"The X Files" Wetwired (1996)

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Mat Beck (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

10 May 1996 (Season 3, Episode 23)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A man who killed five people claims that all of his victims were the same war criminal he saw on TV...

Plot Keywords:

FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files | Conspiracy

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Sheila Larken	...	Margaret Scully
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers
Colin Cunningham	...	Dr. Stroman
Steven Williams	...	Mr. X
Tim Henry	...	Plain-Clothed Man
Linden Banks	...	Joseph Patnik
Crystal Verge	...	Dr. Lorenz
Andre Danyliu	...	County Coroner
Joe Maffei	...	Motel Manager

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

2400 Motel, Kingsway, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The name John Gillnitz shows up at least six times in the series, usually as a throwaway character. It's an in-joke, an amalgamation of the name of three people who worked on the show:'JOHN Shiban', 'Vince GILLigan' and 'Frank SpotNITZ'. The name appears in the following episodes: Episode #3.23, "Wetwired", victim in hammock (uncredited) Episode 4.12, "Leonard Betts", bearded man/murder victim ('Ken Jones' ) Episode 5.6, "Christmas Carol", DNA technician (uncredited) Episode #6.5, "Dreamland: Part 2", mentioned in passing, does not appear on screen Episode 7.14, "Theef", reporter ('Mark Thompson' ) Episode #9.15, "Jump the Shark", man with bioweapon (Marcus Giamatti)

Goofs:

Factual errors: Mulder states that he is color blind; if this were true he would be medically ineligible to be a Special Agent in the FBI.

Quotes:

Mulder: Scully, you are the only one I trust.

Movie Connections:

References Die Hard (1988)

Why Didn't Mat Beck Write More?

Mat Beck was the visual effects supervisor for the x-files all the years while they were filming in Vancouver. Somehow, he wrote an episode for them as well that turned out to be one of the best "pseudo-myth/arc" episodes. I don't know if the producers asked Mat to put myth/arc elements in his story or if he just did it that way, but he really got it down well. Wetwired is an intriguing story with good drama, suspense and action. It features the Lone Gunmen, X, and the Cigarette Smoking Man. It certainly is a jam-packed 45 minutes. I'm sure Mat Beck also produced the cool special effect of the paranoid people experiencing the TV-like vision of a signal being adjusted. Scully becomes affected as well, and it highlights her fear of being betrayed by Mulder. She runs to her mom, as the only person she feels she can trust. This episode even leads into the season finale myth/arc 'Talitha Cumi' in a way, which additionally makes me wonder if the producers requested that Mat include certain elements in his script. Mat Beck does an 'A' job in his only stint as a writer for the show, which begs the question stated in the summary of this review.