The X-Files (1993–…): Season 3, Episode 23 - Wetwired - full transcript

All right, you bastard.

Evil... rotten...

son of a...

There you go.

Your killing days are over!

No.

No!

No!

All right, sir,
put your hands in the air.

Keep them where I can see them.

We got a call.



You want to tell us
what you're doing out here?

Sir?

Turn over!

Damn amp-head.

Oh, Lord.

Jimmy, check this out.

Sarah?

Sarah!

Our blind date's not
off to a great start.

I've been waiting here
nearly two hours.

I was asked to make sure
you weren't followed.

It's just you, me
and the drug dealers.

Yeah, well,
this area's always been known

for its criminal element.



Especially when Congress
is in session.

What's this?

Something you'll want to follow.

Follow where?

That's all I have for you.

What do you mean
that's all you have for me?

I get an anonymous e-mail
to come meet you here

in the middle of the night.

I don't know who you
are or what you want.

I don't have
any obligation or desire

to give you any answers.

I'm not one of your sources.

Then you're just
a messenger boy?

It's late, Agent Mulder.

Go home, get some sleep.

Who told you to contact me?

How do I know I'm
not being played?

I guess you don't.

Well, you can go ahead
and recycle that then.

I've been asked to tell you,

you walk away from this,
more people will die.

Sorry. I would have
gotten here sooner,

but the Beltway
was a parking lot.

What's going on?

Multiple homicide,
a bizarre one.

That's Joseph Patnik.

He murdered five people,

all of whom he insists
was the same man.

What do you mean?

He claims to have been
killing the same man

over and over again,
that he wouldn't die.

Does he have a history
of mental illness?

Not that I know, but I only just
got this case yesterday.

So what's the X File?

In Patnik's neighborhood
two weeks ago,

a babysitter attacked the
two children she was minding.

She told police
she thought they were wolves.

And police found no other motive
for either of these attacks?

Not so far. No.

Agent Mulder?

- Hi. I'm Dr. Stroman.
- Dr. Stroman.

This is my partner,
Special Agent Scully.

Hi. You're the physician
in charge?

Yeah, they called me
down from D.C.

to try and develop
a clear diagnosis for the court.

Have you?

Wish I could say yes.

Has he been sedated?

I've got him on heavy Thorazine,
but it only seems

to knock him back
a notch or two.

He seems pretty
manageable to me.

It may be some form

of organic delusional
syndrome, possibly due

to chronic methamphetamine
abuse. I don't know.

But he is prone to outbursts.

Who called you down
on this case?

A Dr. Kahn from

the Department
of Social Health Services.

Could we speak to him?

I don't think he's in today, but
I can certainly check for you.

Orderly!

- Take it easy!
- Calm down, Mr. Patnik!

Yes, Dr. Stroman.

...among the
accusations are that Miriskovic

personally ordered
the rape and murder

of thousands
of innocent civilians

in war-torn regions
of the former Yugoslavia.

Reporting for...

You said you got this case
last night.

Where did it come from?

Came from an outside source.

Who?

This outside source, Mulder,

what's his interest
in this case?

What does he want us to uncover?

I don't know.

And you're not suspicious
that we're being used?

We've got dead bodies
and confessed murderers.

If we're being used,
it's to find out the connection.

That's what I'm interested in.

Isn't this a school day?

We didn't cut.

We got a pass.

You got a pass to come in here

and eat these people's food
and watch their TV?

No.

Are we in trouble now?

How'd you get in here?

Through the window.
They leave it open for the cat.

Maybe you should
head back to school.

No, no, no.
Use the front door.

Mulder.

Look at this.

There must be hundreds
of videos here.

Anything good?

All I see are recordings
of cable news shows.

They're all dated and
in chronological order.

You know, that's what Patnik
was watching at the hospital

when he went all wiggy.

What if there's some connection?

Between what he saw and what
he recorded and what he did?

You're the one who's interested.

Just watched 36 hours

of Bernard Shaw
and Bobbie Battista.

I'm about ready
to kill somebody, too.

I'm going to show you something.

These tapes are dated April 19,
April 21 and April 23.

Each corresponds to a night
that Patnik committed a murder.

What's on the tapes?

Among other things,
a one-hour special report

on the atrocities in Bosnia,

a report that prominently
features Lladoslav Miriskovic.

The same guy that
started Patnik screaming

in the psych ward?

And my guess is that,
once I review the tapes

for the night
that Patnik killed his wife,

that I'll find
that report there, as well.

So you think
that because Patnik saw

this war criminal on television,

he was somehow inspired to go
out and murder these people?

Recent studies have linked

violence on television
to violent behavior.

Yeah, but those studies
are based on the assumption

that Americans are
just empty vessels

ready to be filled with any idea
or image that's fed to them,

like a bunch of Pavlov dogs,
and go out and act on it.

But they believe that the causal
connections are there, Mulder.

Studies have also shown
causal connections between

cow flatulence and the
depletion of the ozone layer.

What you're talking
about is pseudo-science

used to make political book.

All I'm saying is that
I think it's clear

that-that the programs
that Patnik watched

somehow triggered
his violent behavior.

How?

The doctor suggested
amphetamine abuse.

Maybe that, coupled with
the disturbing images

that he was watching,
pushed him over the edge.

All I know is
television does not make

a previously sane man go out
and kill five people

thinking they're
all the same guy.

Not even "must see TV"
could do that to you.

Okay, then how do you
explain it?

I can't. Not yet.

Where are you going?

I'm going to get some sleep.

Looks like
you could use some, too.

No, I'm going to...

watch the rest of these tapes.

Just out of curiosity.

You have fun.

Yeah, okay, I understand.

All right.

I've just been
watching the tapes.

I'll come outside.

Right. Okay.

No, she doesn't.

One of our
contestants today will qualify

for the jackpot round with
prizes worth over $100,000.

We'll find out
on The Price is Nice.

And here's your host,
Mark Randolph.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck on The Price Is Nice.

Before we go any further...

Scully?

Yeah.

I just got a call.

There's been another murder.

Yeah, I'll be right there.

Happened just less
than an hour ago.

Seems to match our pattern...
a housewife gone berserk.

Car's been moved.
Did you take it out last night?

No.

Uh, I went out,
and I got a paper this morning.

Why?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Let's go see the crime scene.

That's all
the information I have, sir.

- Okay, thanks, Detective.
- You're welcome.

Just got through talking
to the detective in charge.

The shooter's name
is Helene Riddock, age 42.

They took her
to the county lockup.

What happened?

She claims she
looked out the window

and saw her husband
in the hammock...

with a blonde.

That blonde?

Yeah, apparently,
he was only taking a nap

with his dog,
but Mrs. Riddock swears

she looked out the window
and saw her husband

in the hammock
with a blonde woman.

So this woman killed her husband

because she thought he was
cheating on her?

This is not even her husband.

Her husband is
a long-haul trucker.

He's been out of town
for the last ten days.

This is, uh...
Mr. John Gillnitz.

It's her next-door
neighbor.

She didn't even have
the right backyard.

Helene Riddock lives over here.

Scully?

Yeah, let's check it out.

One of my favorites.

He is so cute.

The Little Traveler
is normally $129.99,

and that's what you're going to
pay at the department stores...

"A thing of beauty
is a joy forever."

What do you think, Scully?

I think television
plays a large part

in both of these
murderers' lives.

As it does in almost
every American home,

but television does
not equal violence...

I don't care what anybody says.

Unless you consider bad taste

an act of violence.

More tapes.

Hang on a second.

I'll be right back.

Hey! Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Mulder, what are you doing?

I'm coming down.

What is it?

Some kind of cable trap

or scrambler running from
the pole into the house.

Maybe it's a job
for Special Agent Pendrell

and the sci-crime lab.

Yeah.

Want it analyzed?

Yeah. I'll do it.

It makes more sense for you

to go down
and interview Helene Riddock.

Get her version of the story.

Maybe she knows
what this thing is.

Is there a problem with that?

No, that's-that's fine.

Stay in touch.

It looks a lot like
a standard video trap

for blocking
premium cable channels.

What does this one block?

Amazingly, it doesn't seem
to block anything.

Then what does it do?

Glad you asked.

I bet all you guys were officers
in the audio/visual club

in high school, huh?

Mm-hmm.

This is the straight feed

off our bars
and tone generator...

and here are the bars and tone

as attenuated
through the device.

Looks the same.

Well, that's what you'd think.

We couldn't discern any
difference between the feeds.

Not until we compared them
on the oscilloscope.

Still looks the same.

Hold on to your hat, dude.

We have touchdown.

So they're different.

So... they're different.

You know the way
television works?

Yeah. You click it on,
you have a picture.

It's a rapid series
of still pictures

fired against the tube.

There's something non-standard

here in the vertical
blanking interval...

information that's being added
into the spaces

between the still pictures.

What kind of information?

We don't know.

This is as far as

we could get
with this equipment.

Can you take it apart?

Not without
destroying it completely.

That's by design.

An amazingly
sophisticated design,

but all we can say
for sure is...

This device
is emitting a signal.

Mulder.

Where are you?

I was just about to call you.

Look, I'm on my way back.

You may have been right, Scully,
at least partly.

I think there is a
foreign signal being introduced

into these people's homes
through the television set.

Scully, you there?

I'm here.

I think they may be running
some kind of test.

Scully, did you hear
what I just said?

So you had it analyzed?

Yeah.

I just talked to Agent Pendrell.

He said that you
never showed up.

I didn't take it
over to Pendrell.

Then where were you?

Look, I'd rather talk about it
when we get on a landline, okay?

We've dealt with these kind
of people before.

We know what they're capable of.

What was that?

What was what?

There. That noise.

Scully, is there
something wrong?

Mulder?

Mulder, who's listening to...?

Scully, look, I'm going to be
right there, okay?

Don't go anywhere.

Scully...

She's in here.

Ready? On my count.

Wait.

Get back! Call the police.

Scully? Scully!

Hello?

Mrs. Scully, hi.
It's Fox Mulder.

What is it?
What's the matter?

I was hoping that
you'd heard from Dana.

No. Has something happened?

I'm-I'm not exactly sure.

There's...

there's some confusion here.

She's missing.

What do you mean, "missing"?

Well, she ran off last night.

Um...

w-we're looking for her
as best we can, but we are

a little concerned.

Oh, my God.

Look, Mrs. Scully,
I hate to do this

to you, but I got
to hang up on you right now.

Fox, would you please
just tell me what's wrong.

Hang by the phone; I'll call you
as soon as I know something.

Sir, can I have a word with you?

This manhunt is being conducted

as if we're searching
for an escaped convict.

Mulder, I share your
concern for Agent Scully,

but the fact remains she
fired four rounds at you

and an unarmed
civilian last night.

I appreciate that, but these
officers should be instructed

not to confront her
once they find her.

What would you have them do?

Just to keep an eye on her
until I can get there.

I think I can get her
to listen to me.

She didn't listen
to you last night.

That's because she's not

responsible for her own actions.

She's suffering from some
kind of paranoid psychosis.

Brought on by what?

I can't explain
the exact mechanism,

but it has something to do with
certain videotapes we watched

that we recovered
from a crime scene.

Videotapes?

Videotapes that contain
an electronic signal

that somehow induces
violent behavior.

Do you have any proof of this?

I'm working on that.

Whatever prompted her behavior,

the fact remains that Scully is
armed and obviously dangerous,

so I suggest you marshal
whatever resources you have

to make sure that
you find her first.

Mulder.

Mulder, we pulled something
off that videotape

you found in Scully's room.

What is it?

Something interesting.

But we don't want
to talk about it

over the phone.

Big Brother may be listening.

Here's the tape Scully
was reviewing last night.

We scanned samples
of the tape onto disk.

Digitized it.

Using some
interpolating freeware,

we pulled down off the Net,

we were able to blank
out visible frames.

What am I looking at?

Well, this is the actual signal

your cable trap device
was emitting.

Of course, we've slowed
it down significantly.

It's designed to cycle
at 15 flashes per second

to induce what's known as
the "photic driving response."

Bring it home, boys.

This device is stimulating

electrical activity
in the brain.

Studies into
subliminal influence

have shown a correlation

between heightened
suggestibility

and the manipulation
of this response.

Mind control?

57 channels of it.

Tachistoscopic images,

like they used to sell
popcorn at the movies.

Both Russian and
American scientists

have been working
with it for decades.

Not to mention Madison Avenue.

The naked lady in the ice cube.

Ah, one of my
personal favorites.

Why wasn't I affected?

That's the one thing

we haven't figured out yet.

This, uh, subliminal signal...
could color be a factor in it?

Maybe.

I'm red-green color-blind.

His inability to
perceive the color red

could render him immune
to the psychotropic effects.

But why design a
color-dependent signal?

- Why not?
- Mulder.

Red-green color
blindness affects

only a small percentage
of the male population.

Which still leaves
the vast majority of

the American public
vulnerable to its effects.

I'll be right there.

What happened?

Maryland State Police.

They think they've found Scully.

Is she okay?

No.

Um...

they think maybe I should
come down and I.D. the body.

Get in.

Can't talk to you right now.

They're watching you;
now get in

before you get us both killed.

That's an interesting
choice of words.

My partner may be dead.

That's not my concern.

The hell it isn't!

We're here because of you!

Keep your voice down.

Who are you?!
Who do you work for?!

You're wasting time.
While you're chasing

your partner,
they're destroying the evidence.

Who?

Just follow the evidence.

If you don't, by tomorrow,
the responsible parties

will be out of your reach.

State highway patrolman
found the body

off a rural highway
at approximately 2:00 p.m.

Nude, shot in the forehead.

Are you ready?

Let me do that.

It's not her.

Somebody has to call her mother.

We already tried.

We weren't able to reach her.

She's not answering her phone?

Mrs. Scully,

is she here?

Uh, no.

You haven't been
answering your phone.

Well, when I hear from her,
I'll call you, okay?

I need to see her.

Fox, please go away.

- Go away!
- I'm sorry.

Where is she?

Dana, put down the gun!

I'm here to help you, Scully.

I told you, Mom.

He's here to kill me.

I'm on your side. You know that.

Put it down, Dana.

Scully, listen to me

very carefully.
You don't know it,

but you're sick
with the same thing

that drove those
other people to murder.

Whatever you think
may be happening...

Just step back.

Dana, you're not yourself.

He's telling you the truth.

It's not the truth, Mom.

He's lied to me
from the beginning.

He never trusted me.

Scully, you are
the only one I trust.

You're in on it.

You're one of them.

You're one of the people
who abducted me.

You put that thing in my neck!

You killed my sister!

That's not true, Dana.

It is.

I want you to listen to me.

Mom, just get out of the way!

You trust me, don't you?

You know that
I would never hurt you.

That I would never let
anybody hurt you.

That's why you came here,
isn't it?

You're safe here.

Put the gun down, Dana.

Put it down.

Put it down.

Dr. von Senior,

please report to third floor
nurse's station.

Dr. Diana von Senior...

How you feeling?

Ashamed.

I was so sure, Mulder.

I saw things and I
heard things, and...

it was just like the world
was turned upside down.

Everybody was out to get me.

Now you know how I feel
most of the time.

I thought you were
going to kill me.

I'm not surprised.

I did some checking.

Joseph Patnik thought
he was murdering

a Bosnian war criminal...

a man the media described
as a modern-day Hitler.

Turns out, both Patnik's parents
were Holocaust survivors.

I'm not following.

Helene Riddock was scared
that her husband was

going to be unfaithful to her.

You see a pattern
developing here?

What if this video signal

somehow turned
these people's anxieties

into some kind of dementia...

a virtual reality of
their own worst nightmares?

Like me thinking
that you'd betray me.

I was so far gone, Mulder,

I thought that you had
gone to the other side.

What do you mean?

That Cancer Man, the man who
smokes all those cigarettes,

I was sure that I
saw the two of you

sitting in your car in
the motel parking lot.

You were reporting to him.

You handed him a videotape.

It was crazy.

Ah, maybe not.

What do you mean?

We know somebody's behind this.

We just don't know who.

You think it could be him?

I don't know.

Why don't you try
to get some rest.

Dr. Lorenz?

Agent Mulder.

I was just about to
check in on your partner.

What course of treatment have
you outlined for Agent Scully?

At this point, nothing
more than bed rest.

We still haven't been able to
determine what brought this on.

As far as I can tell,

there's nothing
medically wrong with her.

That didn't seem to be
the case last night.

No, it wasn't.

It's got me puzzled.

Her MRI was negative,
but the spinal tap revealed

high levels of serotonin
in her brain.

You think that would account
for her strange behavior?

High serotonin levels have
been associated with mania.

But the good news is,
as of this afternoon,

her levels are pretty much
back to normal.

Dr. Lorenz, uh,
would you have made

a diagnosis of amphetamine abuse

for someone in
Agent Scully's condition?

Not given her
serotonin levels, no.

That wouldn't make any sense.

Thank you.

Braddock Heights.

Yeah, I need the number

for the Frederick County
Psychiatric Hospital, please.

Ward three.

Yeah, this is Fox Mulder

with the Federal Bureau
of Investigation.

I need to talk to
Dr. Stroman, please.

I'm sorry,
Dr. Stroman's no longer here.

I believe he's returned
to Washington.

You know where I can reach him?

I'm not sure.

He left us a local number.
It's around here somewhere.

Is it 555-0135?

That's it.

Thank you.

You want me
to go first this time?

Damn straight.

I haven't had a chance
to clean the room yet.

He just checked out.

What with all the excitement,
I don't blame him.

- You charge for local calls?
- Of course.

You'd have a record
of all calls made...

I'll get it for you.

Thank you.

Here you go.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hey, Danny, it's Mulder.

I need you to check
a number for me.

That's what he told me, Stroman.

Then where is he?

He said he'd be here by now.

He'll be here.

It's almost 7:00.

I can't wait much longer.

There's no sign of him.

You're too late, Agent Mulder.

Now that you've destroyed
all the evidence.

You were told this would happen.

You made your choice.

I just didn't know
I was working for you.

I had no alternative.

I was being watched too closely.

I couldn't risk
compromising myself.

Why kill them if you
wanted me to expose them?

Those were always my orders,
Agent Mulder.

I was just hoping
you'd get to them first.

And uncover what?

What were they trying to do...
manipulate people's behavior?

Alter their
decision-making process?

What to buy, who to vote for.

You think they'll stop
at commerce and politics?

Where will they stop?

That's where you failed,
Agent Mulder.

Don't lay this off on me,
you sneaky son of a bitch.

You pulled me into this
situation because you didn't

have the courage to reveal
the truth yourself.

Feel better now?

You're a coward!

You work in the shadows,

you feed me scraps
of information,

hoping that I can
piece it together!

You make me risk my life,
you risk my partner's life,

and you never risk your own!

You're not walking away
from this.

You're risking
your life right now.

You failed.

This is your success?

Killing me?

The truth is...

you need me, Agent Mulder.

This is your final
report, Agent Mulder?

Yes, sir.

I see more questions
here than I do answers.

You don't know who manufactured
the device you found

or what its purpose was.

No, sir.

Agent Scully, welcome back.

I'm sorry I'm late.

I just got back
from the documents section.

What did you find out about

the two men
Mulder found executed?

The cable company employee
had no criminal record.

In fact, there was nothing
remarkable about him whatsoever.

We found a medical license

under the name
Dr. Henry Stroman

in Falls Church, Virginia.

He died in 1978.

What about their killer?

He remains an unknown subject.

Have you completed your work?

All the personnel and
hardware have been removed,

but Mulder still has
one of the devices.

Well, it proves nothing.

What about, uh, Mulder's source?

He's been eliminated.

And his source?

Who's he working with?

That person remains unknown.

I made this!