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Young at Heart (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"Young at Heart" is the sixteenth episode of the first season
of the American science fiction
television series The X-Files
. It premiered on the Fox network
on February 11, 1994. It was written by Scott Kaufer and series creator Chris Carter
, and directed by Michael Lange
. The episode featured guest appearances by Dick Anthony Williams
, William B. Davis
and Alan Boyce, and saw Jerry Hardin
reprise his role as Deep Throat. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology
. "Young at Heart" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.2, being watched by 6.8 million people in its initial broadcast; and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
When FBI
special agents Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) aid a former colleague of Mulder's in an investigation into a series of robberies, it becomes apparent that the culprit is an old nemesis of Mulder's—who had seemingly died in prison several years previously.
Four years later, FBI
special agent Fox Mulder
is notified by his former supervisor, Reggie Purdue, about a note from a jewelry store robbery mocking Mulder by name. Mulder recognizes the message as being from John Barnett, the man whom he helped capture on his first case. Even though Barnett supposedly died in prison, the note seems to bear his handwriting.
Purdue shows Dana Scully
a video of Barnett's capture years earlier. The video shows that Mulder didn't fire on Barnett due to him having a hostage, per FBI regulations. Mulder's hesitancy permitted Barnett to kill both the hostage and a fellow agent. Scully looks into Barnett's cause of death and discovers that despite it being listed as heart attack, he had no history of heart problems; he went to the infirmary over problems with his hand. Meanwhile, Barnett leaves Mulder another note in his car, along with photos of him and Scully.
Mulder and Scully visit the prison and meet Crandall, who recounts his experiences with Barnett and Ridley in 1989. Barnett makes taunting phone calls to Mulder, and strangles Purdue with his salamander-like hand. Scully looks into Ridley's past and finds that his medical license was revoked in 1979 due to malpractice; he had performed illegal medical trials on children with progeria
, a disease that causes premature aging. Mulder theorizes that Ridley's experiments helped him find a way to reverse the aging process.
Scully summons Mulder when Ripley suddenly appears at her apartment. He tells the agents that he succeeded in making Barnett age in reverse after replacing his hand using salamander cells. However, Barnett stole Ripley's government-sponsored research. Deep Throat meets with Mulder and confirms Ridley's story, saying that the government is negotiating with Barnett to purchase Ridley's work.
Scully hears someone dialing into her answering machine and spots Barnett's fingerprint on it. After Barnett calls again, Mulder decides to set up a sting operation
at the cello recital for a friend of Scully's, which Barnett learned about from her answering machine.
That night, FBI agents wait at the concert hall for Barnett's arrival. Barnett, who goes completely unseen due to his youthful appearance, poses as a piano tuner. He shoots Scully in the chest during the recital and then flees, taking the cellist hostage. Mulder doesn't hesitate this time around and fires at Barnett, fatally wounding him. Scully is revealed to have survived the attack, having worn a bullet-proof vest. Despite the efforts of doctors and a mysterious CIA
agent to resuscitate Barnett, he dies, and taking the secrets of Ridley's research to the grave. The episode ends with the camera zooming in on locker number 935 in a train station, implying the secrets along with Barnett's precaution, a bomb, are contained within and one day will be discovered.
was filmed after the production crew contacted the Progeria Society and were put in touch with the family of Courtney Arciaga, who was a young girl with the disease. She and he family were fans of the series, and were flown from their San Diego home to Vancouver to shoot the scene.
Director Michael Lange felt the episode offered him excellent scope to try new techniques, noting that the series producers "encourage cinematic stuff". He felt a highlight of this approach was in shooting the episode's climactic stand-off, explaining that "instead of shooting at a normal eye level as the Salamander Man takes the gun, I tilt up, and now I'm shooting up his nose almost, and it was kind of like very disorienting. The show's got a certain ennui that appeals to me, the film noir-y movies of the '40s look, an undercurrent of tension and anxiety 'cause of all the weird things going on".
William B. Davis
makes his second appearance of the series in this episode, although his role is simply credited as "CIA Agent", rather than "Smoking Man", as per his credit in the pilot episode. The character of Reggie Purdue would later be referenced in the fourth season
episode "Paper Hearts
", and the fifth season
episode "Unusual Suspects
".
on February 11, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom
on BBC Two
on January 12, 1995. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.2 with an 11 share, meaning that roughly 7.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 11 percent of households watching TV, were tuned in to the episode. A total of 6.8 million households watched this episode during its original airing.
Director Michael Lange said that he "liked the script very much, and I think I stayed fairly close to the original draft. I liked it because it had a good spookiness to it. To me, the intriguing part was the doctor's research into being able to reverse the aging process, which I wish we could have explored more." Executive Producer Robert Goodwin considered the episode one of the most emotional episodes of the first season, due to the time spent working with Courtney Arciaga, the little girl with progeria. In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly
, the episode was rated a C, being called "far-fetched" and criticised for its unoriginal themes. Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club
, described it as "sloppy, poorly edited" and "thoroughly unexciting", pointing out the "forced" nature of the supporting characters' past involvement with Fox Mulder. Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, expressed mixed feelings over the episode, comparing it to Quincy, M.E.
and stating that it "just wasn't weird enough" for an episode of The X-Files. "Young at Heart" has been cited, along with the fourth season
episode "Paper Hearts
", as representing "the supreme irony and the hidden agenda of the series"—in both cases, Mulder, directly through his work on the X-File
s, puts information permanently beyond reach by killing those who hold it, showing that "despite the fact that Mulder drives the car, he frequently ends up—and goes—nowhere".
The X-Files (season 1)
The first season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on September 10, 1993 and concluded on the same channel on May 13, 1994 after airing all 24 episodes....
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 February 11, 1994. It was written by Scott Kaufer and series creator 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 :...
, and directed by Michael Lange
Michael Lange
Michael Lange is an American television director and record producer.-Early life:Born and raised just outside New York City, in Mamaroneck, New York and attending Mamaroneck High School where he was heavily involved in music and a bit in drama, Michael Lange first developed a taste for drama in...
. The episode featured guest appearances by Dick Anthony Williams
Dick Anthony Williams
Dick Anthony Williams is an American actor. Williams is known for his starring performances on Broadway in The Poison Tree, What the Wine-Sellers Buy and Black Picture Show. He is also remembered for playing the character of Pretty Tony in The Mack, which starred Max Julien and Richard Pryor...
, William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
and Alan Boyce, and saw Jerry Hardin
Jerry Hardin
Jerry Hardin is an American actor who has made many television and film appearances. He played illegitimate heir, Wild Bill Westchester, in the failed 1982 television series Filthy Rich. One of his most recognizable roles was that of the character Deep Throat in the series The X-Files...
reprise his role as Deep Throat. The episode is 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...
. "Young at Heart" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.2, being watched by 6.8 million people in its initial broadcast; and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
When 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...
) aid a former colleague of Mulder's in an investigation into a series of robberies, it becomes apparent that the culprit is an old nemesis of Mulder's—who had seemingly died in prison several years previously.
Plot
At the Tashmoo Federal Correctional Facility, Pennsylvania in 1989, an inmate, Joe Crandall, hears screaming from the prison's infirmary. Inside, he finds prison doctor Joe Ridley amputating the hand of fellow prisoner John Barnett. Despite Ridley telling Crandall that Barnett is dead and threatening him with a scalpel, Barnett blinks at him.Four years later, 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 agent 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...
is notified by his former supervisor, Reggie Purdue, about a note from a jewelry store robbery mocking Mulder by name. Mulder recognizes the message as being from John Barnett, the man whom he helped capture on his first case. Even though Barnett supposedly died in prison, the note seems to bear his handwriting.
Purdue shows 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...
a video of Barnett's capture years earlier. The video shows that Mulder didn't fire on Barnett due to him having a hostage, per FBI regulations. Mulder's hesitancy permitted Barnett to kill both the hostage and a fellow agent. Scully looks into Barnett's cause of death and discovers that despite it being listed as heart attack, he had no history of heart problems; he went to the infirmary over problems with his hand. Meanwhile, Barnett leaves Mulder another note in his car, along with photos of him and Scully.
Mulder and Scully visit the prison and meet Crandall, who recounts his experiences with Barnett and Ridley in 1989. Barnett makes taunting phone calls to Mulder, and strangles Purdue with his salamander-like hand. Scully looks into Ridley's past and finds that his medical license was revoked in 1979 due to malpractice; he had performed illegal medical trials on children with progeria
Progeria
Progeria is an extremely rare genetic condition wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. The word progeria comes from the Greek words "pro" , meaning "before", and "géras" , meaning "old age"...
, a disease that causes premature aging. Mulder theorizes that Ridley's experiments helped him find a way to reverse the aging process.
Scully summons Mulder when Ripley suddenly appears at her apartment. He tells the agents that he succeeded in making Barnett age in reverse after replacing his hand using salamander cells. However, Barnett stole Ripley's government-sponsored research. Deep Throat meets with Mulder and confirms Ridley's story, saying that the government is negotiating with Barnett to purchase Ridley's work.
Scully hears someone dialing into her answering machine and spots Barnett's fingerprint on it. After Barnett calls again, Mulder decides to set up a sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
at the cello recital for a friend of Scully's, which Barnett learned about from her answering machine.
That night, FBI agents wait at the concert hall for Barnett's arrival. Barnett, who goes completely unseen due to his youthful appearance, poses as a piano tuner. He shoots Scully in the chest during the recital and then flees, taking the cellist hostage. Mulder doesn't hesitate this time around and fires at Barnett, fatally wounding him. Scully is revealed to have survived the attack, having worn a bullet-proof vest. Despite the efforts of doctors and a mysterious CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
agent to resuscitate Barnett, he dies, and taking the secrets of Ridley's research to the grave. The episode ends with the camera zooming in on locker number 935 in a train station, implying the secrets along with Barnett's precaution, a bomb, are contained within and one day will be discovered.
Production
This episode originated as a script from freelance writer Scott Kaufer, who was an acquaintance of Chris Carter and former employee of California magazine and Warner Bros comedy development department. Chris Carter rewrote the script, which included the addition of Barnett's salamander hand. Fox's standards and practices department fought with the producers over the scene where Barnett strangles Reggie Purdue, and as a result the producers were forced to reduce the length of the scene. The footage of the young girl with progeriaProgeria
Progeria is an extremely rare genetic condition wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. The word progeria comes from the Greek words "pro" , meaning "before", and "géras" , meaning "old age"...
was filmed after the production crew contacted the Progeria Society and were put in touch with the family of Courtney Arciaga, who was a young girl with the disease. She and he family were fans of the series, and were flown from their San Diego home to Vancouver to shoot the scene.
Director Michael Lange felt the episode offered him excellent scope to try new techniques, noting that the series producers "encourage cinematic stuff". He felt a highlight of this approach was in shooting the episode's climactic stand-off, explaining that "instead of shooting at a normal eye level as the Salamander Man takes the gun, I tilt up, and now I'm shooting up his nose almost, and it was kind of like very disorienting. The show's got a certain ennui that appeals to me, the film noir-y movies of the '40s look, an undercurrent of tension and anxiety 'cause of all the weird things going on".
William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
makes his second appearance of the series in this episode, although his role is simply credited as "CIA Agent", rather than "Smoking Man", as per his credit in the pilot episode. The character of Reggie Purdue would later be referenced in the fourth season
The X-Files (season 4)
-Episodes:Episodes marked with an asterisk are broadly part of the series' mytharc. Episodes with a double asterisk are primary episodes in the series' Alien Mythology arc....
episode "Paper Hearts
Paper Hearts
"Paper Hearts" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on December 15, 1996. It was written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Rob Bowman, and featured guest appearances by Tom Noonan, Rebecca...
", and the fifth season
The X-Files (season 5)
-Episodes:Episodes marked with an asterisk are part of the series' mytharc. Episodes with a double asterisk are part of the series' Alien Mythology....
episode "Unusual Suspects
Unusual Suspects
"Unusual Suspects" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners and aired in the United States on November 16, 1997 on the Fox network...
".
Broadcast and reception
"Young at Heart" 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 February 11, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on January 12, 1995. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.2 with an 11 share, meaning that roughly 7.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 11 percent of households watching TV, were tuned in to the episode. A total of 6.8 million households watched this episode during its original airing.
Director Michael Lange said that he "liked the script very much, and I think I stayed fairly close to the original draft. I liked it because it had a good spookiness to it. To me, the intriguing part was the doctor's research into being able to reverse the aging process, which I wish we could have explored more." Executive Producer Robert Goodwin considered the episode one of the most emotional episodes of the first season, due to the time spent working with Courtney Arciaga, the little girl with progeria. In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, the episode was rated a C, being called "far-fetched" and criticised for its unoriginal themes. Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
, described it as "sloppy, poorly edited" and "thoroughly unexciting", pointing out the "forced" nature of the supporting characters' past involvement with Fox Mulder. Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, expressed mixed feelings over the episode, comparing it to Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
and stating that it "just wasn't weird enough" for an episode of The X-Files. "Young at Heart" has been cited, along with the fourth season
The X-Files (season 4)
-Episodes:Episodes marked with an asterisk are broadly part of the series' mytharc. Episodes with a double asterisk are primary episodes in the series' Alien Mythology arc....
episode "Paper Hearts
Paper Hearts
"Paper Hearts" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on December 15, 1996. It was written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Rob Bowman, and featured guest appearances by Tom Noonan, Rebecca...
", as representing "the supreme irony and the hidden agenda of the series"—in both cases, Mulder, directly through his work on the X-File
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
s, puts information permanently beyond reach by killing those who hold it, showing that "despite the fact that Mulder drives the car, he frequently ends up—and goes—nowhere".