Teliko 

Mulder believes a creature from an African folktale may be responsible for the disappearance of several black men in the Philadelphia area.

Director:

Jim Charleston (as James Charleston)

Writers:

Chris Carter (created by), Howard Gordon

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Duff
Willie Amakye	...	Samuel Aboah
Laurie Holden	...	Marita Covarrubias
Brendan Beiser	...	Agent Pendrell
Zakes Mokae	...	Diabria
Bob Morrisey	...	Dr. Simon Bruin
Danny Wattley	...	First Officer
Maxine Guess	...	Flight Attendant
Bill Mackenzie	...	Bus Driver
Michael O'Shea	...	Lt. Madsen

Storyline

Scully is asked by Assistant Director Skinner to assist officials from the Center for Disease Control in determining the cause of a recent number of deaths in the Philadelphia area. All of the victims were African American and had lost their pigmentation, with their corpses looking albino-like. She finds the basic reason for the loss of pigmentation - their pituitary glands were necrotic - but not the actual cause. Mulder for his part thinks there is something far more sinister at work and contacts Marita Covarrubias at the U.N. who tells him of a similar incident on flight from West Africa some months before.

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Plot Keywords:

airplane | airplane bathroom | african immigrant | philadelphia pennsylvania | immigration lawyer | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

18 October 1996 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, North Shore Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ten Thirteen Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Teliko" is Greek for "end", as well as the name of a "spirit of the air" in African mythology which is sometimes thought to be an albino.

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Goofs

During the autopsy of the Fourth Victim, the depigmented corpse can be seen swallowing. Additionally, actual depigmentation would look much different than what is obviously applied make-up. Also during this scene, both Scully and Mulder are without any protective masks while investigating a suspected contagious disease and Mulder is even snacking on food.

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Quotes

Diabria: Why has Samuel Aboah been arrested? You said his health was in danger. Why have I been lied to?
Dana Scully: Nobody has lied to you, sir.
Diabria: Then, please, release him immediately.
Dana Scully: We would like to do some more tests on him. We have to be certain his health hasn't been endangered and that he isn't endangering others.
Diabria: Then, why have you called me?
Dana Scully: As a translator. We'd like to be able to ask him some questions.
Diabria: About what?
Mulder: About Alfred Kittel and about several others young men that have gone missing since his ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The tagline at the end of the credits is changed to 'Decieve Inveigle Obfuscate'.

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Soundtracks

The X-Files
Written by Mark Snow
Performed by John Beal

User Reviews

Deceive, Inveigle And Obfuscate

Teliko is a solid season four episode that deals with African-American males who are having their pigmentation drained from them. This isn't a spectacular episode by an means, but it's engaging enough to be entertaining. Mulder's "Michael Jackson" quote is the funniest line from the episode. Even though this episode has nothing to do with the conspiracy, the writers threw Marita Covarrubias into the episode. She seems to be out of place in Teliko. Mulder's informants don't have to be in just myth/arc episodes. But this was not the episode for her to appear in. She is inconsequential. Samuel Aboah has a similar ability to Eugene Tooms, in that he can squeeze into really tight places. Also, he needs the pituitary gland hormone to survive, just like Tooms needed livers. So, it was almost like a remake of Squeeze. There are enough differences, however, to still make it entertaining. Off camera, Pendrell must be quite obvious about his affection for Scully, since Mulder jokes about Pendrell's crush on Scully with Pendrell. Cute moment. Plus, in Teliko, you get to see Scully crawling through ventilation ducts again. Gotta love that.