Line #10 Recap/TheXFilesS04E21ZeroSum


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\
2	[[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]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E18Max 18]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E19Synchrony 19]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E20SmallPotatoes 20]] \| '''21''' \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E22Elegy 22]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E23Demons 23]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E24Gethsemane 24]]]]-]]]
3	'''Season 4, Episode 21:'''
4	!Zero Sum
5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfileszerosum.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Another day, another cover-up.]]
7	->Written by Howard Gordon & Frank Spotnitz\
8	Directed by Kim Manners
9
10	->'''Cigarette Smoking Man:''' This only happened because you left your job unfinished.\
11	'''Skinner:''' I handled him just like I've handled everything else you've asked me to do. I followed your instructions.\
12	'''Cigarette Smoking Man:''' You failed to neutralise a potentially compromising situation.
13
14	Assistant Director Skinner finds himself in a difficult position as a result of his deal with the Cigarette Smoking Man.
15	----
16	!!Tropes:
17	* BadassBoast: CSM gives Skinner a simple but effective one.
18	-->''"This isn't the first gun I've had pointed in my face, Mr. Skinner. I'm not afraid to die."''
19	* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: After CSM says the above, ''Skinner pulls the trigger'' several times. We shortly see that he only shot the wall around CSM, but in spite of his boast, we also see that CSM is visibly shaken for one of the few times in the entire series.
20	* BeeAfraid: Genetically modified bees attack several people in this episode.
21	* ADayInTheLimelight: For Skinner.
22	* DealWithTheDevil: Skinner covers up evidence for the Cancer Man in exchange for him saving Scully's life.
23	* DidNotThinkThisThrough: If Cancer Man didn't kill the police officer, his photographs wouldn't have been sent to Mulder, and Mulder wouldn't have even known about the case.
24	* EnhanceButton: Done fairly realistically. A dark surveillance tape is brightened and cleaned up, just a little, but unfortunately for Skinner it's enough for Mulder to recognize him.
25	* OhCrap: Skinner clearly gets this look on his face when he hears the type of gun a detective was killed with. He goes over to his desk and, sure enough, it has been broken into and his gun -- the same type -- is gone.
26	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The episode opens with a postal worker being killed by bees in a restroom. We then see Skinner erasing files of the case from Mulder's computer, destroying evidence in the restroom, and ''stealing and disposing of the woman's corpse''. That an assistant director of the F.B.I. would do all this clearly indicates that something is very, very wrong.
27	----

Context Recap / TheXFilesS04E21ZeroSum