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Per Manum

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"Per Manum"

"Per Manum" is the thirteenth episode of the eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 2001. Written by Frank Spotnitz and series creator Chris Carter, and directed by Kim Manners, the episode helps to explore the series' overarching mythology. "Per Manum" received a Nielsen rating of 9.4 and was watched by 9.61 million households. Overall, the episode received mixed reviews from critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents John Doggett and Dana Scully who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In the 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" was the first season eight episode of The X-Files to feature a substantial appearance of Fox Mulder since the season premiere "Within"/"Without". In addition, the episode marks the first appearance of Knowle Rohrer, played by Adam Baldwin, who would become Doggett's informant and later betrayer.

Plot

Pregnant Kathy McCready is undergoing an emergency caesarian. As her husband prepares, the ward is locked down, and the child delivered is seen to be an alien.

FBI special agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) meet Duffy Haskell (Jay Acovone), 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 was both caused and cured by her abductors. Duffy refers the agents to Zeus Genetics, and shows them an ultrasound 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 Scully is pregnant. Scully investigates a Zeus Genetics clinic, overhearing a pregnant woman, Mary Hendershot (Saxon Trainor), telling her doctor that she does not want to be under his care any more. Scully hides in a storeroom, finding it full of preserved fetuses that resemble the alien child seen earlier.

In a flashback, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) tells Scully that her abduction (in the second season episodes "Ascension and "One Breath") has rendered her infertile, as her ova were harvested for genetic experiments. Mulder later found them in a secret facility (in fourth season's "Memento Mori"), but they were not viable. Scully seeks a second opinion from her doctor, Dr. Parenti, and is told that her ova might be viable with a sperm donor. Mulder volunteers for the role.

Back in the present, Scully phones Parenti, who is dissecting an alien fetus. She asks him to compare her ultrasound scan with the one given to her earlier. When she visits later, she is assured her scans are in order, but she sees Parenti speaking with Dr. Lev, the doctor she overheard at Zeus Genetics. Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Doggett confront Duffy about threatening letters he has been sending to both Mulder and Dr. Lev. However, when the agents leave, Duffy makes a phone call to Lev, warning him that they are being investigated.

Scully is warned by Hendershot, the woman from Zeus Genetics, 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 Doggett. Scully and Hendershot visit an army research hospital to have an ultrasound performed on Hendershot. The scan appears normal, but Scully realises the monitor they are watching is simply a video of another woman's scan.

Doggett has Duffy's fingerprints examined, and finds that they belong to a man who died thirty years previously. Doggett contacts an old military partner, Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin) to find Duffy's real identity. Although Rohrer assures Doggett he will investigate, the agent is not convinced, believing that Rohrer is a CIA agent. He confides this to Skinner, who tells him to aid Scully at the military hospital. As Scully and Hendershot sneak out of the building, they are found by Rohrer and several marines, claiming Doggett has sent them to rescue her. Scully and Hendershot are driven away, but Hendershot enters labour. The women are separated, and Scully is drugged. When she wakens, Doggett informs her that Hendershot's baby was delivered and is normal. However, Scully is convinced something is amiss, but nothing more can be done about it. In another flashback, Scully tells Mulder that her attempt at in vitro fertilization has failed, but he simply tells her to keep trying.[1]

Production

"Per Manum" featured the appearance of David Duchovny 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.[2] In order to explain Mulder's absence, Duchovny's character was abducted by aliens in the seventh season finale, "Requiem". After several rounds of contractual discussions, Duchovny agreed to return for a total of 11 season eight episodes.[3] "Per Manum" marked the third appearance of Duchovny in the eighth season; he had previously appeared in opening episodes of the season, "Within" and "Without".[4][5] Series creator Chris Carter later argued that Mulder's absences from the series did not affect the characterization, noting that "there are characters who can be powerful as absent centers, as Mulder was through the eight and ninth seasons."[6]

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 felt it was too "confusing" for the viewers to place doubt on the actions of the doctor so early. Fellow series writer John Shiban said that the scene was not "subtle" enough to convey the right level of suspicion.[7] 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".[7]

Adam Baldwin, who makes his first appearance as recurring character Knowle Rohrer, originally auditioned for the part of John Dogget, losing out to Robert Patrick. However, the crew remembered Baldwin's audition later when casting "Per Manum", and asked him to play the role.[8] Jay Acovone, who portrays Duffy Haskel in this episode, returned in the same role in the season's penultimate episode "Essence";[9] and had also previously appeared in the fourth season episode "Demons".[9] "Per Manum" also featured a guest appearance by Mark Snow as an unnamed doctor. Snow had been the series' composer since the first season.[10]

Broadcast and reception

"Per Manum" premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 2001 and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on June 9, 2002.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.4, meaning that it was seen by 9.4% of the nation's estimated households [12] and was viewed by 9.61 million households.[12][nb 1] "Per Manum" ranked as the 30th most-watched episode for the week ending February 18.[12]

"Per Manum" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with one detractor. Writing for Television Without Pity, 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.[13] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6-9 of 'The X-Files', noted that the episode typifyes the basic themes of the series—"dark, foreboding terror, overriding sense of paranoia" and "the fear of the unknown" among others.[14] 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.[15] Writing for The Vindicator, Eric Mink felt that the episode was "intense, unsettling, sometimes gross, and suspenseful to the point of nerve-racking [sic]", feeling that its plot would "resonate instantly and ominously with viewers".[16]

Not all reviews were positive. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a scathing review and awarded it no stars out of four.[17] 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".[17] 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".[17]

Notes

  1. ^ At the time of airing, the estimated number of households was 102.2 million.[12] Thus, 9.4 percent of 102.2 million is 9.61 million households.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Per Manum". BBC. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Duchovny quits X-Files". BBC News. May 18, 2001. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  3. ^ Elber, Lynn (May 18, 2000). "Fox Mulder 'Ready to Get Back to Work'". Associated Press / Space. Archived from the original on September 24, 2004. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  4. ^ Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter (writer) (November 5, 2001). "Within". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 1. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter (writer) (November 12, 2001). "Without". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 2. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 189
  7. ^ a b John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz (narrators). Deleted Scenes: Per Manum. The X-Files: The Complete Eighth Season. Fox. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Heisler, Steve (February 2, 2009). "Adam Baldwin | TV | Random Roles". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 17, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ a b Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter (writer) (May 13, 2001). "Essence". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 20. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "essence" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Mat Beck, Chris Carter, Howard Gordon, Dean Haglund, David Nutter, Paul Rawbin, Daniel Sackheim, Mark Snow. The Truth About Season One. The X-Files: The Complete First Season (DVD). Fox.
  11. ^ The X-Files: The Complete Eighth Season (Media notes). Fox. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |director= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  12. ^ a b c d Associated Press (February 22, 2001). "Last Weeks' Top Programs". Press-Telegram. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ Morgan, Jessica (February 21, 2001). "X-Files TV Show - Per Manum - X-Files Recaps, X-Files Reviews, X-Files Episodes". Television Without Pity. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  14. ^ Kessenich, p.156.
  15. ^ Shearman and Pearson, pp. 239–240
  16. ^ Mink, Eric (February 17, 2001). "Once again, 'The X-Files' offers little more than a Mulder sighting". The Vindicator. p. B11. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  17. ^ a b c Vitaris, Paula (April 2002). "The X-Files Season Eight Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 34 (2): 42-49. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

References

  • Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806.
  • Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1553698126.
  • Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
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