone.

Scully suffers an attack--not unlike the one Cassandra described earlier. She travels to Ruskin Dam, where a throng of people have gathered, including Cassandra, in the company of Quiet Willy, and Dmitri, the stitches having been torn from his eyes and mouth. A glowing ship passes overhead and disappears over adjacent treetops. Suddenly, screams are heard from the far edge of the congregation, where faceless men wielding alien weapons set people ablaze.

To Be Continued...

Notes

Not finished, as you can see, I'll update soon, thank you for your patience.

Quotes

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(Mulder's opening voiceover)

Mulder: "Before the exploration of space, of the moon and the planets, Man held that the heavens were the home and province of powerful gods who controlled not just the vast firmament, but the earthly fate of Man himself and that the pantheon of powerful, warring deities, was the cause and reason for the human condition. For the past and the future, and for which great monuments would be created on earth as in heaven. But in time, Man replaced these gods with new gods and new religions that provided no more certain or greater answers than those worshipped by his Greek or Roman or Egyptian ancestors. And while we've chosen now our monolithic and benevolent gods and found our certainties in science, believers all, we wait for a sign, a revelation. Our eyes turn skyward ready to accept the truly incredible to find our destiny written in the stars. But how do we best look to see? With new eyes or old?"

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Krycek: "You tell them to kiss my American ass."

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Dr. Fazio: "You think she's lying?"

Mulder: "No, I don't think she's lying. I think that if you prepare people well enough to believe a lie, they will believe it as if it were true. And if you tell them a really big lie, like there are aliens from outer space, much more than a small one, they will believe in it. And if you suggest these aliens are doing bad things to them, the power of the suggestion will be to make people believe that psychopathologies and neuroses they're suffering from can be attributed to that."

Dr. Lagerqvist: "Mr. Mulder... Agent Mulder, she has physical ailments."

Woman: "Are you discounting any belief in the existence of extraterrestrials?"

Mulder: "No. I just question mindless belief."

Fazio: "But you've cited evidence. You've made claims yourself."

Mulder: "What I've seen, I've seen because I wanted to believe. I... If you look too hard, you can go mad, but if you continue to look, you become liberated. And you become awake, as if from a dream, realizing that--that the lies are there simply to protect what they're advertising: A government which knows its greatest strength is not in defense, but in attack. It's strongly held by believers in ufo phenomena that there is military complicity or involvement in abductions, but what if there is no complicity? What if there is simply the military, seeking to develop an arsenal against which there is no defense: Biological warfare, which justifies--in their eyes--making an ass out of the nation with stories of little green men--a conspiracy wrapped in a plot inside a government agenda."

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Dr. Werber: "You seem to have abandoned something you believed so completely. In spite of what I know about you from our work together--the memories I helped you recover about the experience with your sister."

Mulder: "Well, I've come to distrust a lot of things. I've--I've come to distrust those memories."

Werber: "I'm sorry."

Mulder: "For what?"

Werber: "I've taken a lot of criticism for my work with alien abductees, and in the field itself. The regression hypnosis work I did with you..."

Mulder: "I'm not questioning your methods, Dr. Werber. I'm questioning myself, and how I was tricked, how I was led to believe through an elaborate staging of events that my sister had been abducted."

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(newspaper headline reads, "All this conjecture about little green men--false, dangerous, delusional. Panelist Fox Mulder")

Scully: "Shouldn't that be my picture next to the headline? Or is that just you having a little fun?"

Mulder: "Do I look like I'm having fun, Scully?"

Scully: "You look constipated, actually."

Mulder: "That makes sense. I've had my head up my rear end for the last five years."

Scully: "This wouldn't have anything to do with Cassandra Spender?"

Mulder: "Cassandra Spender is living proof that the truth I've so boldly sought for the last five years is the truth of a madman."

Scully: "How's that?"

Mulder: "One more anal-probing, gyro-pyro levitating-ecoplasm alien antimatter story, and I'm gonna take out my gun and shoot somebody."

Scully: "Well...I guess I'm done here. You seem to have invalidated your own work. Have a nice life."