Season 5, Episode 13: Patient X

Synopsis

Two boys in Kazakhstan see a light descend to earth, and follow it to find several burning vehicles. One boy is taken by a faceless man. The next day, Krycek and his cohorts take away the surviving boy, Dmitri, as a UN peacekeeping force led by Marita arrives. Krycek tells her to tell the Syndicate that "it's all going to hell." Meanwhile, at MIT, Mulder takes part in a panel discussion on alien abductions. Mulder is skeptical of some footage shown of an abductee named Cassandra Spender, and is advancing the theory suggested by Kritschgau of a government conspiracy rather than extraterrestrial life.

At his hypnotherapist's suggestion, Mulder visits Cassandra. She tells him that there is unrest among the alien races, but he isn't willing to believe it. Dmitri is taken to the Tunguska gulag, infected with the black oil, and taken away by Krycek aboard a Russian freighter. An FBI agent named Jeffrey Spender, Cassandra's son, asks Scully for help in keeping his mother low-profile. Marita tells the Syndicate that some bodies included neck implants, and they wonder if was a staging for a mass abduction prior to something on the alien timetable. Krycek calls to question the progress of a vaccine for the black oil, and says Dmitri has knowledge in their interest if they can give him something in exchange.

Scully feels a connection with Cassandra, since she was also abducted at Skyland Mountain.

Meanwhile, dozens of abductees are immolated at the mountain by a faceless man. Marita and Krycek have apparently been colluding to gain power behind the Syndicate's back, and Dmitri disappears. Mulder notes the implants in some of the corpses, and figures they may have been herded to their deaths for some reason. Scully urges him to take Cassandra's theories into consideration.

Marita, who has taken Dmitri, calls Mulder to let him know about the incident in Kazakhstan. She is approached soon after by Dmitri, who is oozing black oil. Scully accompanies Cassandra and another group of abductees, along with Dmitri and an assassin in the employ of the Syndicate, to a dam somewhere. They witness an approaching bright light, and are frightened when two faceless men approach after torching someone with the same weapon one used at Skyland. To be continued...

Veronica Cartwright, who plays Cassandra Spender, also played Lambert on Alien.

Episode Body Count

41 abductees: burned to death by some sort of biochemical reaction in Khazakhstan.

Doctor: found hung in the Tunguska gulag.

At least 20 Skyland Mountain victims: burned to death by the faceless men. Tough to see how many body bags there are, but 20 names scroll on the TV news as a partial list.

Humans: 62
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (110/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 1,321

Creatures: 88
Aliens: 57

Grand Total: 1,466