AIR DATE:  October 18, 1996
Written by Howard Gordon
Directed by Jim Charleston

	Well, I think with "Teliko" we have found that long lost first
season episode since the whole episode felt like it came from that era.
Scully and Mulder acted straight out of the first season with Scully
insisting it had to be some kind of new deadly virus a person is
transporting and Mulder, with only a strange looking body and some missing
black men to go on, believing it to something paranormal.  "Teliko" felt
like it was a script left over from one of the first season's monster of
the week episodes with Deep Throat being easily replaced by the woman from
the United Nations.

	It should have been obvious to everyone that Samual Aboah (the
monster this week) seemed to be part Tooms and Virgil Incanto from "2Shy".
He had the ability to crawl into things even Tooms wouldn't be able to get
into, and like Incanto he needed something from his victims in order to
survive.  This only increased the feeling of deja vu with "Teliko" which
isn't always a bad thing if it is done right and with "Teliko" there
really wasn't that much element of an surprise to the episode.  Everything
led up to the inevitable conclusion of Scully and Mulder searching a dark
building and Scully doing a voiceover at the end while we see the monster
hasn't been killed and is locked up in the hospital.  I can't help
thinking this was all intentionally done on writer Howard Gordan part as a
way to placate our appetite for a new monster up there with Tooms and
others.  It didn't really make for an exciting episode or that exciting a
monster since we didn't get beyond the typical monster who needs something
to survive and not learning more about the monster or having any empathy
for the victims.

	There really isn't much to comment on "Teliko" since there really
wasn't any new ground covered in it so I'll just go to my miscellaneous
random thoughts and musings about the episode:

- I always like it when the mutant/monster still has to pay the rent
because we see Aboah coming home from a day's work though from the episode
you would think his only motive for doing anything was to get a supply of
a person's pigment.  Did he really come to America to find a better life
or did he leave his country because the authorities were getting too close
to him?  At least with Incanto in "2Shy" we learned that he was a real
uncaring jerk who chose his victims partly out of survival, but also
because he got a kick out of manipulating these women. It might have made
the episode a little better if it had gone beyond making Aboah a faceless
monster.

- Funnest part was when the immigration guy goes to Aboah's apartment to
help him fill out his immigration papers and Aboah is looking at him as if
saying to himself, "Hmm, dinner." 

- What more can be said about our beloved Agent Pentrell except we know
that Mulder has picked up on Pendrell's feelings towards Scully and teased
him about it.

- We got the classic "Where are you, Mulder" line from Scully and having
him not even telling her where he was going so we get the patent impatient
and disgusting look from Scully.  Brings on the feeling of having seen it
before in early season's, especially from season 2.  At least this time
Scully didn't have to go looking for him and save him.

- It must have been a heat wave up in Vancouver the week they filmed
"Teliko" since Mulder walked around Philadelphia without his jacket on
throughout this episode.

- I was kind of confused on how often Aboah had to resupply himself with
the pigment stuff.  There were only five missing black men in 3 months
making it appear he only needed to replenish himself every 2 weeks or so,
but yet in the few days Scully and Mulder investigated the case it appears
Aboah needed to resupply himself every day.  I always dislike this type of
inconsistency in the monster who appears to only need it every now and
then, but once our heros get involve the monster suddenly goes nuts and
starts killing everyone in sight.

- Another funny part was Scully and Mulder as they go off to chase Aboah
leaving their car behind with the windows open in what most likely isn't
the best part of Philadelphia.  I would really like to have seen how that
car looked like when they got back from chasing him.

- Can I get onto the Scully and Mulder express since once again they seem
to have the ability to move between places faster than most people do.
Doesn't it usually take about 3 or 5 hours to at least drive to
Philadelphia and maybe under an hour by plane though with the Scully and
Mulder express it only takes a few minutes.  Now if I got this right
Mulder was down in D.C. talking with an official from the country Aboah
came from while Aboah was found with the immigration guy.  This might have
been just bad editing, but it really did seem to me that Mulder got to the
scene where the immigration guy was found fairly fast.  It would have been
different if we hadn't seen them putting the immigration guy into the
ambulance with Scully and Mulder looking at him.

- Speaking of the immigation guy did anyone notice as he was being put
into the ambulance at one moment he didn't have the stick thing in his
nose and the next second he had it in his nose. 

- I know Mulder is supposed to be pretty intuitive, but the first
construction site he comes across he goes bingo Aboah has to be in this
one since asbestos was found on one of the victims.  Let's not even get
into how those four bodies could have been left at the construction site
for so long without anyone finding them since it wasn't an abandon
construction site.  Also, it begs the question why Aboah didn't take the
immigration guy there in the first place since it didn't appear the
construction site was that far away from where the immigration guy was
found.

- Mulder + gun in hand = well, you know the answer.

- This is the second episode in a row that Scully and Mulder didn't have
their big flashlights.  I guess the F.B.I. are having budget cuts and
can't afford to keep replacing the ones Scully and Mulder keep on losing.

- Is it just me or does anyone else like it when Mulder ends up looking
like a rag doll?  My favorite part of the first season episode
"GenderBender" was Mulder laying on the hallway floor like a rag doll
pointing to Scully where the person ran off.

	There isn't really much to say about this episode except I'm
getting a little bit worried that the X-Files might be running out of
ideas (or Chris Carter is too busy with Millennium) as the first three
episodes have been kind of lackluster.  At least with X-Files even when
the episodes aren't great they still have something to them.  In "Teliko"
we get a brief flashback to the first season in how Mulder and Scully act
towards each other with Scully finding it hard to believe that this case
is anything more than a deadly virus and Mulder treating her at first with
a little bit of contempt for going with what he believes to be the party
line.  There really wasn't any real cover-up except the state department
allowed the country to keep quiet that a dead passenger was on their plane
which might be allowed since it happened up in the air and I'm not too
sure how international law works in that area if the plane is owned by the
country.  Of course, with Mulder there is cover-up behind everything so it
isn't surprising he thought something sinister was behind the deaths.  Oh
yeah, could you not help thinking Scully didn't feel a bit proud that she
was chosen to help the CDC in investigating the deaths and a little mad at
Mulder for kind of dismissing her role in the investigation.  Anyway, just
another average X-Files episode brought down by its unoriginal script and
slow paced direction.


Claudia
E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

10/20/96

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