It's hard to get a fix on who the real bad guy was in this episode, as a nurse practicing witchcraft appeared to be getting some measure of personal revenge against unscrupulous doctors performing cosmetic surgery at exorbitant rates. And then the story throws in some unethical practices from ten years prior to really confuse the issue. The script seemed to be going in different directions, and even some of the players appeared to switch character in midstream, like Dr. Shannon (Arlene Mazzerole), who at the outset was gung ho for as much throughput as possible by the medical staff, but then became cooperative with Scully and Mulder when the heat turned up during their investigation.
One thing for certain, those faint of heart need not hang around for some of the gorier scenes, like the blood filled bathtub surprise or the doctor taking a scalpel to his own face for a little cosmetic surgery. That scene of Dr. Franklin (Richard Beymer) levitating over his bed seemed to come out of nowhere with no connection to the story, so all in all, the episode was a genuine head scratcher for this viewer.
But the story does have it's positive side if one is inclined to learn something new. The term 'pica' is described by Scully as a craving for nonfood objects, and if you're afflicted by allotriophagy be careful, you might vomit up some objects you can hurt yourself with. The writers even got creative with the title of the episode here, as sanguinarium sounds like it might come from 'sangre', the Spanish word for blood, although it also refers to an underground network for those inclined to a vampyric lifestyle. With all that blood around, the story probably could have thrown in a vampire or two without even skipping a (heart) beat.
One thing for certain, those faint of heart need not hang around for some of the gorier scenes, like the blood filled bathtub surprise or the doctor taking a scalpel to his own face for a little cosmetic surgery. That scene of Dr. Franklin (Richard Beymer) levitating over his bed seemed to come out of nowhere with no connection to the story, so all in all, the episode was a genuine head scratcher for this viewer.
But the story does have it's positive side if one is inclined to learn something new. The term 'pica' is described by Scully as a craving for nonfood objects, and if you're afflicted by allotriophagy be careful, you might vomit up some objects you can hurt yourself with. The writers even got creative with the title of the episode here, as sanguinarium sounds like it might come from 'sangre', the Spanish word for blood, although it also refers to an underground network for those inclined to a vampyric lifestyle. With all that blood around, the story probably could have thrown in a vampire or two without even skipping a (heart) beat.