4.10 Terma
US Airdate: December 1, 1996
writers: Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
director: Kim Manners
STARRING:
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully
Guest Cast:
MITCH PILEGGI as Assistant Director Skinner
WILLIAM B. DAVIS as The Cigarette-Smoking Man
NICK LEA as Krycek
CAMPBELL LANE as Committee Chairman
FRITZ WEAVER as Senator Sorenson
JOHN HAINSWORTH as Gaunt Man
OLESKY SHOSTAK as Bundled Man
JAN RUBES as Vassily Peskow
STEFAN ARNGRIM as the prisoner
ROBIN MOSSLEY as Dr. Kingsley Looker
BRENDAN BEISER as Agent Pendrell
JOHN NEVILLE as Well-Manicured Man
MALCOLM STEWART as Dr. Sacks
JESSICA SCHREIER as Dr. Bonita Sayre
BRENT STAIT as Terry Edward Mayhew
EILEEN PEDDE as Angie
A RUSSIAN ASSASSIN IS BROUGHT OUT OF RETIREMENT TO ERASE ALL LINKS TO AMERICAN EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING THE MYSTERIOUS "BLACK CANCER".
In Tunguska, Mulder has survived his ordeal for now, but is still being held captive in a Siberian Gulag. The prisoner in the next cell explains that all the men in the camp are injected with "black cancer" until the toxin finally kills them. Escape is impossible. Resistance is futile. Mulder swears he will survive, long enough at least to kill Krycek. Impressed by Mulder's will to survive, the prisoner gives Mulder his own home-made knife. Back in Washington, Dr. Sacks is alive after
being infected by the black worms from the rock that was recovered in the diplomatic pouch, although he is comatose. For Scully and Agent Pendrell, the medical mystery starts to unravel when tests reveal a black vermiform organism attached to his brain's pineal gland.
St. Petersburg. A former KGB assassin, Vassily Peskow, comes out of retirement when a messenger from "Comrade Arntzen" requests his help, and tells him the Cold War isn't over. Peskow makes his way to a horse farm which belongs to the Well-Manicured Man where he assassinates Dr. Bonita Chung-Sayre, a well-known authority on viruses and the Well-Manicured Man's personal physician.
Due to testify before the Senate Subcommittee hearing, Skinner presses a reluctant Scully for more information about the pouch and its contents. Skinner surprises her with his news: the pouch's intended recipient was the late Dr. Chung-Sayre, who was killed in a "riding accident."
Tunguska. The prisoners, including Mulder, are on the march. Nearby, Krycek is laughing it up with Mulder's tormentors. The sight spurs Mulder to action. Armed only with the knife, Mulder steals a battered truck and makes his escape, knocking Krycek into the back of the truck and taking him along for the ride. The chase ends when the truck's brakes give out. Krycek bails out before the crash, but Mulder is trapped inside. Krycek flees through the woods where he runs into a group of men - all of which are missing their left arm. Krycek tells them he is an escaped prisoner, and the men take him in. Meanwhile, Mulder has survived the accident and hides in the
forest from his pursuing captors.
In Washington, Scully is jailed for contempt of Congress when she refuses to reveal Mulder's whereabouts at the Senate hearing. As she explains to Skinner, someone with a secret agenda is deliberately obfuscating the case: focusing on a missing FBI agent, rather than the existence of a toxic biohazard of extra-terrestrial origin and the deaths of those connected to it.
Mulder is discovered hiding in the woods by a family, who explains that the villagers' only means of saving themselves from the fatal Gulagian experiments is a drastic one: amputation of the left arm. Mulder must persuade them to take him to St. Petersburg, or they may amputate his arm to "save"
him. Unfortunately for Krycek, his rescuers "save" him as he sleeps.
Peskow continues his mission, paying a visit to the comatose Dr. Sacks whom he injects with the same amber fluid that had been shot into Mulder at the Gulag. The worms emerge, and he kills Sacks. At the Senate hearing, Scully is just about to be charged with contempt again...when Mulder appears, arm intact. Mulder's presence puts the attention back on the rock and the biotoxin, but when Scully tries to bring up the subject of the biotoxin's extraterrestrial origin, her claims are not taken seriously. Mulder interrupts the hearing, challenging the skepticism of the Senators when the most conservative scientists and science journals have every reason to believe that life exists outside our terrestrial sphere. Taken aback by Mulder's statement, the chairman of the subcommittee abruptly adjourns the hearing, calling for a recess until the evidence can be properly evaluated.
Following the lead that Dr. Chung-Sayre was the supervising physician at a nursing home in Boca Raton, Mulder and Scully travel to Florida to investigate. She and Mulder arrive too late. Peskow has already poisoned all of the patients and black worms have emerged from their deceased bodies. Mulder realizes a similar experiment to the one being conducted in Russia had been conducted at this nursing home. Still bent on finding a trace of evidence left behind, Mulder and Scully travel to New York where they interview the head of the militia group Krycek was running
with. The militia member tells them Krycek told them his name was Arntzen, and that Krycek approached them. Everything Krycek told him was a lie. They also learn that the US government covered up their knowledge that Soviet-developed "black cancer" was deployed by Saddam during the Gulf War. Mulder now believes the whole thing was a set up from the beginning by someone who doesn't want the rocks in American hands. Finally, he discovers where Krycek is hiding another rock: Terma, North Dakota, in the stolen truck carrying the Militia's fertilizer bomb.
Again, Peskow is one step ahead of Mulder and Scully. He drives the truck to a Canadian oil refinery, intending to destroy the remaining rock. Mulder and Scully arrive too late to prevent Peskow from igniting a fiery explosion which engulfs the last peice of evidence. Both barely escape with their lives.
The final report on their investigation is turned over to the Senate subcommitte, but in vain. The Cigarette-Smoking Man controls the Senator who chairs the committee, and her evidence is destroyed. In St. Petersburg, Peskow returns home to find Krycek, sporting a prosthetic left arm, who commends Peskow for a job well done.
Notes
"Terma", or more accurately pronounced, tyurma, means jail or prison, or imprisonment.
At the end of the credits, we see the tag line has changed to "E PUR SI MUOVE", which my sources tell me means "and yet it moves" and refers to what Galileo said under his breath after being forced to retract his ideas about the earth rotating around the sun by the Spanish Inquisition. And who said this show isn't educational?
Speaking of which, the quote by the Well-Manicured Man, "They're all honourable, these
honourable men." is a take on a quote from William Shakespeare's play "Julius Ceasar": "For Brutus is an honourable man, So are they all, all honourable men."
The re-run of the first scene from "Tunguska" with Scully before the Senate, is not exactly the same the second time around, as some parts that were obscured in the beginning are now viewable, such as Skinner seated behind Scully and a note that is passed to Senator Sorenson. We also see Skinner's reaction of shock when he speaks about possible resignation (awww) and the look of oh-no-what's-she-doing-now? when she talks about the men in government that are holding back justice.
Personal notes: What the hey??!! Good luck figuring this thing out folks, I've seen it twice so far and I'm still lost. Not that I don't enjoy these adventures, I do, and this two-parter was terrific, with some great Mulder angst, beautiful imagery (not counting the half-naked Skinner from the first one, yowza!) and some half-decent acting from all concerned. It was satisfying to have Krycek back, although he'll now be only half the villian he was before, poor guy. But part two has more questions than part one did!
Lots of problems accepting that the Russian spy could just walk into the NASA medical facility and inject the doctor. No security cameras recording all this?! It's a possibility that he was "let" in by any contacts he may have had in the American government. He does appear to be an older, experienced spy, as he tells Krycek he is now retired and won't do any more favours for him. So the trip to Florida was a favour for Krycek? Just how big IS this Ruskie Ratboynik?
What the heck happened to Mulder? One minute he's barely capable of walking unaided and is being threatened by a large Russian man with a knife, the next he's in Washington, all cleaned up with nothing but some scratches on his head to show he's been through any turmoil! Details, Chris and company, we need details!!
So Krycek's been a Russian spy all along? Okay, we can accept that, I guess, but why go through all this for that rock when he could have just grabbed it himself from the courier right?! Why the milita group contact? Just to torment Mulder by dragging him into it? And why go to Russia with Mulder when he already knew where the rock was? What was the deal with the evil, bald officer? Just getting paid off was he? Questions, and yet more questions...
A lot of concern regarding the smallpox vaccinations and chopped off arms, so here it is in a nutshell. Everyone who had been vaccinated was being used as a test subject in experiments dealing with the black cancer and a cure for its effects. When experimenting in this manner, the doctors or scientists need to examine the area around the vaccination for changes etc. With no left arm, the people who had already been injected could no longer be used as test subjects. Also remember back in "Paper Clip" we learned that apparently ALL humans who received a smallpox vaccination were also injected with a DNA "tag" of identification, so, again, no arm, no ID.
There is some truth to be found here, namely that the smallpox virus really does still exist and is being kept in parts of Russia today, as well as the Centre for Disease Control in America. The science community is embroiled in debate about what to do with the samples, some want it destroyed so it doesn't accidently get released among the populace, while others argue that it should be kept for research purposes. So you see, the truth really IS still out there! Check yourself thoroughly, have YOU been innoculated against smallpox, hmmmm?! Scary huh?
Sheesh, even I felt sorry for our poor Ratboy here, what a bummer! He may never be thought of as harmless...but he IS arm-less! Bad pun, sorry.
The Mulder and Scully hug, really close, had the shippers on the newsgroup agog!
Quotes
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Well Manicured-Man: "Find her killer . . . ."
Cancer Man: "Call off this congressional investigation!"
WMM: "I can't, but Senator Sorenson is an honorable man. They're all honorable - these honorable men."
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Mulder: "I'm not going to die."
Prisoner: "No? Why not?"
Mulder: "I have to live long enough to kill that man Krycek."
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Scully: "Several of the men on this committee are lawyers. It is my experience that lawyers ask the wrong question only when they don't want the right answer."
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Cancer Man: "I heard Mulder was captured in Tunguska. I hear now he's escaped . . . . . . Wake the Russian bear and it may find we've stolen its honey."
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Skinner: "These are congressmen we are talking about Agent Scully."
Scully: "I know that sir, and it is my natural inclination to believe that they are acting in the best interest of the truth - but I am not inclined to follow my own judgement in this case."
Skinner: "So, you're going to follow Agent Mulder's? Is that it?"
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Scully: ".... a wide ranging conspiracy to control a lethal bio-toxin that is in fact extraterrestrial."
Senator: "Are we talking little green men here?"
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Mulder: (hugging Scully upon his return) "It's good to put my arms around you - both of them"
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