The X-Files s04e07 Episode Script

Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man

Not everything is a labyrinth of conspiracies.
Look, you're shaking.
One at a time, boys.
Now what's going on? - Frohike's close.
- Don't use my name! What's wrong with you? Now I'll have to kill you.
Langley and I performed three sweeps with the CpM-700.
The CpM-700 is a piece of crap! The acoustic correlator is reading only passive sounds.
I've been here 20 minutes, and I still don't know what the hell is wrong! No one would kill you, Frohike.
You're just a little puppy dog.
I don't utter another syllable until the CSM-25 counter measure filter is activated.
No electronic surveillance known can cut through the CSM-25.
Okay, okay.
Now tell us what you're so close to.
Not a what, a who.
If you find the right starting point and follow it, not even secrets of the darkest of men are safe.
Cancer Man? What did you find? possibly everything.
Maybe his background, who he is, and who he wants to be.
August 20th, 1940, Mexico City.
A Stalinist agent assassinated Leon Trotsky with an ice pick.
At that same moment, a thousand miles north, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, "he" appears.
The father was an ardent communist activist.
During the Nazi-Soviet pact, he kept the NKVD informed on American plans to enter World War II.
He was executed under the Espionage Act of 1917, before his boy could walk.
The mother, a cigarette smoker, died of lung cancer before her son uttered his first word.
With no surviving family, he became a ward of the state, sent to various orphanages in the Midwest.
Didn't make friends.
Spent all his time reading- alone.
And then he appears to have vanished, until a year and a half after the Bay of pigs.
premier Khrushchev, we want you! Premier Khrushchev, we want you! We're gonna kick your rang-a-dang-doo! Fidel Castro, we want you! We're gonna kick your rang-a-dang-doo! Mother Russia- Hey, I wanna see that when you're done with it.
Why don't you just go see the movie? I'd rather read the worst novel ever written than sit through the best movie ever made.
Captain, sir! General Francis requests you report to his office ASAP, sir! My one-year-old just said his first word.
- What was the word? - J.
F.
K.
Catch ya later, Mulder.
He’s here, sir.
Send him in.
You wish to see me, sir? Have a seat, Captain.
Captain, have you ever seen these two men, met the General - or myself?.
- No, sir.
In January, 1961, did you aid Congo President Kasavuba in the arrest and assassination of Patrice Lumumba? No, sir.
Were you involved in the training of Cuban nationals during Operation Zapata, also known as the Bay of pigs? I'm sorry, sir.
I'm unaware of any such operation.
On May 31st, 1961, did you aid Dominican locals in the assassination of Rafael Trujillo? No, sir.
Your father was a convicted spy for the Soviet Union.
Executed in a Louisiana electric chair, was he not? My only regret, sir, is I was too young to throw the switch myself.
At ease, Captain.
Your father's actions were totally out of your control.
Each of us in this room understands a life eviscerated by the actions of another.
Cigarette? No, thank you, sir.
I never touch 'em.
You see, Captain, most people seek to control life's events in order to secure a more positive, productive and free existence.
Often, however, the objectives of others conflict with our objectives.
Viva la libertad.
Now, most people- common people, really- can barely manage to control their own self-centered, myopic existence.
They command armies of lawyers armed with paper weapons, attacking with spiteful, vengeful, cowardly litigation.
Others operate within elephantine bureaucracies.
And then, Captain, there are extraordinary men.
Those who must identify, comprehend, and ultimately shoulder the responsibility for not only their own existence, but their country's, and the world's, as well.
Your father, Captain, believed his country should look to another form of government, and he took control of that belief.
So, in that respect, we view him as an extraordinary man.
And we believe- We know, Captain, that it runs in the family.
Now, don't misunderstand.
Your father should have been executed.
Communism is, without a doubt, the most heinous personification of evil mankind has ever confronted.
And it is, in part, the reason that you are before us here today.
You must understand, Captain, everything I'm about to say is classified "compartmentalized.
" So intensely that if you accept this assignment and successfully execute it, you will no longer be an officer of the United States Army, nor will any record exist of your service.
The assignment is the assassination of an American civilian, aged 46, former naval p.
T.
boat commander.
Married, father of two.
Last week, Captain, this country was brought to the brink of nuclear annihilation.
A situation which never would have a risen had the individual in question, as Commander in Chief, provided an umbrella of air support during the invasion at Bahia de Cochinos.
Is there a cover story? Tell 'em it was done by men from outer space.
We've found, and are setting up, a patsy.
Where? You shouldn't smoke those, Lee.
I'm reading studies that say they can kill you.
Well, Mr.
Hunt, sir, uh, I've heard about those reports and they are no doubt correct.
You'll have a good view of the president today.
Well, I-I like the president's family.
They're interesting people.
However, I have my own views on the president's national policy.
I'll probably just eat lunch.
I'm going to the movies at the Texas Theater.
It's only 90 cents.
I love the movies.
I brought the curtain rods, Lee.
I bought curtain rods just like this from a mail order back in March.
You did? Or A.
J.
Hidell? Well, Mr.
Hunt, Fidel's defenders have to be careful.
Yes, we do.
Speaking of which, Lee, I've informed our fellow defender that you will hide the curtain rods on the sixth floor of the book depository, behind the cartons against the back wall.
The Cuban visa? Once I've been notified the curtain rods have been safely removed from the depository, the visa and the money for your trip will be in your room.
Take a bus.
I left all my money with my wife.
That's all I've got- 13 and change.
You better get going, Lee.
You wouldn't want to miss your ride to work.
Oh.
Good morning, Lee.
Starting work right on time.
Yes, sir.
The president should be driving past any minute.
I think I hear every one down on the fifth floor.
Where's Lee? Does he wanna come? Better hurry up.
The president's car is now turning onto Elm Street.
I was on the Stemmons Freeway earlier, and even the freeway was jam packed with spectators waiting to see the president.
people are really starting to crowd in now.
The motorcade is heading down Elm Street now, passing the Texas School Book Depository.
I can't quite see from here.
- It appears something has happened on the motorcade route.
Does anyone know what happened? Is there any information? Upstairs! - Do you know this man? - Yes, he works for me.
Let's go! The president of the United States is dead.
It is official now.
president Kennedy is dead.
No! No! No, sir! I won't be a patsy.
should be considered dangerous, and use caution approaching.
Afternoon.
I wish to see some form of identification, sir.
Now easy there, partner.
I just wanna talk a minute.
If I don't see valid credentials, I'm gonna assume you're with them.
Them? What do you mean, partner? How about a cigarette? Thank you.
You know, Keiffer knocked out a bunker.
All by himself, too.
That's more guts than I've got.
All I did was pick up the spoils.
But he's really got 'em.
After Connors and Thurston ran, he knocked out the bunker with one grenade.
Now that's really somethin', huh? Yeah.
We won't be long.
On your feet.
Come on.
It's gonna be all over.
He's got a gun! Take him down! I'm not resisting arrest! I'm not resisting arrest! Stop hitting me, you sons of bitches! I'm not the one! I'm not the one! I'm not the one! This is police brutality! This is police brutality! I'm not resisting arrest! put him in the car! Let me go! We must, with positive action, - seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.
These are revolutionary times.
All over the globe, men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression.
And out of the wombs of a frail world, - new systems of justice and equality are being born.
The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before.
"I can kill you whenever I please.
" We in the West have seen a great light.
We in the West must support these revolutions.
"But not today.
" It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch-antirevolutionaries.
This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit.
Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated.
No, no.
Why'd you have to do that? to recapture the revolution- Why didn't you know this was coming, Edgar? Last year the House was not smiling on non eye-to-eye surveillance.
So I stopped.
We called Ramsey Clark to receive a go-ahead on tapping King's phone, but he refused.
Our Behind the Fence operations on WILLI E believes that King's ally, Stokeley Carmichael, is recruitin' a Negro army to wage war on white America.
Wouldn't you, if you were them? If this were only a civil rights issue, I'd vote for a King-Benjamin Spock presidential ticket.
But after last night, it's not.
You actually sound sad about it.
I respect King.
He's an extraordinary man.
But now he's talking like a Maoist.
And if he convinces Negroes not to fight in Vietnam, we'll lose.
And the first domino will have fallen.
We must step up our efforts to discredit him.
Like your ridiculous suicide project? "There is but one way out for you"? That dumb letter attempting to drive King into despair only alerted him to the level of our surveillance.
We could create a film of him with a woman other than his wife.
Using existing footage, we could insert him in a film we make of a woman- a white woman.
The solution is more intense than just dirty tricks.
If you'll excuse us, gentlemen, the Director has a meeting at the White House.
Sit down.
You've enough plausible deniability to last the rest of your nine lives.
A SIG Force can execute a wet-insert operation.
One day, he and his immediate circle are just found dead.
Too many questions.
Americans believe the South is still fighting the Civil War.
We find ourselves a cracker patsy, and the motives become very black and white.
Another patsy.
Should we advise the president? I work very hard to keep any president from knowing I even exist.
Who will you order to do it? I'll do it myself.
I have too much respect for the man.
The nation is sick.
Trouble is in the land, confusion all around.
That's a strange statement.
But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a wave that men, in some strange way, are responding.
Something is happening in our world.
The masses of people are rising up.
And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa,; Nairobi, Kenya,; Akra, Ghana,; New York City,; Atlanta, Georgia,; Jackson, Mississippi or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same:; We want to be free.
Raul.
I got the binoculars you sent me out for.
Just put 'em down by your clothes.
I heard, uh, Dr.
King's stayin' at the Lorraine Motel, right behind here.
Our gun buyer's coming by to look at the rifle.
Well, I gave it to you this mornin'.
I have it.
Look, uh, three's a crowd.
Here's a couple of hundred.
Go to a movie or something.
Come back in two or three hours.
Leave the Mustang.
I'll need it later.
Well, I don't know what will happen now.
We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn't matter to me now.
Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live along life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will.
And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.
And I've looked over.
And I've seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will get to the promised land! So I'm happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything! I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! has touched off declarations of states of emergency in several cities.
In Washington, D.
C.
- New York State’s Senator Robert F.
Kennedy has made an appeal for calm.
I would only say that I can also feel, in my own heart, the same kind of feeling.
I had a member of my family killed.
But he was killed by a white man.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus.
And he once wrote, "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget "Falls drop by drop upon the heart, "Until, in our own despair, "Against our own will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
" All right, gentlemen.
Let's make this short and sweet so we can all go home for Christmas.
Domestic unrest operations? Yeah.
The Anita Hill thing has lost steam since October.
Well, let it go.
We played it right.
Unfounded allegations will be flying around in no time.
L.
A.
? The Rodney King trial's been moved to Simi Valley, just as you instructed.
- Call back.
- Internationally, Bosnia-Herzegovina is set for a February vote on independence from Yugoslavia.
America couldn't care less.
I'm working on next month's Oscar nominations.
- Any preference? - I couldn't care less.
What I don't want to see is the Bills winning the Super Bowl.
As long as I'm alive, that doesn't happen.
Could be tough, sir.
Buffalo wants it bad.
So did the Soviets in '80.
What, are you saying you rigged the Olympic hockey game? What's the matter? Don’t you believe in miracles? The boss gave the Russian goaltender a little pre-game good luck pat on the back.
Unseen Novocain needle on a bogus wedding ring.
Goalie's a little slow on the stick side.
Four-three, home team.
Payback's a bitch, Ivan.
Well, gentlemen, if that’ll be all- One thing internally, sir.
That "Spooky" kid who talked his way into opening the X-Files, he feels like trouble.
He's mine to keep an eye on.
Gorbachev has just resigned.
There's no more enemies.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
If you don't have any plans, sir, we're all getting together with our families out in Virginia.
You're more than welcome to- Oh.
Well.
Uh- I have to, uh, see some, uh family.
##it’s the most wonderful time of the year## ## With the kids jingle-belling## ##And everyone telling you be of good cheer## ##it’s the most wonderful time of the year## ##it’s the hap-happiest season off all## ## With those holiday greetings and gay, happy feelings## ## When friends come to call## ##it’s the hap-happiest season of all## Yeah? You'll never believe what we just got for Christmas.
The craft matches the dimensions of the vehicle spotted over Hanoi when I was in Vietnam with The Company, that the Marines couldn't shoot down.
- Occupant? - Critical.
Timing couldn't be worse.
The Roswell story we concocted was gathering momentum.
Had them all looking in the wrong direction.
- With luck we’ll get away with it.
- No luck tonight.
Our Aurora spy planes confirm the Russians tracked entry and have pinpointed touchdown.
Haven’t you heard? There are no Russians anymore.
I don't care if they’re in the midst of ruin.
The KGB is not going to ignore an event of this magnitude- nor the Chinese, nor the Germans, nor the British, nor anyone who has the capability of discovering what happened here tonight.
I'm certain each of them has operatives advancing on us right now.
How many historic events have only the two of us witnessed together, Ronald? How often did we make or change history? And our names can never grace any pages of record.
No monument will ever bear our image.
And yet, once again tonight, the course of human history will be set by two unknown men, standing in the shadows.
A living E.
B.
E.
could advance Bill Mulder's project by decades.
Security Council resolution 1013 states any country capturing such an entity is responsible for its immediate extermination.
I'm the liar.
You're the killer.
Your lies have killed more men in a day than I have in a lifetime.
I've never killed anybody.
Maybe I'm not the liar.
I have a chance to go an entire lifetime without killing anybody or any thing.
With all of our work in the past if the world were to see this, it would destroy all we've gained in a few hours.
Tonight, we have a new enemy.
Heads.
Go ahead.
Make history.
At that point, your work in the basement was getting attention from the top floor.
And that’s why you were brought in.
Agent Scully, thank you for coming on such short notice.
Are you familiar with an agent named Fox Mulder? - Yes, lam.
- How so? By reputation.
Um, he's an Oxford-educated psychologist who wrote a monograph on serial killers and the occult that helped to catch Monty Propps in 1988.
Generally thought of as the best analyst in the Violent Crimes section.
He had a nickname at the Academy- "Spooky" Mulder.
What I'll also tell you is that Agent Mulder has developed a consuming devotion to an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream.
Are you familiar with the so-called X-Files? Sorry.
Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted.
Agent Mulder.
I'm Dana Scully.
I've been assigned to work with you.
Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded? So who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully? Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you.
- I've heard a lot about you.
- Oh, really? I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me.
Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
" His life has been anything but quiet.
Yet, I believe, nothing but desperate.
He's the most dangerous man alive.
Not so much because he believes in his actions, but because he believes these actions are all which life allows him.
And yet, the only person that can never escape him is himself.
- Pivotal Publishing.
- Um, uh, Walden Roth, please.
- One moment.
- Walden Roth.
Oh, Mr.
Roth, hello.
Uh, this is Raul Bloodworth, author of Second Chance:; A Jack Colquitt Adventure.
Yes, of course, Mr.
Bloodworth.
What an active imagination you have- alien assassinations.
Is it too much? I-I mean, is my imagination too active? No, no.
I love it.
Now, as I've expressed in the letter, I wish to serialize your novel in our publication, Roman A'Clef.
Many outstanding authors receive their first printing in our publications.
Th-That's great.
Um, I had an idea about the artwork.
I- I thought it could have a kind of Tom Clancy-is kind of look, and that- Great, great.
That's why we work with young writers.
But I'll be honest, however.
You'll have to relinquish some control.
Of course.
Of course.
After all, it is our publication.
And I can assure you, we'll handle it with the utmost respect.
No, no, no.
I'm-I’m sure you will.
I'm- I'm just excited.
Understandable.
Now, do you have an agent or attorney? - No.
- That's fine.
It's a minimum agreement of$2,500, and you'll save yourself ten percent.
Well, that's fine, that's fine.
An-Anything.
When do you plan to publish the story? Roman A'Clef.
It'll be on the newsstands the morning of November 12th.
Hey, buddy, you can't park there! Excuse me, sir.
Have you got this week's issue of Roman A' Clef? - Thanks.
- Yeah.
This isn't the ending that I wrote.
It's all wrong.
If you’re gonna stand there and read it, I gotta ask you to buy it.
Of course, I don't know why anybody in their right mind would wanna buy that sort of crap.
That be it? Pack of Morleys.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for.
Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates.
So you’re stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat.
Sure, once in a while there's a peanut butter cup or an English toffee, but they're gone too fast and the taste is fleeting.
So you end up with nothing but broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth-shattering nuts.
If you’re desperate enough to eat those, all you've got left is a- is an empty box filled with useless brown paper wrappers.
So far, this is based only on a story I read in one of my weekly subscriptions that ranga few bells.
I'm going to check on a private hacker source who’s been working on tracking a few leads that could produce definitive proof.
And then we'll have him nailed.
I can kill you whenever please.
But not today.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode