2X23 Soft Light
Writer: Vince Gilligan
Director: James Contner
Original Broadcast: AU: 30.08.1995 US: 05.05.1994
Episode Availability: DVD: AU CA UK US
Cast:
Special Agent Dana Scully · Gillian Anderson
Special Agent Fox Mulder · David Duchovny
Guest Cast:
Government Scientist · Forbes Angus
Second Officer · Steve Bacic
Security Guard · Craig Brunanski
Detective Barron · Nathaniel Deveaux
First Officer · Guyle Frazier
Dr Christopher Davey · Kevin McNulty
Doctor · Robert Rozen
Dr Chester Ray Banton · Tony Shalhoub
Detective Kelly Ryan · Kate Twa
Mr X · Steven Williams
Night Nurse · Donna Yamamoto
An ex-student of Scully's asks Mulder and Scully to help her with her first investigation concerning a number of disappearances with very few clues. Mulder ponders the idea of spontaneous human combustion but rethinks it when they find a man who is afraid of his own shadow.
Scully: "This is Agent Mulder."
Detective Ryan: "Hi. Thank you for coming. Heard a lot about you."
Mulder: [to Scully] "We'll talk later."
Detective Ryan: "Agent Scully, what are you looking at?"
Scully: "Uh, the heat register."
Detective Ryan: "You don't think anyone could have squeezed in there?"
Mulder: "You never know."
Detective Ryan: "Can I ask what you think may have happened?"
Mulder: "At first blush, spontaneous human combustion."
Scully: [to Ryan] "You're doing just fine." [Follows Mulder] "Having a little fun?"
Mulder: "What are you talking about?"
Scully: "Spontaneous human combustion?"
Mulder: "I have over a dozen case files of human bodies reduced to ash without any attendant burning or melting. Rapid oxidation without heat."
Scully: "Let's just forget for the moment that there's no scientific theory to support it."
Mulder: "Okay."
Mulder: "Hey Scully, can you spare a prophylactic?" [Uses latex glove to screw light bulb back into place] "What are the odds of that, huh?"
Scully: "Darkness covers a multitude of sins."
Mulder: "Check this out. My newest tool in the fight against crime. $49.95 at your local hardware store." [Shines a laser pointer through bulb to reveal fingerprints]
Scully: "Neat trick. For your birthday I'll buy you a utility belt."
Mulder: "Yeah but half of Richmond earns their pay cheque making cancer sticks."
Scully: "And what ever happened to spontaneous human combustion?"
Mulder: "Maybe it's not so spontaneous. Get on the phone to your young detective and tell her to get a detail down to the train station."
Mulder: "He's got to be on at least one of these tapes!"
Scully: "Chances are he's not walking around carrying a sign with an arrow on it."
Mulder: "See this guy, he's always here. What's he doing?"
Scully: "Looking at the floor."
Mulder: "Why's he doing that?"
Scully: "Probably the same reason he spends his whole afternoon in the train station."
Mulder: "Powered by what?"
Dr Davey: "Couple billion megawatts. Virginia Power loved us."
Scully: "What are you looking at?"
Mulder: "In the video tape Dr Banton kept staring at the floor. I've been trying to figure out what he might have been looking at."
Scully: "Well, maybe the exposure affected his mind. Nonsensical repetitive behaviour is a common trait of mental illness."
Mulder: "You trying to tell me something?"
Detective Barron: "Yeah, I was just wondering what your involvement is here."
Mulder: "We caught the guy."
Scully: "Look, the fact is we have no jurisdiction here, we were called in as a favour."
Mulder: "And as a favour we just handed over the A-bomb to the boy-scouts."
Mulder: "That man is scared. And not just of his own shadow."
Mulder: "He believes the government is out to get him."
Mr X: "It's tax season. So do most Americans."
Mr X: "Dead men can't keep promises. The next time the blood and regret could be yours."
Mulder: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, Scully."
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