Excelsis Dei
"Excelsis Dei" | |
---|---|
The X-Files episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 11 |
Directed by | Stephen Surjik |
Written by | Paul Brown |
Production code | 2X11 |
Original air date | December 16, 1994 |
Running time | 44 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Excelsis Dei" is the eleventh episode of the
The show centers on
Surjik personally asked if he could direct the episode because he was a fan of the series; this was his only credit for the series. Filming the episode was difficult for the cast and crew due largely to the fact that the script arrived for the cast and crew to film only two days in advance. Other issues arose because of technical reasons; one scene required flooding a hallway with 3,300 gallons of water. Many of the scenes were filmed at Riverview Hospital, a mental health facility located in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Plot
Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are called to the Excelsis Dei private nursing home in Worcester, Massachusetts in order to investigate a nurse's claim that she was raped by an invisible entity. Severely bruised, Michelle Charters (Teryl Rothery) claims that she knows who was responsible and names the attacker as Hal Arden, an elderly resident of Excelsis Dei who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. When questioned, Arden admits that he made sexual overtures to Michelle, but claims that it was harmless and that he is too elderly to have done anything. In turn, the hospital's administrator believes that Michelle has manufactured the rape allegation in order to extort money from the nursing home.
As Mulder and Scully investigate, they discover that many of the facility's Alzheimer's patients have shown significant improvement over their condition, a development that is not medically possible. Their doctor, Grago, attributes the patients' improvement to regimen he has applied using Deprenyl, an experimental drug that has so far shown negligible affect in patient studies. Before Mulder and Scully can make much headway, Hal Arden dies unexpectedly while his roommate, Stan Phillips, stands by, complicating the investigation further.
Worried about her father, Stan Phillips' daughter arrives to move him back into her home and Stan angrily declares he doesn't want to leave. An orderly arrives to help Stan pack and escort him out but Stan flees the room and leads the orderly on a chase to the roof. The orderly climbs out of a window in a half-hearted attempt to coax Stan back inside but falls or is pushed to his death before Mulder can save him.
With two suspicious deaths in a twenty-four hour period and following Charters' rape, Mulder and Scully continue investigating, eventually discovering that a Malaysian orderly, Gung Bittuen, is dosing the patients with an
As Stan, who stole all of Gung's herbal stash, overdoses and begins seizing, the spirits once again attack Charters, trapping her and Mulder in the bathroom, which begins flooding. Scully and Dr. Grago manage to stop Stan's seizures, at which point the spirits disappear and the bathroom door opens, freeing Mulder and Charters. The government of Massachusetts takes over the facility, and Gung is turned over to immigration services. The remaining original patients, no longer having access to the drug, revert to their previous state of dementia.[1]
Production
"Excelsis Dei" was written by Paul Brown, his final script for the series after the earlier episode "Ascension".[2][3] The episode was directed by Stephen Surjik (his only credit for the series),[3] who had reached out to the show's producers and requested a chance to direct an episode because he was a fan of the show.[4]
Production for this episode was notoriously difficult, and the book The Complete X-Files notes that it "gave the staff headaches—both during the shoot and editing process".[5] Part of this was due to the script being delivered to the cast and crew only two days before filming was scheduled to begin.[4] One part of the episode that was nixed during the writing stage was an extended look at Michelle's love life: originally, she was explicitly described as a lesbian, and in one short scene her partner enters her apartment to talk to her. Series creator Chris Carter eventually cut the scene because he felt it "felt gratuitous at that point".[3]
Many of the scenes were filmed at Riverview Hospital, a psychiatric hospital located in Coquitlam, British Columbia. During on-site production, several of the members of the show's cast and crew claimed that they heard mysterious voices, and they refused to "venture into the bowels of the building" for fear that it was haunted.[4] In order to film the scene featuring the bathroom door bursting with water—a scene Matt Hurwitz and Chris Knowles called "nail-biting"—special effects supervisor Dave Gauthier built a massive tank that was rigged to flood the set hallway with 3,300 gallons of water.[3][5]
The episode features several actresses that had previously had parts in other episodes of The X-Files. Tasha Simms, who portrayed the daughter of Stan Phillips in the episode, had previously played the part of Cindy Reardon's mother in the first season episode "Eve". Sheila Moore, who had appeared as a background character in the episode "Deep Throat" appears in the episode as the nursing home's director.[3]
Broadcast and reception
"Excelsis Dei" premiered in the United States on the
Critical reception to the episode was mostly mixed.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Lowry, pp. 186–87.
- ^ Lowry, p. 173.
- ^ a b c d e Lowry, p. 187.
- ^ a b c Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 69.
- ^ a b Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 60.
- ^ Nutter, David; et al. (2000). The X-Files: The Complete Second Season (booklet). Beverly Hills, California: 20th Century Home Entertainment.
- ^ a b Lowry, p. 249.
- ^ "The Ultimate Episode Guide, Season 2". Entertainment Weekly. 29 November 1996. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- ^ Handlen, Zack (5 September 2008). "Red Museum/Excelsis Dei/Aubrey". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- ^ Stegall, Sarah (1994). "Surf the Halls". The Munchkyn Zone. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ a b c Shearman, p. 41.
Bibliography
- Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1933784724.
- Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053309.
- Shearman, Robert (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 978-0975944691.
External links
- "Excelsis Dei" on TheXFiles.com
- "Excelsis Dei" at IMDb