Elegy (The X-Files)

"Elegy"
The X-Files episode
Scully encounters the spirit of a blond girl.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 22
Directed by	James Charleston
Written by	John Shiban
Production code	4X22[1]
Original air date	May 4, 1997 (1997-05-04)
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearances
Steven M. Porter as Harold Spuller Alex Bruhanski as Angelo Pintero Sydney Lassick as Chuck Forsch Nancy Fish as Nurse Innes Daniel Kamin as Detective Hudak Lorena Gale as The Attorney Mike Puttonen as Martin Alpert Christine Willes as Karen Kosseff Ken Tremblett as Uniformed Officer Gerry Naim as Sergeant Conneff[2]
Episode chronology
← Previous "Zero Sum" Next → "Demons"
The X-Files season 4
List of episodes

"Elegy" is the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by John Shiban and directed by James Charleston. The episode aired in the United States on May 4, 1997, on the Fox network. It is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology, although Scully's battle with cancer is an important plot point. "Elegy" earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6 and was seen by 17.1 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from televisions critics; the performance of lead actress Gillian Anderson was especially praised.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully track a series of murders that lead to a home for the mentally ill and a clue that makes no sense: each victim has appeared as an apparition in the area where their body was found along with the words "She is me".

Shiban was inspired to write the episode based on an incident that involved his wife's father potentially seeing other beings in a room when he was dying. Shiban was also inspired by the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The series sought out a bowling alley to use for filming, but many establishments in Vancouver, Canada were reluctant to yield over two-thirds of their space as well as close down for three days. Eventually, the Thunderbird Bowling Centre was chosen.