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All Souls
"The last one is still out there. The Devil is here and if he finds her, his victory will be complete."
Written by Billy Brown (Story), Dan Angel (Story), Frank Spotnitz (Teleplay) & John Shiban (Teleplay)
Directed by Allen Coulter
Directed by Allen Coulter
"Two girls are dead... not by the hand of Man. Unless you accept the truth of God’s teachings that there is a struggle between good and evil for all souls and that we are losing that struggle, you’re but fools rushing in."
— Father Gregory
Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a severely disabled girl, and find a mystery involving angels and demons.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: One of the girls' caretakers is a shady old man who kept his ward in a dingy, cramped basement and sold her on the promise that he'd keep the disability benefits.
- Continuity Nod: Scully's biological daughter from "Christmas Carol"/"Emily" is mentioned throughout the episode.
- Evil Redhead: Aaron Starkey, the kind-hearted Social Services agent, is Satan incarnate.
- Extra Digits: The episode starts with a girl who's shown to have six toes on her feet. The case becomes about the mysterious deaths of several girls (including this one) born with six digits on all four limbs (some had the extra fingers removed to better fit in).
- Faux Affably Evil: Starkey seems like a nice, if somewhat harried bureaucrat at first. If he encounters any resistance, he drops the act very quickly.
- Good All Along: Father Gregory really was trying to protect the girls and dies a gruesome death for it.
- Irony: Throughout the entire series, it's usually Scully being the skeptic while Mulder is the believer in the paranormal. Their roles are reversed in this episode and they never realized the irony.
- Light Is Not Good: Subverted. The angel may be killing the girls but he is taking their souls to heaven as they are nephilim.
- Monster of the Week: Although, it touches upon Scully's faith and her life.
- Myth Arc: Slightly touched with Scully's faith issues and her abduction, medical rape and biological daughter gets a mention.
- Sadly Mythtaken: What is described as a seraph is actually a cherub.
- Seeking Sanctuary: "Starkey" is unable to enter a church.
- The Shadow Knows: Starkey's shadow has horns.
- Voice of the Legion: Starkey, when angered.
"Maybe that's what faith is."
