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The Field Where I Died
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| Series: | The X-Files |
| Original Airdate: | 11-03-1996 |
| Production Number: | 4x05 |
| Date(s): |
November 5, 1996 |
| Written by: | Glen Morgan & James Wong |
| Directed by: | Rob Bowman |
While investigating a cult compound, Mulder and Scully meet a female member who seems to have access to her past lives and uncover a startling personal revelation.
Contents |
Summary
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Background InformationEdit
- This episode is very similar to the Jonestown Massacre, and even references it.
- There are also similarities between the Waco massacre, with the leader named Vernon, amongst other similarities. Vernon was David Koresh's birth name before he changed it.
- When Mulder asks Scully if she would redo their four years together, Scully answers that she would do everything the same - except for the Flukeman case.
- The poem recited by Mulder at the beginning and end is taken from the poem "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning.
- Sometimes I remember... The words Mulder pronounces at the end belong to Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Prometheus Unbound."
- The American Civil War battles described through the cult member were the Battle of Missionary Ridge during the Chattanooga Campaign and the Battle of Ringgold Gap.
NotesEdit
Two personalities of Melissa were cut due to time constraints.
Parts of the set were reused in "Tunguska." You can see the same distinctive leaded window in Marita Covarrubias's apartment. Interesting because the window was so prominently featured.
Michael Massee co-starred with David Duchovny in the 1997 movie Playing God.
Kristen Cloke, playing Melissa Ephesian, is the wife of Glen Morgan, co-writer of this episode. She would later play the recurring role of Lara Means on Millennium and star as Capt. Shane Vansen in Space: Above and Beyond, the show Glen Morgan and James Wong left The X-Files in the third season to create.
Mulder and Melissa's Civil War personas Sullivan Biddle and Sarah Kavanaugh were taken from real life Civil War soldier Sullivan Ballou who wrote a now-famous (and very moving) letter to his wife, Sarah, in which he assured her that his love for her was 'deathless' and that even though he might be killed in the war, he would always be with her, he would wait for her, and that 'we shall meet again'. One week after writing the letter, Sullivan Ballou was killed in the First Battle of Bull Run. Although his references probably refer to being together in heaven, they can also be interpreted as meeting in another life, much like the X-Files episode.
GoofsEdit
When Mulder gives Melissa the picture from the Civil War he is caressing her hand. When her husband barges through the door the camera shows the shot with Mulder and Melissa with his hand on the tape recorder. When it cuts back to the previous shot he is still touching her hand.
When Melissa starts channeling the person from the Civil War she says that they hid out in bunkers for protection; but during the Civil War they weren't called bunkers yet, they were called shelters or bombproofs.
Links and ReferencesEdit
Guest StarsEdit
- Mitch Pileggi as A.D. Walter Skinner
- Doug Abrahams as Farbaugh
- Kristen Cloke as Melissa Riedal-Ephesian
- Douglas Roy Dack as Mighty Man
- Michael Dobson as BATF Agent
- Les Gallagher as an Attorney
- Anthony Harrison as P.B.I. Agent Riggins
- Michael Massee as Vernon Ephesian
- Donna White as a Therapist
ReferencesEdit
Apison, Tennessee; Multiple personality disorder; Flukeman; Temple of the Seven Stars; reincarnation; cult; American Civil War; World War II
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