7x21 Je Souhaite
Sorry I'm late guys! I also wanted to say that with all the "news" thats broken I would hope no one discusses it here. Lets stick to the show, 'kay?
Synopsis
Mulder and Scully discover a jinniah (genie) in a rug who, after 500 years of granting wishes, has come to the conclusion that people are still as greedy and self-centered as they always have been and she begins to corrupt the wishes she grants if they are not 'specific' enough.
Writer/s: Vince Gilligan
Director: Vince Gilligan
Originally aired: 14th May 2000 (in the US) - 9th August 2000 (in Australia)
Quotes
Scully: Well, according to Gilmore, he was standing right where I am when it happened.
Mulder: Well, I don't smell any weird chemical smells. You still have both your lips.
Scully: Hi. We're looking for a Mr Anson Stokes.
Leslie Stokes: He's not here.
Scully: Well, do you happen to know when he's coming back? Well, we are, uh, Agents Mulder and Scully from the FBI.
Leslie Stokes: Oh, the boat's... the boat's not ours. The boat... I'm... we're just holding it for someone, and, you know - they pay the taxes on it.
Mulder: I think you missed a spot here. I can see straight through to his ass … This is Anson Stokes, huh?
Scully: It is. His dental records are a match. He was found about half a mile from his house. He was probably hit by a car or a truck or... something.
Mulder: And he's invisible.
Scully: Yes, he is. You know, Mulder, in the seven years that we've been working together I have seen some amazing things, but this? This takes the cake. It's... it's going to change the boundaries of science.
Mulder: I can't believe you don't want butter on your popcorn. Uggh. It's un-American.
Scully: 'Caddyshack', Mulder?
Mulder: It's a classic American movie.
Scully: That's what every guy says. It's a guy movie.
Mulder: Okay, when you invite me over to your place we can watch 'Steel Magnolias'.
Scully: So, um... What's the occasion?
Mulder: I don't know. Just felt like the thing to do. Cheers.
Scully: Cheers.
Mulder: I don't know if you noticed but, um, I never made the world a happier place.
Scully: Well, I'm fairly happy. That's something. So what was your final wish, anyway?
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
I adore this episode. It’s a favourite from season 7. Maybe its just because I love the ending with Mulder and Scully - popcorn, movies and beer!! Eeeeee! They were so getting horizontal after. Y/Y?
I love Jenn too. She is a great, sarcastic character. The idea of a genie who grants bad wishes because they aren’t specific enough and because she is tired of people wishing for the same selfish things is great.
I love Scully and her invisible body in this ep. She is so hilarious with it, talking to it, getting so excited when she is coating the yellow powder on it, its all just gold! And what I find the funniest is how when Anson’s body disappears she does her typical Scully backflip “I don’t know what I saw” … LOL ok then Scully. Even Mulder groans at her in total frustration. Plus, shes wearing the green sex top. Yay!
There is just so much I like about this episode. There isn’t really a bad moment from start to finish - its just a great Vince ep.
Extra
Title - "Je Souhaite" is French for "I wish"
Jay Gilmore (the man without a mouth) shares his name with the son of Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. Writer Vince Gilligan had promised an aide to the governor that he would use the name (Virginia is Gilligan's hometown).
Gilligan took the name Anson Stokes from "Happy Days" star Anson Williams.
Mulder comments that Henry Flanken's death was on April 4th, which is also the birthdate of Gilligan's girlfriend, Holly.
Mulder and Scully watch "Caddyshack" at the end of the episode, which might be in reference to David Duchovny's first date with Tea Leoni, where they watched "Caddyshack" together and "just howled".
The scene where Mulder walks through an empty street, after wishing for peace on earth, was shot on a Sunday morning and cost about $50,000, for some 10 seconds of filming.
In the original script, when Anson becomes invisible, his clothes were supposed to be seen moving, without a body inside, but it proved too expensive to shoot that way.
References
Television Reference: I Dream of Jeannie
Mulder hums the theme to this late 60's/early 70's sitcom, as well as referring to its star Barbara Eden.
In this episode Mulder mentioned Mark Twain trailpark. Mark Twain was a very successful author. His books included, Huckleberry Fin and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Further Background (from wikipedia)
A great deal of the plot parallels other stories regarding djinn (or genies) in literature and other fiction, but perhaps the closest recent parallel can be found in The Twilight Zone episode The Man in the Bottle, which recounts a shop owner discovering a lamp with a genie in it, and learns that making consequence-free wishes is very difficult.
The French title of this episode references Jenn becoming a djinn as a young woman in medieval France. She is transformed by a Moorish man (actually a djinn himself) after she wishes for power and a long life. This is a story she recounts to Mulder after she comes into his service.
The most famous portrayal of a genie in more recent media was the animated genie in the Disney film Aladdin. The genie in that film lists "raising the dead" as a wish he would rather not grant, stating that to do so would result in a zombie-like creature. The djinn in this episode also lightly warns against this, but ultimately grants such a wish, with the consequences promised by Disney's genie.
Synopsis
Mulder and Scully discover a jinniah (genie) in a rug who, after 500 years of granting wishes, has come to the conclusion that people are still as greedy and self-centered as they always have been and she begins to corrupt the wishes she grants if they are not 'specific' enough.
Writer/s: Vince Gilligan
Director: Vince Gilligan
Originally aired: 14th May 2000 (in the US) - 9th August 2000 (in Australia)
Quotes
Scully: Well, according to Gilmore, he was standing right where I am when it happened.
Mulder: Well, I don't smell any weird chemical smells. You still have both your lips.
Scully: Hi. We're looking for a Mr Anson Stokes.
Leslie Stokes: He's not here.
Scully: Well, do you happen to know when he's coming back? Well, we are, uh, Agents Mulder and Scully from the FBI.
Leslie Stokes: Oh, the boat's... the boat's not ours. The boat... I'm... we're just holding it for someone, and, you know - they pay the taxes on it.
Mulder: I think you missed a spot here. I can see straight through to his ass … This is Anson Stokes, huh?
Scully: It is. His dental records are a match. He was found about half a mile from his house. He was probably hit by a car or a truck or... something.
Mulder: And he's invisible.
Scully: Yes, he is. You know, Mulder, in the seven years that we've been working together I have seen some amazing things, but this? This takes the cake. It's... it's going to change the boundaries of science.
Mulder: I can't believe you don't want butter on your popcorn. Uggh. It's un-American.
Scully: 'Caddyshack', Mulder?
Mulder: It's a classic American movie.
Scully: That's what every guy says. It's a guy movie.
Mulder: Okay, when you invite me over to your place we can watch 'Steel Magnolias'.
Scully: So, um... What's the occasion?
Mulder: I don't know. Just felt like the thing to do. Cheers.
Scully: Cheers.
Mulder: I don't know if you noticed but, um, I never made the world a happier place.
Scully: Well, I'm fairly happy. That's something. So what was your final wish, anyway?
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
I adore this episode. It’s a favourite from season 7. Maybe its just because I love the ending with Mulder and Scully - popcorn, movies and beer!! Eeeeee! They were so getting horizontal after. Y/Y?
I love Jenn too. She is a great, sarcastic character. The idea of a genie who grants bad wishes because they aren’t specific enough and because she is tired of people wishing for the same selfish things is great.
I love Scully and her invisible body in this ep. She is so hilarious with it, talking to it, getting so excited when she is coating the yellow powder on it, its all just gold! And what I find the funniest is how when Anson’s body disappears she does her typical Scully backflip “I don’t know what I saw” … LOL ok then Scully. Even Mulder groans at her in total frustration. Plus, shes wearing the green sex top. Yay!
There is just so much I like about this episode. There isn’t really a bad moment from start to finish - its just a great Vince ep.
Extra
Title - "Je Souhaite" is French for "I wish"
Jay Gilmore (the man without a mouth) shares his name with the son of Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. Writer Vince Gilligan had promised an aide to the governor that he would use the name (Virginia is Gilligan's hometown).
Gilligan took the name Anson Stokes from "Happy Days" star Anson Williams.
Mulder comments that Henry Flanken's death was on April 4th, which is also the birthdate of Gilligan's girlfriend, Holly.
Mulder and Scully watch "Caddyshack" at the end of the episode, which might be in reference to David Duchovny's first date with Tea Leoni, where they watched "Caddyshack" together and "just howled".
The scene where Mulder walks through an empty street, after wishing for peace on earth, was shot on a Sunday morning and cost about $50,000, for some 10 seconds of filming.
In the original script, when Anson becomes invisible, his clothes were supposed to be seen moving, without a body inside, but it proved too expensive to shoot that way.
References
Television Reference: I Dream of Jeannie
Mulder hums the theme to this late 60's/early 70's sitcom, as well as referring to its star Barbara Eden.
In this episode Mulder mentioned Mark Twain trailpark. Mark Twain was a very successful author. His books included, Huckleberry Fin and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Further Background (from wikipedia)
A great deal of the plot parallels other stories regarding djinn (or genies) in literature and other fiction, but perhaps the closest recent parallel can be found in The Twilight Zone episode The Man in the Bottle, which recounts a shop owner discovering a lamp with a genie in it, and learns that making consequence-free wishes is very difficult.
The French title of this episode references Jenn becoming a djinn as a young woman in medieval France. She is transformed by a Moorish man (actually a djinn himself) after she wishes for power and a long life. This is a story she recounts to Mulder after she comes into his service.
The most famous portrayal of a genie in more recent media was the animated genie in the Disney film Aladdin. The genie in that film lists "raising the dead" as a wish he would rather not grant, stating that to do so would result in a zombie-like creature. The djinn in this episode also lightly warns against this, but ultimately grants such a wish, with the consequences promised by Disney's genie.