The Red and the Black | Credits | Gallery | Transcript |
"The Red and the Black" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of The X-Files.
Synopsis
After Scully and Cassandra Spender disappeared, Scully is recovered, having survived an attack on a group of abductees, and is placed under hypnosis to discover what really happened while Cassandra Spender remains missing.
Summary

A charred body on the bridge.
Meanwhile, rescue workers sift through the area near the dam where blackened bodies lie along the length of a bridge. Amongst the bodies is Quiet Willy, the Syndicate's hit man. Skinner directs Mulder to a nearby provisional tent, where Scully is ministered by medics. Nearby is the body of Dmitri, the Russian boy, his exposed skin blackened by the fire. When Scully regains consciousness, she tells Mulder she has no memory of what occurred at the dam. Outside of Scully's room, Spender tells Mulder that rescue workers were unable to locate his mother, Cassandra.

The Syndicate discusses about an alliance with the alien rebels.

A Faceless alien is discovered at the air force base.

Scully agrees to be put under hypnosis by Dr Heitz Werber.
Skinner reviews an audio tape of Werber's session with Scully. Mulder tells Skinner the entire event was staged to cover up a classified military project. Skinner admits, however, that Scully's UFO scenario is more plausible. Meanwhile, when Covarrubias fails to respond to the vaccine, the Elder informs the Well-Manicured Man that the captured alien is being turned over to the colonists.

Jeffrey Spender shows Scully a video of his own hypnosis session.

The Cigarette-Smoking Man's letter is returned to him.
References
Background Information
Production
- The tagline to this episode is "Resist Or Serve."
- The altered tagline for this episode "Resist or Serve" is used as the title for the X Files PlayStation 2 game released in 2004.
- Another altered tagline 'Resist Or Serve', spoken by Krycek: "A struggle for heaven and earth. Where there is one law: Fight or Die. And one rule: Resist or Serve".
- William B. Davis' screen credit as the "Cigarette Smoking Man" usually appears at the beginning of whatever episode he's in. Since this would spoil the reveal at the end of this episode, his name appears in the closing credits as a special appearance instead.
Notes
- The list of Skyland Mountain victims viewed by Scully in her hospital room is made up of the names of X-Files staffers.
- Jack Finn, who played Cigarette Smoking Man's young messenger, is the son of Producer Joseph Patrick Finn.
- The Red and the Black Possibly relates to Stendahl's novel Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) which is filled with duplicity. The "hero" is a young cleric whose religious beliefs owe more to career advancement than any real faith. He tries to kill his lover during church service; she survives but he is still found guilty and guillotined for the crime. This episode is certainly filled with duplicity and there are plenty questions concerning faith and beliefs. Mulder also believes Scully was killed along with the other burned abductee victims before he finds out she has survived.
- The episode title may also be a reference to the film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," which features a war between two alien factions called "Red" and "Black" Lectroids, a war which is played out here on Earth. These aliens can make themselves appear human.
Goofs
- There is no visible injury on Scully's left hand during the first hospital scene but she wears bandages in the next scenes.
Cast and Characters
- Klodyne Rodney (Medic) previously played Airport Parking Attendant in the Millennium episode "The Beginning & the End" and Nurse in the Millennium episode "Goodbye, Charlie".
Cast
Starring
Also Starring
- Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
- Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
- William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
Guest Starring
- Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender
- John Neville as Well-Manicured Man
- George Murdock as Second Elder
- Chris Owens as Special Agent Jeffrey Spender
- Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias
- Brian Thompson as Bounty Hunter
- Don S. Williams as First Elder
- Jim Jansen as Heitz Werber
- Alex Shostak, Jr. as Dmitri
Co-Starring
Featuring
- Michal Suchanek as Young Jeffrey Spender
- John Moore as Third Elder
- Klodyne Rodney as Medic
- Jenn Forgie as Nurse
- Derek Thomas Versteeg as M.P.
- Jack Finn as Young Boy
Uncredited
External Links
The X-Files episodes |
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Season 1 |
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"Pilot" ・ "Deep Throat" ・ "Squeeze" ・ "Conduit" ・ "The Jersey Devil" ・ "Shadows" ・ "Ghost in the Machine" ・ "Ice" ・ "Space" ・ "Fallen Angel" "Eve" ・ "Fire" ・ "Beyond the Sea" ・ "Gender Bender" ・ "Lazarus" ・ "Young at Heart" ・ "E.B.E." ・ "Miracle Man" ・ "Shapes" ・ "Darkness Falls" "Tooms" ・ "Born Again" ・ "Roland" ・ "The Erlenmeyer Flask" |
Season 2 |
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"Little Green Men" ・ "The Host" ・ "Blood" ・ "Sleepless" ・ "Duane Barry" ・ "Ascension" ・ "3" ・ "One Breath" ・ "Firewalker" ・ "Red Museum" "Excelsis Dei" ・ "Aubrey" ・ "Irresistible" ・ "Die Hand Die Verletzt" ・ "Fresh Bones" ・ "Colony" ・ "End Game" ・ "Fearful Symmetry" ・ "Død Kalm" "Humbug" ・ "The Căluşari" ・ "F. Emasculata" ・ "Soft Light" ・ "Our Town" ・ "Anasazi" |
Season 3 |
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"The Blessing Way" ・ "Paper Clip" ・ "D.P.O." ・ "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" ・ "The List" ・ "2Shy" ・ "The Walk" ・ "Oubliette" ・ "Nisei" ・ "731" "Revelations" ・ "War of the Coprophages" ・ "Syzygy" ・ "Grotesque" ・ "Piper Maru" ・ "Apocrypha" ・ "Pusher" ・ "Teso Dos Bichos" ・ "Hell Money" "José Chung's From Outer Space" ・ "Avatar" ・ "Quagmire" ・ "Wetwired" ・ "Talitha Cumi" |
Season 4 |
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"Herrenvolk" ・ "Home" ・ "Teliko" ・ "Unruhe" ・ "The Field Where I Died" ・ "Sanguinarium" ・ "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" ・ "Tunguska" "Terma" ・ "Paper Hearts" ・ "El Mundo Gira" ・ "Leonard Betts" ・ "Never Again" ・ "Memento Mori" ・ "Kaddish" ・ "Unrequited" ・ "Tempus Fugit" "Max" ・ "Synchrony" ・ "Small Potatoes" ・ "Zero Sum" ・ "Elegy" ・ "Demons" ・ "Gethsemane" |
Season 5 |
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"Redux" ・ "Redux II" ・ "Unusual Suspects" ・ "Detour" ・ "The Post-Modern Prometheus" ・ "Christmas Carol" ・ "Emily" ・ "Kitsunegari" "Schizogeny" ・ "Chinga" ・ "Kill Switch" ・ "Bad Blood" ・ "Patient X" ・ "The Red and the Black" ・ "Travelers" ・ "Mind's Eye" ・ "All Souls" "The Pine Bluff Variant" ・ "Folie à Deux" ・ "The End" |
Season 6 |
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"The Beginning" ・ "Drive" ・ "Triangle" ・ "Dreamland" ・ "Dreamland II" ・ "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" ・ "Terms of Endearment" "The Rain King" ・ "S.R. 819" ・ "Tithonus" ・ "Two Fathers" ・ "One Son" ・ "Agua Mala" ・ "Monday" ・ "Arcadia" ・ "Alpha" ・ "Trevor" ・ "Milagro" "The Unnatural" ・ "Three of a Kind" ・ "Field Trip" ・ "Biogenesis" |
Season 7 |
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"The Sixth Extinction" ・ "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" ・ "Hungry" ・ "Millennium" ・ "Rush" ・ "The Goldberg Variation" ・ "Orison" "The Amazing Maleeni" ・ "Signs and Wonders" ・ "Sein Und Zeit" ・ "Closure" ・ "X-Cops" ・ "First Person Shooter" ・ "Theef" ・ "En Ami" ・ "Chimera" "all things" ・ "Brand X" ・ "Hollywood A.D." ・ "Fight Club" ・ "Je Souhaite" ・ "Requiem" |
Season 8 |
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"Within" ・ "Without" ・ "Patience" ・ "Roadrunners" ・ "Invocation" ・ "Redrum" ・ "Via Negativa" ・ "Surekill" ・ "Salvage" ・ "Badlaa" ・ "The Gift" "Medusa" ・ "Per Manum" ・ "This is Not Happening" ・ "DeadAlive" ・ "Three Words" ・ "Empedocles" ・ "Vienen" ・ "Alone" ・ "Essence" "Existence" |
Season 9 |
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"Nothing Important Happened Today" ・ "Nothing Important Happened Today II" ・ "Dæmonicus" ・ "4-D" ・ "Lord of the Flies" ・ "Trust No 1" "John Doe" ・ "Hellbound" ・ "Provenance" ・ "Providence" ・ "Audrey Pauley" ・ "Underneath" ・ "Improbable" ・ "Scary Monsters" ・ "Jump the Shark" "William" ・ "Release" ・ "Sunshine Days" ・ "The Truth" |
Season 10 |
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"My Struggle" ・ "Founder's Mutation" ・ "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" ・ "Home Again" ・ "Babylon" ・ "My Struggle II" |
Season 11 |
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"My Struggle III" ・ "This" ・ "Plus One" ・ "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" ・ "Ghouli" ・ "Kitten" ・ "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" ・ "Familiar" "Nothing Lasts Forever" ・ "My Struggle IV" |