Synchrony (The X-Files)
| "Synchrony" | |
|---|---|
| The X-Files episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | James Charleston |
| Written by | Howard Gordon David Greenwalt |
| Production code | 4X19[1] |
| Original air date | April 13, 1997 |
| Running time | 43 minutes[2] |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Synchrony" is the nineteenth episode of the
The show centers on
Gordon and Greenwalt wrote the episode after being inspired by an article in
Plot
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT cryogenics researchers Jason Nichols (Joseph Fuqua) and Lucas Menand (Jed Rees) become embroiled in an argument as they walk down a city street. They are approached by an old man (Michael Fairman), who warns Menand that he will be killed by a bus at 11:46 pm that evening, but Menand ignores him. After the man is arrested by campus security, his apparent prophecy is proven true when Jason tries, but fails, to save Menand, who is promptly run over by a bus and killed at the exact time (11:46 pm).
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the case, learning that Jason was taken into custody after the bus driver told police that he (Jason) pushed Menand into the path of his vehicle. However, Jason tells authorities that he was actually trying to save Menand. The security guard who arrested the old man is found frozen to death after exposure to a chemical refrigerant. Mulder interviews Jason, who explains Menand threatened to go public with a claim that Jason had falsified data on a research paper.
The old man kills Dr. Yonechi (
Lisa locates the elderly man and confronts him; however, he injects her with the chemical after explaining that Lisa will be responsible for the coming future. Scully successfully resuscitates Lisa. Jason confronts his elderly self in the computer mainframe room at the cryogenic lab, where the old man has erased all of Jason's files from the mainframe. The old man tells Jason that the success of their research made time travel possible, but also plunged the world into chaos. Jason lunges at the old man, choking him as he demands to travel back himself and save Lisa. Mulder arrives with the news that Lisa has been saved, and the elder Jason wraps his arms around his younger self and bursts into flames, the fire consuming them both.
As Lisa is loaded on to an ambulance to receive further treatment, Scully breaks the news to her that Jason died in the mainframe room fire. Mulder then reminds Scully of a statement in her thesis in which she asserts that "... although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome," which indicates that, despite Jason Nichols effectively erasing himself from the future, the rapid freezing agent compound will be discovered by someone in the current universe, resulting in the eventual discovery of time travel.
Later, Lisa sets to work at the cryonics lab, attempting to reconstruct the chemical compound.[3]
Production
After series creator
Gordon decided that the most affecting and X-Files-like story should involve a time-traveler who "turns out to be you".[5] Howard was inspired to make the main antagonist a regretful scientist after hearing the story of Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer berating U.S. President Harry S. Truman for using atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This prompted Gordon to rhetorically ask: "What if Oppenheimer could go back to the past and 'uninvent' the bomb?".[4] Soon, Gordon and Greenwalt began pondering fatalistic determinism brought about by the ability to see the future, with the former noting: "Life itself is about the unknown and discovering what is in front of us. But if everyone, or maybe some people, knew what would happen, that would create a new set of horrors, and it would need to be stopped".[4]
The script for "Synchrony" took over a week to write, with some day-long sessions lasting over 15-hours. Gordon and Greenwalt were also assisted by fellow writers Ken Horton, John Shiban, and co-executive producer Frank Spotnitz. A few days before filming was slated to begin, Gordon was still frantically reworking the teleplay; during these last-minute rewrites, he removed a number of elements, including two "useless characters" (one of whom was a Stephen Hawking-esque scientist in a wheelchair)—a move that he claims "really tightened up the story".[4] David Duchovny later revealed that a few of the episode's scenes were even written during filming "because no one could know if the audience understood what was happening".[4] Gordon later said, "In the end, I think it worked, but it's getting there that's really difficult."[5] The experience proved so challenging that Gordon very nearly considered aborting the project, and after finally delivering the script, he swore off writing about time travel.[4]
Reception
"Synchrony" originally aired on the
The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode a "B−". Handlen considered that while "'Synchrony' has all the pieces of my favorite kind of episode, [it] doesn't really work as well as it should" due to an emotional detachment that made him not care about the scientists and their story, and his finding Old Jason's actions to be illogical.[7] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave "Synchrony" two out of four stars, considering it a middling episode with some effective moments, but complaining about plot holes, "not particularly compelling" supporting characters, and feeling that time travel "takes away from the reality that is this show's foundation".[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 two and a half stars out of five, praising the "high concept that is told without pretension".[9] The two also called the episode "solid and watchable" despite flaws such as the underdevelopment of the script and not fully exploring the "concept with such potential" that is time travel.[9]
See also
- Vitrification
- Quantum physics
- Tachyons
- Temporal paradox
- Time travel
Footnotes
- ^ Fox.)
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ "The X-Files, Season 4". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ^ a b Meisler, pp. 198–207
- ^ a b c d e f Meisler, p. 198
- ^ a b Hurwitz, Knowles, p. 113
- ^ a b Meisler, p. 298
- ^ Handlen, Zack (February 12, 2011). "'Synchrony'/'Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1997). "Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 29 (4/5): 35–62.
- ^ a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 99
Bibliography
- Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1933784809.
- Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864.
- Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 978-0975944691.
External links
- "Synchrony" at IMDb
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