Per Manum
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Per Manum" is the thirteenth episode of the eighth 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 unive ...
television series ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
''. It premiered on the
Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
on . Written by
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 series creator Chris Carter, and directed by
Kim Manners Kim Manners (January 13, 1951 – January 25, 2009) was an American television producer, director and actor best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''Supernatural''. Early life Kim Manners was raised in a show business family. His fathe ...
, the episode helps to explore the series' overarching
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 narrat ...
. "Per Manum" received 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 9.4 and was watched by 9.61 million households. Overall, the episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. The series centers on
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
special agents
Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two Protagonist, protagonists in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science-fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anders ...
(
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 Mirth'' ...
) and her new partner
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 together, ...
(
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 sparked ...
)—following the
alien abduction Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting their experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subjected to physical and psychological ...
of her former partner,
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 extraterrest ...
(
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 write ...
)—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. The ...
s. In this episode, Scully and Doggett investigate several women who had no way of naturally conceiving but who claim to have been abducted and impregnated with alien babies. Soon, Scully begins to worry about the future of her pregnancy. "Per Manum" featured a substantial appearance by Duchovny who had elected not to return to the show as a full-time main character following the ending of season seven. In addition, the episode marks the first appearance of Knowle Rohrer, played by
Adam Baldwin Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in '' Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series ''Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 ...
. The episode's title means "by hand" in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
.


Plot

Pregnant Kathy McCready is undergoing an emergency
caesarean Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...
. As her husband prepares, the ward is locked down, and the child delivered is seen to be an
alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
.
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
special agents
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 together, ...
(
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 sparked ...
) and
Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two Protagonist, protagonists in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science-fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anders ...
(
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 Mirth'' ...
) meet Duffy Haskell (
Jay Acovone Jay Acovone (born August 20, 1955) is an American actor. Among his most famous roles is Charles Kawalsky in the TV series Stargate SG-1. Personal life Acovone was born in New York City. His family later moved to Mahopac, New York where his pare ...
), who tells them about his wife—a multiple-abductee who he believes was killed by her doctors upon giving birth to an alien child. He also describes how his wife's
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
was both caused and cured by her abductors. Duffy refers the agents to Zeus Genetics in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and shows them an
ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...
scan that seems to vindicate his story. As the agents leave, Doggett notes similarities between the case and Scully's history, although he does not yet know that she is pregnant. In a flashback,
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 extraterrest ...
(
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 write ...
) tells Scully that
her Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun She (pronoun), she. Her, HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Music * H.E.R. (born 1997), American singer **H.E.R. (album), ''H.E.R.'' ...
abduction has rendered her infertile, as her
ova , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
were harvested for genetic experiments. Mulder later found them in a secret facility, but they were not viable. At Zeus Genetics, Scully overhears a pregnant woman, Mary Hendershot (Saxon Trainor), who is telling her doctor that she no longer wants to be under his care. In order to avoid being seen, Scully hides in a storeroom, finding it full of preserved
fetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
es that resemble the alien child born earlier, but she is discovered by a Dr. Lev. Scully leaves and phones her Doctor, Dr. Parenti, who unbeknownst to Scully is
dissecting Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of ...
an alien fetus, and asks him to compare her ultrasound scan with the one given to her earlier. Later, while waiting to be attended to by Parenti, she has another flashback, recalling the time she sought a second opinion about her ova from Parenti and was told that her ova might be viable with a
sperm donor Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other 'fertility treatment' of a woman or women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by hi ...
. In the present, she is called in to be attended to, and she is then assured her scans are in order. Later,
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 se ...
(
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 th ...
) and Doggett confront Duffy about threatening letters he has sent to both Mulder and Lev. However, when the agents leave, Duffy makes a phone call to Lev, warning him that they are being investigated. In another flashback, Scully asks Mulder to be the donor, to which he happily agrees. Scully is warned by Mary that their unborn children are in danger. Scully meets Doggett and Skinner, having requested a leave of absence from the FBI. After Doggett leaves, Skinner tries to convince Scully to reveal her pregnancy to him but she does not. Scully and Mary visit an army research hospital to have Mary's labor induced. Whilst Mary is being prepped for the operation, Scully asks to have an ultrasound performed on herself. The scan appears normal, but afterwards Scully realizes the monitor they were watching was actually a video of another woman's scan. Realizing they have been tricked, Scully finds Mary and the two sneak out of the exam room. Meanwhile Doggett discovers that Duffy's fingerprints belong to a man who died thirty years previously. Doggett contacts an old military partner, Knowle Rohrer (
Adam Baldwin Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in '' Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series ''Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 ...
) to find his real identity. Although Rohrer assures Doggett he will investigate, the agent is not convinced, believing that Duffy is a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
agent. Doggett confides this to Skinner, who tells him to aid Scully at the military hospital. As Scully and Mary sneak out of the building, they are found by Rohrer and several
marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
, claiming Doggett has sent them to rescue her. The women are driven away, but Mary enters labor and it becomes clear to Scully that Rohrer is not acting with good intentions. Scully is knocked out with drugs by Rohrer. When she wakens, Doggett informs her that Mary's baby was delivered and is normal. However, Scully is convinced the baby was swapped out, but nothing more can be done about it. In another flashback, Scully tells Mulder that her attempt at
in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
has failed, but he tells her to "never give up on a miracle".


Production

"Per Manum" featured the appearance 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 write ...
as Fox Mulder in various flashbacks. After settling his contract dispute with Fox, Duchovny quit full-time participation in the show after the seventh season. In order to explain Mulder's absence, Duchovny's character was abducted by aliens in the seventh season finale, "
Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
". After several rounds of contractual discussions, Duchovny agreed to return for a total of 11 season eight episodes. "Per Manum" marked the fourth appearance of Duchovny in the eighth season; he had previously appeared in opening episodes of the season, "
Within Within may refer to: * ''Within'' (William Joseph album) (2004), by pianist William Joseph * ''Within'' (Embraced album) (2000), by Swedish melodic black metal band Embraced * Within (company), a virtual reality content and technology company ba ...
" and "
Without Without may refer to: * "Without" (''The X-Files''), an episode in the eighth season of ''The X-Files'' * "without", an English preposition * "Without", a film that premiered at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival * "Without", a song by Jack Savorett ...
" as well as the eleventh episode " The Gift". Series creator Chris Carter later argued that Mulder's absences from the series did not affect the series, noting that "there are characters who can be powerful as absent centers, as Mulder was through the eighth and ninth seasons."Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 189 A deleted scene from early on within the episode, in which Scully questions her doctor about her ultrasound scans, was cut from the final broadcast as 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 ...
felt it was too "confusing" for the viewers to place doubt on the actions of the doctor so early. Fellow series writer
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'', ''Breaking Bad' ...
said that the scene was not "subtle" enough to convey the right level of suspicion. Spotnitz has described "Per Manum" as being "a real paranoia episode", concerning "the way you perceive connections between people, what are they saying, and is it suspicious or not".
Adam Baldwin Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in '' Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series ''Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 ...
, who makes his first appearance as recurring character Knowle Rohrer, originally auditioned for the part of John Doggett, losing out to Robert Patrick. However, the crew remembered Baldwin's audition later when casting "Per Manum", and asked him to play the role.
Jay Acovone Jay Acovone (born August 20, 1955) is an American actor. Among his most famous roles is Charles Kawalsky in the TV series Stargate SG-1. Personal life Acovone was born in New York City. His family later moved to Mahopac, New York where his pare ...
, who portrays Duffy Haskel in this episode, returned in the same role in the season's penultimate episode "
Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
"; and had also previously appeared in the fourth season episode "
Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...
". "Per Manum" also featured a guest appearance by
Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...
as an unnamed doctor. Snow had been the series' composer since the first season.


Broadcast and reception

"Per Manum" premiered on the
Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
on and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
on . The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.4, meaning that it was seen by 9.4% of the nation's estimated households. It was viewed by 9.61 million households and 16 million viewers, making it, at the time, the highest-rated episode of ''The X-Files'' to air during the season. "Per Manum" ranked as the 30th most-watched episode for the week ending February 18. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "How did Scully get pregnant?" The episode was later included on ''
The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 – Super Soldiers ''The X-Files Mythology – Volume 4'' collection is the fourth DVD release containing selected episodes from the eighth to the ninth seasons of the American science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The episodes collected in the releas ...
'', a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien
super soldier The supersoldier (or super soldier) is a fictional concept soldier, often capable of operating beyond normal human limits or abilities either through genetic modification or cybernetic augmentation. Overview Supersoldiers are common in military ...
s arc. "Per Manum" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Emily VanDerWerff of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' awarded the episode a "B+" and called it "good". She appreciated the fact that the show revealed that Mulder was possibly the father of Scully's child, saying that it "ups the stakes in a lot of ways and redefines cully'smission" to find Mulder. Despite this, VanDerWerff noted that the episode "has some issues", largely due to the convoluted nature of the mythology at this point in the show's run, as well as the fact that Duchovny looked "a little bored" at times. However, she wrote that the episode, along with the subsequent episode "
This is Not Happening "This Is Not Happening" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season and the 175th episode overall of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The episode first aired in the United States on February 25, 2001, on the Fox Network, ...
" was a showcase for Anderson's acting ability, and her performance "knits all of this together". Writing for
Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism an ...
, Jessica Morgan rated the episode a "B+", deriding some of the episode's plot points, such as the hospital's locking doors, and questioning the villainy of the antagonistic doctors. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book ''Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen'', rated the episode five stars out of five, calling it a "return to form" for the series. Shearman and Pearson also felt that the episode gave the character of John Doggett a chance to be accepted by the series' other characters; and praised the "subtle" writing of the episode's emotional dialogue.Shearman and Pearson, pp. 239–240 Tom Kessenich, in his book ''Examinations: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6-9 of 'The X-Files, noted that the episode typifies the basic themes of the series—"dark, foreboding terror, overriding sense of paranoia" and "the fear of the unknown" among others.Kessenich, p.156. Writing for ''
The Vindicator ''The Vindicator'' is a daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio, United States and the Mahoning County region as well as southern Trumbull County and northern Columbiana County. ''The Vindicator'' was established in 1869. As of September 1, 2019 ...
'', Eric Mink felt that the episode was "intense, unsettling, sometimes gross, and suspenseful to the point of nerve-racking ", feeling that its plot would "resonate instantly and ominously with viewers". Meghan Deans of
Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...
felt that, while the episode did unfortunately reduce Scully down to a traditional idea of feminine identity for part of its run, it was "one of the most emotional Scully-centric episodes the show has ever given us." Furthermore, Deans reasoned that the episode was an example of "what ''The X-Files'' would have been, had Scully been the believer: a woman being told that she is hysterical, a woman being told that she imagined it all nda woman being told that the evidence of her own body is invalid", a direction that would have been "startling ". Not all reviews were positive. Paula Vitaris from ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
'' gave the episode a scathing review and awarded it no stars out of four. She heavily derided the plot, noting that Haskell's role as an "undercover operative" was not convincing. Furthermore, she reasoned that because the plot twists were so expected, Scully came off as "a moron". Vitaris also criticized the use of flashbacks, noting that they were "the only way ''The X-Files'' writers could figure out to use David Duchovny".


Notes


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * *


External links

* {{The X-Files episodes, 8 2001 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Kim Manners Television episodes written by Chris Carter (screenwriter) Television episodes written by Frank Spotnitz Television episodes set in Maryland The X-Files (season 8) episodes