"The X Files" Tithonus (1999)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Michael W. Watkins

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Vince Gilligan (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

24 January 1999 (Season 6, Episode 10)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Agent Scully gets paired up with a new partner to investigate a singular case. Alfred Fellig, a freelance crime photographer...

Plot Keywords:

FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files | Conspiracy

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ange Billman	...	Secretary
Nicky Fane	...	Blue Collar Man
Matt Gallini	...	Hood
Javier Grajeda	...	Desk Sergeant
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Alfred Fellig
Naomi Matsuda	...	Prostitute
Coby Ryan McLaughlin	...	Young Agent
James Pickens Jr.	...	FBI Deputy Director Alvin Kersh
Jolyon Reese	...	Second Young Agent
Thomas Rosales Jr.	...	Malcolm Wiggins - Bandit
Richard Ruccolo	...	Agent Peyton Ritter
Barry Wiggins	...	NYPD Detective
Dell Yount	...	Truck Driver

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The police photographer who knows when people will die is named Alfred Fellig. He was named after Usher "Arthur" Fellig, better known as "Weegee", a police photographer who became notorious in the 1930s and 1940s for taking gruesome crime scene photos. Like the eponymous character in "Tithonus", Weegee owned a police scanner, which often enabled him to get to crime scenes before the police. Unlike the X Files character, Weegee was not really psychic, although police gave him his nickname (a variation of "oujia") after joking that he was. See also the trivia section for Road to Perdition (2002).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The ambulance taking Scully to the hospital after she is shot is a Boston EMS ambulance; the transport takes place in New York City.

Quotes:

Dana Scully: You know, most people want to live forever.
Alfred Fellig: Most people are idiots, which is one of the reasons I don't.
Dana Scully: I think you're wrong. How can you have too much life? There's too much to learn, to experience.
Alfred Fellig: Seventy-five years is enough. Take my word for it. You live forever, sooner or later, you start to think about the big thing you're missing and that everybody else gets to find out about but you.
Dana Scully: What about love?
Alfred Fellig: What? Does that last forever? Forty years ago, I drove down to the city hall, down to the Hall of Records, Record Archives, whatever they call it. I wanted to look up my wife. It bothered me I couldn't remember her name. Love lasts 75 years, if you're lucky. You don't want to be around when it's gone.
[...]

Enjoyable X-Files' "Monster of the Week"

An FBI agent from the New York City field office has an X-File: Alfred Fellig (Geoffrey Lewis), a photographer who gets to the scene - BEFORE the crime! With Mulder in hot water with Deputy Director Kirsh, Scully is sent alone to NYC to investigate the mystery. Meanwhile Mulder discovers that Mr. Fellig has been taking photographs of death for a LONG time!

This is one of the best dark episodes of season 6. It's very well done and enjoyable - I've liked Geoffrey Lewis since "The Wind and the Lion", and he turns in a fine performance.

Much of season 6 is self-parodic or derivative. This episode is a classic, and the equal of the best stuff from the Vancouver period.