Conduit
- Episode aired Oct 1, 1993
- TV-14
- 44m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
6.9K
YOUR RATING
Mulder becomes obsessed with solving a case that closely parallels an "encounter" he experienced as a child.Mulder becomes obsessed with solving a case that closely parallels an "encounter" he experienced as a child.Mulder becomes obsessed with solving a case that closely parallels an "encounter" he experienced as a child.
Donald Gibb
- Kip
- (as Don Gibb)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode marks the first time Mulder says the famous line: "I want to believe".
- GoofsAt the lake Mulder finds a piece of glass made from sand on the beach. He says that lightning couldn't do that. In fact, lightning commonly turns silica (sand) into glass called fulgurite.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The X Files: Resist or Serve (2004)
Featured review
"I want to believe..."
Conduit is one of the essential episodes of the first season of The X-Files, perhaps even of the entire series, as it marks the debut of the mythology storyline's most important and affecting subplot: Mulder's search for his sister.
The case begins with the disappearance of a young girl whose mother claims to have been abducted by aliens in the past. While Mulder and Scully set out to find the girl, it is revealed that Mulder's sister Samantha was abducted when he was twelve, and that incident is what eventually led to his belief in the paranormal and his work on the X-Files. Scully fears her partner might be taking the whole thing too personal, but has to admit they're probably onto something when the US government takes an interest in the missing girl's younger brother, who receives compromising information through a television set.
Apart from Mulder's usual spot-on remarks ("How can an eight-year old boy who can barely multiply be a threat to national security? And they call me paranoid!") and the postmodern use of the TV medium within the show (something that will occur several more times), the heart of Conduit is its digging into the hidden core of the show's male protagonist: childhood trauma is often used - or rather misused - as a dramatic device to explain a character's choices, but the careful writing and Duchovny's heartfelt performance give the back-story more substance than it would have in another program. This episode really establishes Mulder as a flesh-and-blood individual instead of a caricature of a conspiracy theorist, and it's very easy to share his hope when he utters a line that, much like "The truth is out there", came to define the series: "I want to believe...".
The case begins with the disappearance of a young girl whose mother claims to have been abducted by aliens in the past. While Mulder and Scully set out to find the girl, it is revealed that Mulder's sister Samantha was abducted when he was twelve, and that incident is what eventually led to his belief in the paranormal and his work on the X-Files. Scully fears her partner might be taking the whole thing too personal, but has to admit they're probably onto something when the US government takes an interest in the missing girl's younger brother, who receives compromising information through a television set.
Apart from Mulder's usual spot-on remarks ("How can an eight-year old boy who can barely multiply be a threat to national security? And they call me paranoid!") and the postmodern use of the TV medium within the show (something that will occur several more times), the heart of Conduit is its digging into the hidden core of the show's male protagonist: childhood trauma is often used - or rather misused - as a dramatic device to explain a character's choices, but the careful writing and Duchovny's heartfelt performance give the back-story more substance than it would have in another program. This episode really establishes Mulder as a flesh-and-blood individual instead of a caricature of a conspiracy theorist, and it's very easy to share his hope when he utters a line that, much like "The truth is out there", came to define the series: "I want to believe...".
helpful•350
- MaxBorg89
- Nov 6, 2008
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