Folie à Deux

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Mulder, along with several other people, is held hostage by an office employee who is convinced that his boss is a monster who has turned several of his co-workers into zombies. When the ordeal ends, Mulder also believes (despite his initial skepticism) that the man was not simply crazy, and that the boss actually is a monster.

[edit] Summary

The boss, 'Pincus' appears to the worker in the know, and later Mulder, as a large insectoid that flickers around the edges. The stricken 'zombie' employees are fed upon by this creature through puncture wounds in the neck, and effectively 'die', although their bodies keep on going - they appear pale, listless and seem depersonalised, vacant, to the ones who can see - in other words, husks of the people they used to be. When the panicked worker takes his office hostage in order to destroy this creature, and despreately tries to persuade Mulder of the existence of the creature, one of the worker's colleagues, a zombie, gets shot in the process. Scully admits that the resulting body shows far more advanced stages of decomposition than expected. Mulder realises that the creature is aware that he knows of its existence, and attempts to target him instead of its employees.

[edit] Background Information

The title of this episode, Folie à Deux, is French for "a madness shared by two." It is a recognised psychological condition. It is most commonly encountered in hostage and kidnapping situations, where trauma and emotional stress cause the victim of the aggressor to begin to identify with, and even believe in, the aggressor's point of view or delusion.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] References

Chicago; Illinois; insectoid; Oak Brook; Washington, D.C.

Previous episode:
The Pine Bluff Variant

The X-Files
Season 5

Next episode:
The End

Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	May 10, 1998
Production Number:	5X19
Date(s):	May 10-13, 1998
Written by:	Vince Gilligan
Directed by:	Rob Bowman