[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E01Herrenvolk 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E02Home 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E03Teliko 3]] | '''4''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E05TheFieldWhereIDied 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E06Sanguinarium 6]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E07MusingsOfACigaretteSmokingMan 7]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E08Tunguska 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E09Terma 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E10PaperHearts 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E11ElMundoGira 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E12LeonardBetts 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E13NeverAgain 13]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E14MementoMori 14]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E15Kaddish 15]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E16Unrequited 16]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E17TempusFugit 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E18Max 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E19Synchrony 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E20SmallPotatoes 20]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E21ZeroSum 21]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E22Elegy 22]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E23Demons 23]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E24Gethsemane 24]]]]-]]]
'''Season 4, Episode 04:'''
!Unruhe
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesunruhe.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"An image like this would be a peek into that person's mind."'']]
->Written by Creator/VinceGilligan\\
Directed by Rob Bowman

->''"[[TitleDrop Unruhe]]. Hab keine Angst. Ich verde dir helfen. Du wirst deine Unruhe bald vergessen... deine Unruhe vergessen." [[labelnote:Translation]]"Unrest. Don't be afraid. I will help you. You will forget about your unrest soon... forget about your unrest" in German.[[/labelnote]]''
-->-- '''Gerry Schnauz'''

Mulder and Scully investigate a series of abductions in which the perpetrator (Creator/PruittTaylorVince) leaves behind photographs of his victims surrounded by spectral images.
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!!Tropes:
* AntiVillain: What Gerry does to his victims is truly nightmarish, but he's got a pretty big FreudianExcuse lurking in his past driving him to do it, and he believes that he's helping his victims overcome their "unrest."
* DistressBall: Scully gets kidnapped.
* EyeScream: Gerry Schnauz gives a transorbital lobotomy to troubled women, believing that it will help them. It used to be known as an icepick lobotomy and it involves inserting a leucotome through the eye sockets. Argh!
* ForeignLanguageTitle: The title of the episode "Unruhe" is the German word for unrest, anxiety, unease, disquietude or restlessness.
* GratuitousGerman: There are many German lines, courtesy of Gerry and Scully.
* HauntedTechnology: Photography that can capture what's inside people's minds.
* {{Lobotomy}}: Gerry is a serial lobotomist. He thinks he's helping his victims and that he removes their inner demons. One girl is found dead and one is alive, apathetic and unable to speak.
* NeverRecycleABuilding: Gerry's father's dental office has been untouched since his death.
* PoliceAreUseless: One of the series' notable aversions, the local authorities play a major role in Mulder and Scully's investigation rather than obstructing or ridiculing it. Although it helps that they're facing a (mostly) normal killer whose supernatural powers don't help him much.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Of a sort. Vince Gilligan got the idea for the episode after reading an article about 1940s spree killer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Unruh Howard Unruh]], which noted that his name meant "unrest" in German. Gilligan found this tidbit weirdly poetic and contrived an episode around the idea. Although the similarities stop there: while Unruh was also diagnosed with schizophrenia, he shares neither motive nor method with Gerry and simply shot his victims rather than trying to "cure" them of unrest.
* SpookyPhotographs: Of the foreboding type. They capture the victims' and Gerry's mind, leaving clues about their whereabouts. Played with a bit in that Mulder assumes that the shadows being cast in the photos are the shadow of the killer as he looms over his victims, dominating them -- but it turns out it's because Gerry perceives his victims as being tormented by "the howlers," which in turn don't actually exist.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Gerry has the most useless psychic superpower ever: unconsciously imprinting his schizophrenic delusions onto undeveloped film.
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->''"For truly to pursue monsters, we must understand them. We must venture into their minds. Only in doing so, do we risk letting them venture into ours?"''