My childhood was filled with an eclectic mix of movies and books that ranged from standard ‘80s kid stuff to horror movies. My teen years were no different with the cultural difference between the ‘80s and ‘90s was softened by transitional shows like Saved by the Bell. Fievel from An American Tail was just as prevalent as Chucky and R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps. The Last Unicorn held as much space in my mind as many a Stephen King novel. Of all these things to stick with me as an adult to have a link to The X-Files is, surprisingly, Anne of Green Gables. More specifically, the sequel, Anne of Avonlea. The books and the films starring Megan Follows were common fixtures as I grew up and are still today as a middle-aged adult.
It isn’t just Canada that the movies and The X-Files have in common as both were shot north of the border. In Anne of Avonlea, Anne takes a teaching position at an all girls school where she meets a group of young women who test Anne’s patience and teaching ability. One of these girls, played by actress Susannah Hoffman, gives as good as she gets and the two characters end up learning from each other how to find common ground. Hoffman would go on to star in episodes of Goosebumps, The Outer Limits, and more recently, the 11.22.63 limited series based on Stephen King’s time travel novel. She also starred in the tenth episode of season five of The X-Files as a mother trying to care for a little girl with a possessed doll.
Chinga was cowritten by Stephen King and Chris Carter who did a last minute rewrite of a couple scenes of King’s final script. King’s fingerprints are all over this episode as it has shades Carrie and Rose Red because it at first seems like the little girl has telekinetic abilities. She doesn’t seem to be evil herself, but her childhood frustrations are blown out of proportion by the doll’s abilities. The word chinga, unbeknownst to King and Carter, is a common word in Spanish and in Mexico can be a profane insult depending on the usage. For the purposes of this episode, it’s just the name of the doll.
The episode takes place in Maine – of course it does. King loves setting his stories in his home state – and the show was able to use Vancouver’s coastal proximity to make it seem like Scully really was vacationing in lobster country. Mulder is left at home, bored out of his mind, as Scully takes a weekend off to relax. Unfortunately, she stumbles onto a grocery store full of people suffering from self inflicted wounds to their face and eyes. She ends up helping local law enforcement on their case which leads them to the possessed doll and the little girl. The frazzled mother, just trying to survive the situation, shows a grown up Susannah Hoffman who has left behind her days acting as a school girl at a private college in Canada.
I remember seeing this episode when it aired and pointing at the television and yelling, “It’s Jenn Pringle!” Jenn Pringle was the character Hoffman portrayed in Anne of Avonlea and while she hasn’t really stayed much on the radar since, I still find myself doing this every time I rewatch this episode.
As the episode goes on, Scully soon realizes that the doll is calling the shots and that a local officer is actually trying to protect the mother and daughter. She tried to give the episode a comedic tone but Carter actually wanted it to be series. Rumor has it that he couldn’t use some of her dialog because she went too funny with it. The banter with Mulder is certainly funny, especially when she returns to the office and he evidently spent the entire weekend getting sharpened pencils in the ceiling tiles of his basement office. In the end, the doll is thought to be destroyed but is found by a fishing boat as the episode ends. Now it’ll be someone else’s problem.
While I love the connections to Stephen King and Susannah Hoffman and the tropes King commonly uses in his stories, the episode as it stands is not the best fit for The X-Files. King often uses government intervention is his stories, most notably in Dreamcatcher and The Stand. It was Carter who decided during his rewrite that Mulder and Scully should be separated during this episode. Perhaps that was why Gillian Anderson went humorous with it. Her character was on vacation. Why would she be taking the situation seriously? Personally, I would have loved to see Mulder want to take on the case believing the girl was telekinetic and Scully figuring out it was actually the doll. The difference between the story King wanted to tell and how Carter changed it brought down the episode a bit.
That said, its watchable and enjoyable because of Hoffman’s appearance on the show and that it does feel like Stephen King even if Carter rewrote aspects of it. I also love the gore this episode employs, especially in the grocery store when everyone is trying to scratch out their own eyes. And as someone with long hair, I also find the scene during which a girl working at a fast food restaurant gets her hair caught in a blender to be uniquely terrifying. My scalp hurts just thinking about it. At that point in the episode, it still seemed like it was the little girl’s angst causing the issues so that added more tension as did Hoffman’s performance. Her anxiety is palpable.
Actress Jenny-Lynn Hutchenson (the little girl in this episode) also starred in an episode of Millennium as well as other characters on two other episodes of The X-Files. She also starred in Poltergeist: The Legacy and an episode of The Outer Limits. Actor Larry Musser who played the cop in this episode also starred in episodes of Millennium, The Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, and The Twilight Zone as well as three other episodes as unrelated characters in The X-Files. Henry Beckman who played an elderly man in this episode was also in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie and the 1979 film The Brood. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how so many of the actors in this show appeared in many other popular during the 1990s, and this episode is a perfect example of that. I also like the connection to a Hitchcock film and to The Brood which is a film you all should see. If you can get your hands on a Criterion copy while it’s still in the collection.
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.
Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
My childhood was filled with an eclectic mix of movies and books that ranged from standard ‘80s kid stuff to horror movies. My teen years were no different with the cultural difference between the ‘80s and ‘90s was softened by transitional shows like Saved by the Bell. Fievel from An American Tail was just as prevalent as Chucky and R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps. The Last Unicorn held as much space in my mind as many a Stephen King novel. Of all these things to stick with me as an adult to have a link to The X-Files is, surprisingly, Anne of Green Gables. More specifically, the sequel, Anne of Avonlea. The books and the films starring Megan Follows were common fixtures as I grew up and are still today as a middle-aged adult.
It isn’t just Canada that the movies and The X-Files have in common as both were shot north of the border. In Anne of Avonlea, Anne takes a teaching position at an all girls school where she meets a group of young women who test Anne’s patience and teaching ability. One of these girls, played by actress Susannah Hoffman, gives as good as she gets and the two characters end up learning from each other how to find common ground. Hoffman would go on to star in episodes of Goosebumps, The Outer Limits, and more recently, the 11.22.63 limited series based on Stephen King’s time travel novel. She also starred in the tenth episode of season five of The X-Files as a mother trying to care for a little girl with a possessed doll.
Chinga was cowritten by Stephen King and Chris Carter who did a last minute rewrite of a couple scenes of King’s final script. King’s fingerprints are all over this episode as it has shades Carrie and Rose Red because it at first seems like the little girl has telekinetic abilities. She doesn’t seem to be evil herself, but her childhood frustrations are blown out of proportion by the doll’s abilities. The word chinga, unbeknownst to King and Carter, is a common word in Spanish and in Mexico can be a profane insult depending on the usage. For the purposes of this episode, it’s just the name of the doll.
The episode takes place in Maine – of course it does. King loves setting his stories in his home state – and the show was able to use Vancouver’s coastal proximity to make it seem like Scully really was vacationing in lobster country. Mulder is left at home, bored out of his mind, as Scully takes a weekend off to relax. Unfortunately, she stumbles onto a grocery store full of people suffering from self inflicted wounds to their face and eyes. She ends up helping local law enforcement on their case which leads them to the possessed doll and the little girl. The frazzled mother, just trying to survive the situation, shows a grown up Susannah Hoffman who has left behind her days acting as a school girl at a private college in Canada.
I remember seeing this episode when it aired and pointing at the television and yelling, “It’s Jenn Pringle!” Jenn Pringle was the character Hoffman portrayed in Anne of Avonlea and while she hasn’t really stayed much on the radar since, I still find myself doing this every time I rewatch this episode.
As the episode goes on, Scully soon realizes that the doll is calling the shots and that a local officer is actually trying to protect the mother and daughter. She tried to give the episode a comedic tone but Carter actually wanted it to be series. Rumor has it that he couldn’t use some of her dialog because she went too funny with it. The banter with Mulder is certainly funny, especially when she returns to the office and he evidently spent the entire weekend getting sharpened pencils in the ceiling tiles of his basement office. In the end, the doll is thought to be destroyed but is found by a fishing boat as the episode ends. Now it’ll be someone else’s problem.
While I love the connections to Stephen King and Susannah Hoffman and the tropes King commonly uses in his stories, the episode as it stands is not the best fit for The X-Files. King often uses government intervention is his stories, most notably in Dreamcatcher and The Stand. It was Carter who decided during his rewrite that Mulder and Scully should be separated during this episode. Perhaps that was why Gillian Anderson went humorous with it. Her character was on vacation. Why would she be taking the situation seriously? Personally, I would have loved to see Mulder want to take on the case believing the girl was telekinetic and Scully figuring out it was actually the doll. The difference between the story King wanted to tell and how Carter changed it brought down the episode a bit.
That said, its watchable and enjoyable because of Hoffman’s appearance on the show and that it does feel like Stephen King even if Carter rewrote aspects of it. I also love the gore this episode employs, especially in the grocery store when everyone is trying to scratch out their own eyes. And as someone with long hair, I also find the scene during which a girl working at a fast food restaurant gets her hair caught in a blender to be uniquely terrifying. My scalp hurts just thinking about it. At that point in the episode, it still seemed like it was the little girl’s angst causing the issues so that added more tension as did Hoffman’s performance. Her anxiety is palpable.
Actress Jenny-Lynn Hutchenson (the little girl in this episode) also starred in an episode of Millennium as well as other characters on two other episodes of The X-Files. She also starred in Poltergeist: The Legacy and an episode of The Outer Limits. Actor Larry Musser who played the cop in this episode also starred in episodes of Millennium, The Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, and The Twilight Zone as well as three other episodes as unrelated characters in The X-Files. Henry Beckman who played an elderly man in this episode was also in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie and the 1979 film The Brood. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how so many of the actors in this show appeared in many other popular during the 1990s, and this episode is a perfect example of that. I also like the connection to a Hitchcock film and to The Brood which is a film you all should see. If you can get your hands on a Criterion copy while it’s still in the collection.
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.
Share this: