The List (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"The List" is a 1995 episode of The X-Files
television series
. It was the fifth episode broadcast in the show's third season. "The List" involves the agents' investigation of a case where a death row inmate declares that he will be reincarnated and that as a result five men will die.
's death row
, is brought to the electric chair
. Before he is executed, Neech proclaims that he will be reincarnated
and avenge himself against five men who tormented him in prison. Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
are brought in to investigate when a prison guard is mysteriously found dead in Neech's cell. Upon arriving at the prison, the agents meet the warden, Brodeur, who believes that Neech planned the guard's murder with someone on the outside before the execution. Speranza, another inmate, believes that Neech has returned. When Scully examines the guard's body, it is crawling with fly larvae. When she later explores the prison's showers, Scully meets another guard named Parmelly. He claims that another prisoner, Roque, is keeping a list of the remaining four victims.
Later, the head of another guard, Fornier, is found inside a paint can. An examination of the head shows the premature appearance of larvae. The prison coroner
tells Scully that the first guard's lungs were completely infested with larvae, belonging to the green bottle fly
. Meanwhile, Mulder talks to Roque, who wants a transfer out of the prison in exchange for revealing the remaining three people on the list. Brodeur refuses to make the deal, right before finding Fornier's headless body in his office. When the agents search Neech's cell, Mulder finds his diary and discovers his obsession with reincarnation. Scully, of course, is skeptical. They later talk to Neech's fearful widow
, Danielle, who is secretly seeing Parmelly. Roque is brought to the showers, where he is beaten to death by Brodeur after revealing he is the fifth person on the list.
Brodeur puts the prison under lockdown
, ostensibly to bring the situation under control. He tells Mulder that Neech had a violent history with all three victims. Mulder believes that Neech came back for revenge against the guards, but doubts that Roque was on the list. He requests that he be provided with the name of Neech's executioner
, who turns out to be a volunteer named Perry Simon. The agents arrive at Simon's home to discover his decomposing body in the attic. Mulder confronts Speranza about the list, but Speranza only tells him that Roque wasn't on it. He claims to have seen Neech "big as life" outside of his cell. Based on phone records, Scully theorizes that Neech's lawyer, Danny Charez, may have engineered the murders with Speranza. The agents interview Charez, who tells them about Danielle's relationship with Parmelly; after they leave, Charez is suffocated by a resurrected Neech.
Brodeur visits Speranza in his cell, and offers to have his death sentence
commuted in exchange for stopping the murders. Speranza takes the offer. That night, Parmelly visits Danielle, who has become agitated since Mulder and Scully have begun staking out
her house. The agents now suspect Parmelly to be behind the murders and leave to notify Brodeur, who asks that Parmelly be arrested. Soon afterward, Danielle wakes up to see Neech by her bed. She grabs her gun and confronts Parmelly, thinking he is Neech's resurrected form. The agents and a police task force
arrive to see her shoot and kill Parmelly. Meanwhile, Brodeur -- assuming that Charez and Parmelly were on the list -- thinks Speranza has reneged on their deal and has him taken to the showers. Before Brodeur kills him, Speranza claims that one person remains on the list.
Parmelly is blamed for the murders. The agents start to leave Florida, but Mulder soon pulls over. He remains frustrated, since Parmelly was on-duty during only one murder, and wasn't one of the three men who knew Perry Simon's confidential identity. He also points out inconsistencies in the actions of Parmelly and Roque, who was also assumed to be part of the plot. Mulder believes that Parmelly wasn't responsible for the deaths, and that Neech had indeed been reincarnated to enact his revenge. However, Scully convinces Mulder that the case is over, and that they should return home. Just then, Brodeur passes them in his car. Looking in his rear view mirror, he sees Neech, who attacks Brodeur and causes his car to crash into a tree, claiming his last victim.
". The set was also rented out to other productions in Vancouver, Canada. The set took 10 days to build, making it one of the most complicated jobs for the show's staff during the season. Real maggots were used during many of the scenes, which were described by Gillian Anderson as being the hardest animals to work with on the show. The show's special effects producers were unable to create a full body replica of the first victim in time, requiring him to lay on an autopsy table with makeup applied while the maggots were poured on to him. Rice was used in place of the maggots during some of the scenes. The car crash at the end of the episode was described by stunt coordinator Tony Morelli as the most harrowing action sequence during the show's third season. To give the episode a different look the producers applied a green palatte to the film in post-production.
The executioner, Perry Simon, was named after an NBC executive producer that writer/director Chris Carter knew. Joseph Patrick Finn, one of the show's producers, played the prison chaplain.
said of the episode, "I think this is a vastly underrated episode. I also think it was a very brave and different show to do and that it will weather the test of time very well. I think it was brave because there is not a single likable character - nobody you can root for. Mulder and Scully do not solve the case, and that is something I had been interested in doing for some time." Chris Carter
was nominated for an award by the Directors Guild of America
for his work on this episode. Author Phil Farrand was very critical of the episode, calling it his third least favorite episode of the first four seasons in his book 'The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files.'
This episode earned a Neilsen rating of 10.8, with a 19 share. It was viewed by 16.72 million people.
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. It was the fifth episode broadcast in the show's third season. "The List" involves the agents' investigation of a case where a death row inmate declares that he will be reincarnated and that as a result five men will die.
Plot
Napoleon "Neech" Manley, an inmate on FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
's death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, is brought to the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. Before he is executed, Neech proclaims that he will be reincarnated
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
and avenge himself against five men who tormented him in prison. Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
are brought in to investigate when a prison guard is mysteriously found dead in Neech's cell. Upon arriving at the prison, the agents meet the warden, Brodeur, who believes that Neech planned the guard's murder with someone on the outside before the execution. Speranza, another inmate, believes that Neech has returned. When Scully examines the guard's body, it is crawling with fly larvae. When she later explores the prison's showers, Scully meets another guard named Parmelly. He claims that another prisoner, Roque, is keeping a list of the remaining four victims.
Later, the head of another guard, Fornier, is found inside a paint can. An examination of the head shows the premature appearance of larvae. The prison coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
tells Scully that the first guard's lungs were completely infested with larvae, belonging to the green bottle fly
Green bottle fly
The common green bottle fly is a common blow-fly found in most areas of the world, and the most well-known of the numerous green bottle fly species. It is 10–14 mm long, slightly larger than a housefly, and has brilliant, metallic, blue-green or golden coloration with black markings. It has...
. Meanwhile, Mulder talks to Roque, who wants a transfer out of the prison in exchange for revealing the remaining three people on the list. Brodeur refuses to make the deal, right before finding Fornier's headless body in his office. When the agents search Neech's cell, Mulder finds his diary and discovers his obsession with reincarnation. Scully, of course, is skeptical. They later talk to Neech's fearful widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
, Danielle, who is secretly seeing Parmelly. Roque is brought to the showers, where he is beaten to death by Brodeur after revealing he is the fifth person on the list.
Brodeur puts the prison under lockdown
Lockdown
There are several definitions for the term lockdown, the most common of which pertains to a state of containment or a restriction of progression....
, ostensibly to bring the situation under control. He tells Mulder that Neech had a violent history with all three victims. Mulder believes that Neech came back for revenge against the guards, but doubts that Roque was on the list. He requests that he be provided with the name of Neech's executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
, who turns out to be a volunteer named Perry Simon. The agents arrive at Simon's home to discover his decomposing body in the attic. Mulder confronts Speranza about the list, but Speranza only tells him that Roque wasn't on it. He claims to have seen Neech "big as life" outside of his cell. Based on phone records, Scully theorizes that Neech's lawyer, Danny Charez, may have engineered the murders with Speranza. The agents interview Charez, who tells them about Danielle's relationship with Parmelly; after they leave, Charez is suffocated by a resurrected Neech.
Brodeur visits Speranza in his cell, and offers to have his death sentence
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
commuted in exchange for stopping the murders. Speranza takes the offer. That night, Parmelly visits Danielle, who has become agitated since Mulder and Scully have begun staking out
Stakeout
Stakeout is a 1987 film directed by John Badham and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Madeleine Stowe, Aidan Quinn, and Forest Whitaker...
her house. The agents now suspect Parmelly to be behind the murders and leave to notify Brodeur, who asks that Parmelly be arrested. Soon afterward, Danielle wakes up to see Neech by her bed. She grabs her gun and confronts Parmelly, thinking he is Neech's resurrected form. The agents and a police task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
arrive to see her shoot and kill Parmelly. Meanwhile, Brodeur -- assuming that Charez and Parmelly were on the list -- thinks Speranza has reneged on their deal and has him taken to the showers. Before Brodeur kills him, Speranza claims that one person remains on the list.
Parmelly is blamed for the murders. The agents start to leave Florida, but Mulder soon pulls over. He remains frustrated, since Parmelly was on-duty during only one murder, and wasn't one of the three men who knew Perry Simon's confidential identity. He also points out inconsistencies in the actions of Parmelly and Roque, who was also assumed to be part of the plot. Mulder believes that Parmelly wasn't responsible for the deaths, and that Neech had indeed been reincarnated to enact his revenge. However, Scully convinces Mulder that the case is over, and that they should return home. Just then, Brodeur passes them in his car. Looking in his rear view mirror, he sees Neech, who attacks Brodeur and causes his car to crash into a tree, claiming his last victim.
Production
The episode ended up going over budget due to the construction of the prison set, which was later used again in the episodes "Teso Dos Bichos" and "Talitha CumiTalitha Cumi (The X-Files)
"Talitha Cumi" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the final episode broadcast in the show's third season. "Talitha Cumi" involved the appearance of a mysterious man who can heal with his hands.- Plot :...
". The set was also rented out to other productions in Vancouver, Canada. The set took 10 days to build, making it one of the most complicated jobs for the show's staff during the season. Real maggots were used during many of the scenes, which were described by Gillian Anderson as being the hardest animals to work with on the show. The show's special effects producers were unable to create a full body replica of the first victim in time, requiring him to lay on an autopsy table with makeup applied while the maggots were poured on to him. Rice was used in place of the maggots during some of the scenes. The car crash at the end of the episode was described by stunt coordinator Tony Morelli as the most harrowing action sequence during the show's third season. To give the episode a different look the producers applied a green palatte to the film in post-production.
The executioner, Perry Simon, was named after an NBC executive producer that writer/director Chris Carter knew. Joseph Patrick Finn, one of the show's producers, played the prison chaplain.
Reception
Story editor Frank SpotnitzFrank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
said of the episode, "I think this is a vastly underrated episode. I also think it was a very brave and different show to do and that it will weather the test of time very well. I think it was brave because there is not a single likable character - nobody you can root for. Mulder and Scully do not solve the case, and that is something I had been interested in doing for some time." Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
was nominated for an award by the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
for his work on this episode. Author Phil Farrand was very critical of the episode, calling it his third least favorite episode of the first four seasons in his book 'The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files.'
This episode earned a Neilsen rating of 10.8, with a 19 share. It was viewed by 16.72 million people.