Demons (The X-Files)

"Demons"
The X-Files episode
The Smoking Man with Samantha Mulder in a flashback. The sequence's colors were manipulated during film development; the film's negatives were filtered with strobe lights.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 23
Directed by	Kim Manners
Written by	R. W. Goodwin
Production code	4X23
Original air date	May 11, 1997
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Jay Acovone as Detective Joe Curtis Mike Nussbaum as Dr. Charles Goldstein Chris Owens as Cigarette Smoking Man Rebecca Toolan as Teena Mulder Andrew Johnston as Medical Examiner Terry Jang Barclay as Officer Imhof Vanessa Morley as Samantha Mulder Eric Breker as Admitting Officer Rebecca Harker as Housekeeper Shelley Adam as Young Teena Mulder Dean Aylesworth as Young Bill Mulder Alex Haythorne as Young Fox Mulder
Episode chronology
← Previous "Elegy" Next → "Gethsemane"
List of season 4 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"Demons" is the twenty-third episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997 and in the United Kingdom on BBC One on February 25, 1998. It was written by R. W. Goodwin and directed by Kim Manners. The episode helps explore the series' overarching mythology. "Demons" received a Nielsen rating of 11.8, being watched by 19.1 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics, with many complimenting the episode's look in Mulder's mind.

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 this episode, Mulder wakes up in a hotel with blood all over him and no memory of what happened. Mulder and Scully soon discover that Mulder was involved in a double homicide and may have been the killer. It is soon revealed that Mulder had been seeing a doctor who had allowed him to view glimpses of his past memories. After evidence becomes paramount, Mulder is cleared of the murder charges.

The episode was written by R. W. Goodwin, an executive producer and director for the show. This marked the second instance where a member of the production crew wrote an episode, after the third season entry "Wetwired", written by Mat Beck. The episode was influenced by An Anthropologist on Mars, a series of essays by Oliver Sacks, in particular The Landscape of Dreams featuring a man who could recall every detail of his childhood. During the flashback sequences in the episode, various effects were created by manipulating the camera and its film.