7x20 Fight Club
Synopsis
The Agents cross paths with a pair of doppelgangers whose close proximity with each other leaves a trail of destruction across 17 states. Mulder and Scully must first understand why this is happening before they can stop it. But the Agents soon realise that the only way to stop the destruction is by stopping the girls meeting up, but this becomes difficult when both fall in love with the same man.
Writer/s: Chris Carter
Director: Paul Shapiro
Originally aired: 7th May 2000 (in the US) - 2nd August 2000 (in Australia)
Quotes
Scully: Okay, so these agents were investigating something. Something... much like what they themselves were almost killed by. Uh, something they came into contact with. Uh... Third party? Two third parties. Twins? Relatives? A doppelganger? A corporeal likeness that appears unbidden from the spirit world, the sight of which presages one's own death or... a double, conjured into the world by a technique called bilocation... which in psychological terms represents the person's secret desires and impulses, committing acts that the, uh, real person cannot commit himself... or herself? Mulder, the slide, please. [Mulder advances the projector to show a slide of the Kansas driver's license of Betty Templeton] Yes!
Mulder: Don't go thinking I'm going to start doing the autopsies.
Mulder: You know what I'm thinking?
Scully: That Mr Zupanic not only knows Betty Templeton and where we can find her, but that he is hip to whatever she's into and that I should take a look at that house he mentioned on Moreton Bay Street while you go and find out from Mr Zupanic what it is exactly that he's clearly hiding about Betty Templeton.
Mulder: I'm thinking that Bert Zupanic really truly doesn't know Betty Templeton.
Scully: Well, I guess that's why they put the 'I' in the FBI.
Links
Episodes: Fanpop and SideReel.
Transcripts: Episode transcript.
Screen captures at: The X Files Screen Grab Archive
Episode related fanfic: Page 1
Season 7 Gag Reels: Part 1 and Part 2
Mods thoughts and discussion attempts
First of all, let me say: I can not believe that Chris Cater wrote this episode. The man has been responsible for some awful things, but this? This is probably the worst. DD only had a handful of episodes left and they wasted good Mulder time on this crap.
The beginning is awful. Using the stand-ins to make us believe it was M&S was not clever, and I really hated that they dubbed DD and GA’s voices over their own. That made me cringe. I will admit that I enjoyed the exchange between M&S when he was showing her the slideshow and Scully is generally funny throughout the ep. But omg! Its so bad.
The thing that actually struck me about this episode, is that it almost felt like Mulder was handing Scully the reins. She guessed what was going on with the case (that was cute) and then he says later on to her - this is your case Scully … I wonder if that was intentional? CC setting us up for a Mulder-less XFiles? Ha. Maybe not, because if CC was that smart, he would never have written this episode to begin with.
Final thoughts: HATE!! Worst episode ever.
Extra
Scully tells Mulder "That's why they put the 'I' in FBI." Mulder said the same thing to her in the series Pilot episode.
31:57 - Angry man walks away from cell bars, but at 31:59 when shot changes to Scully his arms are back on the bars.
In one of the last scenes in the episode. The person that was fighting Bert Zupanic in the ring was WWE superstar Rob Van Dam.
Who took the photos of the twins beating each other up which Scully shows as a slide show at the end? Everyone in the room should have been fighting; even Mulder and Scully were.
LuLu Pfeiffer was named for LuLu Powers, a regular catering chef for Ten Thirteen Productions.
"Ma nish ta na", what Saperstein says when Mulder mispronounces his name, is Hebrew. It is a slang-like statement shortened from the phrase "Ma nish ta na ha'lilah hazeh" which means "why is this night different from all other nights" -- the shortened version can be read more like "So what else is new?".
The Mulder & Scully look-alikes in the episode were played by David & Gillian's stand-ins, Steve Kiziak (who also appeared in "Hungry") and Arlene Pileggi (Mitch Pileggi's wife, who also has a recurring role as Skinner's secretary on the show).
References
Title: Fight Club
Taken presumably from the 1999 film of the same name, where people meet up to beat each other up for no particularly rational reason.
Mulder: I'm looking for That Girl, and then Betty turns around.
This is the tag line and set-up from the TV show That Girl a show starring Marlo Thomas as a actress/model trying to make it in New York city. The show aired from 1966 to 1971.
The "Koko's" copy shops are a clear reference to the "Kinko's" copy shops, which had a similar color scheme and design before being bought out by FedEx in 2004.