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Dæmonicus
"I believe that the Devil's a story made up to scare people."
Written and directed by Frank Spotnitz
Reyes: Placing victims in a suicide posture is ritualistic. And this word is undoubtedly Satanic.
Doggett: Dæmonicus.
Reyes: It means Satan in Latin, or Dæmonicus - Demon Possession.
Doggett: Dæmonicus.
Reyes: It means Satan in Latin, or Dæmonicus - Demon Possession.
Doggett and Reyes investigate a murder with Satanic ritual overtones and connections to the inhabitants of a mental institution.
Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Kobold completely gets away with his manipulations.
- Batman Gambit: As FBI's resident experts in the supernatural, Reyes and Scully end up hyper-focusing on the Satanic elements in relation to the crime and insist on treating the case as a supernatural one involving demonic possessions. This of course, was exactly what Kobold wanted them to do, so they stare themselves blind at the seemingly demonic stuff and wouldn't notice the much more mundane con he is trying to pull off right under their noses. The skeptical and practical-minded Doggett, meanwhile, doesn't take the bait and turns out to be pretty much right on the money in regards to what Kobold is actually planning.
- Break Them by Talking: Combined with Hannibal Lecture. Attempted by Kobold to Doggett, bringing up his Unrequited Love for Scully and that he can't compete with Mulder, among other personal things. Angering Doggett enough to grab Kobold.
- Cassandra Truth: Poor Doggett was absolutely right about Kobold all along and nobody listened to him.
- The Chessmaster: Prof. Josef Kobold might be one of the smartest villains in X-Files history and he seems to be entirely human.
- Double Entendre: Daemonicus means Satanic in Latin. However, here Kobold used it as a combination of parts of his victims' names.
- Idiot Ball: Scully getting out to investigate a scene where a potential killer is hiding on her own, instead of waiting for Doggett, Reyes and the rest of the backup. She is ambushed and taken for her actions as part of a scheme to free Kobold.
- Mundanger: The villain(s) turns out to be seemingly entirely human. In fact, their whole plan entirely relied on using theatrics and tricks with a Satanic flavor to make the X-Files team believe that there was supernatural elements at foot, when in fact they were doing a completely normal scam all along. Though there are some oddities to Kobold.
- Only Sane Man: Doggett yet again, who is proven to be right about Kobold while Reyes and Scully are fooled by the show Kobold put on.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Kobold starts vomiting a humongous amount of liquid on Doggett which Reyes and Scully think is ectoplasm. It turns out to be a completely faked seizure.
"Checkmate."
