Mulder experiences a series of vivid dreams that lead him to the discovery of the
long-buried skeleton of a murdered child. Mulder is shaken, recognizing the M.O. of serial
killer John Lee Roche, one of the first killers Mulder profiled. Between 1979 and 1990, Roche
abducted girls between the ages of 8 and 10 from their homes, strangled them, and cut a
heart-shaped piece of fabric from their clothes as a trophy. When captured, Roche
confessed to 13 murders. Mulder fears that this discovery means there are more victims
than those Roche had admitted to. When the girl is identified, it proves that Roche began his
crimes as early as 1975. Another clue from the dream helps Mulder locate where the killer
hid his trophies. He finds a total of 16 hearts, and realizes there are two more unknown
victims.
Scully and Mulder interview Roche in jail. He won’t tell them about the missing children,
and toys with their questions. Oddly, he comments that he understands why Mulder is taking
the case personally. His meaning becomes clear with Mulder’s next dream. Mulder goes
back in time to the terrifying night in 1973 when his sister Samantha was abducted–except
the creature who bursts through door is not an alien–it is Roche.
Could Roche have abducted and murdered Samantha? Mulder tries to get the truth from
Roche, who claims that he sold a vacuum to Mulder’s father before Samantha’s
disappearance. When Roche won’t answer Mulder directly, Mulder becomes enraged and
punches Roche in the face.
Scully, who witnessed Mulder’s loss of control, tries to convince him the dreams are
nothing but images from his subconscious. She is certain that Roche is only cleverly
manipulating Mulder’s emotions. Mulder always believed Samantha was abducted by aliens,
and now he doesn’t know what to believe. His fears seem confirmed when, in the basement
of his family home, Mulder discovers the same model of vacuum that Roche claimed
Mulder’s father bought for his mother.
When Skinner finds out Mulder struck Roche, he denies Mulder further access to the
prisoner. Yet Skinner is sympathetic when Mulder tells him his fears about Samantha, and
finally allows Mulder interview Roche again, as long as Scully keeps an eye on him.
Mulder finally agrees to give Roche what he had been demanding: the heart trophies he
cut out of pajamas of his victims. Now, Mulder demands to know the truth about Samantha.
Roche’s description of the night Samantha was abducted is exactly the same as Mulder
remembers. He refuses to tell Mulder if one of the cloth hearts was taken from Samantha’s
clothing. Instead, he makes Mulder choose one of the hearts at random, and tells them
where to find the body. Another body is discovered–it’s not Samantha.
When Mulder and Scully return, Roche is fully in control. Refusing to divulge anything
more unless he’s taken to the scene of the crime. Scully can’t stand to listen anymore, and
makes Mulder leave with her. She insists that Roche is playing Mulder.
Willing to risk everything to find out the truth about his sister’s abduction, Mulder makes a
difficult decision. Without notifying Scully or Skinner, he releases Roche from jail and takes
him to his childhood home in Martha’s Vineyard. Inside the house, Roche describes
everything in great detail–except, Mulder says they are in the wrong house. He has tricked
Roche by deliberately taking him to a house 6 miles away from his childhood home. Now he
now knows Roche has been lying all along. Mulder guesses that his extensive knowledge of
Roche enabled Roche to get into his head saying, “I profiled you…maybe some connection
was created between us. And through it, you pilfered my memories of Samantha.”
Mulder plans to return Roche to jail the next morning. In the
motel, he has one final dream of Samantha — and wakes up to find
himself bound in his own handcuffs with Skinner and Scully pounding
on the motel room door. Roche is missing; and so are Mulder’s
FBI badge and his gun. With Mulder’s ID, Roche tracks down the
whereabouts of Caitlin, a little girl he had spotted on their
flight to Boston. Mulder shoulders all the blame for placing Caitlin
in such horrific danger. And he admits to Scully that she was
right. Roche was just playing him.
Mulder’s knowledge of Roche pays off when he correctly identifies where Roche took the
girl. He shoots Roche to save Caitlin’s life…still plagued by the doubts Roche planted about
Samantha’s fate. With Roche dead, will Mulder ever find out the truth?
THE X-FILES “PAPER HEARTS” #4X10
Original Air Date: 12/15/96
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
MITCH PILEGGI as Assistant Director Skinner
TOM NOONAN as John Lee Roche
REBECCA TOOLAN as Mrs. Mulder
BYRNE PIVEN as Robert Sparks
VANESSA MORELY as Samantha Mulder
SONIA NORRIS as the young mother
CARLY MCKILLIP as Caitlin Ross
PAUL BITTANTE as the local cop
JOHN DADEY as the local agent
WRITTEN BY:
VINCE GILLIGAN
DIRECTED BY:
ROB BOWMAN
