The X-files
Memento Mori
Episode: 4X15
First aired:2/09/97
Written by:Chris Carter, Frank Spotniz, John Shiban, and Vince Gilligan
Directed by: Rob Bowman
A very important episode in the X-files mythology.
Scully shows
Mulder an
MRI x-ray indicating a
cancerous mass has been detected on
the wall between her
sinus and
cerebrum. The tumor is inoperable and if it grows, the
chance for survival is slim. Instead of requesting a
leave of absence, Scully opts to
follow another avenue of investigation: contacting a group of purported
female
abductees who experienced
similar symptoms after having implants removed from the
base of their necks.
The agents travel to the home of
Betsy Hagopian in Allentown,
Pennsylvania where
Scully had met these women before. A realtor informs them that
Hagopian (one of the
female abductees) passed away two weeks earlier. While searching through Hagopian's
house, the agents realize someone is
downloading computer files via phone modem.
The call is traced, and the agents apprehend Kurt Crawford, the man who downloaded
the files. Crawford explains that he and Hagopian were both members of the same UFO
network and downloaded Hagopian's files because the
government is out to destroy
them. Crawford also reveals that all of the women who claimed they were abducted by
aliens died of similar
tumors, with the exception of
Penny Northern, who is now
hospitalized and near
death from cancer.
Scully visits Northern at the
hospital, who reveals that Dr. Scanlon, who has been
treating her cancer, may have
isolated the cause. Seeing her future self in Penny's
condition, Scully checks herself in and Dr. Scanlon begins treating her cancer.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Crawford search through hard files in Hagopian's
basement.
They discover that all of the woman abductees, including Northern, were treated at the
same
fertility clinic in Pennsylvania. When Scully asks Mulder to bring her
overnight
bag to the hospital, Mulder leaves Crawford in the basement to attend to Scully. Later
that evening, the
Gray-Haired Man (the same man who killed X) shows up and kills
Crawford, whose body melts into a pool of green liquid.
Meanwhile, Mulder breaks into a federally-subsidized fertility
clinic where all the female
UFO network memmbers were patients. Inside, he discovers Kurt Crawford (Mulder is
unaware of the other Crawford's death). They access a computer
terminal and download
a directory containing Scully's name. Near the breaking point, Mulder demands that
Skinner arrange a meeting with
The Cigarette-Smoking Man. But Skinner refuses,
insisting The Cigarette-Smoking Man deals only in lies. Nonetheless, Skinner secretly
enlists The
Cigarette-Smoking Man's help.
Mulder turns to
the Lone Gunmen, who tell him that the fertility clinic's mainframe is
housed in a
high-security federal research facility. The
foursome infiltrate the research
facility, and once inside, Mulder realizes Dr. Scanlon is on staff. He instructs Byers to
find Scully and stop her treatment
immediately. As he continues through the building's
corridors, Mulder encounters additional Crawfords and realizes Kurt is a
clone. He finds
several of them dressed as doctors inside an incubator room housing tanks containing
human forms, including those of
Samantha. One of the Kurts shows Mulder a cold
storage room containing vials of human
ova--including a
vial with Scully's name on it.
The eggs were harvested from women during their
abduction, which were later used for
reproduction. Mulder realizes the women are the Kurts'
birth mothers and the clones are
actually working to save their mothers' lives.
The Gray-Haired Man arrives at the clinic and traps Mulder between two
security doors
in a quarantine wing. The Gray-Haired Man opens fire, slowly cracking the
bullet proof
glass that stands between himself and his prey. Working feverishly, Frohike breaks a
computer code from a
remote location, allowing Mulder to open the outside door and
run to safety.
When Mulder returns to the hospital, he finds Scully at Penny's bedside. Byers arrived in
time to stop Scully's treatment, but Penny Northern had died and Dr. Scanlon was gone.
Scully tells her partner she has decided to
fight the disease and continue her work.
Important Quotes:
Scully (over voice) -- "For the first time I feel time like a
heartbeat, the secnds pumping in my breast
like a
reckonging; the numinous mysteries
that once seemed so distant and unreal
threating clarity
in the presence of a truth
entertained not in youth, but only in its
passage. I feel these words as if their
meaning were weight being
lifted from me.
Knowing that you will read them and share
my
burden as I have come to trust no other.
That you should know my heart, look into it,
finding there the memory and
experience
that belong to you, that are you is a comfort
to me now as I feel the tethers loose and the
prospects
darken for the continuance of a
journey that began not so long ago and which
began again with a faith
shaken and
strengthened by your
convictions if not for
which I might never have been so strong
now as I cross to face you and look at you
incomplete, hoping that you will forgive me
for not making the rest of the
journey with
you.
Mulder(giving Scully flowers) -- "Scully? I uh, I . . . stole these from
some guy with a
broken leg down the hall.
He, uh, won't be able to
catch me."
Mulder -- "Going through some of those hard
files before stuff starts
disappearing and call
me an
early bird but I think I found
something."
Scully -- "I think we both know that . . . right
now,
the truth is in me. And that's where I
need to pursue it,
as soon as possible."
Mulder (to Skinner) -- "They've taken a turn.
A pretty big
U turn by the looks of it. This is
a file
directory from a federally operated
fertility clinic.
Agent Scully's name is on this
file. Although I'm pretty sure,
pretty damn
sure she's never undergone
treatment for
infertility."
Mulder -- "pick out something
black and
sexy and prepare to do some funky
poaching."
CSM -- "You think
I'm the devil,
Mr. Skinner?"
Scully (in her diary) -- "Mulder, I hope that in these
terms
you might know it and know me. And if the
darkness should have swallowed me as you
read this, you must never think there was the
possibility of some secret
intervention -
something you might have done. And though
we've
traveled far together, this last distance
must necessarily be traveled alone."
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