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Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X Files (1993)

Gillian Anderson and Carl Lumbly in The X Files (1993)

David Duchovny

Fox Mulderas Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson

Dana Scullyas Dana Scully

Mitch Pileggi

Walter Skinneras Walter Skinner

Carl Lumbly

Marcus Duffas Marcus Duff

Willie Amakye

Samuel Aboahas Samuel Aboah

Laurie Holden

Marita Covarrubiasas Marita Covarrubias

Brendan Beiser

Agent Pendrellas Agent Pendrell

Zakes Mokae

Diabriaas Diabria

Bob Morrisey

Dr. Simon Bruinas Dr. Simon Bruin

Danny Wattley

First Officeras First Officer

Maxine Guess

Flight Attendantas Flight Attendant

Bill Mackenzie

Bus Driveras Bus Driver

Michael O'Shea

Lt. Madsenas Lt. Madsen

Geoffrey Aye-Bonte

Seat Mateas Seat Mate
(uncredited)

Dexter Bell

Alfred Kittelas Alfred Kittel
(uncredited)

Maria Bitamba

Assistantas Assistant
(uncredited)

Oscar Goncalves

Orderlyas Orderly
(uncredited)

Don Stewart

Businessmanas Businessman
(uncredited)

Director
- Jim Charleston
Writers
- Chris Carter
- Howard Gordon
- John Shiban(story editor)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

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. —garykmcd

airplane airplane bathroom african immigrant philadelphia pennsylvania immigration lawyer 8 more

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.

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.

Quotes
Mulder: [seeing the corpse of an albino man] There's a Michael Jackson joke in here somewhere.

Crazy credits
The tagline at the end of the credits is changed to "Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate."

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

Top review

7/10

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.

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