Line #16 Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE10TheLostArtOfForeheadSweat


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2	[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE07MyStruggleIII 1]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE08This 2]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE09PlusOne 3]] \| '''4''' \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE11Ghouli 5]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE12Kitten 6]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE13Rm9sbG93ZXJz 7]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE14Familiar 8]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE15NothingLastsForever 9]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE16MyStruggleIV 10]]]]-]]]
3	'''Season 11, Episode 04:'''
4	!The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat
5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesthelostartofforeheadsweat.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Something's not right in this photo. [[note]][[ComicallyMissingThePoint There's no Scully box at play here?]][[/note]]]]
7	->Written and directed by Darin Morgan
8
9	->''"But, again, how does this... mystery guy, whose fingerprints came up with nothing, how does he even know about these, these secret memories of ours?"''
10	-->-- '''Dana Scully'''
11
12	Mulder and Scully meet a man (Creator/BrianHuskey) whose claims of a "different world" lead to a baffling investigation.
13	----
14	!!Tropes:
15	* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: In Reggie's reminiscence of their last X-File together, Scully begins to say she's always loved him. Reggie shushes her because Mulder is right in front of them breaking down from [[TheUnreveal the news]] about Sasquatch.
16	* AmbiguousSituation: What isn't? Everything that Mulder and Scully find out by the end is thrown into doubt by Dr. They's boast that he can alter memories and, through them, the past.
17	* ArcWords: There's a repeated instance of someone exclaiming "Wait, what?" when they learn a shocking discovery.
18	* AwfulTruth: Played for laughs.
19	-->'''Mulder:''' So ''that's'' the truth? We're not alone in the universe, but nobody likes us?
20	* BackstoryInvader: Reggie, the guy who tells Mulder and Scully about the memory conspiracy, insists he's known them for years, and eventually claims to have founded the X-Files, but nobody apart from him remembers this because he's being erased. He turns out to probably just be crazy. Or is he?
21	-->'''Skinner:''' Where the hell are they taking Reggie?
22	* CallBack: A ''looooong'' one. Way back in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E03UnusualSuspects Unusual Suspects]]," Mulder is heard calling another agent named Reggie on his cell phone while trying to track down Susanne. (Of course, this was actually Reggie Purdue, Mulder's then-boss at the FBI whom we met in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E16YoungAtHeart Young at Heart]]"... or was it?)
23	* ContinuityNod: The events that Reggie was apparently present for are [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01 Scully first entering Mulder's office]], [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E21Tooms Tooms being led past the agents]], [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckman discussing different outcomes to historical events]], [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E18TesoDosBichos the lead up to a killer cat reveal]], [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E02Home finding Mrs. Peacock]], and [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E20SmallPotatoes Eddie Van Blundht-as-Mulder almost kissing Scully and returning to normal]].
24	* FakeMemories: The key of the episode with Reggie realizing he remembers things differently. This leads to Mulder mentioning the Mandela Effect but Reggie thinks it's really "The Mengele Effect" after how people remember Josef Mengele arrested in Ohio in the 1970s.
25	* FandomEnragingMisconception: InUniverse: When Scully suggests ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode Mulder is thinking of may be an episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'', Mulder yells, "Do you even ''know'' me?"
26	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: According to the alien in the supposed final case, humans are so awful that we're to be [[TheWallAroundTheWorld blocked off from leaving the Solar System]] and that no aliens will make further contact. After denouncing humans as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything drug-dealing criminals and rapists]], the alien concedes every species have their share of these problems, but he adds that lying is trait unique to humans and that they could infect other species with that.
27	-->''"Good luck, and good riddance."''
28	* ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation: Mulder seems to thinks so, being outright insulted by Scully's suggestion that his favorite episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' may have been from a different show and he simply misremembered. [[spoiler:Which turns out to be entirely correct, the episode actually belonging to a low-budget knockoff.]]
29	* MissingEpisode: In-Universe example. At first, Mulder doesn't believe Reggie's tales of missing memories and such. But then Reggie presses in on "The Lost Martian," the very first episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' Mulder watched and how it doesn't exist. Sure enough, Mulder discovers that not only is the episode in no DVD or VCR collections but the official episode guides and forum boards make no mention of it.
30	** In the final scene, Mulder claims he found that it was an episode of a knock-off called ''The Dusky Realm.''
31	* NostalgiaFilter: In the end, Mulder and Scully decide this isn't such a bad thing, and even though Scully has tracked down a pack of that off-brand Jell-O she used to love as a kid and made a batch of it in Mulder's Bigfoot print cast, they decide not to eat it.
32	-->'''Scully:''' I want to remember how it was.
33	* OccamsRazor: Mentioned by Scully with Reggie insisting it's called "Ozzy's Razor."
34	* RealAfterAll: After it's said that all of Reggie's "memories" of being with the team were just delusions from NSA tapping, Mulder and Scully sadly watch him be sent off to a mental institution. At this point, Skinner (who hadn't shown up at all in the episode) appears, demanding to know, "where are they taking Reggie?," and the two exchange stunned looks.
35	* SelfDeprecation: It's a Darin Morgan episode, so of course it's full to the brim with this.
36	* SelfServingMemory: Scully brings this up when Reggie talks of his not being remembered in his high school yearbook as "no one remembers our high school years with accuracy."
37	* TakeThat:
38	** There are many, and most dish it out to the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]] administration.
39	** Mulder touches on a long-ranging fan debate at the idea of mixing up ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' and ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963''.
40	** Mulder insisting that the Mandela Effect proves that there are alternate universes, and Scully and Reggie's insisting that "we're not doing an alternate universe thing" bashes the alternate universe "theorists" and ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', which uses that explanation so much.
41	** "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E18TesoDosBichos Guys, if this turns out to be killer cats, I'm going to be very disappointed.]]"
42	* TantrumThrowing: In the supposed "final case" Reggie did with Mulder and Scully on the X-Files, Mulder has a (hilarious) tantrum and throws down the alien's book of all knowledge before hysterically throwing himself to the ground.
43	* TomatoInTheMirror: The opening of a man realizing the "Martian in the mirror" is literally himself.
44	* TheWallAroundTheWorld: The "final case" alien declares that an electromagnetic barrier will be erected to prevent further contact -- humans can [[UranusIsShowing probe Uranus]] as much as they want, but anything trying to leave the Solar System will be disintegrated.
45	* WhatAreRecords:
46	** Scully asks what a "lawn dart" is after one is used as a murder weapon.
47	** Invoked. Dr. They notes that his number is in the phone book, though he concedes people might not know what one is anymore.
48	----

Context Recap / TheXFilesMiniseriesE10TheLostArtOfForeheadSweat