History Recap / TheXFilesS06E18Milagro

Mulder and Scully investigate a serial killer (Nestor Serrano) performing murders in which the heart was removed from the victim with no apparent incision. Meanwhile, Phillip Padgett (Creator/JohnHawkes), a fledgling author who lives next door to Mulder struggles with a bad case of WritersBlock. Padgett, however, also seems to have some strange connection to the case, along with an unsettling obsession with Scully.

* AdultFear:
** At the beginning of the episode, Scully takes the elevator in Mulder's building. In the elevator with her is a man she doesn't know who stares at her openly, obsessively and in a generally scary way. The elevator ride seems to go on forever, and then he gets off on the same floor as her before following her down the hall. She knocks on Mulder's door and has to wait for a few long, long instants for Mulder to get to the door while this guy is staring at her like he's going to eat her. He goes into his own apartment (right next to Mulder's) a few seconds later, but it's the kind of unsettling experience that happens to women all the time. And then, of course, he becomes Scully's StalkerWithACrush, which also falls under the rubric of AdultFear because it's a problem that is much more common and widespread than a lot of people think--it's not just something that happens on a TV show for one episode to heighten the drama and then quickly goes away.
** A teenaged couple in a car at MakeOutPoint has something of an argument because the guy wants to get more physical than the girl does. Tired of him pressuring her, she gets out of the car, and he runs after her. It seems like his sexual frustration is going to take him from subtle attempts at coercion to something more aggressive, possibly physically violent -- until he happens upon [[TerrorAtMakeOutPoint the killer who tears out his heart]].

%%* MindScrew

* MostWritersAreWriters: Mulder's next-door neighbor, Padgett is a writer who turns sinister when he reveals [[StalkerWithACrush he's writing a book in which Scully is his love interest and he moved next door to Mulder in order to see more of her]]. Then the murderer from his novel shows up on his doorstep and demands that Padgett reveal his motivation. Padgett says, lamely, that [[TheUnreveal the murders happened so he could get Scully's attention]]. The murderer tells him that's a dumb excuse, not a motivation, and expresses frustration that [[DeathOfTheAuthor the author doesn't even know his own characters]].[[invoked]]

Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders in which the heart was removed from the victim with no apparent incision. Meanwhile, Phillip Padgett (Creator/JohnHawkes), a fledgling author who lives next door to Mulder struggles with a bad case of WritersBlock. Padgett, however, also seems to have some strange connection to the case, along with an unsettling obsession with Scully.

* RewritingReality: Padgett does this.

Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders in which the heart was removed from the victim with no apparent incision. A writer (Creator/JohnHawkes) who lives next door to Mulder seems to have some connection to the case, along with an unsettling obsession with Scully.

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Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders in which the heart was removed from the victim with no apparent incision. A writer who lives next door to Mulder seems to have some connection to the case, along with an unsettling obsession with Scully.

* MindScrew

* MostWritersAreWriters: Mulder's next-door neighbor, Padgett is a writer who turns sinister when he reveals [[StalkerWithACrush he's writing a book in which Scully is his love interest and he moved next door to Mulder in order to see more of her]]. Then the murderer from his novel shows up on his doorstep and demands that Padgett reveal his motivation. Padgett says, lamely, that [[TheUnreveal the murders happened so he could get Scully's attention]]. The murderer tells him that's a dumb excuse, not a motivation, and expresses frustration [[DeathOfTheAuthor the author doesn't even know his own characters]].

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: An InUniverse example. Naciamento eventually confronts Padgett, wanting to know what his motivation for committing the murders is, seeing as how he is his creator, he should know that, Padgett more or less admits that he honestly hadn't thought that far ahead.

* MonstersOfTheWeek: Padgett.
* MostWritersAreWriters: Mulder's next-door neighbor, Padgett is a writer who turns sinister when he reveals [[StalkerWithACrush he's writing a book in which Scully is his love interest and he moved next door to Mulder in order to see more of her.]] Then the murderer from his novel shows up on his doorstep and demands that Padgett reveal the killer's motivation. Padgett says, lamely, that [[TheUnreveal the murders happened so he could get Scully's attention]]. The murderer tells him that's a dumb excuse, not a motivation, and expresses frustration [[DeathOfTheAuthor the author doesn't even know his own characters]].

* RealityWritingBook

* MostWritersAreWriters: Mulder's next-door neighbor, Padgett is a writer who turns sinister when he reveals [[StalkerWithACrush he's writing a book in which Scully is his love interest and he moved next door to Mulder in order to see more of her.]] [[spoiler: Then the murderer from his novel shows up on his doorstep and demands that Padgett reveal the killer's motivation. Padgett says, lamely, that [[TheUnreveal the murders happened so he could get Scully's attention.]] The murderer tells him that's a dumb excuse, not a motivation, and expresses frustration [[DeathOfTheAuthor the author doesn't even know his own characters.]]]]

-->'''Padgett''': In my book, I'd written that Agent Scully falls in love. That is obviously impossible. [[spoiler:Agent Scully is already in love]].

-->'''Padgett'': In my book, I'd written that Agent Scully falls in love. That is obviously impossible. [[spoiler:Agent Scully is already in love]].

* WhamLine: "In my book, I'd written that Agent Scully falls in love. That is obviously impossible. Agent Scully is already in love."

* StalkerWithACrush: Padgett moved next door to Mulder to be close to Scully. Apparently, there wasn't anything available in ''her'' building, and she spends most of her time with Mulder, anyway.

* CryIntoChest: Scully to Mulder at the end
* MonstersOfTheWeek: Padgett

* SerialKiller: One that takes hearts with his bare hands.