History Recap / TheXFilesS06E10Tithonus

* TheCynic: Fellig, in spades. Only thing keeping him from MisanthropeSupreme is that he is not an OmnicidalManiac. [[RetiredMonster Not now]], at least.

* ExpositionOfImmortality: Done first when Scully and Ritter find Fellig's crime scene working licenses going back to 1964, all showing he has not aged a day since the first. Second offscreen, when Mulder runs his prints through the system and finds them in documents going to before 1938, with the oldest one showing he entered his birth date as 1849. Later Fellig tells Scully he became immortal during New York City's final yellow fever epidemic, which ended in 1799 (being in his 60s at the time, this puts his birth back somewhere in the 1730s or so).

* HealingFactor: Fellig has this as a side-effect of his immortality, being able to recover from being stabbed repeatedly over a couple of days. The ending implies that he has passed this on to Scully, as she is told by Mulder that her exceptionally quick recovery from her gunshot wound have left the hospital staff in awe.

* NoAntagonist: Fellig is not murdering people in reality, and the only reason he does not come clean to the FBI in the first place is because they will not believe him. It turns out he did murder some people in 1929 however, hoping to "catch Death" by doing so, but hasn't since his imprisonment (and subsequent escape) for that.

* RecklessGunUsage: Ritter bursts into the room and shoots Fellig right away, who is only armed with a camera. He hits Scully, who is standing behind Fellig.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Fellig lives a miserable unending existence, where life has become a purgatory, and he lives only to take pictures of the dead hoping to finally glimpse death. When Scully says that immortality would allow you to learn and experience and love new things, Fellig ruefully says that [[TheFogOfAges he can't even remember his dead wife's name,]] and considers every one of the many people he has watched die to be "lucky bastards". By the end of the episode, Scully is mortally wounded but the Fellig takes the opportunity and looks at Death and dies in her place, meaning Scully is now immortal, but it seems like she hasn't realized it yet.

* BlessedWithSuck: How Fellig sees immortality.

* EnsignNewbie: Ritter.

* SpiritualSequel: To "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose]]". In both episodes, Scully makes a connection with an elderly man who is suspected of a crime he didn't commit, who considers his supernatural ability a curse, and who can know when or how someone is about to die, but not the other.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Fellig lives a miserable unending existence, where life has become a purgatory, and he lives only to take pictures of the dead hoping to finally glimpse death. When Scully says that immortality would allow you to learn and experience and love new things, Fellig ruefully says that [[TheFogOfAges he can't even remember his dead wife's name,]] and considers every one of the many people he has watched die to be "lucky bastards". By the end of the episode, Scully is mortally wounded but the photographer takes the opportunity and looks at Death and dies in her place, meaning Scully is now immortal, but it seems like she hasn't realized it yet. That explains the psychic's answer in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckerman's Final Repose]]" when Scully asks him how she will die: "You don't."

* OlderThanTheyLook: Fellig is at least 149 years old, and likely older. He looks no older than 65.

* WhamShot: Fellig's POV usually colours the people who will die in black and white. Later in the episode, he sees Scully with those colours, marking her for death.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Fellig lives a miserable unending existence, where life has become a purgatory, and he lives only to take pictures of the dead hoping to finally glimpse death. When Scully says that immortality would allow you to learn and experience and love new things, Fellig ruefully says that [[TheFogOfAges he can't even remember his dead wife's name.]] And considers every one of the many people he has watched die to be 'lucky bastards'. By the end of the episode, Scully is mortally wounded but the photographer takes the opportunity and looks at Death and dies in her place, meaning Scully is now immortal, but it seems like she hasn't realized it yet. That explains the psychic's answer in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckerman's Final Repose]]" when Scully asks him how she will die: "You don't."

* WhamShot: Fellig's POV revealing that Scully is about to die.

-->'''Scully''': Mr. Fellig... I know that you know more about photography than I do... but this is just a lens flare.
-->'''Fellig''': You're right... I do know more about photography than you do.

-->'''Mulder''': "You're a lucky man."

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: When Scully says that immortality would allow you to learn and experience and love new things, Fellig ruefully says that [[TheFogOfAges he can't even remember his dead wife's name.]] And considers every one of the many people he has watched die to be 'lucky bastards'. By the end of the episode, Scully is mortally wounded but the photographer takes the opportunity and looks at Death and dies in her place, meaning Scully is now immortal, but it seems like she hasn't realized it yet. That explains the psychic's answer in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckerman's Final Repose]]" when Scully asks him how she will die: "You don't."

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: When Scully says that immortality would allow you to learn and experience and love new things, Fellig ruefully says that [[TheFogOfAges he can't even remember his dead wife's name.]] By the end of the episode, Scully is mortally wounded but the photographer takes the opportunity and looks at Death and dies in her place, meaning Scully is now immortal, but it seems like she hasn't realized it yet. That explains the psychic's answer in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Bruckerman's Final Repose]]" when Scully asks him how she will die: "You don't."

->'''Dana Scully''': How is it you know when people are about to die?
->'''Alfred Fellig''': Oh... You chase it long enough, you pick it up.

----

* NoAntagonist: Fellig is not murdering people in reality, and the only reason he does not come clean to the FBI in the first place is because they will not believe him. It turns out he did murder some people in 1929 however, hoping to "catch Death" by doing so, but hasn't since his imprisonment (and subsequent escape) for that).

* ChekhovsGun: One dating all the way back to the Season 3 episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". In that episode, Bruckman claimed to be able to see people's deaths, and when Scully asked him how she's going to die, he replied, "You don't". This episode ends with Fellig apparently transferring his immortality to Scully.

-->'''Scully''': Mr. Felig... I know that you know more about photography than I do... but this is just a lens flare.

* ExpositionOfImmortality: Done first when Scully and Ritter find Fellig's crime scene working licenses going back to 1964, all showing he has not aged a day since the first. Second offscreen, when Mulder runs his prints through the system and finds them in documents going to before 1938, with the oldest one showing he entered his birthdate as 1849.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: After Fellig gets stabbed several times, he takes the knife off his back and goes about his business with just a little pain and enough blood loss to be taken for a murder victim. He answers the FBI's call to interrogate him with the still open wounds in his back.

* NoAntagonist: Fellig is not murdering people in reality, and the only reason he does not come clean to the FBI in the first place is because they will not believe him.

* RecklessGunUsage: Ritter bursts into the room and shoots Fellig right away, who is only armed with a camera. He hits Scully who is standing behind Fellig.

* SpiritualSequel: To "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." In both episodes, Scully makes a connection with an elderly man who is suspected of a crime he didn't commit, who considers his supernatural ability a curse, and who can know when or how someone is about to die, but not the other.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Mulder calls Ritter and tells him to arrest Fellig because he thinks Scully is in danger, using the fact that Fellig escaped prison and has been a fugitive since 1930. Ritter is understandably confused but Mulder tells him to do it instead of wasting their time with math. [[TheCassandra Unusually for Mulder]], [[ThrowTheDogABone it works this time]].

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Life gets boring when you lose your drive. Love doesn't last forever, either.