Sanguinarium

"Sanguinarium"
The X-Files episode

A doctor is shocked to discover he has mutilated the face of a patient with acid. Many critics were critical of the gore featured in the episode.
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 6
Directed by Kim Manners
Written by Vivian Mayhew
Valerie Mayhew
Production code 4X06
Original air date November 10, 1996
Running time 44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
  • O-Lan Jones as Nurse Rebecca Waite
  • Nancy J. Lilley as Liposuction Patient
  • John Juliani as Dr. Harrison Lloyd
  • Andrew Airlie as Attorney
  • Celine Lockhart as Skin Peel Patient
  • Arlene Mazerolle as Dr. Theresa Shannon
  • Richard Beymer as Dr. Jack Franklin
  • Paul Raskin as Dr. Eric Ilaqua
  • Gregory Thirloway as Dr. Mitchell Kaplan
  • Nina Roman as Jill Holwagerm
  • Martin Evans as Dr. Hartman
  • Marie Stillin as Dr. Sally Sanford
Episode chronology

"Sanguinarium" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. "Sanguinarium" was written by newcomers Vivian and Valerie Mayhew and directed by Kim Manners, and is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. It first aired in the United States on November 10, 1996 on the Fox network, earning a Nielsen rating of 11.1 and being seen by 19.85 million viewers upon its initial broadcast.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In "Sanguinarium", bizarre murders in a hospital's plastic surgery unit lead Mulder and Scully to suspect a supernatural force may be responsible. As the uncontrolled killings continue, Mulder discovers a link between the victims' dates of birth and key dates on the witchcraft calendar.

The episode started as a spec script written by two fans of the series. It features several references to real life witchcraft sources. "Sanguinarium" received mixed reviews from critics; negative criticism was given to the number of inconsistencies in the plot. The episode's use of gore also drew a mixed reaction; some critics felt that the gore helped, while others felt that "Sanguinarium" relied too heavily on it to cover up weaknesses in its storyline.

Plot

During a routine liposuction operation in Chicago, Dr. Harrison Lloyd (John Juliani) suddenly begins to violently remove such large amounts of fat from a patient that the patient dies. Following the unusual experience, Lloyd tells Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) that he killed the patient due to being spiritually possessed. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is skeptical about Lloyd's claims, believing he's only making it up to escape legal consequences. Mulder inspects the operation room and discovers pentagrams burned into the floor, suspecting witchcraft as the cause.

Upon reviewing the tapes of the operation, Mulder decides to check what type of medication Lloyd was taking. Meanwhile, the staff at Lloyd's clinic are shocked when another plastic surgeon, Dr. Ilaqua (Paul Raskin), murders a patient under unusual circumstances. Scully interviews Ilaqua, who claims to not be able to remember anything from what happened. Scully deduces that both Ilaqua and Lloyd were taking the same medicine. Mulder's belief in the cause for the unexplained phenomena strengthens when he reviews the tape of the second murder, observing a pentagram-like pattern on the stomach of the victim.

Worried by the events, the staff tells Mulder and Scully about a similar series of deaths that occurred at the same hospital ten years prior. They suspect Rebecca Waite (O-Lan Jones), a nurse who is the only person present at all the death scenes. The agents visit Waite's house, discovering evidence that she practiced witchcraft; however, the evidence has been planted there by a staff member of the hospital. Elsewhere, Dr. Jack Franklin (Richard Beymer) is non-fatally assaulted at his house by Waite. Attempts to question Waite are prevented when she starts to vomit pins, and then dies shortly after.

Mulder deduces that the birthdays of all the victims match up with the dates of the Witches' Sabbath, meaning that continued murders will occur. Back at the clinic, another patient is murdered when her face is melted by acid. With no suspects left to turn to, Mulder uses the hospital's computer program to determine what Franklin would look like under heavy plastic surgery. He is shocked to find that Franklin is actually Dr. Cllifford Cox, a cosmetic doctor who presumably died during the first spree of murders. Cox attempts to murder his fifth and final victim in a quest to gain eternal youth. He removes the skin on his own face, using a ritual to make him appear younger. Cox is never caught, with the episode ending with him successfully applying at another medical hospital.

Production

The nurse in the episode was named after Rebecca Nurse, a woman executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.

In the 1990s, spec scripts were widely used in television, wherein unexperienced writers could write a teleplay for their favorite shows. The X-Files had a large staff of writers, however occasionally to fill the large amount of ordered episodes per season, the staff would have to take a risk on a teleplay written by a freelance writer.[1] "Sanguinarium" was such a case, being written by sisters Vivian Mayhew and Valerie Mayhew, their first experience with writing a one-hour network program.[2] They would later be responsible for several episodes in the television series Charmed.[3] The sisters asked staff writers Glen Morgan and James Wong for suggestions. Morgan and Wong stated that "the scariest things are those which repeat every day". After Vivian was paged by a number she did not know, she concluded that a pager qualified as a scary thing because an unknown person could connect with its owner. Then the Mayhews went from the pagers to a class that normally uses them, doctors, and concluded that doctors losing control and being bewitched could be a good plot. After writing the spec script, they presented them to Morgan and Wong, who suggested they change the villain from a woman to a man as "plastic surgery is related to vanity, and everyone expects that from a woman, but not a man."[2] The spec script written by the Mayhew sisters was chosen to become a full episode. "Sanguinarium" stands as the siblings' only work in The X-Files.[4]

After the spec script was picked, series creator Chris Carter and the show's staff reworked the ideas into a teleplay. Carter focused the plot on the themes of greed and vanity, and executive producer Howard Gordon created some of the most graphic moments, such as a phrase written in blood on Franklin's bathroom. Vince Gilligan named Theresa Shannon after actress Shannon Tweed. After Carter had the idea of placing a subtle pentagram on the reunion table, production designer Graeme Murray decided to take this further by creating rooms with five sides, and having the plastic surgery unit with five operating rooms represent an imaginary pentagram. Like previous episode "Home", Fox Standards and Practices objected to the graphical content, and Carter had to intervene to help retain some scenes.[2]

The episode features references to witchcraft and occultism.[5] The nurse from the episode, Rebecca Waite, was named after a friend of the writers called Rebecca White, with a slight change as a real nurse also called White existed in Chicago. Viewers ended up finding Waite's name as an unintended reference to Rebecca Nurse, an innocent woman prosecuted during the Salem witch trials, and the Rider-Waite tarot deck, the most popular tarot deck utilized in the world.[2] The episode itself references Gerald Gardner, a wiccan known for publishing several books on witchcraft and founder of the Gardnerian Tradition.[6][7] While the Mayhew sisters tried to depict occultism without offending anybody, not connecting Franklin and Waite to any known cult, many Wiccans sent angry letters and e-mails to Fox regarding the portrayal of their beliefs.[2]

Broadcast and reception

"Sanguinarium" premiered on the Fox network on November 10, 1996.[4] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.1, with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. "Sanguinarium" was seen by 18.85 million viewers on first broadcast.[8]

Gillian Anderson described "Sanguinarium" as "one of the most repulsive scripts I ever shot", explaining that she could not watch scenes such as the doctor stabbing a patient. David Duchovny stated that "I didn't understand the plot, but I liked the script", noting that Carter and his team improved a weak teleplay and director Kim Manners "did an excellent job".[2] Entertainment Weekly gave "Sanguinarium" a "B–", feeling that it was "redeemed" by the gore. However, they were "worried" by the "fourth consecutive phoned-in performance by Duchovny and Anderson".[9] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club was more negative, grading it a "D". He felt that the episode was "too much", with gore shown directly instead of suggested. He also criticized the characterization, especially Scully's, the "predictable" scares, "ludicrously bad" dialogue, and a story that did not make much sense. Despite this, he did praise the "strong" guest acting.[1] Sarah Stegall awarded "Sanguinarium" two stars out of five, commenting that "several things went wrong", and also noting the reliance on gore.[5] She mused that she thought it was odd that the "bad" magic seemed to succeed, noting that the "good" magic seemed useless, summarizing, "Where's the logic in that?"[5] In addition, Stegall thought the episode's biggest flaw was its lack of logical writing, and that it required too much suspension of belief from the viewer.[5]

Tom Kessenich in Examinations: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6-9 of the X-Files commented that the ending of "Sanguinarium" was similar to the ending of episode "Signs and Wonders", wherein the antagonist manages to get away.[10] Frederick S. Clarke from Cinefantastique gave "Sanguinarium" a mixed review, writing that the episode "combines plastic surgery and black magic into an unsatisfying mix that fails to lampoon our obsession with beauty."[11] Not all reviews were as negative. Writer Preston Nichols took a liking to the episode, having viewed it "eighteen times and counting".[12] Michael Avalos and George Liedtke, writing for Knight Ridder, speculated that "Sanguinarium" provided viewers with "haunting memories".[13] Mark Davis of The Daytona Beach News-Journal, in 1998, named the episode one of the "Best of The X-Files".[14]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 VanDerWerff, Todd (October 30, 2010). "'Sanguinarium'/'Kingdom Come' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Meisler, pp. 57-8
  3. ↑ E. Genge, p 123
  4. 1 2 The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season (booklet). R.W. Goodwin, Kim Manners, et al. Fox.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Stegall, Sarah (1996). "The Good Witch of the West". The Munchkyn Zone. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  6. ↑ Delasara, p. 100
  7. ↑ Heselton, pp. 169–181
  8. ↑ Meisler, p. 298
  9. ↑ "X Cyclopedia: The Ultimate Episode Guide, Season IV". Entertainment Weekly. November 29, 1996. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  10. ↑ Kessenich, p. 108
  11. ↑ S. Clarke, Frederick (1997). "Cinefantastique, Volume 29". Cinefantastique. 29: 105.
  12. ↑ S. Hornsby, p. 185
  13. ↑ Avalos, George; Liedtke, Michael (October 30, 1998). "X-Cursions: For Halloween—The Scariest `X-Files'". Knight Ridder. Retrieved January 5, 2013. (subscription required)
  14. ↑ Davis, Mark (July 24, 2008). "X-Philes—From an X-Files Fan". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved January 5, 2013. (subscription required)

Bibliography

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