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Leonard Betts
- You may be looking for the character Leonard Betts, an alias used by Albert Tanner.
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| Series: | The X-Files |
| Original Airdate: | 1-26-97 |
| Production Number: | 4x14 |
| Date(s): | FICTIONAL YEAR OR DATE(S) OF EVENTS IN EPISODE |
| Written by: | Vince Gilligan & John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz |
| Directed by: | Kim Manners |
Mulder and Scully investigate a bizarre death that may involve either the theft of a headless body or a headless body that escaped of its own accord...
Contents |
Summary
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PITTSBURGH, PA
An ambulance races through the streets, carrying Leonard Betts and his partner, who are trying to save a man who Betts diagnoses with cancer. Amazed at her partners ability, she never sees an oncoming semi, which T-Bones the ambulance and decapitates Betts. Later, in the morgue where Betts is stored, an attendant is attacked, and a man with bloody footprints is shown walking out.
MONONGAHELA MEDICAL CENTER
PITTSBURGH, PA
Mulder and Scully are ivestigating the area, going over a survaillence tape that shows a man walking out of the morgue, head obscured by interference from the camera. Also, the locker where the body was stored was opened from the inside, bloody footprints as evidence. While Mulder interogates Betts' partner, Scully decides to autopsy the severed head. When she goes to slice it open, however, its eyes open, and the mouth moves. Scully claims it is merely electrical response, but Mulder is still curious.
DR. CHARLES BURKS' LAB
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND
ALLEGHENY CATHOLIC HOSPITAL
PITTSBURGH, PA
Background InformationEdit
Canadian band Caniform recorded a song called "The Ballad of Leonard Betts" sometime around 2009.
This episode had the highest rating in the show's nine-year run.
This episode aired after SUPER BOWL XXXI.
The name 'John Gillnitz' appears here again, as the name of the man in the bar. It is a combination of the names of the writers John Shiban, Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz.
NotesEdit
For the first time in the series, it's prominently indicated that Scully might have cancer: Leonard Betts attacking her "in hunger" and her nose bleeding at the end of the episode. The first indication of Scully's cancer arises in this episode when Betts says to her "I'm sorry, but you've got something I need".
In the teaser Michelle seems genuinely surprised about Betts' diagnosis of the patient but in her talk with Mulder later, she makes it sound like it happened all the time.
The dark liquid Betts submerges himself in while regenerating his head is identified by Mulder as providone iodine, which, he tells Scully, is used by researchers to promote limb regrowth in amphibians. It is widely sold and used in hospitals as a topical disinfectant under the brand name Betadine.
Although considered harmless to human skin, it was cited in a 1975 article in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences as being capable of altering DNA in living cells and having mutagenic effects which could lead to cancer, which makes it ideal for Betts' purposes.
Betts is assigned to ambulance #208, and Scully wakes at 2:08am with a nosebleed; both possibly a reference to episode 2:08 'One Breath', where Scully is returned after her abduction.
"Will the real Leonard Betts please stand up?" This is a line from a game show called To Tell The Truth, in which a biographical sketch was given for a contestant, who was presented along with two impostors. The trio was questioned by a panel of celebrities, who then tried to pick the real person. The denouement came when the host (Garry Moore in the original run of the show) said, "Will the real John or Jane Doe please stand up?" The first version ran from 1956 to 1968, and it was revived for runs from 1969 to 1978 (again hosted by Moore), 1980-1981 (hosted by Robin Ward), 1990-1991 (hosted by Alex Trebeck) and in 2000-2002 (hosted by John O'Hurley ).
GoofsEdit
If Leonard is able to regenerate entire parts of his body, whole fibres, and bone structures from scratch, why then, didn't he regenerate his hair?
When Scully shocks Betts with the defibrillator Betts is still on top of her this means she would have gotten shocked too. That's why medical staff yell "Clear!" before they shock a person.
When Scully finds out about Betts' mother she says that "she lives right here in Pittsburgh". Nothing wrong there except that at the time they has just left Chuck Burks' lab - which is in Maryland.
Links and ReferencesEdit
Guest StarsEdit
- Don Ackerman as a Night Attendant
- Peter Bryant as a Uniformed Cop
- Sean Campbell as a Local Cop
- Jennifer Clement as Michelle Wilkes
- Bill Dow as Dr. Charles Burkes
- Dave Hurtubise as a Pathologist
- Ken Jones as a Bearded Man
- Brad Loree as a Security Guard
- Marjorie Lovett as Elaine Tanner
- Paul McCrane as Leonard Betts
- Greg Neumeyer as New Partner
- Lucia Walters as EMT
ReferencesEdit
Caniform MySpace - The Ballad of Leonard Betts
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