"Redrum" is the sixth 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 uni ...

television series ''

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 ...

''. 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 ...

on . The story for the episode was developed by Steven Maeda and Daniel Arkin, the teleplay was written by Maeda, and the episode was directed by

Peter Markle Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

. "Redrum" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, 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 ...

. The episode 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 8.1 and was viewed by 13.2 million households. Overall, the episode received moderately positive reviews from critics. The series 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

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 ...

) 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 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 ...

)—following the alien abduction 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 extraterre ...

(

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 ...

)—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. In this episode, a lawyer friend of Doggett's named Martin Wells tries to clear his name of the crime after his wife is murdered. Unfortunately for him, his perception of time regresses backwards, day by day. This leads to confusion, but ultimately an answer as to who killed Wells' wife. "Redrum", described as a "Twilight Zone-type thriller" by critics, heavily featured the actor

Joe Morton Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Oth ...

, who had previously played a role in the 1991 sci-fi film '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' alongside series co-star Robert Patrick. The title of the episode was purposely picked by episode writer Steven Maeda to be "murder" spelled backwards, a reference to Stephen King's '' The Shining''. The episode's main character, Martin Wells, was named after famed 19th century author

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

prosecutor, wakes up in a prison cell and notices a stitched-up wound on his right cheek. A guard enters and takes him for his transfer. Wells' long-time friend,

(

), and Doggett's partner,

(

), await him and warn of reporters outside. As he exits the building, a man Wells recognizes draws a pistol and shoots him. Wells stares at Scully's watch as he dies. The hands stop and then begin to turn backwards. Upon waking up again, Wells is surprised to find no bullet wounds on his body. Scully and Doggett arrive to interrogate Wells, but he is confused about what is going on. A furious Doggett claims that he has been accused of murdering his wife, Vicky, and initially believes that Wells is faking his confusion in order to build an insanity defense. However, Doggett shows signs of doubt when he notices Wells' genuine anguish over Vicky's death. Wells is brought into court and he recognizes his

father-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity (law), affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person i ...

, Al Cawdry, as the man who shot him. When Wells' next court date is announced to be Thursday, he realizes that he has somehow travelled back to the day before his shooting. When the judge decides to transfer Wells to a different cell, he makes a scene in the court and accuses Cawdry of planning to kill him during the transfer. In his second meeting of the day with Scully and Doggett, Wells explains that he cannot remember the last few days. Scully suggests that maybe he did do it. Wells begins having flashes of the murder but they are unclear. Waiting in his cell, he kills a spider. Later, a

nanny cam A hidden camera or spy camera is a camera used to photograph or record subjects, often people, without their knowledge. The camera may be considered "hidden" because it is not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another obje ...

from his house reveals that the only person to arrive between the police's arrival and the last time his wife is on camera is Martin Wells. Eventually, Wells meets his lawyers and tells them about the nanny cam. However, it turns out that it is Wednesday: Wells is somehow “living the week backwards”. While going to meet Doggett and Scully, Wells gets shoved into a dominos game and while picking them up gets slashed on his right cheek from a man with the spider web tattoo on his hand. Wells tells Doggett and Scully that he is moving backwards in time and cannot recall the past few days. Doggett is skeptical, but Scully hears him out. Wells says there must be a reason for it and Scully suggests that the answer may already be within him. Studying the evidence of the case, Wells has a flash of the murder that reveals the knife in a hand with a spider web tattoo. Martin next awakes in Doggett's home. Wells tells Doggett the description of the killer but the man isn't in lock-up yet because that won't happen until Wednesday. Doggett and Wells arrive at the apartment and retrieve the nanny cam, but discover that someone disabled the cam and used its remote control, a device no one knew about except Mr. and Mrs. Wells and their nanny, Trina Galvez. At Trina Galvez's home, Wells and Doggett discover the killer, a man named Cesar Ocampo, who threatened to kill Galvez's family if she refused him entrance. At the station house, Doggett informs Wells that Ocampo only wants to talk to him. Ocampo reveals that his brother, Hector, was sentenced to time in prison for a false conviction. Wells bargains with Cesar Ocampo, saying that if Cesar confesses to Vicky's murder, he will take a look at his brother's case. Cesar tells him that Hector hung himself in a jail cell a few weeks ago. Doggett calls Martin Wells out into the hall and the police arrest Martin because they have a case against him. Evidence against Ocampo isn't strong enough yet. Martin wakes up in a hotel room, having moved back to the night of the day before, a little over two hours before the murder of his wife is supposed to take place. Desperate to save her, but unable to contact her over the phone, Martin instead visits Doggett, and admits to evidence suppression, explaining that Hector Ocampo's brother is out for revenge. Doggett contacts the local police, while Wells rushes home and finds his wife, still alive. Suddenly, they hear someone else at the door. Ocampo appears and accosts Wells. Vicky Wells comes out of hiding but is thrown through the coffee table. As Ocampo prepares to slit her throat, he is shot dead by the timely arriving Doggett and Scully. Wells notices Scully's watch once more, seeing that its hands start moving forwards again, indicating that whatever phenomenon that sent him backwards in time has reached its conclusion. Wells eventually goes to prison for his evidence suppression, a punishment he feels he deserves.

Production

"Redrum", described as a "Twilight Zone-type thriller" in ''The Complete X-Files'', was developed by Steven Maeda and Daniel Arkin, while the teleplay was written solely by Maeda. Maeda purposely picked the title to be the backwards spelling of "murder". (the same plot device was used by novelist— and one-time ''X-Files'' writer— Stephen King in his book '' The Shining''.) Maeda used the spider and its web to symbolize Martin Wells' confusion at being trapped in his situation. Several of the names in the episode were allusions to historical figures or acquaintances of the writer. Most notably, Martin Wells is named after famed 19th century author H.G. Wells, noted for his contributions to science fiction with ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'' in 1896 and ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

'' in 1898. Furthermore, the character of Janet Wilson, the lawyer of Wells, was named after Maeda's wife. Wells was played by noted actor

who had previously played a role in the 1991 sci-fi film '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''.

later noted that "Joe Morton is a fantastic actor. We never worked together in 'Terminator 2'' but we're in that movie together. And Joe was ''

The Brother from Another Planet ''The Brother from Another Planet'' is a 1984 American science fiction film, written and directed by John Sayles. The low-budget film stars Joe Morton as an extraterrestrial trapped on Earth. Plot A mute space alien crash-lands his ship on Elli ...

''."Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 189 The scene in which Martin Wells is assassinated was at the "legendary" Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. This location, which has been the shooting location for over 200 productions, is perhaps more infamous as the site of Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's assassination by

Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Sena ...

in 1968. Morton and Bellamy Young would work together again 12 years later on the ABC show ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

''.

Reception

"Redrum" first aired on Fox on December 10, 2000. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.1, meaning that it was seen by 8.1% of the nation's estimated households. The episode was viewed by 8.16 million households, and 13.2 million viewers. The episode ranked as the 40th most-watched episode for the week ending December 10. The episode subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on the BBC Two on April 14, 2002. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "How do you stop a murder that's already happened?" Critical reception to the episode was moderately positive, although several reviewers criticized the episode's monologues.

Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedy, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarca ...

writer Jessica Morgan rated the episode a "B+". Morgan criticized the episode's narrative, sardonically noting that Martin Wells was a "man who may get a second chance. At life. At truth. At pretentious, overlong monologues." Juliette Harrisson of Den of Geek wrote positively of the episode, calling it "an excellent backwards episode, in which the audience is left satisfied that the horrific event that sparked it off has been prevented, but the guest protagonist has to pay a high price for the happy outcome." However, she was slightly critical that the episode "barely features the regular characters at all". 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 moderately positive review and awarded it three stars out of four. She called the episode "a double mystery: on one hand Martin's investigation of his wife's murder; and on the other, an investigation into the workings of his own soul." Vitaris, too, was critical of the ending monologue, noting that "the voiceover ruins the mood of the final shot." Zack Handlen 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+", writing that it was an "example of an episode that starts off strong, only to fumble when it comes to the follow through". He was particularly praiseworthy towards Morton's performance, noting that his presence "more than makes up for" the lack of Doggett and Scully. He concluded that the episode is "a smart that the script makes Wells in some way culpable for what happened, and tries to establish him as a merciless hard-ass" but that the "reveal is never really satisfying."

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'', gave the episode a moderately positive review and rated it three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two noted that the episode was "constructed with great skill by Steven Maeda and Daniel Arkin." Despite this, Shearman and Pearson noted that "with the series in flux, this is an especially unhelpful time to attempt an episode which so abandons the house style; ''The X-Files'' urgently needs to assert what it is, not what it isn't."Shearman and Pearson, p. 233–234

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{The X-Files episodes, 8 2000 American television episodes Television episodes set in Baltimore Television episodes about murder The X-Files (season 8) episodes