Schizogeny
"Schizogeny" | |
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The X-Files episode | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 9 |
Directed by | Ralph Hemecker |
Written by | Jessica Scott Mike Wollaeger |
Production code | 5X09 |
Original air date | January 11, 1998 |
Running time | 44 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"Schizogeny" is the ninth episode of the
The show centers on
"Schizogeny", written by first-year staff writers Scott and Wollaeger, became humorously known as "The Killer Tree Episode" amongst the cast and crew. Many of the scenes shot for "Schizogeny" were filmed on a real orchard named Hazelgrove Farms near the small town of
Plot
In Coats Grove, Michigan, a teenager with anger management issues named Bobby Rich gets into an argument with his stepfather Phil about yard work. Bobby eventually darts into a nearby orchard to evade Phil, but the latter gives chase. Later, Bobby's mother Patti enters into the orchard and finds Phil dead, his body almost entirely buried in a mud puddle. A terrified Bobby is next to the body.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the crime. Scully believes that Bobby killed his stepdad by luring him into a pit trap. Patti repudiates this hypothesis, arguing that when she arrived it looked like Bobby was trying to help Phil rather than harm him. Mulder and Scully meet with Bobby's therapist, Karin Matthews, who tells them that the boy has been physically abused. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Mulder begins to believe that Bobby is innocent.
Bobby meets up with his classmate Lisa Baiocchi. Just like Bobby, Lisa attends therapy sessions with Matthews as her father Eugene is abusive, Bobby tells Lisa that she should not take any more abuse from Eugene. When Lisa returns home her father angrily tells her to stop seeing Bobby. Suddenly a mysterious arm-like appendage bursts through the window and yanks him outside. The next day Scully examines the body and concludes that he was pushed out of the window. Mulder however, thinks he was pulled.
While examining Eugene's corpse Mulder finds a splinter in his neck, the wood of which matches the trees outside his house. While they continue to investigate the crime Mulder and Scully are approached by a mysterious man (George Josef) who claims that a "bad man" is killing the area's trees. While this is happening, Matthews takes Lisa to her house claiming that she is protecting her. After Lisa overhears Matthews arguing with a man she journeys into Matthews' root cellar where she finds a corpse. When she tries to leave she finds she has been locked in.
Mulder later discovers that Matthews' father was retrieved from a mud puddle twenty years before the events of the episode. He begins to suspect her of wrongdoing — suspicion that is furthered after he digs up her father's empty coffin. Later the mysterious man from earlier tells Mulder that Matthews' father's death ended a blight that had been killing trees in the town.
Lisa's aunt journeys to Matthews' house to retrieve her niece, but is killed by Matthews who is revealed to have a split personality engendered by abuse from her own father. This has also given her power to control the trees in the area. Mulder and Scully later search Matthews' house and find the mysterious corpse in the basement — who they realize is the body of Matthews's father — as well as an unharmed Lisa. Meanwhile, Matthews goes to Bobby's house and chases him into the orchard. The agents show up soon thereafter and both Mulder and Bobby are nearly drowned in mud. The mysterious man suddenly appears and cuts Matthews' head off with an axe, ending her power over the trees.[1]
Production
Conception and writing
"Schizogeny" was written by Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger—their first for the series.[2] Due to it being Scot and Wollaeger's first episode, "Schizogeny" took a long time to write and, according to executive producer Frank Spotnitz, "went through many, many incarnations and versions."[3] Due to the episode's plot and setting, it became sardonically known as "The Killer Tree Episode" among the cast and crew.[2] The episode's title is a biological term for the creation of cavities by separating out existing cells.[3]
Casting
Katharine Isabelle, who portrayed Lisa Baiocchi, was the daughter of Graeme Murray, the production designer for The X-Files. Kate Robbins, who played Lisa's aunt Linda, had previously appeared in the
Set and score
While much of "Schizogeny" was filmed on a real orchard named Hazelgrove Farms near
Several of the shooting locations were chosen because of their proximity to large trees. Lisa's house, for instance, was next to a large willow, which was fitted with a fake tree limb twenty feet long to give it a more menacing feel.[2] The tree limb that attacks Mulder's car was a branch from a tree that had broken off and fallen on government land. The producers secured permission from the Canadian government to retrieve the branch, and then hoisted it into the air before dropping it onto a retired police car. After the stunt, Nigel Habgood, the series' car coordinator, refurbished the car and it was later re-used in the episode "Kill Switch."[3]
Broadcast and reception
"Schizogeny" premiered on the
The episode received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with several reviewers dubbing it one of the worst episodes of the series. Francis Dass of the New Straits Times Press referred to it as "one of the weaker episodes" of the fifth season.[6] The A.V. Club reviewer Emily St. James gave "Schizogeny" a D−, and wrote that it "just might be the very worst episode of The X-Files", noting that "the tone [of the episode] is off."[7] Furthermore, St. James felt that "the more Scott and Wollaeger try to continue explaining this and tie it into the idea of child abuse, the less it attains any of the power or tragedy they want it to have."[7] Starpulse, in a run-down of the best and worst episodes and villains of the series, named the killer trees the worst monster-of-the-week and wrote, "[Schizogeny] proved that even the X-Files' writers can come up completely dry on their scary creeps sometimes."[8]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two wrote positively of the first part of the episode, noting that "director Ralph Hemecker [brings] the eeriness to the fore, and [makes] this a more honest-to-truth scary slice of X-File than has been offered in ages."[9] Shearman and Pearson, however, argued that the episode's references to Psycho and its "lack of explanation" result in the episode approaching "nonsense."[9] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four.[10] She wrote, "The plot of 'Schizogeny' is more tangled than the episode's paranormal root system, but underneath lies some powerful themes."[10]
Footnotes
- ^ a b Meisler, pp. 112–24.
- ^ a b c d Gradnitzer, p. 166.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Meisler, p. 125.
- Fox.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ a b Meisler, p. 284.
- ^ Dass, Francis (20 April 2000), "A Late 'X-Files' Collection", New Straits Times, New Straits Times Press, retrieved 20 May 2012[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b St. James, Emily (11 May 2011). ""Schizogeny"/"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ Payne, Andrew (25 July 2008). "'X-Files' 10 Best Episodes". Starpulse. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
- ^ a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 132.
- ^ a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "Fifth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 30 (7/8): 29–50.
Bibliography
- Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X marks the spot: on location with the X-files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4.
- Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: OCLC 42005360
External links
- "Schizogeny" on TheXFiles.com
- "Schizogeny" at IMDb