"The X Files" The Jersey Devil (1993)

Director:

Joe Napolitano

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Chris Carter (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

8 October 1993 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

When a body is found in the woods of New Jersey missing a limb, Mulder tracks the case to an old X-File and decides to investigate...

Plot Keywords:

Jersey Devil | Mythological Beast | Male Female Relationship | Title Spoken By Character | FBI

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Claire Stansfield	...	The Jersey Devil
Wayne Tippit	...	Detective Thompson
Gregory Sierra	...	Dr. Diamond
Michael MacRae	...	Ranger Peter Brullet
Jill Teed	...	Glenna
Tamsin Kelsey	...	Ellen
Andrew Airlie	...	Rob
Bill Dow	...	Dad
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Jack
Jayme Knox	...	Mom
Scott Swanson	...	Officer #1
Sean O'Byrne	...	Officer #2
David Lewis	...	Young Officer

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

It was David Duchovny that suggested to Chris Carter that Claire Stansfield should play The Jersey Devil. Duchovny and Stansfield had met earlier while filming a "Red Shoe Diaries" (1992) episode together.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although the Jersey Devil is depicted as being human-like here, according to legends, it actually resembled a devil. One says that it was a deformed child that eventually sported wings; another says that it was a child "born with horns, a tail, wings, an a horse-like head."

Quotes:

Ellen: What about that guy you work with?
Scully: Mulder?
Ellen: I thought you said he was cute.
Scully: He's a jerk. He's not a jerk. He's, um... he's obsessed with his work.

"... and look who's holding the door!"

The Jersey Devil inaugurates another X-Files tradition, namely lighter, more entertaining standalone episodes following the more emotionally relevant mythology stories (Squeeze, which aired right after Deep Throat, doesn't count, on the grounds of it being, well, too creepy). This trend was exploited at best in Seasons 5-7, but this episode shows that the writers already had a clear sense of how to do comedy in the series.

As suggested by the title, Mulder and Scully travel to New Jersey, where corpses are found with limbs missing. Remembering an old X-file, Mulder says it might be the legendary "Jersey Devil" who's behind the attacks, meeting inevitable derision on the part of local authorities and, to a lesser degree, Scully. As they get closer to the truth (some evolutionary misstep might be involved), the tension increases and the search for the "Devil" gets more and more serious.

Mulder's beliefs, contrasted with Scully's skepticism, have been there since the pilot episode, but this is the first time their work relationship is played for laughs, with their respective theories clashing in a humorous debate about mankind and evolution (another important theme in the longer run of the show). Naturally, there is also suspense (though not as consistently as in Squeeze) and a traditionally open ending which suggests the story may not be over (which wasn't the case, but still...). Revealingly, though, the epilogue induces a smile rather than a shiver. That's The X-Files in a nutshell: weird, thrilling and funny - often at the same time.