[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E01Herrenvolk 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E02Home 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E03Teliko 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E04Unruhe 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]] | '''18''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E19Synchrony 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E20SmallPotatoes 20]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E21ZeroSum 21]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E22Elegy 22]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E23Demons 23]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E24Gethsemane 24]]]]-]]]
'''Season 4, Episode 18:'''
!Max
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesmax_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You're saying the man sitting in seat thirteen-F was abducted mid-flight without any depressurisation of the cabin, without any effect on the plane."'']]
->Written by Creator/ChrisCarter & Frank Spotnitz\\
Directed by Kim Manners

->''"[[TitleDrop Max]] is the key to all this. He knew that plane was in danger even before it took off, before it entered military airspace. How would he know that? And what would be worth taking that risk?"''
-->-- '''Fox Mulder'''

Mulder and Scully continue their investigation of the plane crash and Max Fenig's death.
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!!Tropes:
* AnyoneCanDie:
** Agent Pendrell who had a crush on Scully
** Max Fenig, a conspiracy nut who was a fan of Mulder
* {{Bathos}}: Scully waxing poetically about the perceived meaning of Mulder's birthday gift to her (an Apollo 11 key chain) is undercut by Mulder's final line: "I just thought it was a pretty cool key chain."
* BondOneLiner: Mulder has one of his best at Skinner's prompting after Agent Garrett is abducted by aliens in mid-flight.
-->"I think he got the connecting flight."
* CharacterTitle
* DeadlyNosebleed: Scully has two of them, the first is when she checking on Pendrell and Frisch, the second when she is being debriefed by Skinner.
* FallGuy: Frisch is blamed for the plane crash.
-->'''Scully:''' Sir, the military is responsible for the downing of that plane.
-->'''Skinner:''' [[ExactWords They are admitting that much]]. But Sergeant Frisch's story is not the one they're telling.
* KilledOffForReal: Both Pendell and Fenig never returned from the dead.
-->'''Scully:''' What are these people dying for? Is it for the truth or for the lies?
-->'''Mulder:''' It's got to be for the truth. If we owe them anything, it's to make sure of that.
* LongingLook: Mulder gazes at Scully as she monologues about the meaning behind his birthday present to her.
* MadeOfIron: Scully shoots Garrett in the kneecap, but it doesn't hinder his mobility in the slightest.
* MissingTime
* MythArc: Though there is little connection to the Syndicate plotline, and Cigarette-Smoking Man is conspicuously absent, two people close to Mulder and Scully die, Scully's cancer is briefly referenced along with a possible implication that Skinner's office has been compromised. Also, the aliens seemingly working against The Conspiracy suggest they may be part of Season 5's rebel faction.
* NoSell: Mulder threatens Agent Garrett similarly to how he threatened the Red-Haired Man in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E10SevenThreeOne 731]]". It doesn't work this time; Garrett simply reminds Mulder of his surroundings.
-->'''Mulder:''' There's a weapon pointed at you right now. If I shoot you at this range, it wouldn't ''just'' hit you in the leg. If you so much as raise your arms off that armrest, I'm going to test that theory.
-->'''Garrett:''' What if you miss?
-->'''Mulder:''' [[BadassBoast I won't]].
-->'''Garrett:''' [[ExplosiveDecompression Do you know what happens when a plane suddenly depressurizes at thirty-thousand feet]], Mister Mulder? ''After'' the cabin fills with fog and all light objects - anything not tied down - ''including'' your weapon, go flying toward the breach?
-->'''Mulder:''' [[DidntThinkThisThrough A pretty lady comes around with honey-roasted peanuts?]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Pendrell's death.
-->'''Scully:''' I realized I didn't even know his first name.
* ZippingUpTheBodyBag: One of the men with radiation burns.
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->''[[TemptingFate "I intend to expose these facts to the people. I mean, I'm just one man..."]]''