Teacher
All right, everyone. We've run out of time. That's all for tonight. If you haven't finished, you'll have more time with peter next week.
Season 3 · Episode 14
Grotesque
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code3X14Original airdate · February 2, 1996
262 dialogue entries
Scene 01
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY EXTENSION PROGRAM
[ breathing heavily ]
[ breathing heavily ]
[ grunts ]
Male Student
Hey, man!
John Mostow
Excuse me.
Scene 02
Scene 02
[ breathing heavily ]
[ glass object clinks and rolls ]
[ groans ]
[ gasps, screams ]
[ alarm buzzing ]
[ alarm cuts off ]
FBI Agent
FBI! Stay where you are!
FBI Agent
Keep the light on him! John Mostow, we have a warrant for your arrest. You have the right to remain silent. [ Mostow yelling ] if you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you.
FBI Agent
You have the right to an attorney.
John Mostow
You're hurting me!
FBI Agent
Do you understand each of these rights that I have explained to you? Do you wish to give up your right to remain silent? Aah!
Agent Nemhauser
God! He bit me. The son of a bitch bit me like a dog!
FBI Agent
Get him out of here! You okay?
Agent Nemhauser
Yeah, yeah.
[ Mostow yelling ] [ men shouting ]
Bill Patterson
My god.
Scene 03
X-FILES OFFICE
Fox Mulder
Divorced. No children. He came to the u.s. From uzbekistan during perestroika. He failed to mention on his I.n.s. Application... That he spent the better part of his 20s in an insane asylum.
Dana Scully
He was arrested last week for the serial murders of at least seven men.
Fox Mulder
You thought all they produced were great hockey players. The crimes took place during a three-year period. All the victims male, age 17 to 25.
Dana Scully
Was there a signature or a defining m.o.?
Fox Mulder
Well, according to the m.e., there was no evidence of any sexual assault. Death was caused by massive blood loss due to facial mutilation. He also reported that the wound pattern on all the victims was identical. It's all there on page three.
[ flipping pages ]
Dana Scully
"both eyes punctured. Signature gashes from the corners of the mouth to the ears." the level of violence and overkill here... Would suggest the work of a very angry individual.
Fox Mulder
Or individuals, if you count the spirit Mostow says possessed him during the murders.
Dana Scully
Possession is a common claim by criminals who have dissociative disorders. It's how they distance themselves from their actions.
Fox Mulder
That was the operational opinion until last night, when a 19-year-old male... Was found dead six Miles from here with an identical set of facial wounds.
Dana Scully
A copycat?
Fox Mulder
According to assistant director Skinner, who asked us to look into this, the details of the mutilations were never released. Only members of the crime team would have had that information. And Mostow's been in custody for five days.
Scene 04
D.C. CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
John Mostow
Ah. Please! The light hurts my eyes.
[ door buzzes ]
John Mostow
Leave me alone.
Dana Scully
You have a nice, soft bunk. Why aren't you using it?
Fox Mulder
'cause he's been working-- haven't you, john? What is it? What is this thing?
John Mostow
It killed those men.
Fox Mulder
Does it have a name? Does it have a name to go with that face?
John Mostow
All men know its name.
Fox Mulder
What do you call it? Satan? The devil?
Dana Scully
Or maybe it's just the name of your accomplice.
John Mostow
I had no accomplice.
Dana Scully
You killed all those young men yourself?
John Mostow
It killed them. How many times do I have to tell you?
Dana Scully
Well, its fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon. Yours were. And it won't be tried for seven murders under the death penalty.
John Mostow
Which is why it laughs at fools like you. And you. Fools who would pretend... Evil can be brought to heel like a brindle bitch... Or be held by your pathetic gulags, while, with a snap of its finger, it makes men lick the greasy floor of hell... Just to see its reflection.
Dana Scully
Is that what it did last night, john? Snapped its fingers and let another young man die?
John Mostow
It killed again? Yesterday? It's found somebody. Somebody new. Just like it found me.
[ door buzzes ]
Bill Patterson
Agent Mulder, can I see you two outside?
[ door shuts ]
Bill Patterson
So what is it, Mulder? Little green men? Evil spirits? Hounds of hell?
Fox Mulder
Scully, this is bill Patterson. He runs the investigative support unit out of quantico.
Dana Scully
I know. Behavioral science. You wrote the book. It's an honor, sir.
Bill Patterson
Is that what you think too? That the suspect is possessed by some dark spirit?
Dana Scully
No. Not at all, sir.
Bill Patterson
Strange company you keep, then. [ sighs ]
Fox Mulder
That's what always amazed me about you, bill-- how you never fit your own profile. No one would ever guess how really mean-spirited you are.
Bill Patterson
The arrest of john Mostow is the result of three years of hard work by my unit. Three years. You can imagine that we were awful upset by this latest murder... And by the suspect floating this possession theory.
Fox Mulder
You think he's got an accomplice, then, even though your own profile of Mostow says that he's most certainly working alone.
Bill Patterson
My profile led to his arrest. No. He acted alone. And that murder last night was done by a second killer, and he acted alone too.
Fox Mulder
What about these drawings of Mostow's? These gargoyles?
Bill Patterson
You know why he draws those? Did you ask him?
Fox Mulder
I didn't get a chance to.
Bill Patterson
He says he draws them to keep this demon of his away.
Fox Mulder
That would make sense. Historically, that's what gargoyles have been used for--
Bill Patterson
I don't need a history lesson. And I don't need anyone indulging this guy's story.
Fox Mulder
I was asked to look into this case. If you've got a problem with that, you take it up with a.d. Skinner.
Scene 05
HALLWAY OUTSIDE MOSTOW'S APARTMENT
Dana Scully
So you're not gonna tell me when your love affair with Patterson ended?
Fox Mulder
Patterson never liked me.
Dana Scully
I thought you were the fair-haired boy when you joined.
Fox Mulder
Not by Patterson.
Dana Scully
Why not?
Fox Mulder
Didn't wanna get my knees dirty. Couldn't quite cast myself in the role of the dutiful student.
Dana Scully
You mean you couldn't worship him.
Fox Mulder
Something like that. Yeah.
Dana Scully
Well, from what I hear, there were a lot of men who did. A lot of men joined the FBI because they wanted to be him.
Fox Mulder
Yeah. Patterson had this saying about tracking a killer: if you wanted to know an artist, you had to look at his art. What he really meant was if you wanted to catch a monster, you had to become one yourself.
Scene 06
MOSTOW'S APARTMENT
Dana Scully
In this case, I'd say it served him pretty well.
Fox Mulder
This guy is definitely some kind of monster.
[ screeches ]
[ gasps ]
Fox Mulder
It's just a cat.
[ exhales deeply ]
Dana Scully
I thought it was one of these pictures coming to life. Our guys must've locked it in here.
Fox Mulder
Psst, psst. No. He's obviously got his own key to the place. There's air coming through here. Must be something on the other side of the wall.
[ knocking ]
Dana Scully
It's a door.
[ creaks ]
Dana Scully
Why don't you wait 'til we can get some more light in here?
Fox Mulder
I've got some light.
[ slow footsteps ]
Scene 07
SECRET ROOM
Dana Scully
See anything?
Fox Mulder
More gargoyles, Scully. Lots of 'em. Sculpted in clay.
Dana Scully
Why would he keep 'em in a secret room? Mulder? Mulder, what is it? What do you see? Mulder. Can you tell me what's going on in there?
[ clanking ]
[ growls ]
Attack Victim
[ screams ] no!
[ cardiograph machine beeping ]
Scene 09
HOSPITAL - GLASS BLOWER'S ROOM
Doctor
We're monitoring him very closely, agent Nemhauser, but I'm not too encouraged by what I'm seeing. The man is lucky to be alive.
Bill Patterson
Thank you, doctor. Agent Scully.
Dana Scully
We've turned Mostow's studio upside down. There don't appear to be any more bodies.
Bill Patterson
How many were recovered?
Dana Scully
Five. All of them dismembered. All young men whose faces were mutilated-- just like the latest victim, I hear.
Bill Patterson
At least this one's still alive.
Agent Nemhauser
Same signature facial mutilation, right down to the weapon, by the look of it.
Dana Scully
What does Patterson have to say?
Agent Nemhauser
I haven't spoken with him yet, but I bet he's gonna come to the idea it's someone working with Mostow.
Dana Scully
Well, I'd have to agree with that theory.
Agent Nemhauser
What's agent Mulder think?
Dana Scully
He thinks our finding Mostow's secret gallery isn't gonna do him any favors with Patterson.
Agent Nemhauser
Between you and me, I think Patterson went to Skinner and requested Mulder on this case.
Dana Scully
He requested him?
Agent Nemhauser
I've been working with Patterson for three years on this, and this just about killed him, until we finally got a break and arrested Mostow. But then this first copycat murder really threw him for a loss.
Dana Scully
Mulder's under the impression that Patterson never thought too highly of him.
Agent Nemhauser
That's just Patterson. Late night, a couple of beers in him, he starts telling me Mulder stories, how he's some kind of crack genius.
Dana Scully
Stitches. What happened? Tsk.
Agent Nemhauser
Mostow bit me during the arrest.
Bill Patterson
How's our victim? Has he been able to ID his attacker?
Agent Nemhauser
Doctors say it's still too early to even try-- not in the condition he's in.
[ gurgling ]
Bill Patterson
They're not even sure if he's gonna make it. Where's Mulder?
Dana Scully
He was gonna go see about those drawings of Mostow's.
Bill Patterson
What's he looking for?
Dana Scully
I think the same thing you are, sir: a second killer.
[ cardiograph machine beeping faster ]
[ gurgling ]
Doctor
I think you should take this conversation outside.
[ grunting ]
[ grunts ]
Doctor
Stay with us.
Scene 10
LIBRARY
[ Mulder thinking ]
Fox Mulder
The name is from the french "gargouille"-- the name of a medieval dragon which prowled the river seine, whose horrible image became a symbol of the souls of the condemned turned to stone... Or of the devils and demons of the underworld spared eternal damnation. The embodiment of the lesser forces of the universe... Who inspired dread and the threat of our own damnation. Ushers into hell or into the realm of our own dark fears and imagination. For over 1,200 years, the grotesque image has found its expression... In stone, clay, wood, oil, and charcoal-- born again and again, as if resurrecting itself by its own will... Through tortured human expression. Almost as if it existed, haunting men inwardly so that it might haunt mankind for eternity... As it must've haunted john Mostow. But what impulses moved him to kill? Could this be the same dark force at work, its ultimate expression the destruction of the flesh, of the very hand that creates it? Is this evil something born in each of us, crouching in the shadow of every human soul, waiting to emerge, a monster that violates our bodies and twists our will to do its bidding? [ continues thinking ] is this the monster called madness?
Bill Patterson
[ gasps ] they're closing up in a few minutes. So, is this how you're looking for the second killer? Tell me, Mulder, what do you really expect to find here?
Fox Mulder
I'm not sure yet.
Bill Patterson
But you must have some idea, some kind of theory.
Fox Mulder
I've got a few theories. I'm trying to stitch them together right now.
Bill Patterson
With your face stuck in a library book?
Fox Mulder
You said it yourself. If you want to know the artist, look at the art. I'm finally agreeing with you.
Bill Patterson
I know where you're going with this, Mulder, because I've been there myself-- so I can tell you you're wasting your time.
Fox Mulder
Maybe you could tell me why this man was compelled to draw... And sculpt the same face again and again, why he's still doing it now.
Bill Patterson
Because he's insane. This is nothing but the scrawling of a madman.
Fox Mulder
He said this thing wants to see its own reflection.
Bill Patterson
Mostow has said everything but what I need to hear-- the name of his accomplice.
Fox Mulder
Unless he's telling the truth.
Bill Patterson
About being possessed? I have to tell you. I am really disappointed in you.
Fox Mulder
Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.
Bill Patterson
Clearly, I was mistaken.
Scene 11
MULDER'S APARTMENT
[ door opening, shutting ]
[ knocking ]
Dana Scully
Mulder? Mulder, it's me.
[ keys jangle ]
Dana Scully
Mulder?
Scene 14
LATER CRIME SCENE
[ voices whispering ]
[ whispering continues ]
[ gasps ]
[ gunshot ]
[ breathing heavily ]
[ animalistic grunting ]
[ growls ]
[ screams ]
[ grunts ]
Dana Scully
I was scared, Mulder. I didn't know where you were. I kept trying your cell phone, but you didn't answer.
Fox Mulder
It was turned off.
Dana Scully
You turned your phone off? Why do you even bother carrying it?
Paramedic
You're all set. You'll want to see a doctor tomorrow in case of infection.
Dana Scully
Thanks.
Paramedic
[ man ] sure.
Dana Scully
Mulder, you still haven't told me what you were doing in Mostow's studio.
Fox Mulder
I was working.
Dana Scully
At 3:30 in the morning? Mulder, I haven't seen or spoken to you in almost two days now. You haven't been returning my phone calls.
Fox Mulder
This thing exists. It's real.
Dana Scully
"it"? What are you talking about?
Fox Mulder
Whatever keeps killing those young men.
Dana Scully
Mostow killed those men, and out of some sick alliance, some other person is continuing where he left off.
Fox Mulder
Whatever attacked me wasn't a person.
Dana Scully
Well, did you actually see it? Mulder, maybe you've just seen what you want to see.
Fox Mulder
What makes you think I would want to see that? I didn't imagine it, Scully.
Dana Scully
Listen to yourself, Mulder. Listen to what you're saying. You're starting to sound like m-- [ sighs ] look, when I couldn't reach you, I went to your apartment. I saw your new wallpaper. Don't you realize what is happening here, Mulder? He is testing you. He is the reason you were brought on this case in the first place.
Fox Mulder
Patterson? [ sighs ]
Dana Scully
He requested your involvement through Skinner's office. I checked that 302 myself. Mulder, where are you going?
[ engine starts ]
[ police radio chatter ]
Bill Patterson
So, how's Mulder holding up?
Dana Scully
Sir, can I have a minute?
Bill Patterson
Of course.
Dana Scully
In private.
Bill Patterson
What's this about?
Dana Scully
Maybe you can tell me. I'm curious about what you're doing concerning agent Mulder.
Bill Patterson
I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to.
Dana Scully
I think you do, sir. I think you knew exactly how agent Mulder would respond when you brought him on this case. You did request him, didn't you?
Bill Patterson
If you're concerned about agent Mulder's conduct or behavior, maybe you should take that up with him.
Dana Scully
You know I already have.
Bill Patterson
Then what do you expect me to do?
Dana Scully
I want you to be honest with me about what you're trying to do. Is this some kind of payback for what happened eight years ago, because Mulder quit the I.s.u.?
Bill Patterson
My motivations aren't that petty.
Dana Scully
Then why?
Bill Patterson
I asked for Mulder because... I wanna close the book on this godforsaken case once and for all.
Dana Scully
And you knew that he could help you solve it.
Bill Patterson
My advice to you, Scully: let Mulder do what he has to do. Don't get in his way and don't try to hold him back... Because you won't be able to.
[ police radio chatter continues ]
Scene 15
MOSTOW'S CELL
[ engine starts ]
[ opens and shuts glove box ]
[ door buzzes ]
[ men muttering ]
Fox Mulder
Why didn't it kill me like it killed the others? Why did it let me live?
John Mostow
Even if I could tell you why, you would not understand.
Fox Mulder
Then help me to understand, john.
John Mostow
Please. Go away.
Fox Mulder
No. You have to help me go deeper, help me get inside its head... Like it got inside yours, so I can understand what it wants.
John Mostow
It wants what it wants.
Fox Mulder
To kill innocent young men by carving up their faces?
John Mostow
You have felt its hunger, felt your bones rattled by its frozen breath. So you know... Nothing can be done.
Fox Mulder
Unless I find it.
John Mostow
Then what will you do?
Fox Mulder
Just tell me how to find it, john.
John Mostow
No.
Fox Mulder
Just tell me how to find this thing.
John Mostow
You can't find it.
[ grunts ]
John Mostow
[ breathing heavily ] only it can find you. Maybe... It already has.
Scene 16
FBI SCI-CRIME LAB - LATENT FINGERPRINT SECTION
Technician
T time up, I struck out. All three pieces were clean. But on my second try, I got lucky. I dusted the blade with red wop.
Dana Scully
I'm sorry?
Technician
"powder" spelled backwards. It's what we call the fluorescent lycopodium.
Dana Scully
Ah. Looks like a partial index.
Technician
And on the left half of the handle, almost a full thumb. It's the placement of the prints that struck me.
Dana Scully
Not oriented where someone would have gripped the knife.
Technician
Which is why I thought I had your guy, except I wasn't as lucky as I thought. I ran the prints against the n.c.I.c. Database.
Dana Scully
Your message said that you identified them.
Technician
I did. Turns out, he's one of our own people.
Dana Scully
An FBI agent?
Technician
Your partner.
Dana Scully
These are Mulder's prints? Are you sure?
Technician
I double-checked. Why? I assumed he must've been the one that recovered the knife at the crime scene.
Dana Scully
Excuse me.
Scene 17
FBI HEADQUARTERS EVIDENCE ROOM L-7
Guy
There's that table up front.
Dana Scully
That's okay. You can put it on the floor.
Guy
[ phone ringing ] I need to get that.
[ ringing continues ]
Guy
Evidence room. Yes, she is.
[ sighs ]
Guy
Excuse me, agent Scully. Assistant director Skinner's asked to see you right away.
Scene 18
SKINNER'S OFFICE
[ knocking ]
Walter Skinner
Come in.
Dana Scully
You wanted to see me, sir?
Walter Skinner
Yes. Sit down. I heard they found you in evidence looking for the weapon in this Mostow case?
Dana Scully
Yes, sir.
Walter Skinner
Did you find it?
Dana Scully
No, sir.
Walter Skinner
Is it your opinion the missing evidence... Is the same weapon you found at the crime scene earlier today?
Dana Scully
I'm not absolutely certain.
Walter Skinner
But agent Mulder's prints were found on it.
Dana Scully
Yes, sir.
Walter Skinner
Have you seen agent Mulder or spoken to him about this?
Dana Scully
No, sir.
Walter Skinner
Do you have any insight into agent Mulder's current disposition or mental state?
Dana Scully
I know agent Mulder is working very hard on this case at your request, sir.
Walter Skinner
Are you worried about him, agent Scully?
Dana Scully
No, sir.
Walter Skinner
Off the record. So am I.
[ growling ]
Scene 25
MOSTOW'S SECRET ROOM
[ Mulder yells ]
[ grunting ]
[ knife punctures ]
John Mostow (vision)
Aah!
[ exhales deeply ]
[ slurping ]
[ answering machine warbles, beeps ]
Agent Nemhauser
Yeah. This is greg Nemhauser. Please call me right away at 555-0143.
[ dial tone ]
Agent Nemhauser
I need to talk to you right away about a po--
[ machine clicks ]
[ cell phone ringing ]
[ ringing continues ]
[ ringing continues ]
[ beeps ]
Dana Scully
Hello? Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Scully?
Dana Scully
Where are you?
Fox Mulder
I'm in Mostow's studio.
Dana Scully
Are you with Nemhauser?
Fox Mulder
No. Should I be?
Dana Scully
That's who I was calling. He left his number on my answering machine. He said he had to talk to me. Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Yeah?
Dana Scully
Do you know where he is?
Fox Mulder
I'm not sure.
Dana Scully
Mulder, that knife that we recovered from the crime scene-- I think it's the same one that Mostow used.
Fox Mulder
What makes you say that?
Dana Scully
Because Mostow's was stolen from evidence.
Fox Mulder
When?
Dana Scully
I was hoping maybe you could tell me. Your prints were all over it.
Fox Mulder
Yes, I examined Mostow's knife yesterday in the evidence room.
Dana Scully
Why?
Fox Mulder
Because I wanted to hold it. I wanted to see what it felt like in my hand.
Dana Scully
But why?
Fox Mulder
Look, Scully, I didn't take it.
Dana Scully
Okay, Mulder, listen to me carefully. I want you to stay exactly where you are. I'm gonna be there in a few minutes, and we're gonna work this thing out together, okay? Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Yeah.
[ cell phone beeps ]
Bill Patterson
Mulder.
Fox Mulder
What are you doing here?
Bill Patterson
What are you doing here?
Fox Mulder
It's Nemhauser. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Bill Patterson
What is this?
Fox Mulder
You killed him, bill. When he suspected it was you, you killed him.
Bill Patterson
Are you out of your mind?
Fox Mulder
Not me. Not now.
Bill Patterson
Put that gun down.
Fox Mulder
Not until you tell me what you're doing here.
Bill Patterson
What I'm doing he--
Fox Mulder
Look at your hands. Now ask yourself what you're doing here.
Bill Patterson
I'm not sure.
Fox Mulder
You're here because john Mostow stole three years of your life. Every day and every night for three years you lived and dreamed the horror show... That was in his head, and I'm sorry. Imagining everything he imagined. But when you finally caught him, it didn't just go away, all that violence. It stayed alive inside you 'til it had to come out. But you didn't want to do what you were doing. You wanted to stop, but you couldn't. Not by yourself. That's why you called on me in the first place, why you couldn't kill me.
Dana Scully
[ Scully ] Mulder, what are you doing?
Fox Mulder
Scully, get that light off me.
Dana Scully
First put the gun down!
Fox Mulder
You don't understand!
Dana Scully
Help me understand why you have a gun on agent Patterson.
Fox Mulder
It's him, Scully.
[ breathing heavily ]
Scene 26
ROOF
[ clattering ]
[ thunderclap ]
[ growling ]
[ grunting ]
[ gunshot ]
Dana Scully
Mulder! You okay, Mulder?
[ thunderclap ]
[ groans ]
Dana Scully
[ Scully breathing heavily ] you should call an ambulance. His pulse is still strong.
Fox Mulder
[ thunder rumbles ] this is agent Mulder with the FBI I have a man down with a gunshot wound.
Scene 27
8 WEEKS LATER
Bill Patterson
[ man panting ] oh, god! God!
[ cell door slams ]
[ footsteps ]
[ panting continues ]
Bill Patterson
Are you listening to me? For god sakes! Isn't someone listening to me? I didn't do it. It wasn't me! I didn't kill them! Please!
[ Mulder narrating ]
Fox Mulder
We work in the dark. We do what we can to battle the evil that would otherwise destroy us. But if a man's character is his fate, this fight is not a choice, but a calling. Yet sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter, reaching the fragile fortress of our mind, allowing the monsters without to turn within. And we are left alone staring into the abyss... Into the laughing face of madness.
[ voices whispering ]
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About this transcript
The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.