I've been slowly working my way through the X-Files lately.


Night before last night I watched S07E19 ("Hollywood A.D.").

A large part of the story line was that a forger named Micah Hoffman sold forged documents to a church official who planned to hide them because their content was critical of the church. There are several bomb blasts, forgery and bomb making materials/equipment are found in Hoffman's residence, and Hoffman ultimately dies in a bomb blast.

Differences: in the episode it's the Roman Catholic church and the official is a Cardinal, and it's the Cardinal who kills Hoffman in a murder-suicide.

There's a whole lot more to the story, so I don't think the above details "spoil" it for anyone who wants to watch it.


Last night I watched the next episode, S07E20 ("Fight Club").

It opens with two missionaries (black pants, white shirts, black ties, on bikes) riding to two different homes, tracting. It seems a bit like a parody (the two guys pedal the same, lean into turns the same, dismount the same, etc).

Difference: part of the above identical behavior, after dismounting they simultaneously grab a pamphlet/magazine from a stack on their bike racks to take to the door (which seems more JW than LDS).

One of the supernatural things involves fighting (hence the episode name), and the two missionaries end up in a bloody fist fight on someone's front lawn.

Again,there's more to the story than the above "Mormon connection," and I won't spoil it either.


So, did the X-Files have a Mormon connection?
Both things were so palpably "Mormon" that it was hard to miss, but in two episodes in a row as well. I wonder if there are more...

  
  
  

Haha! I was thinking the same!


Q: This church was alluded to an X-Files episode when a leader purchased forged documents to protect the church's reputation.

Wasn't there an x-files episode where UFO's were attracted to a large building with bright lights at night and nobody was allowed inside because the building wasn't sacred but secret?

And then this building had this octogenarian spokesperson who kept saying I don't know that we teach that when asked about alien spacecraft and extra-terrestrials living inside the building.

Hehehe. I haven't seen that one yet!

Yeah, my real life inspiration was a nighttime photo of a blurry bus passing by the Salt Lake Temple. Sort of had the weird what the heck was that feeling.

My guess is the writers get their inspiration from any source they can, including the wacky world of mormonism. That would seem to be the main connection in my view.

Yeah, but two in a row?

I did a little Googling though. Apparently Duchovny wrote and directed the first of the two. But it looks like he co-wrote it with some of the same writers who wrote the next, so Mormon ideas could have carried over.

btw, Apparently Duchovny did draw inspiration from the news about Mark Hoffmann.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2023 05:04PM by Gordon B. Stinky.

I can't find a common thread. Episode 19 was written and produced by lead actor David Duchovny. Episode 20 was written by series creator Chris Carter, who admitted that he was distracted while writing the script -- he was developing a spin-off show at the time.

My two cents?

If it walks like a missionary and quacks like a missionary, it may well be a missionary.

So, apparently Duchovny has written a book sort of based on the same episode (Hoffmann allusions). And now working on a series based on it. ???

I want to believe.

Tonight’s episode took place in Utah, and Scully is attacked, imprisoned and infected with a big bug by a creepy cult out in the desert. After being rescued, she’s treated at the BYU Medical Center. (Is there even such a place?)

Yes, it’s where they treat soaking casualties!