"The X Files" Paper Clip (1995)

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Chris Carter (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

29 September 1995 (Season 3, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Mulder returns to Skinner and Scully while the deadly pursuit is still at hand. Led by an old photograph of his father and a group of scientists...

Plot Keywords:

Title Spoken By Character | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Walter Gotell	...	Victor Klemper
Melinda McGraw	...	Melissa Scully
Sheila Larken	...	Margaret Scully
Nicholas Lea	...	Alex Krycek
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
John Neville	...	The Well-Manicured Man
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman	...	Albert Hosteen (as Floyd Red Crow Westerman)
Rebecca Toolan	...	Mrs. Teena Mulder
Don S. Williams	...	Elder #1

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Continuity: Skinner claims that because of some sort of advanced copy protection, the DAT tape was impossible to copy, or even print a hard-copy from. Yet in the opening episode of this arc ("Anasazi" from season 2), we see Scully providing a hard-copy to a Navaho woman for translation (and how did Albert translate the information in the first place? Surely, even if he had to read it off a computer screen, he would have created a translation that could be copied).

Quotes:

Mulder: We've both lost so much... but I believe that what we're looking for is in the X-Files. I'm more certain than ever that the truth is in there.
Scully: I've heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers.

Movie Connections:

References "Let's Make a Deal" (1963)

Watch Out For Your Clock Flashing 12:00!

Where The Blessing Way slacked in action, Paper Clip picks up that slack and gets the story up and running again. Mulder is fully recovered from his blessing way healing and teams up with Scully to find out more about his father's past. Because of the incriminating DAT cassette tape, Mulder and Scully's lives are in danger. Skinner attempts to broker a deal with the Cigarette Smoking Man(CSM) for their reinstatement and for their lives. Very interesting discoveries are made by Mulder and Scully at an abandoned mine. Skinner and CSM have two awesome confrontations over the digital tape. Krycek gangs up on Skinner in the hospital to steal the tape and then subsequently almost gets himself blown up. It's a good thing he knows that a flashing 12:00 on a car clock means that a bomb is about to blow up. Overall, this trilogy of Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip is one of the best in the X-Files. It lags just a tiny bit in the middle, but the drama, suspense, intensity & action makes for an awesome thrill ride of a trilogy.