Arcadia (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"Arcadia" was the fifteenth episode of the sixth season
of the American science fiction
television series The X-Files
. It premiered on the Fox network
on March 7, 1999. "Arcadia" was written by Daniel Arkin
and directed by Michael Watkins. The episode was a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology
. "Arcadia" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.5, being watched by 17.90 million people in its initial broadcast.
Several disappearances at an idyllic planned community
lead FBI
special agents Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) to go undercover as a married couple. They find that the members of the community strictly abide by every single subdivision rule, no matter how seemingly inconsequential breaking that rule may seem. What Mulder and Scully soon discover is that the ruler of this small community has enforced his rule with a Tulpa
creature from Tibet
.
After the Klines' disappearance without a trace, Mulder and Scully go undercover as the new homeowners moving into the dead couple's house under the aliases Rob and Laura Petrie. As Mulder and Scully are moving in, Win Shroeder, the "Petrie's" neighbor, nervously tucks away Mulder's basketball hoop into the garage, telling Mulder that it is against community rules because it isn't "aesthetically" pleasing. After the move-in, Mulder and Scully begin searching the house and find what appears to be blood on a blade of the ceiling fan. When Big Mike, one of the neighbors, wants to let the "Petries" in on the "consequences" of breaking the community rules, the HOA president Gene Gogolak describes him as "a weak link." That night a monster attacks.
The next day, Shroeder hoses Big Mike's blood from his porch, where he encounters Mulder and Scully. He asks the couple over for dinner, where Mulder and Scully probe the Shroeders for information on the community and Big Mike's whereabouts. Scully and Cami Shroeder take an after-dinner walk with the Shroeders' dog Scruffy, who runs off into a storm drain. While Scully looks for Scruffy, she finds Big Mike's necklace and a substance on Scruffy's face that looks like blood.
Back at "their house," Mulder and Scully discuss possible motives for the murders, and Scully decides to have the substances analyzed in San Diego. Mulder decides to test his theories that noncompliance with the community rules is the motive. The next day, Mulder sticks a pink flamingo in the yard, which promptly disappears without Mulder seeing who did it. Next, he tilts with the mailbox. When he comes back from the restroom, the mailbox is repaired and a note inside says, "Be like everyone else before it gets dark." After dark, Mulder brings out his basketball goal, and Shroeder runs over to frantically argue with Mulder to put it away. Meanwhile, something comes out of the grass at Mrs. Shroeder, who screams. Mulder chases it away, but they all notice their light has burned out.
Scully returns "home" to hear a creaking upstairs, but Mulder doesn't answer. Scully searches the house, armed with a fireplace poker and nearly hits Mulder as he comes in downstairs. Shroeder confronts Gogolak, accusing him of trying to kill his family. Instead Schroeder is told "Rob Petrie" is the real problem. Meanwhile, Mulder believes the creature that kills the homeowners moves through the yard, under the grass. Scully shares her lab results: the "blood" on the ceiling fan and on the dog isn't blood at all, but grime, as the neighborhood is built on top of an old landfill. Mulder believes the Klines were buried in their yard, so the next day he gets a bulldozer to dig up the front yard, telling the neighbors he's putting in a "reflecting pool," which isn't against the community rules. They don't find the Klines, but they do find the tacky windmill that had been mysteriously delivered to the Klines before they died. The windmill bears a label from Gogolak's company.
As Scully calls for a forensic team to come out there immediately, she hears something in the house. She goes for her gun in the dresser drawer, but finds it missing. As the creature comes up the stairs, a bloodied Big Mike grabs Scully and tells her to get out, that "it's coming" for her. He shoves Scully in the closet, and fights with the creature. Meanwhile, Mulder confronts Gogolak about marking the Klines for death by giving them the tacky windmill. Mulder says the creature is a Tulpa
, a Tibetan
thoughtform, that Gogolak conjured to assure compliance with the HOA rules. Mulder arrests him, handcuffs him to a post outside and finds Scully trapped in the closet inside, the room splattered with blood and broken furniture. Cuffed to the mailbox, Gogolak begs for help, knowing the creature is coming. The creature attacks Gogolak and, as he dies, the it disintegrates into dirt. Scully comes outside too late to see the creature, the remnants of which are at Mulder's feet.
The epilogue as narrated by Scully, stating the neighbors have now blamed Gogalack for the previous deaths, but claim ignorance as to how he did it or what killed him. The Falls at Arcadia remains one of the top planned communities in the US.
on March 7, 1999. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.5, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 10.5 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 17.9 million households.
The X-Files (season 6)
The sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox Broadcasting Network in the United States on November 8, 1998, concluding on the same channel on May 16, 1999, and contained 22 episodes. The series was developed by Chris Carter, who also serves as...
of the American science fiction
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
television series The X-Files
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...
. It premiered on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
on March 7, 1999. "Arcadia" was written by Daniel Arkin
Daniel Arkin
Daniel Arkin is an American television writer and producer. He has written episodes of television series such as The Others, Alias, The X Files, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Las Vegas. He was also a co-producer on the shows The Agency and Alias.- References :...
and directed by Michael Watkins. The episode was a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology
Mythology of The X-Files
The mythology of The X-Files, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder , a believer in supernatural phenomena, and Dana Scully , his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner was also often...
. "Arcadia" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.5, being watched by 17.90 million people in its initial broadcast.
Several disappearances at an idyllic planned community
Planned community
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...
lead FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
special agents 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...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) 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...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) to go undercover as a married couple. They find that the members of the community strictly abide by every single subdivision rule, no matter how seemingly inconsequential breaking that rule may seem. What Mulder and Scully soon discover is that the ruler of this small community has enforced his rule with a Tulpa
Tulpa
Tulpa is an upaya concept in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, discipline and teaching tool. The term was first rendered into English as 'Thoughtform' by Evans-Wentz :...
creature from Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
.
Plot
Disgruntled homeowner Dave Kline arrives at home to find his neighbor Shroeder has repainted his mailbox from "desert sienna" to "desert sage" to comply with homeowners association rules. In the mailbox is a package from an unknown person, containing a tacky windmill which Kline puts on the roof to annoy the neighbors. While in bed that night, Kline hears an intruder in the house. He goes to investigate while his wife stays in bed. A creature attacks Kline and eventually Nancy as well.After the Klines' disappearance without a trace, Mulder and Scully go undercover as the new homeowners moving into the dead couple's house under the aliases Rob and Laura Petrie. As Mulder and Scully are moving in, Win Shroeder, the "Petrie's" neighbor, nervously tucks away Mulder's basketball hoop into the garage, telling Mulder that it is against community rules because it isn't "aesthetically" pleasing. After the move-in, Mulder and Scully begin searching the house and find what appears to be blood on a blade of the ceiling fan. When Big Mike, one of the neighbors, wants to let the "Petries" in on the "consequences" of breaking the community rules, the HOA president Gene Gogolak describes him as "a weak link." That night a monster attacks.
The next day, Shroeder hoses Big Mike's blood from his porch, where he encounters Mulder and Scully. He asks the couple over for dinner, where Mulder and Scully probe the Shroeders for information on the community and Big Mike's whereabouts. Scully and Cami Shroeder take an after-dinner walk with the Shroeders' dog Scruffy, who runs off into a storm drain. While Scully looks for Scruffy, she finds Big Mike's necklace and a substance on Scruffy's face that looks like blood.
Back at "their house," Mulder and Scully discuss possible motives for the murders, and Scully decides to have the substances analyzed in San Diego. Mulder decides to test his theories that noncompliance with the community rules is the motive. The next day, Mulder sticks a pink flamingo in the yard, which promptly disappears without Mulder seeing who did it. Next, he tilts with the mailbox. When he comes back from the restroom, the mailbox is repaired and a note inside says, "Be like everyone else before it gets dark." After dark, Mulder brings out his basketball goal, and Shroeder runs over to frantically argue with Mulder to put it away. Meanwhile, something comes out of the grass at Mrs. Shroeder, who screams. Mulder chases it away, but they all notice their light has burned out.
Scully returns "home" to hear a creaking upstairs, but Mulder doesn't answer. Scully searches the house, armed with a fireplace poker and nearly hits Mulder as he comes in downstairs. Shroeder confronts Gogolak, accusing him of trying to kill his family. Instead Schroeder is told "Rob Petrie" is the real problem. Meanwhile, Mulder believes the creature that kills the homeowners moves through the yard, under the grass. Scully shares her lab results: the "blood" on the ceiling fan and on the dog isn't blood at all, but grime, as the neighborhood is built on top of an old landfill. Mulder believes the Klines were buried in their yard, so the next day he gets a bulldozer to dig up the front yard, telling the neighbors he's putting in a "reflecting pool," which isn't against the community rules. They don't find the Klines, but they do find the tacky windmill that had been mysteriously delivered to the Klines before they died. The windmill bears a label from Gogolak's company.
As Scully calls for a forensic team to come out there immediately, she hears something in the house. She goes for her gun in the dresser drawer, but finds it missing. As the creature comes up the stairs, a bloodied Big Mike grabs Scully and tells her to get out, that "it's coming" for her. He shoves Scully in the closet, and fights with the creature. Meanwhile, Mulder confronts Gogolak about marking the Klines for death by giving them the tacky windmill. Mulder says the creature is a Tulpa
Tulpa
Tulpa is an upaya concept in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, discipline and teaching tool. The term was first rendered into English as 'Thoughtform' by Evans-Wentz :...
, a Tibetan
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
thoughtform, that Gogolak conjured to assure compliance with the HOA rules. Mulder arrests him, handcuffs him to a post outside and finds Scully trapped in the closet inside, the room splattered with blood and broken furniture. Cuffed to the mailbox, Gogolak begs for help, knowing the creature is coming. The creature attacks Gogolak and, as he dies, the it disintegrates into dirt. Scully comes outside too late to see the creature, the remnants of which are at Mulder's feet.
The epilogue as narrated by Scully, stating the neighbors have now blamed Gogalack for the previous deaths, but claim ignorance as to how he did it or what killed him. The Falls at Arcadia remains one of the top planned communities in the US.
Broadcast and reception
"The Host" premiered on the Fox networkFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
on March 7, 1999. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.5, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 10.5 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 17.9 million households.