Grotesque (The X-Files)
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.
Mulder is a conspiracy theorist and a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully, a medical doctor, has been assigned to debunk his work.
Gordon was inspired to write the episode after walking down the streets of New York and seeing several stone gargoyles on the corner, staring at him.
Gordon developed the concept with series creator Chris Carter, who suggested the addition of more psychological aspects to the episode.
Originally, the teaser was planned to be filmed at a Catholic hospital, but the shot was relocated to the site of a historic post office after concerns were raised about attaching a fake gargoyle to the building.
The following morning, Mostow is arrested in his apartment by an FBI task force led by Special Agent Bill Patterson (Kurtwood Smith), who finds the utility knife used in the murder covered in blood.
Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) become involved in the investigation when Mostow insists that he was possessed during the killings; his claims are given credence when another murder occurs after his arrest.
Scully finds a disassembled utility knife at the latest crime scene with Mulder's prints on it and discovers that the murder weapon is missing from the evidence room.
[1] "Grotesque" was written by Howard Gordon, who conceived of the main story after he noticed stone gargoyles on a corner of a New York street he was walking down.
He wrote a draft script for the episode, but the weekend before production began, he had to completely rework it with the help of series creator Chris Carter.
Additional exterior shots were filmed at an alley near Bonanza Meat Market, the walls of which were painted to match those of Heritage Hall.
"[5] To get inspiration, Manners played the soundtrack to the film Jacob's Ladder (1990) on repeat until his wife "finally asked, 'Do we have to listen to that (bleeping) CD again?
'"[3] Manners also theorized that this episode may have inspired Carter when he eventually developed the show Millennium, which premiered on Fox the following television season.
The central premise is vague enough to fall within the confines of the unusual, if not necessarily paranormal, and the supporting cinematography and score rise to the occasion.
[11] She referred to the episode as "one of [the show's] darkest ever" and called it "a triumph for director Manners, cinematographer Bartley, and The X-Files art department.
"[11] Vitaris, however, was critical of the episode's closing monologue, noting that "[Mulder] spells out what the camera is saying a hundred times more effectively with its finale shot of a pairing of a gargoyle.
[13] Entertainment Weekly gave "Grotesque" a D, labeling it as "ponderous, oblique, and featuring one of Mulder's always annoying, easy-way-out soliloquy summations".
