[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E01TheBeginning 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E02Drive 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E03Triangle 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E04Dreamland 4]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E05DreamlandII 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E06HowTheGhostsStoleChristmas 6]] | '''7''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E08TheRainKing 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E09SR819 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E10Tithonus 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E11TwoFathers 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E12OneSon 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E13AguaMala 13]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E14Monday 14]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E15Arcadia 15]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E16Alpha 16]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E17Trevor 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E18Milagro 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E19TheUnnatural 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E20ThreeOfAKind 20]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E21FieldTrip 21]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E22Biogenesis 22]]]]-]]]
'''Season 6, Episode 07:'''
!Terms of Endearment
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilestermsofendearment.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Witness a new addition to your nightly fears, courtesy of ''the Devil'' himself.]]
->Written by David Amann\\
Directed by Rob Bowman

->'''Mulder:''' You mentioned a fire in the room, in your account and a, uh... a devil that held your legs...\\
'''Laura:''' So that he could take the baby.\\
'''Mulder:''' But according to your statement... your baby... was not a normal baby.\\
'''Mulder:''' No. It was some kind of monster. With, um... horns and a tail.

Mulder and Scully investigate after a woman miscarries a baby with strange physical anomalies, including horn-like protrusions on its head. They learn that the woman's husband (Creator/BruceCampbell) is a demon seeking to have a normal human child -- but there's more to the story...
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!!Tropes:
* BigBrotherInstinct: Deputy Sheriff Stevens to Laura, Wayne's first victim.
* DeathOfAChild: The episode begins with a miscarried baby, and there are more before it's over.
* EnfantTerrible: Betsy drives off with a demon baby, after all!
* EvilerThanThou: Betsy compared to Wayne.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Wayne is a demon parent who wants a human kid. Unlike most cases, this is ''not'' a redeeming quality, given the utterly monstrous lengths he's prepared to go to in order to make it happen. Betsy, on the other hand, is a demon parent who wants a demon kid, and she's prepared to go just as far.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Wayne initially comes off as a flawed but ultimately not terrible person who suffers from a bad case of IJustWantToBeNormal. Eventually he reveals himself for the selfish, cheating asshole that he is, and [[YourSoulIsMine devours Laura's soul]] to cover his tracks after she discovers his true nature, even though she had done absolutely nothing wrong for the whole episode.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Played with. Laura is a good girl whose baby was aborted (without permission from the mother) by its demonic father.
* HellishPupils: Betsy reveals animal-like pupils near the end.
* KarmaHoudini: Betsy was up to the same exact thing as Wayne, but while Wayne does not survive the episode, Betsy manages to escape accountability ''and'' gets the demon baby that she wanted.
* ManaDrain: Wayne sucks in Laura's spirit to put her in a coma. It goes back to her when he dies.
* ManipulativeBastard: Wayne manipulating the grief filled Laura with a false story about what happened.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Or monsters, depending on how you look at it. This is a stand-alone episode, not connected to the myth arc of the series.
* MuggingTheMonster: A demon crosses a demonic woman's path.
* PlainJane: Laura fits perfectly.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: A possible minor example with the demon Wayne. He is clearly horrified to see Betsy has been doing the same evil thing he has been, and appears to purposefully give back Laura's soul in exchange for his death.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: The demons blend in easily with humans, save some bony bumps on the back of their necks.
* TragicVillain: Wayne, initially, but he eventually proves himself to be mostly FauxAffablyEvil.
* WhamLine: Betsy, during her "abortion": "What are you doing, Wayne?"
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Betsy sets Wayne up to be taken out of the picture one way or another once she sees that she has gotten the demon baby that she wanted, and succeeds.
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->''[[Music/{{Garbage}} ♫ You know I love it when the news is bad\\
Why it feels so good to feel so sad\\
I'm only happy when it rains... ♫]]''