Hellbound (The X-Files)

In Novi, Virginia, a group of ex-convicts, led by Dr. Lisa Holland (Katy Boyer), meet and discuss atoning for their sins. Terry Pruit (Don Swayze) tells the others that, since he has discovered the group, he has made amends for his past. However, another member, Ed (Cyril O'Reilly), tells him that humans are unable to change and that they are both destined for hell. Ed's friend, Victor Potts (David Figlioli), tells Holland that he's been having nightmares involving people being skinned alive. That night, he has a vision of Ed skinned. Several hours later, Victor is murdered. Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) asks John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to examine Potts' body. Reyes explains that, because Potts had a premonition of his own death, the case is an X-File. Meanwhile, at a butchery, Terry and Ed get into an argument. Terry later has a vision—similar to Victor's—in which Ed is skinned alive. That night, he is attacked and brutally flayed.

Reyes and Doggett arrive in Novi and talk to Detective Van Allen (James McDonnell), who seems apathetic about the case. At the same time, Scully contacts Dr. Bertram Mueller (George D. Wallace), a former medical examiner who autopsied several bodies in the 1960s that were skinned in a manner similar to Potts. Mueller tells Scully that the sheriff at the time did not pay much attention to the cases, emphasizing that there was more than one victim, and that he later killed himself. Reyes and Doggett receive news of Terry's attack and arrive at the local butchery to find him strung up among the pigs. While looking around the crime scene, Doggett discovers that Terry is still alive; Terry weakly says Ed's name. Doggett and the local police arrest Ed, who claims that he is innocent. Reyes believes him and admits that she too is having similar visions. Ed is freed, but not before having a vision in which Dr. Holland is skinned. In the meantime, Scully discovers that Potts and Terry were both born on the same day that two of the 1960s murder victims died.

Doggett, acting on Reyes' insistence that Ed is in danger, stakes out his house. Ed, however, is skinned regardless of Doggett's attempts to protect him. Reyes admits to Doggett that she is having flashes of the same premonitions that the victims are experiencing. She tells Doggett that Ed's body was gagged with a rag coated in coal dust from a mine, even though she has never seen his body. Reyes and Doggett head to the mine from which they believe the dust originated. Doggett finds the skeleton of a sheriff who killed himself in 1909.

Reyes finds newspaper clippings explaining the story: In 1868, a group of four miners murdered a man. The murderers' souls have been reincarnated several times since, only to be brutally skinned by the soul of the victim. In each case, the avenger is a prominent figure of the law.

Reyes soon stumbles onto the collected skin of the victims, but is attacked by Van Allen. Doggett eventually finds her unharmed. Reyes explains to Doggett that Van Allen is avenging his own murder and that all the murders that are linked to the case have been in groups of four. Reyes believes Van Allen takes his own life each time in order to restart the series of murders. Reyes frantically calls Holland, informing her that she is the fourth victim. Van Allen arrives at the church, but is stopped by Reyes. Later, Reyes muses to Scully that in the past, she had always failed to stop Van Allen's spirit. In this life, however, she managed to succeed. The shot changes to Van Allen dying, only to be reincarnated into a newborn baby.[2]

The episode's plot is similar to mythology surrounding the Aztec agriculture god Xipe Totec.

"Hellbound" was written by supervising producer David Amann and directed by Kim Manners.[3] The episode was Amann's sixth episode written for the series, after season six's "Terms of Endearment" and "Agua Mala", season seven's "Rush" and "Chimera", and season eight's "Invocation".[4] With this episode, executive producer Frank Spotnitz was interested in taking Annabeth Gish's character into a darker area.[5] Executive producer John Shiban later explained that the episode—which deals with themes of "reincarnation and the idea of karmic justice"—revolved around Reyes questioning whether she was "a good person or a bad person? Did she fight evil, or did she let evil happen."[5][6] It has been noted that the episode's plot is similar to mythology surrounding the Aztec agriculture god Xipe Totec.[7] In mythology, Xipe Totec is often represented wearing flayed human skin, usually with the skin of the hands falling loosely from the wrists.[8][9]

The production crew was tasked with building a refrigerated building the size of a warehouse for the slaughterhouse scenes. The crew rented an old dairy and decorated it with 300 slaughter pigs, supplemented by 200 additional rubber pigs.[5] The skinned human bodies in the episode were created by spraying a mannequin with a layer of latex. The layer was then peeled off. Makeup technicians then took the "peeled skin" and positioned it onto other mannequins that had been designed to resemble the actors.[7] According to Hurwitz and Knowles in the book The Complete X-Files, the effects were "a level of detail and sophistication never before seen on series television."[6] The makeup staff worked quickly; according to Robert Patrick, the team "literally did a 36-hour day to pull off some of" the effects.[6] The faux skin was created to look "moist" and was composed of over 200 prosthetic pieces. Fake veins were then overlaid on top of the skin. Makeup department head Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf later claimed that "seven makeup artists work[ed] seven hours on each person [for] ten days.[5]

• Fernández, Adela (1992). Dioses Prehispánicos de México (in Spanish). Mexico City: Panorama Editorial. ISBN 968-38-0306-7.
• Fraga, Erica (2010). LAX-Files: Behind the Scenes with the Los Angeles Cast and Crew. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781451503418.
• Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1933784809.
• Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos; Felipe Solis Olguín (2002). Aztecs. London: Royal Academy of Arts. ISBN 1-903973-22-8.
• Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1553698126.
• Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 978-0975944691.

This article incorporates material derived from the "Hellbound" article on the X-Files wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (July 17, 2012).

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• "Hellbound" at XFiles.com
• "Hellbound" at IMDb