Sunday Mornings with Mulder and Scully – The Descent of Kurtwood Smith

Series writer Howard Gordon was walking along the streets of New York one day and saw a few stone gargoyles staring creepily at passerby on one corner. Upon speaking to series creator Chris Carter who suggested a few psychological aspects to a future episode, Gordon wrote what would become Grotesque, the fourteenth episode of season three.

The episode starts in art class where college age students sketch a nude male model. John Mastow, one of the artists, cuts his hand while using a knife to sharpen a pencil and smears the blood on his drawing. Afterwards, the model is killed as the walk to their car by an assailant whose face is obscured. The FBI arrested Mastow in connection with the murder, but he claims a gargoyle spirit possessed him and committed the crimes after he is charged with killing seven men. His claims are taken more seriously when another murder occurs while he is in custody.

Special Agent Bill Patterson brings in Mulder and Scully to help investigate this new murder. Patterson is Mulder’s old mentor, which complicates their investigation when Mulder gets too obsessive about the case. When Mulder and Scully check out Mostow’s studio, they find a hidden room full of gargoyle sculptures. This prompts Mulder to research gargoyle lore at the library and when Scully meets him at his apartment, she finds it covered in gargoyle drawings. Mulder’s obsession leads him to sculpt his own gargoyle in Mastow’s apartment. He is awoken by a figure standing over him and Mulder gives chase. His face is slashed but the person gets away. Mulder refuses to explain why he was in the studio to Scully. Scully worries about his sanity and asks Patterson for assistance, but Patterson tells her to let Mulder do his investigation his way.

After finding a knife with Mulder’s prints on it, Scully goes to Skinner who also worries over Mulders behavior. Back in the studio, Mulder finds the body of another agent inside a new sculpture. Patterson confronts him even though Patterson has no idea how he arrived at the studio. Mulder believes Patterson is the killer and Patterson flees. Mulder follows and Patterson is shot and apprehended.

At the end of the episode, Patterson screams and pleads from his cell that he is innocent. There is a gargoyle drawn in blood on the wall of his cell. Mulder’s closing narration concludes that Patterson’s need to empathize with suspects and imagining himself in their place drove Patterson insane, but he cannot account for what he had seen from his brief time on the investigation. Mulder’s relationship with his former mentor suffered its final blows in this episode as Patterson’s character was never brought up again.

Kurtwood Smith, most recognizable as Red Foreman in That 70’s Show, expertly played Agent Patterson in this episode. He has ties to several Star Trek series both before and after his one episode stint on The X-Files as well as a few episodes of Medium and 24. For me, though, he’ll always be Red Foreman.

An actor named Lavani (that really is his screen name) played John Mastow. He doesn’t have the lengthy career that Kurtwood Smith has but he was in one episode of Millennium and had small roles in Independence Day, Air Force One, and Blade.

I remember thinking how dark the episode was when it originally aired. It takes the viewer along for the ride as Mulder’s slow descent into obsessive madness makes him seem like the real killer. The imagery of the gargoyle was disturbing to say the least. At the time, my only knowledge of gargoyles was the cartoon that ran from 1994-1997 – and its one of my favorites from that era. It is only eclipsed by the X-Men Phoenix Saga and The Pirates of Dark Water which ran for two short seasons in 1991. Like this episode, the Gargoyles cartoon was surprisingly dark in nature. During the mid 90s, television went to a darker place, a deviation from the middle-class family sitcoms and MacGyver type action shows of the 80s. I believe that Twin Peaks was the precursor to that and allowed for The X-Files to do episodes like this one.

Don’t get me wrong. I know the 90s gave us The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, The Simpsons, and other beloved shows, but along with them came Unsolved Mysteries and Tales From the Crypt. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Goosebumps. Sliders and Forensic Files. Shows that delved into the paranormal and occasionally gave us a peek into the creepy human experience. The X-Files shared that era with these shows, piquing the interest of nerds like me as well as folks like my parents who, by this point in season three, were just as hooked on the show as I was.

Until next week, the truth is out there.