The X-Files: Schizogeny Rewatch

June 11, 2020 7:32 PM - Season 5, Episode 9

Mulder and Scully investigate a case in Coats Grove, Michigan, involving the death of a man who was found sucked down into a pit of mud and tree roots after an argument with his stepson, and a 16-year-old boy who is suspected of a murder that it seems physically impossible for him to have committed.
posted by orange swan (2 comments total)

Some interesting tidbits from the Wikia page for this episode:

When Mulder says the line, "A 16-year-old kid who's classmates lovingly refer to as Dorkweed", it is obvious that "Dorkweed" is dubbed over. From Mulder's mouth movements the original word looks like "Dickweed" or "Dickwad".

Scully's line about the town getting "400 inches of rain a day" is a reference to a comment David Duchovny jokingly made about Vancouver during his appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mulder's response "Now that's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think" made the reference particularly humorous.

Quoting John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner"), Mulder claims Kennedy said that he was a "cocktail sausage". In actual fact this is a myth, and the phrase he used is perfectly standard German. Mulder's translation of the Kennedy quote is wrong. He says the following: "You know when Kennedy told the Germans 'Ich bin ein Berliner' he was actually saying 'I am a cocktail sausage'?" A "Berliner" is not a "cocktail sausage", that would be a "wiener" (which has a similar double meaning - as it could also mean "a citizen of Vienna"). Rather, a Berliner is a German deep-fried, jam-filled dough, similar to a doughnut (without the hole). What Kennedy meant to say was "I am a citizen of Berlin", which, in German, is "Ich bin Berliner".

This is definitely a below-average epsiode. I wouldn't argue that it was *the* worst, but I might put it on a list of the ten worst. A daughter possessed by her abusive dead father and who also inherited his ability to make... trees... act on her impulses.

Holy shit was Karin Matthews a terrible therapist. You'd think she'd have learned about something called "projection" during her training, or realized that she herself needed intensive therapy. You'd also think Lisa and Bobby's parents would have realized she wasn't helping and sent them to another therapist -- to be fair, I don't know how many mental health care options there would have been in what appeared to be a smallish community. Poor Lisa and Bobby would have been better off with no therapy at all -- all she did was convince them they were victims and destroy their families. I hope Lisa has another aunt or uncle who can take her in.

The guy who kept lurking about with an axe was promisingly chilling -- loved that long shot of him at the end of an archway of trees -- but in the end he simply proved a gratuitous plot device.

I must give Mulder credit for being good at connecting with Bobby. Sullen, lazy, smart but ignorant, defiant kids like him are pretty hard to deal with, but Mulder dealt with him the way one should: intelligently, patiently, persistently, respectfully.

Mulder: [climbs a tree] Hey, Scully, is this demonstration of boyish agility turning you on at all?
posted by orange swan at 10:56 AM on June 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

Another episode in a string of... less good episodes. At least until 'Bad Blood.'
posted by porpoise at 11:35 AM on June 13, 2020