I like to believe that Chris Carter intentionally aired an episode of Millennium that featured Frank (Lance Henrikson) investigating a doomsday cult of teenage telemarketers who have been brainwashed by their leader two days before today’s blog episode of The X-Files because he thought they went well together. I remember thinking the same thing as a teen. I thought then and believe now that Chris Carter was a creative genius because today’s X-Files episode also features a cult.
With that lead in, I’ll back up a year to a show that was underrated and under watched because it has connections to today’s X-Files episode and to Millennium as that series progressed. In 1995, a short lived sci-fi series starring Kristen Cloke aired on Fox. Space Above and Beyond only lasted one season and ended on a cliffhanger. It was cancelled by Fox for low ratings and budgetary concerns since the show required a lot of special effects. I was absolutely obsessed with the show and was disappointed when it was cancelled. In November of 1996, Cloke appeared in episode 5 of season 4 of The X Files. You wouldn’t believe my excitement at the time. Or maybe you would if you’ve been following along on my X-Files blog. I still love seeing her in this episode today regardless of how many times I watch it.
Series writers Glen Morgan and James Wong, who had left The X-Files during season 3 to work on Space: Above and Beyond, wrote the lead guest starring part in The Field Where I Died specifically for Cloke when they returned to The X-Files in season 4. I told you that SAAB was short lived, but the end result in that show’s cancellation is that we were able to get Kristen Cloke on an episode of The X-Files. For that, I am forever grateful.
In this episode, Mulder and Scully search for an informant living on a cult’s compound. It leads them to one of the cult leader’s wives, played by Cloke. In a surprising twist, the episode utilizes reincarnation to tell the stories of past lives. What the FBI is really after is the cult’s supposed weapons cache, so A.D. Skinner spends the episode warning the investigative team that the entire cult will be released if the weapons aren’t found. It reeks of George W. Bush’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” declaration of war which, in hind sight, is pretty great of the series since Bush wasn’t even elected for another four years. It makes Skinner seem like he only wants the weapons and given what we know of our government is fair.
When Melissa (Cloke) begins to talk like a woman named Sydney who believes Harry S. Truman is still president, Scully believes she is suffering from multiple personality disorder. When Sydney thinks she recognizes Mulder, he begins to realize that Sydney was really a past life and that she was reincarnated into Melissa. Mulder has her undergo regressive hypnosis therapy. She tells Mulder that they have met in several past lives, always separated from each other. Mulder too is hypnotized and realizes he was once a Jewish woman. Scully, ever skeptical of such things, has her faith rattled when she discovers an old photo of a confederate soldier who looks exactly like Mulder.
Kristen Cloke’s ethereal performance in this episode is what really sells it for me. When this aired when I was a teen, I really didn’t get the whole reincarnation aspect of the episode. Maybe I was too young. Maybe I had not entered into exploring my Catholic upbringing enough. Maybe the episode was trying to be too deep for me to care. But as an adult, I love this episode for what it is. An exploration of faith and past lives. A friend of mine who recently watched this episode thought Mulder believed her account too quickly. I disagree for he is the believer in situations like this. Scully was always there to challenge his beliefs, and he would do the same for her. If he couldn’t believe in reincarnation after everything he had seen up until this point in season 4, then his character wouldn’t be what we thought it was.
Anyhoo, if you haven’t had the chance to watch Kristen Cloke in Space: Above and Beyond, I recommend checking it out. You can get used DVD copies of the series on eBay. She also starred in the 2006 Black Christmas remake and Final Destination. As far as her connections to Millennium, she starred as Lara Means in 10 episodes of the show which I’ll likely be mentioning a lot of as I make my way through that series.
Until next week, the truth is out there.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
I like to believe that Chris Carter intentionally aired an episode of Millennium that featured Frank (Lance Henrikson) investigating a doomsday cult of teenage telemarketers who have been brainwashed by their leader two days before today’s blog episode of The X-Files because he thought they went well together. I remember thinking the same thing as a teen. I thought then and believe now that Chris Carter was a creative genius because today’s X-Files episode also features a cult.
With that lead in, I’ll back up a year to a show that was underrated and under watched because it has connections to today’s X-Files episode and to Millennium as that series progressed. In 1995, a short lived sci-fi series starring Kristen Cloke aired on Fox. Space Above and Beyond only lasted one season and ended on a cliffhanger. It was cancelled by Fox for low ratings and budgetary concerns since the show required a lot of special effects. I was absolutely obsessed with the show and was disappointed when it was cancelled. In November of 1996, Cloke appeared in episode 5 of season 4 of The X Files. You wouldn’t believe my excitement at the time. Or maybe you would if you’ve been following along on my X-Files blog. I still love seeing her in this episode today regardless of how many times I watch it.
Series writers Glen Morgan and James Wong, who had left The X-Files during season 3 to work on Space: Above and Beyond, wrote the lead guest starring part in The Field Where I Died specifically for Cloke when they returned to The X-Files in season 4. I told you that SAAB was short lived, but the end result in that show’s cancellation is that we were able to get Kristen Cloke on an episode of The X-Files. For that, I am forever grateful.
In this episode, Mulder and Scully search for an informant living on a cult’s compound. It leads them to one of the cult leader’s wives, played by Cloke. In a surprising twist, the episode utilizes reincarnation to tell the stories of past lives. What the FBI is really after is the cult’s supposed weapons cache, so A.D. Skinner spends the episode warning the investigative team that the entire cult will be released if the weapons aren’t found. It reeks of George W. Bush’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” declaration of war which, in hind sight, is pretty great of the series since Bush wasn’t even elected for another four years. It makes Skinner seem like he only wants the weapons and given what we know of our government is fair.
When Melissa (Cloke) begins to talk like a woman named Sydney who believes Harry S. Truman is still president, Scully believes she is suffering from multiple personality disorder. When Sydney thinks she recognizes Mulder, he begins to realize that Sydney was really a past life and that she was reincarnated into Melissa. Mulder has her undergo regressive hypnosis therapy. She tells Mulder that they have met in several past lives, always separated from each other. Mulder too is hypnotized and realizes he was once a Jewish woman. Scully, ever skeptical of such things, has her faith rattled when she discovers an old photo of a confederate soldier who looks exactly like Mulder.
Kristen Cloke’s ethereal performance in this episode is what really sells it for me. When this aired when I was a teen, I really didn’t get the whole reincarnation aspect of the episode. Maybe I was too young. Maybe I had not entered into exploring my Catholic upbringing enough. Maybe the episode was trying to be too deep for me to care. But as an adult, I love this episode for what it is. An exploration of faith and past lives. A friend of mine who recently watched this episode thought Mulder believed her account too quickly. I disagree for he is the believer in situations like this. Scully was always there to challenge his beliefs, and he would do the same for her. If he couldn’t believe in reincarnation after everything he had seen up until this point in season 4, then his character wouldn’t be what we thought it was.
Anyhoo, if you haven’t had the chance to watch Kristen Cloke in Space: Above and Beyond, I recommend checking it out. You can get used DVD copies of the series on eBay. She also starred in the 2006 Black Christmas remake and Final Destination. As far as her connections to Millennium, she starred as Lara Means in 10 episodes of the show which I’ll likely be mentioning a lot of as I make my way through that series.
Until next week, the truth is out there.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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