Mulder: You can believe what you want to believe, Scully, but you can’t hide the truth from me because if you do, then you’re working against me … and yourself. I know what you’re afraid of. I’m afraid of the same thing.
Written by: John Shiban
Directed by: James Charleston
Original Air Date: May 4th, 1997
Principal Setting: Angie’s Midnight Bowl Wasington, D.C.
Episode Summary:
Mulder and Scully investigate a series of deaths,around the vicinity of a bowling alley, after reports that people are seeing the victim’s ghosts right before they get their throats slit. All the victims are young women, and the most recent murder is discovered when the bowling alley manager sees a premonition of a girl stuck at the end of one of the alleys. When Mulder pours soda on the bowling alley floor it reveals the message ‘she is me’.
Harold Spuller, an autistic assistant at the bowling alley, may have some connection as he is discovered to appear to be stalking these women and has memorized their bowling scores. Authorities feel he is the prime suspect, although Mulder begins to believe there is some kind of psychic connection between him and the victims. Scully has a disturbing encounter with one of the ghosts as she tends to a nose bleed in the bathroom. It tests the trust that has been built between Mulder and Scully as she hides this from him.
Personal Commentary:
This is a similar episode to Season One’s “Roland”, where an autistic character has special abilities, but this one is more interesting due it having a better mystery and Scully discovering she struggles with being honest with Mulder. After she goes through a counseling session she realizes she just wants to impress Mulder which hinders here being transparent with him. Pretty good stand alone episode, made better with solid character development.
Episode Grade: C+
Favorite Scene:
I wonder if this only took one take like his basketball shot in “Paper Hearts”
Fun Facts:
- Sydney Lassick plays someone similar to his memorable role of the unstable but good-hearted inmate of a mental institution that he played in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, here as Chuck Forsch, then as Charley Cheswick. Notably, he’s the fourth and last actor who played a patient in Milos Forman’s movie who also performed in “X-files,” after Brad Dourif, Vincent Schiavelli and Michael Berryman.
- The Thunderbird Bowling Center, where the bowling alley scenes were filmed, insisted that the bowling surfaces be preserved. To comply, the production staff were forced either to wear bowling shoes or to wear makeshift “paper booties” on their feet.
Faces You May Recognize:
- Sydney Lassick is most famous for playing a similar character he plays in this episode, Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
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