Zero Sum (The X-Files)

"Zero Sum"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 21
Directed by	Kim Manners
Written by	Frank Spotnitz Howard Gordon
Production code	4X21
Original air date	April 27, 1997
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias Don S. Williams as First Elder John Moore as Third Elder Morris Panych as Gray-Haired Man Nicolle Nattrass as Misty Nagata Paul McLean as Special Agent Kautz Fred Keating as Detective Roy Thomas Allan Gray as Dr. Peter Valdespino Addison Ridge as Bespectacled Boy Lisa Stewart as Jane Brody Barry Greene as E.R. Doctor Christopher J. Newton as Photo Technician Oscar Goncalves as Night Attendant Jason Anthony Griffith as Uniformed Officer Julia Body as Supervisor
Episode chronology
← Previous "Small Potatoes" Next → "Elegy"
List of season 4 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"Zero Sum" is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on April 27, 1997. It was directed by Kim Manners, and written by Frank Spotnitz and Howard Gordon. "Zero Sum" included appearances by William B. Davis, Laurie Holden and Morris Panych. The episode helped to explore the overarching mythology, or fictional history of The X-Files. "Zero Sum" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.7, being watched by 18.6 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode has received mixed to positive responses from critics.

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. In the episode, a case Mulder is asked to investigate is covertly covered up by the agents' boss Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who has made a sinister bargain with The Smoking Man (Davis).

The decision to center another episode around Skinner—following the third season episode "Avatar"—was made when Gillian Anderson took a week off to shoot the film The Mighty. Rather than have Duchovny carry the additional workload, the writing staff decided to focus the episode on supporting cast members. "Zero Sum" was the final appearance in the series by Morris Panych. In addition, the episode saw the return of the virus-carrying bees from the season-opener "Herrenvolk" and would later return in the 1998 feature film.

...
Wikipedia