Scully enters Mulder’s apartment, where a group of detectives and forensic technicians
are waiting. Detective Rempulski introduces himself, then pulls back a sheet draped over a
body lying on the floor. Scully positively identifies the victim. Later, Scully appears before a
group of FBI officials led by Section Chief Scott Blevins. During the meeting, Scully recounts
how, four years earlier, Blevins assigned her to a project known as The X-Files. She states
that the purpose of the current meeting is to report on the illegitimacy of Mulder’s work.
In flashback, a pair of anthropologists, Arlinsky and Babcock, are flown by helicopter to a
snowbound camp at the base of a mountain. Accompanied by a guide, the pair make their
way up the steep terrain. Upon reaching the summit, the men enter a cave where the body of
a gray alien is perfectly preserved in ice.
A group of guests gather at Mrs. Scully’s house for a dinner party. Amongst the attendees
are Dana’s brother, Bill Scully, Jr., and a Catholic Priest, Father McCue. Scully realize
McCue was invited by her mother for the purpose of discussing her faith at a time when
Scully’s health is at great risk due to her cancer. After dinner, Father McCue and Scully
briefly talk about her drifting from the church before their discussion is interrupted by a
phone call from Mulder. He has received information about a something that was discovered
in Canada.
Mulder arranges for Scully to meet he and Arlinsky at the Smithsonian. Arlinsky claims
that, based upon ice core samples taken from the scene, the alien body is some two
hundred years old. He asks for the agents’ assistance in verifying the alien remains. Mulder
and Arlinsky fly to the base camp, which is eerily deserted. Unbeknownst to them, a
mysterious assassin armed with a shotgun pistol has murdered the Summiteers. Upon
reaching the summit, the men discover the bodies of Babcock and a foreman. Inside the
cave is a rectangular hole where the alien body had been entombed. Later, Babcock, injured
but alive, tells the pair that he buried the alien body beneath his tent.
Meanwhile, Scully and lab scientist Vitagliano examine ice core samples taken from the
cave. Later that night, Scully returns to the Bio Lab, where she is assaulted and thrown
down a flight of stairs by an unidentified attacker. Agent Hedin matches fingerprints found on
the stairwell to a Michael Kritschgau, who works for the Pentagon’s research division. After
viewing a personnel file, Scully positively identifies Kritschgau as her attacker. Later, she
confronts Kritschgau inside a parking garage and places him under arrest. But Kritschgau
warns that if he is taken to jail, the same people who gave Scully cancer will kill him.
Mulder and Arlinsky transport the alien body to a warehouse where an autopsy can be
performed. Scully contacts her partner at the warehouse and arranges a meeting so he can
hear Kritschgau’s story firsthand. Soon afterward, the assassin, Ostelhoff, shoots and kills
Arlinsky and Babcock at the warehouse. Meanwhile, Kritschgau, who claims to have run the
Department of Defense’s agitprop arm, tells the agents that the government has been
orchestrating an elaborate hoax to divert attention away from itself. The alien corpse,
Kritschgau claims, was forged from bio-materials and frozen into place over the course of a
year. He insists Mulder was only meant to see the alien–to make him believe the lie. Mulder
counters that it is Kritschgau who is the liar. But when Mulder returns to the warehouse, he
discovers the dead bodies of Arlinsky and Babcock–and the alien specimen missing.
Shortly thereafter, Scully tells him the men behind the hoax gave her cancer all in an effort
to make him a believer in their lies. Mulder is stunned by the revelation.
Back in the current day, Scully tells FBI officials that she received a phone call from the
police department asking her to identify a body inside Mulder’s apartment. Struggling to
maintain composure, Scully reveals that Mulder died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot
wound to the head.
To Be Continued…
THE X-FILES “GETHSEMANE” #4X24
Original Air Date: 05/18/97
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
JOHN FINN as Michael Kritschgau
MATTHEW WALKER as Arlinsky
JAMES SUTORIUS as Babcock
SHEILA LARKEN as Mrs. Scully
PAT SKIPPER as Bill Scully Jr.
JOHN OLIVER as Rolston
CHARLES CIOFFI as Scott Blevins
STEVE MAKHA as Ostelhoff
NANCY KERR as Agent Hedin
BARRY W. LEVY as Vitagliano
ARNIE WALTERS as Father McCue
ROB FREEMAN as Detective Rempulski
CRAIG BURNANSKI as Saw Operator
WRITTEN BY:
CHRIS CARTER
DIRECTED BY:
R.W. GOODWIN