The X-Files Recap: Episode 11 - Eve

Posted by Brian Cramer on 06.24.2008

Come inside to learn the details of "Brian's One Dollar Mania"! Read on to see how YOU can win! Oh yea - and we have a pretty damn good episode reviewed also!

Cast:
David Duchovny - Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson - Dana Scully
Harriet Sansom Harris - Dr. Sally Kendrick / Eve
Erika Krievins - Cindy Reardon - Eve 10
Sabrina Krievins - Teena Simmons - Eve 9
Jerry Hardin - Deep Throat
George Touliatos - Dr. Katz
Tasha Simms - Ellen Reardon
Janet Hodgkinson - Waitress
David Kirby - Ted Watkins
Tina Gilbertson - Donna Watkins
Christine Upright-Letain - Ms. Wells

Comments!

Twitch (Registered) says: “Glad I could help inspire. I'm already a fan of the fun facts since this is my first time seeing the show it's nice to get some of the inside scoop. Kudos sir.”

I’m glad you could help inspire too, Twitch. It gives me something to pad the recaps with that is more interesting than my writing. Ha. Seriously though, I’m glad you enjoyed them. You might be my biggest fan. ^_^

“I don’t want to get fired” (Guest) says: “The temporary name for this blog should be "Everything You Need To Know Before You Smuggle Alcohol Into the X-Files 2 Premiere And Drink Whenever The Word 'truth' Is Used." Just a suggestion.”

In case there’s any question of whether I listen to my readers or not, this will indeed be the temporary name for the fact section this week. I <3 my readers. Fo’ real.

I’m going to run something special this week. In honor of “McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania™” and the fact that I still need a good name for the fact section of this column, I’m going to have “Brian’s One Dollar Mania™”. Whoever comes up with the best name for the “fun facts” section and/or for the column itself will win a crisp, new one dollar bill. (Disclaimer: Dollar bill may not in fact be crisp or new but it will certainly be worth a dollar.) That’s right! No stupid (pre-screened) phone calls. No barking like a dog. No kissing the chairman’s ass on live TV. Just name the “facts” section and/or the column and if I use your name, you’ll not only have internet notoriety, you’ll be $1.00 (or $2.00, if you come up with both names and I use them) richer! How’s that for a cheap ratings ploy? Tell your friends! So start leaving me comments or e-mails with your submissions! Now, on with the show.

Everything You Need To Know Before You Smuggle Alcohol Into “The X-Files 2” Premiere And Drink Whenever The Word 'Truth' Is Used! (AKA: Fun Facts!) *drum-roll*

The absolute coolest bit of trivia about this episode (in my opinion, at least) is the fact that the band “Eve 6” named themselves such directly after this episode. Their drummer, Tony Fagenson, being a huge fan of the show, suggested the name for the band after the character “Eve 6” from the episode commented about biting into a guard’s eyeball. Ha.

Harriet Sansom Harris, who plays Dr. Sally Kendrick, has a part in the 2006 Sci-Fi miniseries “The Lost Room”. I only mention this because “The Lost Room” was a kickass series and if you haven’t seen it already, you need to.

Erika and Sabrina Krievans, who play the creepy-ass twins, would become so popular among fans of “The X-Files” that they were invited to be a part of the conventions in Pasadena in August of 1995 and in Burbank in January or 1996.

Speaking of the girls, this would be their final television/movie acting role, which is a shame because they portrayed those twins fantastically. If you didn’t think they were eerie as hell, you have no soul.

Tasha Simms, who plays Ellen Reardon, would later come back in “Excelsis Dei” to portray a character named Laura Kelly and in “Avatar” as Jay Cassal.

The names of the twins in the episode, Cindy and Teena, were named for the wives of Glen Morgan and James Wong, two of the shows’ writers.

The original choice to play the girls was actually reported to be the Olsen twins, however, child labor laws prevented them from making the appearance on the show. The Krievans girls were not subject to these laws, being Canadian.

The animated television show “Eek! The Cat” is briefly highlighted as we see a short scene with Cindy watching this. This is interesting because in a later episode of “Eek! the Cat”, everyone’s two favorite agents are depicted in animated form (and this was two years prior to this being done with them on “The Simpsons”.)

Episode 11 – Eve

GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT

Little Teena Simmons is chilling at the end of her driveway, holding a stuffed bunny. A couple jogging by, who know her, see if she’s alright. They find her dad in the backyard, on a swing, dead as a doorknob and white as a ghost with two puncture marks in his neck. The husband runs to call 911, as if that’s actually going to help.

*cue The X-Files introduction credits and theme song*
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.

In the X-Files office, Mulder and Scully discuss the case. The father was drained of 95% of his blood but not a trace was found at the scene. This leads to Mulder explaining to Scully the similarities between Mr. Simmons and cattle mutilations. Which leads to – yep, you guessed it – UFOs. Scully is skeptical. Mulder is…Mulder.

FAIRFIELD COUNTY
SOCIAL SERVICES HOSTEL
GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT

The agents talk to Teena, who tells them she saw “red lightning” and about how the “men from the clouds” were after her dad. When Mulder asks why they were after her dad, she tells him that they wanted to “exsanguinate him”. Yes, the nine-year-old used the word “exsanguinate”. That, in itself, is creepy. Before they can find out more, Scully gets a call that there’s been another victim.

REARDON CRIME SCENE
MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Mulder put it best, saying it was like looking at a mirror image. Take everything from the last crime and punch it in here and it’s accurate. The time of death was even the same as Mr. Simmons time of death in Connecticut. Scully says the daughter and mother will be back home the next day.

FAIRFIELD COUNTY
SOCIAL SERVICES HOSPITAL
12:35 A.M. E.S.T.

Teena’s in bed when she sees a figure outside the door. She sticks a chair under the doorknob (efficient little girl, she is) and hides under the bed. The door gets presumably kicked in and when she climbs out from under the bed, thinking they left, a figure grabs her arm. Her scream draws the social worker into the room who finds her stuffed bunny lying on the floor by an open window.

REARDON CRIME SCENE
MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

At the Reardon residence, Mulder knocks on the door to have Teena Simmons Cindy Reardon answer. The agents are dumbstruck. She tells them she’s lived there ever since she was born – eight years ago. Her mother is taken aback by the whole thing as well and insists that Cindy is her daughter. She tells them her and her husband attempted to have a child for six years, which prompts Mulder to ask if they used in-vitro fertilization. She tells him they did and it was at the Luther Stapes Center in San Francisco.

Out in the car, Mulder says he’s going to keep an eye on Cindy (after Teena was kidnapped) until Scully can have someone from the local bureau office relieve him. Meanwhile, she goes to check out the clinic.

LUTHER STAPES CENTER
FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE

Scully finds out the Simmons’ went to the clinic nine years prior under the supervision of Dr. Sally Kendrick, a nut-job who was tampering with genetic material that was fertilized in the lab. She was fired and has since conveniently disappeared.

Back at the motel, the agents watch the fertilization introduction video with Kendrick from the clinic, brainstorming what might have happened. The phone rings, which Scully answers only to hear clicks on the other end. When she tells Mulder this, he hastens her out of the room (Scully: “Do you have a girl coming over?” Mulder: “What’s a girl?” Ha.) and in the next scene is standing outside at a pier.

Out of the bushes pops Deep Throat (FTW!) who tells him about the Lichfield Experiment. Apparently, during the height of the Cold War, the Russians were experimenting with Eugenics – trying to crossbreed top scientists, athletes, etc. – to create a superior soldier. So of course, the U.S. followed suit. A group of genetically controlled children were raised and monitored on a compound in Lichfield. The boys were called “Adam” and the girls were called “Eve”. Deep Throat (FTW!) tells Mulder there’s a woman he needs to talk to and he’ll make sure he can get in.

WHITING INSTITUTE
FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE

CELLBLOCK Z

Inside the cell, Eve 6 is sitting on a bed, legs shackled and in a straightjacket – and she’s the spitting image of Sally Kendrick. Bottom line – the Eves (and Adams, I presume) are all crazy as hell. On the wall of the cell she has a picture of all the Eves when they were children and they all are identical to Teena Simmons and Cindy Reardon. Mulder puts two and two together and realizes that Kendrick was using the clinic to carry on the Lichfield Experiment by cloning herself.

Outside of the Reardon house, the agents keep watch on Cindy’s window. When Scully sees a bright light from inside and a figure grab Cindy, they move. Scully gets cold-clocked inside and when Kendrick busts out of a patio door with Cindy, she holds Mulder off long enough to escape by threatening to shoot the girl.

PT. REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE
40 MI. NORTH
OF SAN FRANCISCO

Kendrick takes Cindy into a hotel room where she has Teena bound in the bathroom. Once inside, she briefly introduces them. They smile when they see each other.

At the Reardon house, Scully gets word that the car was found at the airport, so she gets people started on checking out the flights. Mulder approaches her after and tells her that a motel manager has a guest matching Kendrick’s description. Scully is skeptic until Mulder tells her “…he remembers this kid. She told him he should use chlorine to irradiate the dinoflagellates in the swimming pool. Does that sound like someone we know?” Ha. That was so much better in delivery. Trust me.

Back at the motel, Kendrick is chatting it up with the twins and eventually hits her punch-line, asking them why they killed their fathers. They said because they weren’t their fathers – they have no parents. They were created, not born. Kendrick then starts to seize and asks them what they’ve done. They show her a vial of the same drug they used on their fathers and told her that they’re her mistake. Kendrick grabs a knife from a counter and, barely able to stand, tells them that she’ll correct that mistake.

Outside the motel, the cops and agents have arrived when they hear something shatter inside. They bust down the door to find Kendrick dead on the floor and the girls huddled up with each other against a wall “crying”. I say “crying” because it’s totally an act as they play it off to the agents that they were all supposed to drink poison but the girls only pretended to. They said there was another lady who looked like Kendrick, lending support to Mulder’s theory about Eve 8 and keeping suspicion off the girls.

On the drive back, the girls tell Mulder they have to go to the bathroom, prompting him to stop at a truck stop. Inside, he orders four diet sodas (which causes the girls to quickly speak up and insist on regular – you’ll see why) to go and hits the men’s room while Scully and the girls hit the ladies room. One of the girls sneak out and spike the two diet sodas with the foxglove drug just as Mulder approaches the table. He sips it as Scully and the other girl get back and they exit. Fortunately, Mulder realizes he set his keys down where she spiked the drinks on and when he goes to pick them up, notices a green residue on the table. He bolts outside and tries to play it cool but when he “accidentally” knocks Scully’s drink out of her hand, the girls bolt.

After a scene where the agents run around trying to find them (including a funny aside where a trucker hears them scream when Mulder grabs them and thinks he’s kidnapping them) they finally trick them into coming out by having Scully drive off while Mulder stays at the truck stop.

Back at the asylum, a doctor signs in and walks into where the Eves cells are. She turns around to reveal another Kendrick look-alike. The girls greet her as Eve 8 and when she asks how they knew she’d come for them, they tell her that they just knew.

*cue credits*

The 411: Another damn good episode, which gave us our first insight into the concept of cloning on the show. This will reoccur later on down the line but I don't want to completely spoil it, as I know at least one reader just starting to watch the series through.

In any case, a solid episode that was casted wonderfully and is certainly worth plopping down for 45 minutes in front of the television to watch. Thumbs up.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]