“Unrequited” – Season 4 Ep. 16

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Scully: Mulder, the government is not about to sacrifice the lives of ranking military officers just to discredit us.

Mulder: Discrediting us in this case is only secondary.

Scully: Secondary to what?

Mulder: To maintaining their secret policy of denial about POW’s, which required silencing the men who made that policy.

Written by: Howard Gordon & Chris Carter

Directed by: Michael Lange

Original Air Date: February, 23rd, 1997

Principal Setting: Washington, D.C.

Episode Summary:

AD Skinner assigns Scully and Mulder to look into the murders of several Army generals who were killed when they presumably alone. Mulder’s theory is once again spot on when he thinks the killer is a Vietnam veteran who has returned from the dead to take revenge on those who left American POWs behind.

When he enters the Pentagon security, the cameras are able to pick him up but the guard sees nothing. He begins to elusively kill off each general one by one as he leaves a playing card depicting a skull and bloody swords before he murders them. It becomes imperative that the FBI stop him from killing his next target, Major General Benjamin Bloch, at a Vietnam memorial event. Being able to see him before he takes the Major General’s life is another story.

Personal Commentary:

This episode is similar to the Season 3 “The Walk” military ep where the threat is somehow invisible or always somehow in your blind spot. The premise is a bit of stretch, and it turns into just a POW wanting revenge on the military leaders who abandoned him and the other POW’s in the Vietnam War. This revenge plot from an invisible spirit or ghost has been done too many times in previous episodes to be interesting, and this one doesn’t do anything new to make it feel unique or imaginative.

Episode Grade: D+

Featured Video:

Fun Facts:

• Due to legal reasons, the Vietnam Memorial replica had fake names created by the sister of art assistant Kristina Lyne. These included names of the cast and crew. In addition, two of them, “Jesse R. Ellison” and “Harlan L. Hahn”, referenced noted writer Harlan Ellison and model Jessica Hahn.

Faces You May Recognize:

We’ve hit a spot in the show where there haven’t been very many recognizable faces. Call them out if you saw an actor you knew in the comments.