"Jump the Shark" is the fifteenth episode of the
ninth season of the
American science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
''. The episode first aired in the United States on April 21, 2002 on the
Fox network. It was written by
executive producers
Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's '' Breaking Bad'' (2008– ...
,
John Shiban
John Shiban is an American television writer and producer. He worked in both capacities on ''The X-Files'' and its spin-off '' The Lone Gunmen'', ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', '' Smallville'', '' Supernatural'', '' Legend of the Seeker'', '' Breakin ...
and
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Charles Spotnitz is an American television screenwriter and executive producer, best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''The Man in the High Castle''. Spotnitz is also the chief executive officer and founder of Big Light Production ...
, and directed by
Cliff Bole. The episode is a "monster-of-the-week" episode—unconnected to the series' wider
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
—and was created to give closure for ''
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
'' television series, which was a
spin-off of ''The X-Files''. The episode earned a
Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 5.1 and was viewed by 8.6 million viewers. The episode received mixed to negative reviews from television critics.
The show centers on
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
special agents who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called
X-File
In the fictional universe of the television series '' The X-Files'', an "X-File" is a case that has been deemed unsolvable or given minimal-priority status by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; these files are transferred to the X-Files unit. Th ...
s; this season focuses on the investigations of
John Doggett
FBI Special Agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction- supernatural television series ''The X-Files''. With his FBI partners Dana Scully (season 8) and Monica Reyes (season 9), they work on the X-Files togethe ...
(
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and honorable authority figures, he is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations.
Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparke ...
),
Monica Reyes
Monica Julieta Reyes is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction- supernatural television series ''The X-Files''. She is portrayed by Annabeth Gish. At first a Field Agent before becoming a Special Agent with the FBI, she works with he ...
(
Annabeth Gish
Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films ''Shag'', ''Hiding Out'', '' Mystic Pizza'', ''SLC Punk!'', ''The Last Supper'' and ''Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Special ...
), and
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
(
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film '' The House of Mirt ...
). In this episode, Doggett and Reyes attempt to locate a female friend of
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
after former Area 51 Man-in-Black
Morris Fletcher
On ''The X-Files'' television show, the term Men in Black refers to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to execute assassinations, cover-ups and other clandestine operations. It is clear that most, if not all, of them are former members ...
appears and claims that she is actually a
super-soldier. What Doggett and Reyes soon discover is a bizarre plot to unleash a biological weapon via the use of grafted shark organs.
"Jump the Shark" features the death of The Lone Gunmen—popular recurring characters who first appeared in the
first season episode "
E.B.E.", although this plot was later
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...
ned in the comic book series ''
The X-Files Season 10''. The episode proved difficult to make because, after the cancellation of ''The Lone Gunmen'' television series, Fox was adamant that the characters not have a featured role back on ''The X-Files''. (The characters did appear in four previous season 9 episodes, but always very briefly.) The choice to kill off the trio was controversial. Writers Spotnitz and Gilligan later revealed some regret with the way the episode was handled. However, actors
Bruce Harwood and
Dean Haglund were happy with the way the episode ended. The episode title is a humorous reference to the phrase "
jumping the shark
The idiom "jumping the shark" was coined in 1985 by Jon Hein in response to a 1977 episode from the fifth season of the American sitcom ''Happy Days'', in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumps over a shark while on water-skis. The phrase is pej ...
", which is used to describe shows that are in decline and therefore try a gimmick to get attention.
Plot
The episode begins with
Morris Fletcher
On ''The X-Files'' television show, the term Men in Black refers to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to execute assassinations, cover-ups and other clandestine operations. It is clear that most, if not all, of them are former members ...
(
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...
) on a boat in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
, where he is accosted by armed men and his vessel is blown up. When he is rescued and detained, he approaches FBI agents
Monica Reyes
Monica Julieta Reyes is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction- supernatural television series ''The X-Files''. She is portrayed by Annabeth Gish. At first a Field Agent before becoming a Special Agent with the FBI, she works with he ...
(
Annabeth Gish
Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films ''Shag'', ''Hiding Out'', '' Mystic Pizza'', ''SLC Punk!'', ''The Last Supper'' and ''Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Special ...
) and
John Doggett
FBI Special Agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction- supernatural television series ''The X-Files''. With his FBI partners Dana Scully (season 8) and Monica Reyes (season 9), they work on the X-Files togethe ...
(
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and honorable authority figures, he is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations.
Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparke ...
) with information related to the
Super Soldiers in exchange for his release. Doggett and Reyes turn to
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
when Fletcher provides an alleged photo of the Super Soldier, whom the Gunmen recognize as
Yves Adele Harlow
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
(
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films '' Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice ...
), a fellow
hacker
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
who disappeared a year before. The Gunmen refuse to believe the evidence, especially when they find that Fletcher provided it, although the agents continue to pursue the trail.
Meanwhile, Harlow murders a biology professor, cuts out an organ and disposes of it in a furnace. After the Gunmen capture her, she reveals that he had been experimenting with the immune system of sharks and had been grafting pieces of shark onto his body in order to become a living host to a biological weapon. His research had been funded by Harlow's
arms dealing father, who had commissioned Fletcher to find her and prevent her from stopping his
biological terrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same ...
plot. She further informs them that there is another host, whom she is trying to identify and locate before he can unleash his deadly payload.
Once Fletcher realizes that he has been used by Harlow's father, he teams with the Gunmen to help her find the second bio-terrorist. After a few false starts and chases, the Gunmen corner the bio-terrorist with only a few minutes before his virus is due to be released. They realize that they lack the time to destroy his virus-filled organ and therefore pull a fire alarm, causing large emergency doors to seal shut, simultaneously containing the virus and entrapping them with it. Their sacrifice earns them a final resting place in
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
, where Fletcher, Doggett, Reyes, Harlow,
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
(
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film '' The House of Mirt ...
),
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox.
In the science fiction-supernatural ...
(
Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi (born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland in the ...
), and
Jimmy Bond (
Stephen Snedden) pay their respects to them.
Comic book alternate universe
In the comic book adaptation of the series ''
The X-Files Season 10''—which takes place in an alternate universe after the events of ''
The X-Files: I Want to Believe''—it is revealed that the Lone Gunmen are alive and well, having faked their deaths during the events of "Jump the Shark". The group was aided by the FBI and have since been working underground, aiding the US government; for instance, Langly mentions that he was responsible for the
Stuxnet
Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing subs ...
virus in 2010. (The ''X-Files Season 10'' comic series is not considered canon due to the television
tenth and
eleventh seasons reaffirming their deaths in the series.)
Production
![FrankSpotnitz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/FrankSpotnitz.jpg)
"Jump the Shark" was written by
Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's '' Breaking Bad'' (2008– ...
,
John Shiban
John Shiban is an American television writer and producer. He worked in both capacities on ''The X-Files'' and its spin-off '' The Lone Gunmen'', ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', '' Smallville'', '' Supernatural'', '' Legend of the Seeker'', '' Breakin ...
, and
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Charles Spotnitz is an American television screenwriter and executive producer, best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''The Man in the High Castle''. Spotnitz is also the chief executive officer and founder of Big Light Production ...
; it was directed by
Cliff Bole.
After the cancellation of ''
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
'' television series, which aired in 2001, Fox reportedly "hated
hecharacters".
Executive producer and co-writer
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Charles Spotnitz is an American television screenwriter and executive producer, best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''The Man in the High Castle''. Spotnitz is also the chief executive officer and founder of Big Light Production ...
had to fight to get the episode made, as the studio was not interested in bringing the characters back for the ninth season. Actor Bruce Harwood later explained that "I think if the studio objected to anything, it was wasting time on our characters long enough to kill us off."
Co-writer Gilligan later recalled "''The Lone Gunmen'' was still kind of an open wound for me."
Thus, the episode was crafted as a way to wrap up the series.
Due to the nature of the episode—which effectively works as a tie-in—various long-term characters from both ''The X-Files'' and ''The Lone Gunmen'' make
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s.
The episode title is a humorous reference to the phrase "
jumping the shark
The idiom "jumping the shark" was coined in 1985 by Jon Hein in response to a 1977 episode from the fifth season of the American sitcom ''Happy Days'', in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumps over a shark while on water-skis. The phrase is pej ...
", coined when
Fonzie
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom '' Happy Days'' (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lea ...
did a water ski jump of a shark pen on the television series ''
Happy Days
''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...
''. The phrase is used to describe shows that have peaked and are in decline. Executive producer
Chris Carter said that the title was tongue-in-cheek, and further stated that it was their "way of lowering the boom on anybody who thought that it did".
[ He further stated that the series was "good" until the end, even after the departure of ]David Duchovny
David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...
as Fox Mulder
Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
. According to '' IGN'', the episode's title was an homage to the popular website ''Jump the Shark''. In fact, during the commentary for "Jump the Shark", Vince Gilligan makes a direct reference to the website.
Various plotlines leaked before the episode's release, the most notable being the death of the Lone Gunmen. The choice to kill off the trio was controversial; Gilligan himself later admitted that "I still think we made the wrong choice on that one."[Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 206] Spotnitz later said, "I can't say I regret killing them off, as you know, no one really dies in ''The X-Files'' ..But I do feel tonally it was a mistake to end the episode on such a somber note. I wish we'd ended it on a laugh or smile." The actors who played The Lone Gunmen complimented the script. Harwood admitted that the episode would have either featured the trio's death or would have featured them "walk ngoff into the sunset without hobo bags over our shoulders." Ultimately, he concluded, "I was glad we were killed off in the end". Dean Haglund said that he "liked the way we were sent off", and called the ending "cool".[Fraga, pp. 218–219]
Reception
"Jump the Shark" first aired on the Fox network in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
on April 21, 2002. The episode later aired in the United Kingdom on Sky One and later on BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
on 23 February 2003. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 5.1, meaning that it was seen by 5.1% of the nation's estimated households and was viewed by 5.38 million households, and 8.6 million viewers. "Jump the Shark" was the 58th most watched episode of television that aired during the week ending April 21.[
The episode received mixed to negative reviews from television critics. Aaron Kinney from ''Salon'' magazine said that the episode title showed that the creators at least still had a sense of humor, but that the episode demonstrated some of the flaws that caused the series to jump the shark in the first place: "cheesy melodrama, deathly slow pacing, and a lack of coherence". ]Robert Shearman
Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and short story writer. He is known for his World Fantasy Award-winning short stories, as well as his work for ''Doctor Who'', and his asso ...
and Lars Pearson
Lars Pearson (born 1973, in Iowa) is an American writer, high school teacher, editor, and journalist. He is the owner/publisher of Mad Norwegian Press, a publishing company specializing in reference guides to television shows including ''Buffy th ...
, in their book ''Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen'', rated the episode one star out of five, and noted that "there's nothing celebratory" about the entry.[Shearman and Pearson, pp. 2713–274] The two were highly critical of the episode's conclusion, calling it "such a bland way of dying that for a moment, you feel you must have missed the point". Shearman and Pearson, furthermore, argued that "The Lone Gunmen deserved better. No, worse than that—we deserved better." M.A. Crang, in his book ''Denying the Truth: Revisiting The X-Files after 9/11'', criticized the "goofy tone" of the episode, saying it felt "very out of place" within the context of the series.[Crang, p. 151.]
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*Crang, M.A. (2015). ''Denying the Truth: Revisiting The X-Files after 9/11.'' Createspace. .
External links
"Jump the Shark"
at TheXFiles.com
*
{{The X-Files episodes, 9
2002 American television episodes
Bahamas in fiction
Crossover television
Crossover science fiction television episodes
Television episodes set in Florida
Television episodes set in Maryland
Television episodes set in New Jersey
Television episodes written by Vince Gilligan
The X-Files (season 9) episodes
Television episodes set in Virginia
Television episodes directed by Cliff Bole