[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E01TheBlessingWay 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E02PaperClip 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E03DPO 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose 4]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E05TheList 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E06TwoShy 6]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E07TheWalk 7]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E08Oubliette 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E09Nisei 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E10SevenThreeOne 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E11Revelations 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E12WarOfTheCoprophages 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E13Syzygy 13]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E14Grotesque 14]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E15PiperMaru 15]] | '''16''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E17Pusher 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E18TesoDosBichos 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E19HellMoney 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace 20]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E21Avatar 21]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E22Quagmire 22]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E23Wetwired 23]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E24TalithaCumi 24]]]]-]]]
'''Season 3, Episode 16:'''
!Apocrypha
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesapocrypha.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"That thing was causing the slow, painful deaths."'']]
->Written by Frank Spotnitz & Creator/ChrisCarter\\
Directed by Kim Manners

->'''Scully:''' So you're saying that this stuff has intelligence.\\
'''Mulder:''' I think that it came off of whatever they pulled from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. It's been waiting down there for 50 years for another host, another body to bring it up to the surface.

Mulder continues his investigation of the black oil, while Scully pursues the man who murdered her sister.
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!!Tropes:
* AndIMustScream: Krycek is subjected to this fate at the end of the episode, locked up inside a missile silo with nobody out there to save him. [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E08Tunguska Though a later episode reveals that he survived somehow.]]
* BlackEyesOfEvil: It means you were infected with the black oil.
* BodyHorror: The black oil can also leave you at any time, but in Krycek's case, it's a painful one. He was vomiting up black goo.
* BuriedAlive: Krycek ends up locked in a top secret silo several storeys under the ground. The trope is also used thematically, as Scully recalls what she was told in the prior episode about the dead always speaking to the living.
* CallBack: It turns out that Luis Cardinal, the one who shot Skinner at the diner, [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E01TheBlessingWay is the same guy that accidentally killed Melissa]]. In addition to this, [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E02PaperClip he was also one of the men who beat up Skinner to take a special digital tape containing extraterrestrial proof]].
%%* TheConspiracy
* {{Flashback}}: The opening scene with the sailor explaining what happened on the submarine.
* FlashbackWithinAFlashback: The submarine scenes (most of which had been featured in the prior episode).
* HeKnowsTooMuch: CSM's hitman is found dead in his cell via NeverSuicide.
* ItsBeenDone: CSM has this attitude toward Area 51.
-->'''Second Elder:''' Why not bring it to Nevada, like the others?\\
'''CSM:''' Leaks in security and a heightened public interest have made the base in Nevada nonviable.
* ItsPersonal: The guy who killed Melissa Scully also shot Skinner. Scully is determined to bring him to justice.
%%* MythArc
* MonochromePast: Used briefly for events in the submarine. Averted in a scene with young Bill Mulder and young Cancer Man though.
* OhCrap: The Well-Manicured Man when Mulder reveals Krycek has been selling secrets off the tape.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Syndicate meets to discuss the events of the prior episode and to upbraid CSM's handling of Skinner.
* OrificeEvacuation: The black oil leaves Krycek through every hole in his head.
* OrificeInvasion: The black oil will get to the body through eyes.
* ProfessionalKiller: Cancer Man's hitman who shot Melissa and Skinner. Unlike most such characters on this show, he's given a name (Luis Cardinal) and a backstory (he worked for the CIA in Nicaragua and came to the United States afterwards).
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Discussed. The Well-Manicured Man surmises that Mulder wants to kill Krycek to avenge his father.
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: Krycek.
* TheVirus: The black oil, once again. It continues to reside within Krycek, sending him back to a missile silo so that it can return to an alien spaceship.
* WhamLine:
** In the ColdOpen, the lone submarine survivor is speaking to three suited men about what happened with Captain Sanford in the submarine. His final line confirms one of the men's identities.
--->''"I can trust you to do that, can't I, Mr. Mulder?"''
** When Scully shows Mulder PCR results from the guy who shot Skinner, she holds up another set of results. The following exchange happens.
--->'''Mulder:''' Yeah, and who's this one belong to?\\
'''Scully:''' The man who shot Melissa.
* WhamShot: After the WhamLine detailed above about "Mr. Mulder", the camera pans over to another suited man, who whips out a cigarette and lights it. It's the Cigarette Smoking Man when he was young, meaning that the lone survivor is speaking to the ''wrong'' people about his truth.
--->''"[[BlatantLies You can trust all of us.]]"''
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->''"Maybe we bury the dead alive."''