Season 2, Episode 25: Anasazi

Synopsis

A Navajo boy finds a buried metallic object and an alien corpse in the New Mexico desert. The Thinker, a member of The Lone Gunmen, manages to hack into the "MJ documents" in a defense department network. Cancer Man and his friends are not pleased. The Thinker gives Mulder what he got: Defense Department files on UFO intelligence, written in Navajo.

Meanwhile, some odd violent incidents have been happening, including Mulder's neighbor shooting her husband and Mulder scuffling with Skinner in the hallway. Cancer Man visits Mulder's father, who is a little worried about the UFO files since his name shows up in them. Scully is nearly killed when someone shoots through Mulder's window (on which he has put the signal to meet with Mr. X). Mulder's father, who used to work in the state department, seems about to let Mulder in on a few secrets, but is shot and killed by Alex Krycek.

Scully warns that given Mulder's recent behavior, he might be suspected in the death. Mulder begins to distrust Scully when she takes his gun to run a ballistics test. Mulder captures Krycek, but he escapes when Scully shoots Mulder as a way of making sure his name can be cleared. Scully also finds that the water in Mulder's apartment building has been drugged, leading to the violent incidents. The two travel to New Mexico to meet with a Navajo code talker. Scully reveals that her name is in the UFO files, near Duane Barry's, in reference to a test.

Mulder is taken to the buried object, and receives a call from Cancer Man, who says Mulder's father authorized the project and that if Mulder exposes it he'll only be exposing his dad. The object turns out to be a buried boxcar full of alien bodies. He's still there when Cancer Man arrives by helicopter with some soldiers, who can't find Mulder inside. The boxcar is torched on Cancer Man's order. To be continued...

Chris Carter, creator/director/producer/writer/guru of The X-Files and the associated series Millenium and The Lone Gunmen, appears in an uncredited role as an agent. Renae Morriseau, who I overlooked in her "Shapes" role and who plays Josephine Doane here, played Ellen Kenidi in North of 60.

Episode Body Count

Alien corpse: found by a Navajo boy named Eric Holsteen.

Bill Mulder: shot and killed by Alex Krycek in the bathroom of his home on Martha's Vineyard.

At least 20 alien bodies: Mulder describes them as "stacked floor to ceiling" in the boxcar. It's a pretty good-sized pile, so I'd say there's at least 20 there.

Humans: 1
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 21

Season Total

Humans: 323
Creatures: 19
Aliens: 35

A much worse season for humans and aliens, though creatures only increased by nine.

Cumulative Body Count (49/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 504
Creatures: 29
Aliens: 44

Grand Total: 577

Season 2, Episode 24: Our Town

Synopsis

George Kearns, a poultry inspector with the Chaco Chicken plant in Arkansas vanishes after trying to get a roll in the hay; Mulder notes the sighting of a foxfire, a burn mark in a field, and a deranged man found in 1961 in the same town. The local authority, Sheriff Arens, helps the agents with the case. Mulder finds that the inspector wanted to shut down the plant for various violations.

Paula Gray, the woman Kearns was chasing, is killed after holding the plant's floor manager at knifepoint after experiencing hallucinations. Gray is the granddaughter of the company's owner, Walter Chaco; Scully finds that she was suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, characterized by spongelike holes in the brain. Gray is also apparently 47 years old, though she doesn't look it.

More people come down with the disease, despite the fact that it's supposed to be very rare. Several sets of bones are found in a river that serves as a runoff from the plant, and Mulder suspects that the townspeople are using cannibalism to prolong life. Scully is kidnapped (again?!?) and brought to a cannibalistic ritual. Chaco berates the group for turning on their own with a separate murder, and ends up getting killed. Mulder comes to the rescue, and Arens is found to be the grand executor. Chaco Chicken is shut down, and Scully finds that Chaco was shot down during World War II and spent some time with a cannabalistic tribe. He was 93 years old, though he certainly didn't look it.

Timothy Webber, who I overlooked from his appearance in "Tooms," played Jerome in Men in Trees and Harris Miller in North of 60. Gabrielle Miller, here playing Paula Gray, recently had a long run on the show Corner Gas.

Episode Body Count

George Kearns: axed in a ritual ceremony.

Paula Gray: shot and killed by Sheriff Arens after holding the Chaco Chicken floor manager hostage.

At least eight people: Scully isolates at least nine victims from the bones found in the river, including Kearns.

78 more people: Scully says 87 people have disappeared from within a 200-mile radius of the town in the past 50 years, and are presumed dead. I'm guessing Kearns and the others found are included in that tally.

Doris Kearns: killed after trying to let Mulder and Scully know about the fishy business of the town.

Walter Chaco: beheaded by the cannibals.

Sheriff Arens: shot and killed by Mulder as he tries to execute Scully.

And just like that, again thanks to Mulder's historical research, there's another Deadliest of Season and of Show. I'm very tempted to count the chickens seen in the plant, but then I realized that I probably should have been counting the ribs back in "Red Museum." So, belatedly...

"Food doesn't count!"

Humans: 91
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (48/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 503
Creatures: 29
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 555

Season 2, Episode 23: Soft Light

Synopsis

A hotel guest dissolves into a molten pool after a man named Ray Banton accidentally places him in his shadow. Mulder and Scully look into the case with help from Kelly Ryan, a former student of Scully's who has become a detective. Mulder notes scorch marks and light bulbs that have been tampered with at the scene. Two other people have gone missing, including an engineer with Polarity Magnetics.

After observing Banton on a security tape, the agents realize that Banton was a doctor who worked at Polarity Magnetics. Moreover, his shadow was burned into the wall by an experiment gone awry. The agents find Banton at a train station, where he has been staying because no shadows are cast by the soft light. Banton says his shadow has properties similar to a black hole and dark matter, and worries that the government is after him to study it.

Ryan calls Mulder and Scully off the case, since they're on an unofficial basis, and Mulder worries that proper preparations won't be taken for Banton. Mulder calls on Mr. X for help, but he refuses; later, Mr. X tries to remove Banton from his psychiatric hospital, but Banton escapes. Mulder figures (correctly) that he'll go to Polarity Magnetics. After killing Ryan with his shadow, Banton tries to destroy himself with the magnetic accelerator but is betrayed by his former business partner. In the end, he is captured by Mr. X and subjected to government tests.

Tony Shalhoub, as Dr. Ray Banton, became fairly famous and has had a number of roles including Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and Adrian Monk on Monk. Steve Bacic, here in a bit role as a police officer, played Telemachus Rhade on Andromeda.

Episode Body Count

Patrick Newirth: melts into a briefly glowing pool and scorch mark after getting caught in Banton's shadow.

Gail Anne Lambert and Margaret Wysnecki: two other "missing persons" who are said to have met their ends in the same way.

Two police officers: get shadowized after trying to arrest Banton.

Two men: destroyed while trying to move Banton from the hospital.

Kelly Ryan: deliberately ionized by Banton when she tries to arrest him.

Dr. Chris Davey: executed by Mr. X. His body destroyed by the magnetic accelerator as a decoy.

Humans: 9
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (47/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 412
Creatures: 29
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 464

Season 2, Episode 22: F. Emasculata

Synopsis

A scientist with a biodiversity project in Costa Rica is infected with a disease he finds in a dead warthog; a Virginia prison is also infected after someone sends one of the warthog's legs to an inmate. Two convicted murderers, Steve and Paul, escape the prison, raising concerns that they will further spread the disease. Steve starts to show signs of infection as he and Paul travel to Paul's girlfriend's house. Steve dies soon after, and Paul manages to evade a police raid.

Scully finds that the package was sent by Pinck Pharmaceuticals, a huge drug manufacturer, and that there is an insect in a boil on one of the bodies. Dr. Osbourne, the prison physician, reveals that he works for Pinck and that the F. emasculata parasitic insect helps spread the disease through erupting pustules. Mulder finds that Paul, who has since become infected, will be taking a bus to Toronto.

Scully begins looking for a treatment with Osbourne, but Osbourne dies and the situation at the prison is controlled when the bodies are destroyed. Scully tells Mulder that Paul is the last proof of a conspiracy; Mulder tries to get Paul to tell him what was on the bus, but Paul is killed by federal agents. Mulder says Pinck was using the prisoners as test subjects to cirumvent FDA trials, but ultimately has no proof; the infection is blamed on postal error, as the package was sent to a prisoner with the same name as the scientist.

Dean Norris, who played U.S. Marshal Tapia, currently plays Hank on Breaking Bad.

Episode Body Count

Warthog: Dr. Robert Torrence finds the animal covered with boils and insects.

Dr. Robert Torrence: dies after exposure to the disease in the warthog.

10 prisoners: Dr. Osbourne says 10 of the 14 prisoners infected have died.

RV driver: murdered by Steve and Paul when he and his family stop at a rest area.

Steve: dies of infection from the disease.

Dr. Osbourne: dies of infection from the disease.

Paul: shot and killed by federal agents.

Humans: 15
Creatures: 1
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (46/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 403
Creatures: 29
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 455

Season 2, Episode 21: The Calusari

Synopsis

A young boy, Teddy Holvey, is killed at a Virginia amusement park as his brother, Charlie, watches unemotionally; Mulder suspects poltergeist activity after a ghostlike image shows up in a photo taken shortly before the incident. Scully observes Charlie, having a symbol drawn on his hand by his grandmother, Golda; Scully also find that both boys have had a significant medical history since Golda moved in. The boys' father, Steve, says Golda initially forbade his marriage, believing him to be a devil.

Scully thinks the case is one of "Munchausen by Proxy," where a guardian brings harm to a child by inducing illness and often views the child as evil. Steve is killed by an apparent garage door malfunction, and Golda is killed after locking herself into a room with Charlie and attempting to kill him. Charlie blames the incidents on Michael, his stillborn twin brother, and his mother notes how she failed to perform a ritual of separation as Golda wanted.

After Charlie is hospitalized, Michael knocks out a nurse and goes home in his stead. The Calusari, who have been conducting rituals with Golda and are responsible for keeping an observance of sacred rites, perform the rite of separation on Charlie and Michael is vanquished as he tries to kill Scully. One of the Calusari warns Mulder that Michael's spirit can now recognize him.

Kay E. Kuter, who plays one of the Calusari and died in 2003, played Newt Kiley in the 1960s sitcoms Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.

Episode Body Count

Teddy Holvey: a two-year-old child who is struck and killed by an amusement park train after following a balloon onto the tracks.

Steve Holvey: strangled when his tie is caught in the garage door mechanism.

At least two roosters: used by Golda for her rituals.

Golda: though officially dies of a heart attack, she is actually torn up by two roosters that Michael sics on her.

Michael: Charlie's twin, was stillborn.

Humans: 4
Creatures: 2
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (45/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 388
Creatures: 28
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 439

Season 2, Episode 20: Humbug

Synopsis

Mulder and Scully travel to Florida to investigate the death of a circus "Alligator Man" who is attacked and killed in his pool; tracks that may be simian are found near the site, and dozens of other murders with a similar massive wound to the side have occurred in the past. The agents take up lodging in a motor park populated by several former circus hands, including an alcoholic man named Lanny with a human-like deformity on his side.

Of particular interest to Mulder and Scully are Dr. Blockhead, who crashed the Alligator Man's funeral, and his mute jigsaw-tattooed partner The Conundrum, who Mulder sees eating a raw fish after emerging from a river. Meanwhile, two other murders occur and Dr. Blockhead is arrested. However, Scully realizes that Lanny has an internal twin, Leonard, who can detach himself; Lanny admits Leonard is responsible for the attacks, and is apparently seeking another brother.

The agents try to track down Leonard, who has escaped. Leonard attacks The Conundrum, non-fatally, and makes his new home there; Lanny dies soon after. Dr. Blockhead and The Conundrum hit the road, with Blockhead saying that their mission will be to remind people that "nature abhors normality." When Mulder asks if ill-looking The Conundrum is all right, he speaks his only line in the episode and says it must have been something he ate.

Alix Diakun, who plays the curator, also had a role on Da Vinci's Inquest as Detective Chick Savoy and a few other X-Files roles, including the second movie. The first X-Files episode to take more of a dark humor plot, this is also looking to be the bloodiest so far, based mainly on Mulder's tab of past murders.

Episode Body Count

Jerald Glazebrook: a man with icthyosis who performs as a circus "Alligator Man" and is killed by Leonard.

47 other victims: Mulder says Glazebrook is number 48 in a series of murders that have occurred over the past 28 years in every state in the country.

Fiji Mermaid: Hepcat Helm mentions an old circus attraction that involved nothing more than a dead monkey sewed to the tail of a fish; two animal deaths, I say!

Hepcat Helm: a funhouse artist killed by Leonard.

Chang and Eng Bunker: actual historic deaths, two Siamese twins who died on the same day in 1874 of a cerebral hemorraghe and fright, respectively. I know some historic deaths will be coming up later in the series, so they should probably be game.

Mr. Nutt: a little person who runs the motor lodge.

Lanny: dies of advanced cirrhosis of the liver.

Humans: 53
Creatures: 2
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (44/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 384
Creatures: 26
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 433

Season 2, Episode 19: Dod Kalm

Synopsis

A lifeboat of severely aged sailors from a missing Navy destroyer escort, the USS Ardent, is found near an area off Norway where several unexplained disappearances of ships have occurred. Mulder thinks it may have something to do with the Philadelphia Experiments, which may have attempted to use relativistic portholes as a way of keeping warships off radar.

Mulder and Scully travel to Norway and thence to the area of disappearances, where they find the Ardent. They are marooned aboard the ship with Harry Trondheim, the captain who brought them there. They find the Ardent's captain still alive, who says there was a bright light in the sky before the ship went dead in the water. Meanwhile, everyone starts to age. Scully thinks the free radicals in their bodies and the ship might be accelerating the process if the ship is moving toward the metallic source of a meteorite, thus creating a charge.

The agents realize that the desalinated water on board the ship is contaminated, and manage to slow the aging process with untainted water from the sewer system and other sources. Scully begins to keep a journal on the proceedings, as Trondheim suggests that Mulder's condition is severe enough that he should not be helped. Trondheim locks himself in the sewage hold with the remaining water, an action that dooms him after the corroding Ardent begins to take on water. Mulder and Scully are rescued by a search party shortly before the Ardent sinks, and Scully's journal helps in their medical treatment.

John Savage, who plays Harry Trondheim, has had numerous other roles including Donald Lydecker in Dark Angel, Father Andrew Hagen in The Godfather: Part III, and the voice of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. David Cubitt, who plays the Ardent's captain, has had roles as Jack Larkin on Traders and Detective Lee Scanlon on Medium. Lt. Richard Harper is played by Dmitry Chepovetsky, who also played Bob Melnikov on ReGenesis.

Episode Body Count

17 Ardent crewmen: the lifeboat that is recovered has 18 crewmen, but only one survives after the rescue.

Six other crewmen: visible when Mulder and Scully examine the ship.

Halverson: dies after he is attacked by Olafsson, a Norwegian pirate.

Captain Barclay: dies of extreme aging.

Olafsson: murdered by Trondheim.

Harry Trondheim: drowns after the Ardent starts to sink.

Humans: 27
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

All told, the body count on this episode should probably be a lot higher. Aside from the Ardent crew, which likely has significantly more people than the 25 mentioned above, Mulder says that a British battleship, six Soviet minesweepers, and two other vessels have disappeared in the 65th Parallel. Still, the deaths above are the only ones that can be confirmed.

Cumulative Body Count (43/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 331
Creatures: 24
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 378

Season 2, Episode 18: Fearful Symmetry

Synopsis

Some unseen force tramples property and a construction worker in Idaho; an elephant shows up on a road somewhere nearby, and dies soon after. Investigating the worker's death, Mulder concludes that an invisible elephant is really the only explanation for the construction worker's death. Willa Ambrose, a naturalist and head of the zoo the elephant escapes from, is attempting to improve the zoo's conditions, which have earned the contempt of an animal rights group. Ambrose is also fighting a lawsuit to keep a gorilla named Sophie from being returned to Malawi.

The Lone Gunmen tell Mulder that the zoo is known for strange disappearances, and isn't far from a UFO hotspot. An activist is killed by an invisible tiger shortly after he sees a brilliant flash of light. The zoo's funding is cut after the tiger shows up at a construction site and has to be put down. Meanwhile, the animals that have disappeared and reappeared are found to be inexplicably pregnant; Mulder suspects UFOs might play a part.

Sophie is abducted soon after telling Mulder in sign language, "Man save man." She is hit by a car and killed after returning. Mulder reflects that aliens might be seeking to conserve animals to protect them from humans, and wonders if man can save man.

Jayne Atkinson, who plays Willa Ambrose, went on to play Karen Hayes in 24.

Episode Body Count

Construction worker: trampled by an invisible elephant.

Ganesha: an elephant that dies after apparently running herself to exhaustion

Animal rights activist: mauled by an invisible tiger.

Tiger: shot and killed by zoo employee Ed Mecham after showing up at a construction site and trying to attack Ambrose.

Kyle Lang: evidently killed by Ed Mecham after walking in while Ed was taking Sophie away from the zoo. Ambrose is also implicated in his death.

Sophie: hit by a car and killed after being abducted.

Three animal fetuses: I counted an alien fetus, after all. All of the animals that died were impregnated.

Humans: 3
Creatures: 6
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (42/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 304
Creatures: 24
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 351

Season 2, Episode 17: End Game

Synopsis

A U.S. submarine in the Arctic gets a reading on what may be a craft, and is ordered to destroy it. Instead, the electronics on the sub are all shorted out, forcing the vessel to use battery power.

Scully tries to apprehend faux Mulder and instead is kidnapped, again. Samantha tells Mulder that the Alien Bounty Hunter will call offering to trade Scully for her. She also says the aliens are vulnerable to stabs to the back of the neck, though their blood is toxic to humans. Also, that the alien clones have been trying to establish a colony on Earth since the 1940s, have worked in abortion clinics for access to fetal tissue to create hybrids, and are being exterminated because the experiments weren't sanctioned and are seen as polluting the alien race.

Skinner agrees to help Mulder in the trade by setting up a sharpshooter to neck-snipe the Bounty Hunter. The plan goes awry when both the Bounty Hunter and Samantha fall off the bridge the trade takes place on. Samantha's body is discovered and found to be alien; not long after, Mulder finds that "Samantha" was one of a set of alien clones working on a biological project. They say they know where the real Samantha is, but are killed soon after by the Bounty Hunter.

Mr. X tells Mulder about the disabled submarine, which came across the Bounty Hunter's ship, as well as an attack fleet sent to destroy the spacecraft; Mulder takes off for the Arctic. Mr. X refuses to give Mulder's location to Scully, but Skinner manages to get the information and tell Scully. In the Arctic, Mulder finds that the sub has surfaced through the ice and only one crew member is still alive. Mulder deduces that he is actually the Bounty Hunter and demands to know where Samantha is; the Bounty Hunter only tells him that Samantha is still alive.

Mulder is exposed to the alien blood when he tries to kill the Bounty Hunter, who takes the sub and leaves Mulder on the ice. Back in the scene that opened the two-parter, Scully manages to convince the doctors that the cold inhibits the retrovirus from the alien blood, and Mulder makes a gradual recovery. Scully admits that the various unknowns in the case suggest the paranormal, but that ultimately her belief in scientific rationales has been strengthened.

Episode Body Count

"Samantha Mulder": dies after falling off the bridge with the Alien Bounty Hunter; her body then dissolves, thus revealing that she is an alien.

Four Samantha clones: killed by the Bounty Hunter.

Submarine crew: the Bounty Hunter kills the entire crew of the USS Allegiance by asphyxiation or execution, but no numbers are given. In the various scenes, it looks to have at least 20 people on it; the actual numbers may be much higher, but cannot be confirmed.

Humans: 20
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 5

Cumulative Body Count (41/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 301
Creatures: 18
Aliens: 23

Grand Total: 342

Season 2, Episode 16: Colony

Synopsis

A voice-over by Mulder says that what happened to him "out on the ice" has justified his beliefs. Meanwhile, he is being treated for hypothermia when Scully bursts in and tells the doctors that the cold is what is keeping Mulder alive. Mulder goes into flatline.

Two weeks before, the crew of an Arctic vessel rescues a man after a UFO plunges into the sea. This fellow, the "Alien Bounty Hunter," disappears from an Alaska hospital and begins murdering East Coast abortion doctors with identical appearances; doctors who have the same green blood we've seen before.

A CIA agent named Ambrose Chapel tells Mulder and Scully that he believes the doctors are clones introduced by the Soviet government to wreak havoc during the Cold War, and that they a Russian spy is eliminating them to cover it up. However, another doctor freaks out on seeing Chapel when the agents stop by with him, and Chapel kills him after a foot chase. Later, Scully observes Chapel, evidently a new disguise of the Bounty Hunter, destroying some biological vats that the doctor had been tending in a warehouse.

Mulder is called home to Martha's Vineyard by his parents and gets a surprise when it turns out that his sister has apparently returned. Samantha says she had no memory until recently and has been raised by a foster family...which includes aliens the Bounty Hunter is after. Scully finds four clones while investigating the trashed biological vats and sends them into protective custody. The Bounty Hunter finds them anyway. Meanwhile, Scully gets a visit from Mulder at the same time she gets a phone call from him. To be continued...

Ken Roberts, who plays the Motel Proprieter, has a few roles as an announcer, notably in The Electric Company.

Episode Body Count

Doctors Landon Prince, Dale Gayheart, and Harvey Buchanan: alien abortion doctors who are apparently murdered by the Alien Bounty Hunter.

Doctor Aaron Baker: an alien also killed by neck-stab by the Alien Bounty Hunter.

Agent Barry Weiss: apparently dies of exposure to the Alien Bounty Hunter's blood.

Dr. James Dickens: an alien murdered by the Alien Bounty Hunter in the guise of Ambrose Chapel.

Four alien clones: it is strongly implied that the Alien Bounty Hunter does them in. I'll undead them if any got away.

Humans: 1
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 9

Cumulative Body Count (40/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 281
Creatures: 18
Aliens: 18

Grand Total: 317

Season 2, Episode 15: Fresh Bones

Synopsis

A Marine private stationed at a processing center for Haitian refugees in North Carolina is killed after plowing his car straight into a tree, and his wife suspects voodoo instead of suicide. Traveling to the camp, a young boy sells a lucky charm to Scully and the camp commander tells the agents that one man, Pierre Beauvais, incited a riot recently based on voodoo that resulted in a 10-year-old boy's death. The Marine's body is replaced by a dog carcass, apparently as a warning.

Mulder and Scully get a surprise when they find the private dazed but alive and walking down a road. Meanwhile, another private tells the agents that Beauvais threatened to take the souls of the men at the camp, and is fearful of the young boy, Chester, who has befriended them. Scully is pricked with a strand of thorns hidden in the agents' car, and fails to notice that it's parked on top of a voodoo symbol. Mr. X says the commander is seeking to kill Haitians in revenge for three voodoo-related deaths in a recent U.S. incursion in the country.

More people die of apparent suicide, and Mulder and Scully find that two of the dead Marines filed complaints against the commander and the bones of one of them are in his office. The commander is found conducting a voodoo ceremony, but is stopped by Mulder and Beauvais. Scully starts to see some creepy images, but is saved by the charm. As the refugees are relocated, it is revealed that Chester is the boy who died in the riot.

Episode Body Count

Private Jack McAlpin: drives into a tree marked with a voodoo symbol after seeing strange visions. However, McAlpin returns from the dead soon after and is apparently still alive at the end of the episode.

Chester: a 10-year-old boy killed in a riot at the camp.

Manuel Guttierez: another Marine who killed himself or was murdered prior to the episode.

Dead dog: found in the morgue instead of McAlpin's body.

Harry Dunham's fiance: Dunham says she died on her wedding day and an autopsy found snakes in her stomach.

Three U.S. soldiers: Mr. X says they took their own lives during a recent intervention in Haiti, and two were in a unit controlled by the camp commander, Colonel Wharton.

Harry Dunham: Marine private, commits suicide by slitting wrists in bathtub.

Pierre Beauvais: Wharton says he cut his wrists with a bedspring, but it is more likely that he was murdered by Wharton or his men. Though he seems to return from the dead, he is still lifeless in the coffin when Scully gives it a peek.

Colonel Wharton: dies after Beauvais performs some sort of counter-curse on him. Or doesn't, but considering he's being buried alive at the end I think I can include him here.

Humans: 10
Creatures: 1
Aliens: 0

UNDEAD'D: One human.

Humans: 9
Creatures: 1
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (39/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 280
Creatures: 18
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 307

Season 2, Episode 14: Die Hand Die Verletzt

Synopsis

A routine parent-teacher meeting in New Hampshire ends oddly when the participants do a prayer to the forces of darkness. Meanwhile, a playful witchcraft ceremony in the woods ends with one teenager dead and another terrified that they accidentally summoned a demon of some sort. The faculty covers up their own occult rituals by blaming things on the devil music the kids listen to these days and such.

Mulder and Scully find plenty of odd things in the area, including a brief rain of frogs and Shannon Ausbury, a girl who tells of terrifying occult abuse from her stepfather, a member of the parent-teacher council. Mulder begins to suspect the faculty members, and Shannon's stepfather, Jim, cooperates with Mulder after Shannon is murdered and the group tries to cover it up. He says the rituals take place under hypnosis, with the children to be made aware of the religion when they come of age.

Jim is killed for his troubles, and Mulder and Scully are soon captured by the cult. Though they are about to be sacrificed, the cult members instead kill themselves, while under the control of the eerily possessed biology teacher Phyllis Paddock. The agents realize that she is behind everything, only to find that she has disappeared.

Dan Butler, who plays Jim Ausbury, had a recurring role on Frasier as Robert "Bulldog" Briscoe. Laura Harris, who played Andrea, was also Daisy Adair on Dead Like Me.

Episode Body Count

Jerry Stevens: murdered after a witchcraft ceremony goes wrong, has his eyes and heart cut out.

Mutilated 1930s teenage boy: Scully finds an account from a Nazi newspaper of a boy murdered in the same way as Stevens was.

At least six fetal pigs: passed out for dissection during a class.

Shannon's sister: Shannon says she was murdered at age eight; her mother says she died when she was eight weeks old.

Shannon Ausbury: cuts her wrists while under some sort of hypnotic control of Paddock.

Jim Ausbury: throttled by Paddock's python.

Three PTC/cult members: commit suicide while under Paddock's control.

Shannon also says she was impregnated three times and the babies were sacrificed, but Jim Ausbury claims she was never sexually abused. I'll have to leave those out of the count. This one should still be impressive, though.

Humans: 8
Creatures: 6
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (38/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 271
Creatures: 17
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 297

Season 2, Episode 13: Irresistible

Synopsis

Mulder and Scully travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota to investigate a grave that's been unearthed, with the hair and nails removed. Mulder knows that the incident isn't related to the supernatural, but thinks it a good opportunity to catch the Vikings-Redskins game at the Metrodome. When more graves are desecrated, Mulder warns that they might have an "escalating fetishist" on their hands.

The culprit, Donnie Pfaster, advances to a live victim when he kills a prostitute and desecrates her body. He also takes a shine to a young woman after landing a job as a delivery driver, and a woman in his night class...and then Scully. Meanwhile, Scully is finding it difficult to deal with the case. A fingerprint is found on the prostitute's corpse; a raid at Pfaster's apartment fails to capture Pfaster himself, and Pfaster kidnaps Scully.

More on a lucky guess than anything, Mulder and a field agent find that Pfaster's mother has a residence in Minneapolis. Pfaster is arrested in another raid, and Scully is traumatized but safe.

Bruce Weitz, who plays Agent Bocks, starred as Sgt. Mick Belker on Hill Street Blues and Anthony Zacchara on General Hospital. Jessie L. Martin, who has an uncredited role as a guard, is best known for his role as Detective Ed Green on Law and Order. Christine Wiles played Delores Herbig in Dead Like Me and Karen Kosseff in this and three other episodes.

Episode Body Count

Jennifer: a young woman whose funeral takes place at the beginning of the episode.

Catherine Ann Terle: a 21-year-old woman whose grave is disturbed.

Two more graves: Agent Bocks says that three bodies (presumably including Terle) have been desecrated in the past two days.

Satin: a prostitute who is murdered by Pfaster.

Pfaster's mother: Bocks says she died a year prior to the episode.

Humans: 6
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (37/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 263
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 283

Season 2, Episode 12: Aubrey

Synopsis

The body of an FBI agent who disappeared in 1942 is found buried in a field in Aubrey, Missouri. Mulder says the agent and his partner were known for investigating serial murders and using psychology to do so, a practice as odd as the X-Files at that time. The woman who discovered the body despite the lack of hints of its presence, a local pregnant detective named B.J. Morrow, has been having nightmares that seem to be related to the murders.

A current set of murders in Aubrey has distinct similarities to the ones in the 1940s, namely that the word "sister" or "brother" is carved in their chests. The agents question a 77-year-old man, Harry Cokely, who Morrow recognizes from her dreams and who was convicted of rape and attempted murder in an identical slashing in 1945. Though the evidence seems to point to Cokely, the agents realize that Morrow is the granddaughter of Cokely and the woman he raped; Mulder believes that Cokely's memories were passed down to her and are causing her to commit murder.

Morrow attacks her grandmother, then Cokely. Briefly holding Mulder at razorpoint, Morrow relents after Cokely dies. She is committed to the psychiatric ward of a hospital, with a court hearing over custody of her child pending.

You don't recognize Terry O'Quinn? That's John friggin' Locke from Lost! Though he's also had prominent roles in other shows, including Millenium and Alias, as well as movie roles including Old School and, hey, The X-Files. Morgan Woodward, who plays Harry Cokely, had numerous Western roles and a recurring role on Dallas as Marvin "Punk" Anderson. Sarah-Jane Redmond, in a bit role as Young Mother, played Sgt. Sheila Kurtz on Da Vinci's Inquest.

Episode Body Count

Unknown murder victim: killed and found with the word "sister" carved into her chest.

Agent Sam Chaney: disappears in 1942, found at the beginning of the episode.

Three murders: Mulder says Chaney and his partner disappeared while investigating three bludgeoning deaths of young women in Aubrey.

Verna Johnson: murdered and found in an empty swimming pool.

Tim Ledbetter: Chaney's partner; his remains are unearthed by Morrow in a basement.

Harry Cokely: dies after being slashed by Morrow.

Humans: 8
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (36/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 257
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 277

Season 2, Episode 11: Excelsis Dei

Synopsis

A nurse at a Massachusetts convalescent home is raped by an invisible man, and suspects one of the residents at the facility. It turns out that the resident is one of a set of people receiving an experimental treatment for Alzheimer's disease, and it seems to be restoring mental and physical functions. Scully says that excessive use of the medication can lead to schizophrenia, but Mulder points out that it doesn't explain the invisible aspect and suspects that the nurse is simply trying to get out of her job.

Meanwhile, several residents are taking excessive doses of the drugs, and an orderly falls to his death after being pushed out a window by an invisible attacker. Mulder finds a plot of mushrooms in the basement, and another orderly admits to giving them to residents in small amounts. He says the mushrooms are used to speak to spirits, and that the mistreatment of residents has led to anger in the spirit world. Mulder and the nurse are caught in a flooding bathroom by paranormal forces, but escape after a resident experiencing seizures from the mushroom dosage is treated. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health takes over the facility, and the residents relapse into their previous states.

Frances Bay, who plays Dorothy, is probably best known as Mabel Choate (from whom Jerry Seinfeld steals a marble rye) in a classic episode of Seinfeld. Sab Shimono, who plays Gung Bituen, has done quite a bit of voice work, including Mr. Sparkle on an episode of The Simpsons. Teryl Rothery, who plays Michelle Charters, also starred as Dr. Janet Fraiser in Stargate SG-1.

Episode Body Count

Mrs. Richardson: two nursing home orderlies say she has recently died; circumstances are unclear, but they include a face plant in a bowl of pudding.

Hal Arden: chokes to death on a pill.

Jerry Tiernan: falls to his death after being pushed out of a fourth floor window by an invisible assailant.

Upshaw: found buried in the home's basement by Mulder.

Humans: 4
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (35/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 249
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 269

Season 2, Episode 10: Red Museum

Synopsis

The son of a Wisconsin slaughterhouse worker is found 12 hours after his disappearance, wandering in his underwear with the words "He Is One" written on his back. Several similar incidents have taken place in the state, and the local sheriff suspects the Church of the Red Museum, a vegetarian commune. Mulder describes them as "walk-ins," part of a new age belief of opening yourself up to enlightened spirits; the kidnapped boy describes a similar experience.

The sheriff's son, Rick, turns out to be an active bully of the cult; after Rick's girlfriend is also briefly kidnapped, the agents find that a hallucinogenic substance has been used on her. The cult's leader is arrested as a potential suspect. An old man suggests to the agents that a bovine growth hormone used by local ranchers may be part of the rise in crime in the area.

After a plane crash kills a local doctor, the agents find that every kid who was kidnapped was also delivered by the doctor. The Crew-Cut Man shows up to murder a rancher, and then kills the sheriff's son. A peephole and a ton of videotapes are found in a hidden area in the slaughterhouse worker's house; the building's owner, Gerd Thomas, confesses to the kidnappings but not the murder. Thomas says the doctor was inoculating local kids with the bovine hormone, but Scully says the toxicology tests on the vial the doctor was carrying came back as the "purity control," and so the kids may have been test subjects for alien DNA. She also recognizes the Crew-Cut Man as Deep Throat's murderer after a chance encounter.

The kids affected are given sanctuary in the Red Museum. The agents manage to track down the Crew-Cut Man, aiming to capture him alive, but the sheriff shoots him. In her final report, Scully says the Crew-Cut Man is unidentifiable, the inoculant is determined to be an antibody of unknown origin that breaks down after a few weeks, and the Red Museum may have been a control group.

Episode Body Count

Pilot and Dr. Jerrold Larson: killed in a plane crash.

Rancher: shot and killed by the Crew-Cut Man.

Rick Mazeroski: killed by the Crew-Cut Man.

Crew-Cut Man: shot dead by Sheriff Mazeroski.

Humans: 5
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (34/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 245
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 265

Season 2, Episode 9: Firewalker

Synopsis

A team of volcanic researchers in the Cascade Mountains send out a distress call; another research station manages to pick up an image from Firewalker, a robotic volcano probe, that shows a dead seismologist and mysterious shadow. Mulder and Scully are sent to the scene, and find that the station in shambles and team members afraid of vulcanologist Daniel Trepkos, who thought up Firewalker.

Mulder becomes fascinated with Trepkos' notes stating that he may have found a new organism, while Scully wants to get the team out since they're suffering from post-traumatic stress. A team member dies after a fungus bursts from his throat, and the station goes into self-quarantine. Scully determines that the fungal spores become harmless unless they are immediately ingested or inhaled.

Mulder finds Trepkos, who has been hiding out in a volcanic chamber, and he reveals that all of the team members except him were infected when the fungus was first discovered. Scully narrowly avoids contamination herself when the last surviving team member handcuffs herself to Scully for some unknown reason. Mulder lets Trepkos go, and he and Scully enter quarantine. The volcano is sealed off, as Trepkos continues to live in hiding on the site.

David Kaye, who has a bit part as a reporter, has done a fair amount of voice work, including Optimus Prime on the animated series of Transformers (and, ironically, Megatron on other Transformers shows). Shawnee Smith, who plays Jessie O'Neil, also played Linda on Becker and Amanda in the movie Saw. Bradley Whitford (Trepkos) is best known for his role as Josh Lyman on The West Wing, but also appeared in the movies Philadelphia, Scent of a Woman, and Revenge of the Nerds II.

Episode Body Count

Phil Ericson: chief seismologist on the research team, dies of spore contamination.

Dr. Adam Pierce: strangled to death by Trepkos.

Peter Tanaka: dies of spore contamination and a very nasty throat fungus.

Jason Ludwig: shot with a flare gun by Trepkos, and subsequently set on fire to destroy the fungus.

Jessie O'Neil: dies of spore contamination.

Humans: 5
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (33/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 240
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 260

Season 2, Episode 8: One Breath

Synopsis

Scully arrives under unknown circumstances in a Washington, D.C. hospital, comatose and in critical condition. Her living will includes a condition for euthanasia under certain circumstances. The Lone Gunmen (communicating with a new hacker member named The Thinker via the Internet) say that Scully has abnormal protein chains in the blood, and that it is unlikely her body will be able to fight off the infection.

Mr. X tells Mulder to leave the matter alone after a man steals a blood sample from Scully; however, he kills the man soon after. Mulder believes the Cigarette-Smoking Man is involved in Scully's abduction, and demands that Skinner reveal where he is without success. He gets the Cigarette-Smoking Man's address through a secret message, and goes to confront him. The Cigarette-Smoking Man says Mulder can kill him, but then he'll never known the truth.

Mulder, upset over the complicity he feels in Scully's condition, tenders his resignation from the FBI. Skinner refuses to accept it, telling Mulder about an out-of-body experience he had and how Mulder is willing to look into such things while Skinner isn't. Mr. X tells Mulder that he needs to kill the people behind Scully's abduction, who will break into his apartment looking for information on Scully. Instead, he goes to visit Scully at the hospital; the next morning, she wakens, having no recollection of the events of her abduction.

First time Mulder refers to the CSM as "Cancer Man," which he'll be from now on because it takes less time to type. Melinda McGraw, who plays Melissa Scully, was Barbara Gordon in The Dark Knight.

Episode Body Count

Overcoat Man: executed by Mr. X after trying to steal Scully's blood sample.

Vietnamese boy: Skinner says he killed a 10-year-old boy in the Vietnam War after the boy walked into camp covered with grenades.

Skinner also says his squad was wiped out soon after, but no numbers are given.

Humans: 2
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (32/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 235
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 255

Season 2, Episode 7: 3

Synopsis

Mulder travels to Los Angeles, currently in the midst of wildfire season, to investigate a murder in line with a series of killings involving blood draining and smashed mirrors. He finds a blood bank night watchman drinking some of the goods and, in true vampire fashion, the suspect dies shortly after he is exposed to sunlight in confinement. Before he croaks, however, the man says two people are working with him (The Father and The Unholy Spirit) and they consume blood as a way of sustaining youth.

Mulder meets a seductive woman, Kristen Kilar, and believes she is trying to protect herself due to the presence of a blood-filled loaf of bread in her apartment. She and Mulder become romantically involved. John returns, saying he is able to do so thanks to his vampirism, and urges Kilar to kill Mulder to become like them. Instead, Kilar tells Mulder to flee. After a confrontation with the remaining vampires, Mulder is able to get away while Kilar blows up her house, killing herself and destroying the vampires.

Justina Vail, who plays The Unholy Spirit, played Dr. Olga Vukavitch on Seven Days. Perrey Reeves, who plays Kristen Kilar, also plays Mrs. Ari on Entourage.

Episode Body Count

Six murder victims: Mulder says the group leaves the same signs at their kills and have killed six people in the past year, presumably including the death in the intro.

John, The Son: burns to death after exposure to sunlight, presumably from congenital erythropoietic porphyria. Briefly UNDEAD'D, but then gets incinerated when Kilar blows up her house.

David Yung: drained by The Father.

The Unholy Spirit: staked against a peg on the garage wall after being rammed by Kilar's car and subsequently burned to death.

The Father: stabbed by Kristen and then incinerated.

Kristen Kilar: immolated after setting fire to her house to destroy the vampires.

Humans: 11
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (31/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 233
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 253

Season 2, Episode 6: Ascension

Synopsis

The title credits read "Deny Everything." Following Scully's kidnapping, Krycek says one motive for Barry's action is that he believes someone else will be abducted by the aliens if he has a buddy at the scene. Skinner tells Mulder to back off the case, since he's too close to it. Mulder, of course, doesn't follow orders. From clues in his recorded conversation with Barry, Mulder deduces that Barry is heading to Skyland Mountain in Virginia. Krycek informs his superiors of their plans and says he'll try to stall.

Mulder takes the mountain tram, aiming to beat Barry to the summit, but is stranded for a time when Krycek kills the tram operator. When Mulder finally reaches the summit, just behind the glaring lights of a UFO or helicopter, Barry is celebrating that Scully has been abducted instead of him. During the interrogation, Mulder angrily chokes Barry but grows suspicious of Krycek when Barry dies soon after Krycek speaks with him.

Mulder's theory that Barry was killed by poisoning is met with skepticism. Mr. X meets Mulder and says that any channels of appeal he has are closed, as the government conspirators have only one policy: deny everything. Mulder realizes Krycek's connection with the Cigarette-Smoking Man after finding cigarette butts in the ashtray of his car. Skinner hears Mulder's theory out: that Krycek gave away the whereabouts of Scully and Barry to orchestrate the abduction to the conspirators as a way of suppressing evidence or hindering Mulder's work. Krycek goes off the grid, and Skinner reopens the X-Files, since "that's what they fear the most."

First of a run of Scully-less episodes, figured in to compensate for Gillian Anderson's pregnancy.

Episode Body Count

Patrolman: shot and killed by Duane Barry during a traffic stop.

Tram operator: clubbed by Krycek.

Duane Barry: dies of asphyxiation; Mulder suggests that he was poisoned and the cause of death covered up.

Humans: 3
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (30/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 222
Creatures: 11
Aliens: 9

Grand Total: 242