Terms of Endearment (The X-Files)

"Terms of Endearment"
The X-Files episode
Wayne Weinsider as a demon in his wife's "dream". The scene was shot to give the effect that the fire was mere inches away from the bed.
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 7
Directed by	Rob Bowman
Written by	David Amann
Featured music	"Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage[1]
Production code	6ABX06[2]
Original air date	January 3, 1999 (1999-01-03)
Running time	45 minutes[3]
Guest appearances
Bruce Campbell as Wayne Weinsider Lisa Jane Persky as Laura Weinsider Grace Phillips as Betsy Monroe Chris Owens as Agent Spender Michael Milhoan as Deputy Arky Stevens Michael Rothhaar as Dr. Couvillion Lenora May as Kim Britton Jimmy Staszkiel as Mr. Ginsberg Karen Stone as Nurse Matthew Butcher as EMT[4]
Episode chronology
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The X-Files season 6
List of episodes

"Terms of Endearment" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, and originally aired on the Fox network on January 3, 1999. Written by David Amann and directed by Rob Bowman, "Terms of Endearment" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. It earned a Nielsen rating of 10.5 and was watched by 18.7 million people on its initial broadcast. The performance given by guest actor Bruce Campbell attracted positive comments, but the plot was criticized.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In the installment, an unborn child is apparently abducted from its mother's womb by a demon after the prospective parents discover that their child has birth defects. After Agent Spender dismisses the assignment as irrelevant to the X-Files, Mulder and Scully steal the case and investigate the creature. While looking into the report, the duo discover that Wayne Weinsider (Campbell) is a child-abducting demon.

"Terms of Endearment", an inversion of the 1968 film Rosemary's Baby, was the first episode written by The X-Files' executive story editor David Amann, a staff member who later became a regular contributor to the series. Campbell, already well known as a cult film actor in several Sam Raimi horror movies, was cast as Wayne Weinsider. Many of the episode's special effects were created without elaborate computer-generated effects. Critics have complimented the episode's unique representation of its antagonist, who has been classified as a sympathetic villain.