Episode Summary
A mail order videotape of an alien autopsy blossoms into a much more complicated investigation when Mulder and Scully find the distributor of the tape murdered in his own home apparently by a high-ranking Japanese diplomat. Following up individual leads, Scully finds herself recognised by complete strangers while Mulder tries to find out more about the origin of the video.
Part one of two
Episode Details
- Writers: Chris Carter and Howard Gordon and Frank Spotnitz
- Director: David Nutter
- Original Broadcast: AU: 01.05.1996 US: 24.11.1995
Cast
- Scully Gillian Anderson
- Mulder David Duchovny
Guest Cast
- Harbourmaster Roger Allford
- Penny Northern Gillian Barber
- Senator Richard Matheson Raymond J Barry
- Agent Pendrell Brendan Beiser
- Frohike Tom Braidwood
- Train Station Clerk Carrie Cain Sparks
- Langly Dean Haglund
- Byers Bruce Harwood
- Dr Takeo Ishimaru Robert Ito
- Lottie Holloway Corrine Koslo
- Red-Haired Man Stephen McHattie
- Coast Guard Officer Paul McLean
- Kazuo Sakurai Yasuo Sakurai
- Japanese Escort Warren Takeuchi
- Diane Lori Triolo
- Limousine Driver Bob Wilde
- Mr X Steven Williams
Quotes
Mulder: Come on in.
Scully: What are you watching?
Mulder: Something that just came in the mail.
Scully: That's not your usual brand of entertainment... What is it?
Mulder: According to the magazine ad I answered, it's an alien autopsy. Guaranteed authentic.
Scully: You spent money for this?
Mulder: $29.95... plus shipping.
Scully: Mulder, this is even hokier than the one they aired on the Fox network, you can't even see what they're operating on!
Mulder: But it does look authentic, I mean the settings, the procedures. I mean it does look as if an actual autopsy is being prepared, doesn't it?
Scully: Well technically, I don't know why they would be wearing gas masks.
Mulder: Well maybe it's because of this green substance they seem to be extracting from the subject. Can you identify that?
Scully: Olive oil? Snake oil? I suppose you think it's alien blood?
Mulder: It's widely held that aliens don't have blood, Scully.
Scully: I guess this begs the question; if this is an alien autopsy —
Mulder: — where's the alien. But what so intriguing to me is the striking lack of detail here.
Scully: Well what do you expect for $29.95?
Scully: Front door's boarded up.
Mulder: Back door's been busted open. Hope nobody let the rat out.
[Indicating mail box with the label: RAT TAIL PRODUCTIONS]
[Mulder loses his gun in a scuffle, but pulls a second from an ankle holster]
Mulder: I get tired of losing my gun.
Mulder: Ah, look at this. A beacon in the night.
[Scully turns to see Skinner entering the Allentown Police Station]
Skinner: I'm afraid you're going to have to release him.
Mulder: What are you talking about?
Skinner: According to the Japanese diplomatic corp, the man you arrested is a high ranking diplomat.
Mulder: This man sitting in here?
Skinner: If that's Kasuo Sakurai.
Mulder: Well, I didn't get his name. I was too busy getting my ass kicked.
Skinner: I suggest you keep your nose clean and head back to Washington, Agent Mulder. Before someone takes another swipe at it.
Scully: I don't know, Mulder, it just doesn't track. What would a Japanese diplomat be doing in that house, with a dead man, with his head stuffed in a pillow case?
Mulder: Obviously not strengthening international relations.
Scully: Well what do you want to do now? Drop it?
Mulder: I've paid my $29.95, Scully. I think I'm entitled to a few more answers. Don't you think so?
Scully: What are you doing?
Mulder: I just remembered a piece of evidence from the crime scene that I 'forgot' to turn in.
Scully: What are those?
Mulder: Look like satellite photos. What would he be doing with these?
Scully: What would he be doing with a list of Mutual UFO Network members in the greater Allentown area, with the name Betsy Hagopian circled?
Mulder: Maybe he's going to fit her for a pillow case too.
[Examining satellite photographs]
Langly: Just got to love them German optics.
Mulder: So you're saying that's from a German satellite?
Byers: No. The optics are German. The technology is probably ours, but the satellite is most likely Japanese.
Frohike: Launched from South America.
Mulder: Got to love that global economy, huh?
Scully: Hi. Betsy Hagopian?
Lottie Holloway: No. I'm sorry. Betsy not in right now.
Scully: Is there some way that I can get in touch with her? I'm sorry, my name's Dana Scully.
Lottie Holloway: I know you.
Scully: No, I think you must be mistaken.
Lottie Holloway: We saw you. Penny. Penny, come here.
Scully: I'm afraid I'm not who you think I am.
Penny Northern: Oh my god. She's one.
Scully: One what?
Lottie Holloway: One of us.
[Mulder finds his apartment door open and enters, gun drawn, to find it trashed. Skinner is waiting inside in the dark]
Skinner: Think they found what they were looking for?
Mulder: I don't remember giving you a key.
Skinner: I came to see you. Obviously I was late for the party.
Mulder: Yeah, I guess I should really fire my maid, shouldn't I?
Skinner: Put the gun down, Mulder. Somebody else might get hurt.
Mulder: What are you talking about?
Skinner: Kazuo Sakurai, the diplomat that you detained yesterday...
Mulder: A murder suspect.
Skinner: He didn't make his flight last night. This morning his body was found floating face down in the C & O canal. I think we can assume he wasn't diving for pearls.
Skinner: Because whatever you stepped in on this case is being tracked into my office, and I don't like the smell of it.
Mulder: Mind if I tidy up in here a bit first?
Scully: I went to go see those MUFON members to find out about that woman, Betsy Hagopian.
Mulder: And what did you find?
Scully: I found out that she's dying. Along with a lot of other women who claim to be dying too. All of them who say that they've had these implanted in them. It's the same thing that I had removed from my own neck.
Mulder: But you're fine aren't you, Scully?
Scully: Am I? I don't know, Mulder. They said that they know me. That they've seen me before. It was freaky. They know things about me, about my disappearance.
Mulder: That is disturbing. But I don't think you should freak out until we find out what this thing is.
Mulder: Scully, after all you've seen. After all you've told me you've seen. A tunnel filled with medical files, the beings moving past you, the implant in your neck. Why do you refuse to believe?
Scully: Believing's the easy part, Mulder. I just need more than you. I need proof.
Mulder: You think that believing is easy?
Scully: So you're saying that this [implant] is man made.
Agent Pendrell: What else would it be?
Scully: Let it go.
Mulder: I can't.