The X-Files
Australian Conne-X-ion
Episode Guide
"Tithonus"


       The X-Files Australian Conne-X-ion Main Page   Back to Season 6 Page  Episode Guide Main Page



Episode 6ABX09

Title: Tithonus

First screened in Australia: May 5, 1999
First screened in the USA: January 24, 1999

scully and ritter scully and fellig

Credits: Director: Michael Watkins
Writer: Vince Gilligan Starring: Guest Stars: Plot:
An envious Mulder looks on from afar as Scully is partnered with another agent (Richard Ruccolo) to investigate a freelance crime-scene photographer (Geoffrey Lewis) whose consistent scoops raise suspicion that he is murdering to manufacture work.
US TV Guide

Another stab at the divide-and-conquer strategy leaves Scully with a new partner, with whom she happens upon a crime-scene phototgrapher who may be shooting the victims in more ways than one.
Entertainment Weekly

My Rating: 8/10

Despite some similarities to other episodes (Scully in danger etc and a character with the ability to forsee death) this is quite an effective episode which puts to good use the talents of veteran character actor Geoffrey Lewis, a long time favourite of mine. The episode was screened out of order in Australia, after "Two Fathers" and "One Son" and not before them but that didn't really spoil things at all. [I'd been told that it wouldn't make sense because Spender would appear after he'd been killed off in "One Son" but that didn't happen.]

The idea of living forever was a real throwback to "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and it was handled well by director Michael Watkins who bought a new view to the show -- Scully standing outside a building at one point was an interesting look, for example. (In other words, it didn't look like The X-Files!) It was also a nice change to see Scully as "The Believer", following up an X-file to the disbelief of her new partner. The conversation between Fellig and Scully towards the end is excellent and well written.

Watkins earlier directed "Dreamland II" and later the troubled production "Arcadia".

Notable Quotable:
Mulder: Hey, Scully, maybe if we get really lucky next time they'll let us clean toilet bowls.



AD Kersh: Agent Mulder's a lost cause.



Mulder: Being nosy. (looking up at her wistfully) Eating my heart out. They're sending you on an X-File.
Scully: (packing up her briefcase) It's not an X-File.
Mulder: That's not what I'm reading. I'm thinking murder by telekinesis. I'm thinking maybe a shamanistic death touch. I'm thinking about the Muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul.



Agent Ritter: (acting as the tough guy) You're a photographer. I've seen, uh... seen some of your work. You, uh... specialize in some pretty dark subject matter. (showing some of Fellig's pictures) You're, uh... you're around death a lot. It must... it must fascinate you. (Fellig stares at him, waiting.) Am I... boring you, Mr. Fellig?
Fellig: Ask me a question already.



Mulder: (To Scully on phone, disguising his voice) Hi. My name is Fox Mulder. We used to sit next to each other at the FBI.



Scully: (disbelieving) That … that woman right there is going to be murdered?
Fellig: I didn't say "murdered." She's a smoker. She might die of lung cancer. The "how" is always a surprise. I... I just always know "when."



Scully: (To Ritter) And we're done with this conversation.



Scully: (sighs) Okay, I mean... mmm … for the sake of argument... why bother? I mean, why... why take a picture of Death?
Fellig: So I can look into his face. So I can die. Pills don't work. Razors... (shows Scully his scarred wrists) … gas... bridges--- I can't tell you how many bridges I've jumped off of. All I get is wet. I got left behind. I don't want to be here anymore. I can't even remember a time when I did. And... this... this is all I know... to do.
Scully: You know I don't believe you.
Fellig: Yes, you do. That's why you're here.

Where Have I Seen That Face Before?
Geoffrey Lewis (Fellig) has had a long career as a character actor since 1971, never rising to the lead role. Clint Eastwood fans would certainly recognise him, having appeared to good effect in such movies as "Pink Cadillac", "Bronco Billy", "Every Which Way But Loose", "Any Which Way You Can", "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil", "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and "High Plains Drifter".

Apart from the numerous Eastwood roles, he's also appeared in movies such as "Maverick", "Tango and Cash", "Heaven's Gate", "Smile", "Bad Company" and "The Great Waldo Pepper".

Richard Ruccolo (Ritter) is one of the stars in the TV show "Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place (where he appears alongside Ryan Reynolds who played Jay "Boom" DeBoom in "Syzygy"). He also appeared in the movie "Music From Another Room".

The Pain Factor:
Scully, as happens occassionally, is held hostage and this time almost stares death right in the face, getting shot by Agent Ritter, but being saved by Alfred Fellig who dies in her place.

Trivia:
Geoffey Lewis is the father of Juliette Lewis.

The character Alfred Fellig is based on a real person. The real Fellig was a famous New York crime scene photographer in the 1930's who was also known as "Weegee." He used the alias when he shot and showed his artistic photographs in galleries.

This description of Fellig is from the book "The Cat in Photography" by Sally Eauclaire:

"The photographer Alfred Fellig seemed truly psychic in his ability to arrive at the scene of a crime well ahead of police, reporters, and other ordinary mortals. Boasting that he was a human Ouija board, he named himself 'Weegee' and called his business the Weegee Psychic Freelance Photographic Studio. He answered the phone with the words 'This is the fabulous Weegee speaking,' and was convinced that his photographs spelled out truths that were indescribable, inimitable, and incomparable.

Weegee was feline in other ways as well. He slept by day, hunted by night, inexplicably appeared and disappeared, and possessed the cat's legendary ability to see in the dark -- at least with the help of flash or infrared film."

Arthur Fellig drove around all night long with a police scanner in his car, waiting for crimes so he could photograph them. His work is quite famous and he is regarded today as one of the masters of photography.

The Fellig character in the episode had other names: Strand, Rice, and Brady.

Paul Strand was a great photographer of the 20's and 30's. Brady of course would be Matthew Brady, who is famous for photographing battlefields in the Civil War, back when photography was still a very new art. Rice might be a reference to Jacob Riis, (pronounced "Reese" not "Rice") a late-nineteenth century documentary photographer who wrote and photographed the famous book, "How the Other Half Lives". Riis was famous for lurking around poor neighborhoods in New York. He would (along with 10 or 12 assistants) "sneak" into boarding houses packed with poor immigrants late at night and photograph them with artificial light generated by flash powder that sounded like a large gun when it went off. Talk about concern for the downtrodden...how would you like to be sleeping soundly when that happened? In the pictures, everybody looks understandably confused, scared, and sleepy.
Posted by wherever to xf-news

Title:
Tithonus was a character in Greek mythology, a mortal and son of Laomedon. Eos, the goddess of Dawn, fell in love with him and persuaded Zues to grant him immortality but she forgot to throw in eternal youth. Tithonus proceeded to grow more feeble and shriveled as he aged and eventually Eos changed him into a grasshopper.
from Tiny Dancer



top