Friday, July 10, 2009

Season 3, Episode 2: Paper Clip

Synopsis

In the intro, Albert Hosteen tells of the birth of a white buffalo on the day of Mulder's revival, which is seen as a powerful omen. At Mulder's apartment, the person at the door turns out to be Mulder; Skinner says the data tape is the only leverage to bring Cancer Man and others to justice. Leaving the tape behind with Skinner, the agents go to see The Lone Gunmen, who say some of the people in the photo Mulder has are from Operation Paper Clip, which brought Nazi scientists into the United States.

Cancer Man's friends are angry that the assassins have shot the wrong person, and also suspicious of his claim that he has the tape. Victor Klemper, a former Nazi who appears in the photo, says it was taken at the Strughold Mining Company in West Virginia. Skinner tries unsuccessfully to get the tape from Skinner. In West Virginia, Mulder and Scully find a ton of medical files with tissue samples...including ones on the Scully and Samantha. A huge UFO departs the facility soon after.

Mulder and Scully are attacked by gun-toting men, but manage to escape. Skinner offers a deal that will call off the hit squads against the agents. Scully, desperate to see her critically wounded sister, accepts but tells Skinner not to turn over the tape until Mulder agrees to it. Skinner finds that hitmen, including Krycek, have been staking out Melissa Scully's hospital room; he confronts them, but is knocked out and has the tape stolen. Krycek narrowly escapes an car bomb assassination attempt by his own men, though the explosion evidently destroys the tape.

The Well-Manicured Man lets the agents in on the knowledge that the government has been experimenting in alien-human hybrids, taking tissues from everyone who gets a smallpox inoculation. He says Samantha was taken as insurance so Bill Mulder wouldn't expose the project; Mulder's mother says that his father chose Samantha over Mulder for abduction. Krycek promises to make Cancer Man very famous if he even feels his presence.

Cancer Man isn't prepared to make a deal (the tape for Mulder and Scully's safety and reinstatement), since Skinner doesn't have the tape. He even hints that Skinner could easily be offed by the group. But as it turns out, Skinner has had Hosteen memorize the tape's contents and recite them to 20 other Navajo men, who can blow the lid off the project quite easily. Skinner also invites Cancer Man to pucker up and kiss his ass. Go Skinner!

Episode Body Count

White buffalo's mother: Hosteen says the buffalo dies three days after the calf refuses to drink its mother's milk.


Victor Klemper: officially dies of a heart attack. So of course he was killed on the Cancer Man's orders...

Turns out Melissa Scully wasn't dead after all. Though I find myself correct after this episode...

Humans: 1
Creatures: 1
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (51/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 507
Creatures: 30
Aliens: 45

Grand Total: 582

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