Dæmonicus

"Dæmonicus"
The X-Files episode
Josef Kobold throwing up at Doggett at a mental asylum
Episode no.	Season 9 Episode 3
Directed by	Frank Spotnitz
Written by	Frank Spotnitz
Production code	9ABX03
Original air date	December 2, 2001
Guest stars
James Remar as Professor Josef Kobold Robert Beckwith as First FBI Cadet Sarah Benoit as Evelyn Mountjoy Andi Chapman as Dr. Monique Sampson Rueben Grundy as Forensic Technician Tim Halligan as Darren Mountjoy Elijah Majar as Guard Troy Mittleider as Dr. Kenneth Richmond Shane Nickerson as Police Photographer James Rekart as Paul Gerlach Lou Richards as Officer Custer Melissa Spotnitz as Second FBI Cadet
Episode chronology
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"Dæmonicus" (also known as "Daemonicus") is the 185th episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on December 2, 2001 on Fox and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written and directed by executive producer Frank Spotnitz. It is a Monster-of-the-Week episode, literally meaning a stand alone episode.

"Dæmonicus" follows Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) helping Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) and John Doggett (Robert Patrick) investigate a series of bizarre killings that seem to be due to demonic possession but which Doggett believes is a hoax. The episode earned mediocre Nielsen household and syndication ratings when compared to other episodes during the season. It had a generally mixed reception by fans and critics alike.

Plot summary

After finding a crime scene with Satanic ritual overtones, John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) are offered the case. Doggett and Reyes asks Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to do an autopsy on the murder victims. The agents comes to the conclusion that one of the murder victims was somehow tricked into killing his wife, while evidence at the scene indicates that there are two perpetrators. When Reyes tells Doggett and Scully that while investigating she felt the presence of evil, Doggett responds with great irritation. Dr. Monique Sackheim calls them, saying that the two recent murders may be connected to their escaped mental patient, Dr. Kenneth Richman, and his prison guard, Paul Gerlach.

Meanwhile, in a wooden area, the two perpetrators, who are wearing demon masks, face each other some twenty paces apart. From out of nowhere, one of the perpetrators suddenly raises his gun and shoots. At the mental institution, the two agents interview Josef Kobold, the neighbouring patient of Kenneth Richman. The answers Kobold gives are unsettling for the agents, as he says that one of the perpetrators has killed again, showing them the location and warning them of "something horrible" at the location. Scully does an autopsy, and it is revealed that the victim was the prison guard, Paul Gerlach.

Later, the two agents return to the institution to ask Kobold for help finding the last perpetrator. When speaking to Kobold, he suddenly speaks in a strange backward whispering and erupts in convulsions after a while. Reyes hears the word: "medicus," which means "physician." Before leaving, they set Kobold under the protection of prison guard, Custer. Doggett and Reyes race to Sackeheim's home where they find her dead body, with a dozen hypodermic needles jammed into her face. Doggett returns alone to the asylum to interview Kobold. Kobold does not respond as Doggett had hoped, and instead teases him with information about Doggett's personal life which he could not possibly know. Doggett loses him temper and grabs Kobold, but suddenly Kobold begins to throw up. When meeting his colleagues, Doggett tells them that Kobold is playing some sort of game, then the power suddenly goes out in the mental institution. Officer Custer than approaches the cell door and looks through the window, were he sees Kobold turning into a demon.

Later, Doggett phones up Scully to tell her that Kobold claims Richman is at an old marina. Scully drives to the location, but a man wearing a demon mask closes in on her. Doggett and Reyes arrive soon after. When Doggett demands to know where Scully has been taken, Kobold smiles. A gunshot rings out, and Doggett discovers the masked demon, Dr. Richman, who is lying dead on the floor of an abandoned warehouse. Scully explains that he was holding her at gunpoint until they arrived, then he shot himself. After Scully's lecture to FBI cadets, Doggett explains to her and Reyes that Kobold planned the entire ordeal as a game, and got away with it.

Production

Writing

Since "Daemonicus" would become the first Monster-of-the-Week (meaning stand alone) episode of the season nine, and since season nine was promoted as the "new" X-Files, it was important to set up the new settings to the show. One of these new settings was to move Dana Scully from the X-Files office to the FBI Academy at Quantico, the FBI Academy was shot at a lecture hall at UCLA. Frank Spotnitz felt he "needed to show how Doggett and Reyes worked together." He wanted to create a villain that "could help", and not a character that would just tell the viewers again "what The X-Files was again. But instead tell the viewers something about the show during its ninth season."^[1]

According to Spotnitz, the creation of the character, Josef Kobold, "who is the devil, in a cell." When creating him, Spotnitz was looking through all kind of crime, until he came across the name Caryl Chessman who had been sentenced to death on a technical charge of kidnapping. He was than able to connect the word "chessman" to the idea that for Kobold, it was all a game.^[1]

Filming

Frank Spotnitz had not intended to have as many shots of Josef Kobold throwing up, but the editor at that time, Chris Cooke, "cut it that way." Spotnitz felt that it "was so completely over the top." To create the throw up scene, they needed to create tubes which were flat under the appliance, and the actor, James Remar, had to have his mouth open during the shooting of the sequence.^[1]

Reception

The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 5.5, with a 8 share. It was viewed by 5.803 million households and gathered a total of 8.700 million viewers in the United States alone.^[2] On December 2, 2001 the episode premiered on American and Canadian television on Fox (both nations) and Global Television Network (Canada only) the same time and day as Fox did. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it made its first appearance on British television on somewhere on June 27, 2002 on Sky1. The episode did not make it to the list of the ten most watched television shows that week on Sky1.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Spotnitz, Frank, Rabwin, Paul, Mungle, Matthew and Beck, Mat (2002). The Truth Behind Season 9: "Dæmonicus" (DVD). Fox Home Entertainment. 
2. ^ "The X-Files Compilation: Nielsen Ratings". Compilation. http://x-files.host.sk/nielsens.php. Retrieved September 29, 2009. 
3. ^ ""Dæmonicus" broadcast information". GEOS. http://www.geos.tv/index.php/episodetv?eid=7168. Retrieved September 29, 2009. 

External links

• "Dæmonicus" on The X-Files Wiki, an external wiki