The X-files
Syzygy
Episode: 3X13
First aired:1/26/96
Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Rob Bowman
I loved this episode. Very interesting and funny.
High school jock Boom eulogizes his dead friend while two pretty
blond girls, Terri and Margi, offer their sympathies, saying that the
cult, who is believed to have killed the friend, is going after a
blonde virgin to sacrifice next. The next morning Boom is found dead dangling from a cliff, while Terri and Margi giggle on the
precipice above.
Mulder and
Scully argue over directions as they pull into
Comity (which means social harmony). They meet the attractive detective Angela White at a funeral service for the latest
victim. White expains that the boy is the third high school student found deat in three months. Local suspicion is that a
satanic cult is involved. Scully expresses her
skepticism, noting that most such accounts are imagined, down to Margi and Terri's referance o the sacrifce of a blond
virgin, promting the detective to storm away.
A local man, Bob, interrupts the
service, ranting about
satanism. Margi and Terri, clasp hands and Boom's
coffin begins to smoke then burn.
Mulder and Scully talk to Terri and Margi seperatly and the two give virtually identical word-for-word accounts of a
satanic ceremony where a baby was going to be sacrificed. Scully notes that the stories are too common. Checking th latest body, however, Mulder and White notice a burn mark on the chrest they think resembles a
horned beast, or a goat, though Scully doesn't see it.
Mulder goes to
White's house, apologizing for Scully's behavior while suggesting she join him to help solve the case. They take a picture of the body to an
astrologer, Zirinka, who has convinced the town has gone nuts. She attributes the happenings to a rare planetary alignment of
Mars,
Uranus, and
Mercury.
Margi and Terri watch
basketball practice, lusting after one of the guys, Scott, who has a girlfriend,
Brenda. They
shriek when another player, Eric, bumps into the table of drinks which spill on them. They chim "Hate him, hate him, wouldn't want to date him." The ball bounces behind the bleachers, and when Eric goes to retrieve it, the lights suddenly go out, the motorized bleachers retract and crush a
screaming Eric behind them.
Mulder tells Scully he was following a lead with White and she is clearly annoyed and feels that he
ditched her. They go to the woods where Bob and other townsfolk are digging up a backyard looking for a
mass grave. Scully calls this
rumor panic. The searchers find a bad belonging to the local pediatrician with bones inside. They rush to his house.
The doctor says he sold the bad and analysis shows the bones belong to a dog nammed Mr. Tippy who belonged to Terri. When Mulder makes more reference to White, Scully yells at him, labeling his conduct objectionalble and saying that she'll return to
Washington DC so that Mulder can work with White.
At a birthday party for Terri and Margi (who were born on the same day), Brenda plays
Ouija, which says she will marry Satan. Brenda rushes to the bathroom where she finds Terri and Margi chanting inside as the door slams.
In his hotel room, Mulder pathetically drinks a
screwdriver and watchs an old movie (as does Scully) that inexplicably is on the same channel. White shows up saying that her cat is missing, taking a swig of
vodka herself and forcing an uncomfortable Mulder back onto bed. She kisses him as Scully storms in, looking disguested but saying there had been another
murder.
Brenda had been impaled on mirror glass, while Scully and Mulder bicker heading to the
crime scence. Terri and Margi seek to console Scott, who rebuffs them. "Hate him" Terri says, but instead of agreeing, Margi walks away.
Mulder visits the
phsychic again, who tells him that planets come into conjunction like this one every 84 years and this year Uranus is also in the house of
Aquarius, which could spell disaster for the twon located at a
geographical vortex, culuminating when plantest perfectly align on that day, January 12, Margi and Terri's birthday. Mulder asks persues the question and she says that the people born on that day would be under the influence of a grand square when all the energy of the
cosmos would be focused on them.
Margi goes to Scott alone but Terri barges in and starts yelling. As the two square off, the room starts to vibrate and a garage-door spring shoots across the room, impaling Scott. Terri runs off. Margi calls Mulder and tells him that Terri is the killer while Terri finds Scully and tells her that Margi is the killer.
The agents bring both girls to the station where all
hell breaks loose, desks shaking and guns firing off. Mulder grabs them both and locks them in the same room. The whole building shakes but at 12:01 am, everything stops. The mob breaks into the
station demanding to see the girls but they find them huddling in the corner together sobbing. Mulder wonders about the posibility of two girls born on the same date, finding themselves the focus of
unseen forces beyound our grasp.
Gettin back in the car, Mulder and Scully speed through a stop sign and Mulder, the
passenger, is told to shut up when he protests. "Sure, fine, whatever" Mulder says, echoing Scully's comments from before.
Important Quotes:
Mulder -- "If, eh, you detect a hint of
skepticism or
incredulity in
agent Scully’s voice, that’s because of the overwhelming evidence gathered by the
FBI debunking virtually all claims of ritual abuse by satanic cults."
White -- "Is that true?"
Mulder -- "Don’t ask me…"
Mulder -- "You don’t suppose she’s a virgin, do you?"
Scully -- "I doubt she’s even a
blonde."
Mulder -- "If you detect a hint of
impatience in agent Scully’s voice, that’s because the FBI’s study also found that in most cases, like the McWarren preschool trial, witnesses were often prompted in their statements by rumors of stories that were being circulated and that there was in fact nothing to support them."
White -- "How do you explain the
burning coffin at the
funeral?"
Mulder -- "Don’t ask me…"
Mulder -- "If it’s no bother, if it’s not too big a deal, maybe you can get me a few photographs of that thing which
bears absolutely no resemblance to a horned
beast."
Scully -- "Sure, fine. Whatever."
Mulder -- "Eh, first off, I’d like to
apologize for my partner’s rude behavior, she tends to be rather rigid, but, but rigid in a
wonderful way, not like she was today. Personally, I’d like to try to keep a more open mind."
Scully -- "You weren’t in your
motel room."
Mulder -- "I went to follow up a lead with
detective White."
Scully -- "I see."
Mulder -- "You see what?"
Scully -- "Look, we’ve been working together for, what, two years now? We have different opinions, but I didn’t expect you to
ditch me."
Mulder -- "I didn’t ditch you!"
Scully -- "Fine, whatever."
Scully -- "I see no reason to pursue this case any further and not only that, I find your conduct and comportment in this
investigation not just alarming, but highly objectionable. What are you doing?!"
Mulder -- "Must be detective White…"
Scully -- "If that’s the reason we’re sticking around, that’s your
business."
Mulder -- "What? What are you talking about?"
Scully -- "Detective White."
Mulder -- "We came down here because of three unexplained deaths, detective White is just trying to solve them. She could use our help."
Scully -- "Well, you two seem to have a certain…simpatico. I’m going back to
Washington in the morning."
Mulder -- "Let me drive…"
Scully -- "I’m driving."
Mulder -- "Scully, it’s not what you think…"
Scully -- "I didn’t see anything anyway."
Mulder -- "Will you let me
drive!?"
Scully -- "I’m driv… Why do you always have to drive? Because you’re the guy? Because you’re the big
macho-man?"
Mulder -- "No. I was just never sure your little feet could reach the
pedals. (To White) Will you go with her, please? Thank you. (To Himself: ) “Big macho-man”
Scully -- "I’ve got your suspect and you’ve got mine. Why does that make sense to me at this point?"
Mulder -- "Eh, Scully, if I’m not mistaken, we’re gonna be taking a left up here... Eh, there’s an intersection up here, you’re gonna wanna... (Scully doesn't stop for the stop sign) Scully! You’re gonna, wanna... ! You just…. ran a
stop sign back there, Scully."
Scully -- "
Shut up, Mulder."
Mulder -- "Sure, fine, whatever."
Back to The X-files: Season 3