I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I think it has some good aspects and insights, but there are also several storylines that felt unnecessary and that distracted from the larger question that lies at the foundation of the episode. Like, as I’ll get into, the affair that…vaguely plays a role in the episode? But really is barely commented on and in my opinion definitely did not need to be in the episode? Dear writers, you don’t need to make every episode into some weird soap opera by including things like that…
Questions about psychology and the genetics of violence are at the core of this episode, but unfortunately I didn’t really feel like any of those topics were explored in the way they should have been. There were some really good questions to ask and explore with the case(s) in this episode, but they were really just barely skimmed, and ultimately the way the writers tried to work genetics and psychology into this episode left me with more questions at the end than answers. Like, the case was solved but…no real explanation for why the crimes occurred the way they did. 🤔
Ultimately this episode feels similar to “Lazarus” and “Young at Heart” from season 1, in that the episode has a good foundational theory, but the way it ultimately played out just didn’t quiiiiiiiite work for me. It’s not a terrible episode, but it’s also not a good one in my opinion. Just very average, and a very easily forgettable episode of the show. And I’ll also note that the camera work/directing really weren’t doing it for me throughout a lot of the episode. I get that the director (Rob Bowman) was probably trying to get across how disoriented and confused Detective Morrow felt, and how disorienting the entire case history was, but it made certain scenes hard to watch. Especially the opening scene in the Aubrey police station…why did you have to pan around like that all shakily and make me motion sick? Sometimes trying a different directing style just doesn’t work as intended.
But, that of course is not to say that I don’t have lots of thoughts still. 😉 So let’s get into the summary of the case(s) and some thoughts!
“Stranger Killings”: The Case, from 1942-1995
We open in the small town of Aubrey, Missouri—which is a fake town, but which is apparently very close to the Nebraska border. Though, not close to any town in Nebraska named “Gainesville”…another fake town in the show. Many states have a “Gainesville” (not just the well-known UF college town), but Nebraska is not one of those states 😉
Brief side note here that I…do not understand why the title “Aubrey” was chosen for this episode. Yes, sure, it’s the name of the fake town the writers created, but other than that it has very little to do with the plot of the episode. And it makes you think the episode is going to be about a person named Aubrey which it is…not. In my opinion, “Sister” would’ve been a better name for this episode, for reasons I’ll get into shortly. Much more sinister and appropriate for the plot.
Anyway. We open in the police station of Aubrey, where two detectives briefly discuss an ongoing murder case. All that we learn about the case is it involved a straight-razor and something about “sister”. We then join the head Detective—Tillman—in his office, and he is joined by Detective B.J. Morrow. She is upset he didn’t show up to their affair date last night, and he tells her to meet him at a motel outside of town. Giving her a “reason” to be out near a random field late at night.
Detective Morrow goes to that motel…but she doesn’t meet Tillman. She has a very disorienting vision involving a young man digging a grave for a body in a field near the motel. Finding herself frantically digging in the dirt in a very specific spot she couldn’t possibly have found without the vision, Det. Morrow finds buried bones…along with a rusted, old FBI badge.
These are the bones of an FBI agent!!! 😱
Thus, bringing Mulder and Scully in on the case. The bones belong to Agent Sam Chaney, who disappeared along with his partner back in 1942 in Aubrey, MO while investigating a string of “stranger killings”. So, the “main” case here, and the reason Mulder and Scully are sent to Aubrey is to figure out what happened to Agent Chaney, and maybe hopefully find his partner, Agent Ledbetter, as well.
But, really, this case could have gone to anyone at the bureau. Solving even a 50-year-old disappearance/likely murder of an FBI agent is a big deal. The reason Mulder is interested in this case is he wants to figure out how and why the bones were found by a random detective, especially given that the bones were buried in the middle of a field. Which is a fair question, I’ll grant. If that field was being plowed or developed and bones the bones were found, that would make some sense. If the bones were buried in a basement or house or whatever, and then found while construction was being done, again would make some sense. Even having a dog digging in the middle of a field and uncovering bones would be reasonable. But it is indeed odd that a person was just digging in the middle of a random field for no apparent reason and found the bones. (Short note here though that I do resent how Mulder sounds surprised that a woman found the bones. The way he says it sounds so…condescending? Mulder, you work with a female partner who is just as brilliant if not more so than you. Why is it weirder that a female detective found the bones???)
Mulder clearly thinks Det. Morrow is having visions and those visions led her to the body. Though Det. Morrow tries to deny this at first, she does later admit to having very strange dreams involving women being killed…essentially “foreseeing” the murders that are currently happening in Aubrey.
Back in 1942, Chaney and Ledbetter were investigating a killer dubbed the “Slash Killer” in the media, because he carved the word “SISTER” onto the chest of all the victims, as well as writing it in blood on the wall. Those exact same murders are once again occurring now, over 50 years later—there are two new victims now already. Is it a copycat killer? It certainly appears the 1940s murders were covered in the press. Or is the killer still around? The 1940s murderer was never caught, but one would assume whoever that was would be in their 60s at the youngest, and likely quite a bit older…
Det. Morrow ultimately picks out the (young) face of a man named Cokely from the 1940s case files. Cokely was arrested and convicted in 1945 (after the 1942 string of “Slash Killer” murders) for the rape and attempted murder of a woman named Linda Thibedeaux, during which he also carved the word “SISTER” on her chest before she could escape. Apparently the 1945 police somehow never made the connection to the murders that happened 3 years earlier which…seems very unrealistic to me? I mean, I know it was the 1940s, and I think the Thibedeaux attempted murder occurred in a different small town. There likely wasn’t a huge amount of communication between police departments in 1945 but still…really? No one made the connection to murders that happened only three years earlier, which also involved the disappearance of two FBI agents?! You’d think someone in the media would’ve at least made a connection and asked the police departments and the FBI about it. How did the FBI never even make the connection, and think to ask Cokely where their missing agents might be?!
Ugh. Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that Cokely is the one who committed the 1942 murders in Aubrey, and thus also killed Agents Chaney and Ledbetter. However, over 50 years later and out of prison, Cokely now relies on an oxygen tank and clearly doesn’t get around very well, so I agree with Scully that it seems very, very unlikely he is the one carrying out the current murders in Aubrey…
Later that evening, Det. Morrow has another dream, and is seemingly attacked in her own home. Despite her injuries, her dream leads her to find the bones of the Agent Ledbetter under in the basement of a random house in Aubrey. And, despite Cokely now being 77 years old and reliant on oxygen, Det. Morrow insists she saw him in her house after she was attacked. And the blood found under one of the current victim’s nails does indeed match Cokely’s blood type.
So the current killer is either Cokely or a relative of his…the child he conceived when he raped Linda Thibedeaux in 1945!!!
Or…Cokely’s granddaughter! Thibedeaux’s son was a policeman named Raymond Morrow. Det. Morrow’s father! B.J. herself has been the one carrying out the recent murders—she’s not having visions or dreams of the murders; she is blacking out while she commits the murders, the exact same acts as her grandfather over 50 years previously.
Mulder theorizes there’s some genetic reason for this…and that it was somehow triggered by B.J.’s current pregnancy. I’ll get into all of that in a bit, but suffice it to say for now that all of that is very vague, and just wasn’t explored as much as I feel it should’ve been. We could’ve cut out all of the scenes with the unnecessary affair to explore the psychology and genetics more!!!
Ultimately, Det. Morrow kills her grandfather, and his death seems to put an end to her visions and stop her violent acts. Both the 1942 and current murders are solved, but we are left with a lot of questions about why exactly Det. Morrow reenacted her grandfather’s murderous acts…and why they happened exactly when they did…
Psychology & the FBI
AGENT CHANEY (1942): “One must wonder how these monsters are created. Did their home life mold them into creatures that must maim and kill, or are they demons from birth?”
Mulder notes that back in 1942, Chaney and Ledbetter’s methods of solving crimes were unconventional. These agents didn’t want to just solve the crimes, but they wanted to understand why some people were compelled to commit violent acts. And they believed, seemingly, that understanding or delving into the psychology of the killer could possibly help to identify them.
I actually didn’t realize that the term “serial killer” itself is so recent, because we’ve definitely had a lot of historic serial killers. But indeed, the first use of the term in English was in 1974 by FBI Agent Robert Kessler, who also played a big role in establishing the psychological profiling of murder suspects—Mulder’s job before the “X-files”, essentially. The FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit wasn’t even established until the 1970s. The science of “criminal profiling” itself does indeed date back to the 1880s “Jack the Ripper” investigation, which I suppose is why I thought that the idea of serial killers and psychological profiling was older than it is. But the criminal profile of “Jack the Ripper” didn’t really investigate/explore the psychology/reason for his string of murders. Instead, it concluded that the murderer likely had either surgical or butcher experience, and briefly touched a psychological motive based on misogyny or rage towards women.
Anyway. I’m not a psychology expert, but I did enjoy this brief historical tidbit. It’s interesting to me that it was only so recently (…50 years) that even the largest US criminal investigation unit thought about asking why some criminals commit their acts, especially in the case of “serial” criminals who seemingly cannot help but commit crimes over and over again, with often no personal connection to a victim. Seems like understanding the psychological motivations would be a really important part of solving and maybe even preventing future crimes?
Genetic Predisposition to Violence?
So, this part of the episode is where I feel it really had the potential to be very interesting, and yet fell short of that. And also Mulder went too far in trying to connect genetics to violence.
Any “fact checking” or thoughts I do here are going to be much less in-depth than my normal science fact checks, because I am neither a geneticist nor a psychologist. I understand genetics fairly well, but I took one psychology class in my freshman year of college and I’m not going to even try to pretend I can comment on psychology and criminology like any sort of expert (Maybe I should’ve invited my sister, the forensic psychologist, to do a guest commentary on this 😂)
But, I do still want to include a little bit of what I found in my brief research and some of my own thoughts on where/how this episode missed the mark here.
The subject of genetic predisposition to violence is controversial and difficult to research, because you never want to just assume anyone is more likely to commit violent acts and unable to be treated or unable to change their genes, even if they could be related to violent acts in family history.
There have been a few genetic markers found to possibly be linked to a higher likelihood of someone becoming aggressive or committing certain violent acts. But in all my research, I haven’t found anyone who believes genetics alone are the explanation. Environment, childhood trauma, or exposure to other traumatic events even later in life, also play a role in how one responds and acts later in life. There are so many factors that can alter how one responds to later events in life, and that might cause someone to become aggressive or more violent. Even when it comes to psychopathy and sociopathy, while it can run in families and have a genetic component, isn’t so easily explained by genetics alone. An individual’s genes might make them more susceptible to trauma causing aggressive behavior…but just because someone is the offspring of a serial killer, that doesn’t mean they are destined to become violent themselves.
I think the question of environmental influence vs. being “born evil” would’ve been a really interesting angle for this episode to explore, but instead Mulder seems to basically decides that some people are indeed born evil. Det. Morrow’s grandfather committed these violent murders, and he passed on those violent tendencies to Det. Morrow herself. Despite by all accounts having a very normal childhood, with her father not even knowing that his father was a serial murderer, she apparently cannot resist her “genetic urges” to violence and aggression???
I call bullshit. Assuming that certain people can’t help but be violent and aggressive is dangerous and doesn’t actually help anyone. It’s certainly not going to help solve crimes. And it gets dangerously close, in my opinion, to conflating certain psychological disorders like schizophrenia with a “natural” predisposition to violence and aggression, when actually mentally ill individuals are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators…
Again, I am by no means an expert, and I’m sure actual psychologists and geneticists would have better commentary on this. And I don’t discount that it is important to research possible connections between genetics, violence, and aggression. But it’s important to tread lightly in that area.
MRS. THIBEDEAUX: They tried to explain at the trial how his father used to beat him and how he was the only son in a family of five daughters, and how he was brutally punished for everything wrong that happened. But if you ask me, that man was born evil.
Now, for a brief-ish note on how I personally feel this episode could’ve been improved. Because, again, I think the question of environmental influence vs. criminals being “born evil” is an interesting one! But in this case the writers just seemed to focus on people being born evil…even as they also acknowledged that Cokely had been traumatized in his youth. So, environment clearly played a role there. That doesn’t excuse his horrific crimes, but there is an explanation there, and I think exploring the psychology of violence there would’ve been really interesting!
The connection between Det. Morrow and her grandfather still could’ve been included, but without making her violent. She could just have some weird genetic connection to his past/the crimes that still haunt him today causing her visions and dreams, and thus leading to her solving the 1942 murders of the two FBI agents. Sure, you could even have that connection “activated” by the pregnancy. But just…having the same exact murders occurring 50 years later, committed by Cokely’s granddaughter...that felt entirely unnecessary, and involved a gross misuse of the possible connections between genetics and violence.
A psychic link between grandfather and granddaughter, activated by pregnancy, is spooky enough for The X-Files, in my opinion. The visions could’ve even been expanded upon, allowing us to further explore why Cokely committed the murders back in the 1940s. Have more flashbacks! Tell us how close Agents Chaney and Ledbetter got to solving the crime. I mean, I’d assume they got pretty close if they were killed by Cokely, but what were their thoughts on Cokely’s behaviour and psychology? Could Mrs. Thibedeaux’s attack have been prevented if the two agents had been able to arrest Cokely in 1942?
It’s very possible that actual psychologists/criminal profilers/etc feel differently about this episode, but the way that the question of genetic predisposition to violence was written and played out in this episode definitely rubbed me the wrong way. And maybe this was “better” or played better in 1995, but we know so much more now that I just…did not enjoy how this episode tried to address that question.
Morrow and Tillman’s Affair
To conclude the main thoughts on this episode (and more of my complaints), let’s get into the entirely unnecessary affair between Dets. Morrow and Tillman. Why was this soap opera storyline included here?
Their affair is potentially useful for 3 reasons…but all of those reasons could easily be explained without the affair, in my opinion:
The affair gives Det. Morrow a “reason” to be out by that random field so late at night, because she was meeting Tillman. But…uh…she very easily could’ve been just randomly driving down that road. It doesn’t appear the motel is actually in the middle of nowhere, it’s just outside of the town of Aubrey. Det. Morrow easily could’ve been driving for literally any reason, and she could’ve actually had car trouble causing her to stop there and have the vision. Or you could just give her that dream anywhere else…she wasn’t near the house when she had her second vision that led to finding the second agent’s body. Conclusion: Affair unnecessary here, she could’ve had a vision leading her to find Agent Chaney’s bones at any other place and time.
The affair semi-explains Det. Tillman’s protectiveness of Det. Morrow, and his disbelief that Mulder and Scully accused her of murder. But…he could and hopefully would be just as outraged even if Det. Morrow was merely his coworker. Conclusion: Affair unnecessary.
The affair is the reason Det. Morrow is pregnant. And we’re apparently supposed to believe that the pregnancy somehow “activated” her connection to her grandfather’s crimes, but no explanation is actually given for this. Mulder and Scully barely even question the pregnancy’s possible connection to the episode’s events, though they do mention at the end that Det. Morrow tried to abort her baby in prison…which again is very gross in my opinion, again putting wayyyyyy too much stock into violence and aggression being genetically linked. But anyway, even if the writers did want to keep the “psychic link” being activated by a pregnancy…she could just be pregnant. Tillman is not at all related to the prior case, so it’s not important that he specifically is the father. Conclusion: Affair still unnecessary.
I just personally found the affair storyline to be distracting, and maybe I’m mostly annoyed that it took away time we could’ve been using to better explore the psychology and possible genetics of violence.
Mostly the affair essentially served as a mirror to Mulder and Scully (yeah right, you’ve had feelings only “in the past” for coworkers, Scully…) but even that wasn’t needed here.
The X-Files is a comedy
Is Mulder crazy? Or is he on the right track, just like those agents in the 40s using psychology to solve crimes… 🤔
Mulder!!!! Please stop watching porn and making sex jokes at work 😭
I have no commentary. Just laughing along with Scully
Our “Completely Platonic Coworkers”
SCULLY: Things must be difficult for you now. I've had ... feelings for people I've worked with. Interoffice relationships can be complicated.
OK, so we’ll learn in SEVERAL seasons that what she’s saying here (I cut out the end “especially when he's married”) actually mostly applies to a different relationship from Scully’s past.
But somehow I doubt the writers had planned that far ahead, sooooooo this mostly just feels like subtext for Mulder and Scully’s relationship.
“Had” feelings for people. Scully. Come on, you currently have feelings for the person you’re working with. 😂 Just neither of you are willing to admit it.
What is happening here???? 😂😂😂 I love that Mulder asked if B.J. could draw the image she saw in her dream, knowing he didn’t actually have paper for her. Because he also apparently knew with 100% certainty that Scully would be carrying the paper for him. How long have they coordinated like this for? Why can’t or don’t they both carry both items? LOOK how Mulder just looks over immediately at Scully, patiently waiting for the pad of paper. They’re so in step with each other!!!
Finally, I don’t really know where to put this screenshot, but I’ll put it here both because 1) It’s hilarious how closely they’re sitting to each other and 2) I love that they ordered fried chicken and cookies and are just casually eating them in the autopsy room/lab (at least away from the bones). Date night in the autopsy bay.
The 90s™
Ahahahaha I didn’t know that people used to use “modem” as a verb 🤣
I’m actually quite impressed though with this 1995 software that was able to manipulate the scans and then analyze the cuts for words. Pretty high tech honestly, despite the graphics
Also, kind of impressed they were able to find someone in the small town of Aubrey, Missouri that had a digital scanner
Goofs/Bloopers/Fun Facts
Well it’s pretty clear that I have a lot of complaints about this episode, and I definitely still personally feel the way the writers tried to apply psychology and genetics here was a big “goof”.
That overall missed mark aside, the other biggest goof is Det. Morrow’s age. Her father would’ve been born in 1945 or 1946, and would be either 49 or 50 years old. Even if Det. Morrow’s parents had her as teenagers (let’s say 16 at the youngest), she would be 33 or 34. And, no offense meant to the actress, but Det. Morrow is pretty clearly at least in her late 30s here (the actress, Deborah Strang, was 44 when the episode was filmed). The writers very easily could’ve just made Det. Morrow Cokely’s daughter…they even could’ve kept the “my father was a policeman” line, having that father be her adoptive father. Especially since the writers make no attempt to explain why the supposed genetic predisposition to violence skipped a generation here.
And I do have one funny possible blooper here. Scully trips down the stairs when they go down to the basement to find Det. Morrow digging. While this could be easily explained by them likely being woken up in the middle of the night and Scully for some godforsaken reason needing to wear heels still, I doubt it was actually scripted. I think Gillian Anderson just tripped 😂
Overall Thoughts/Summary
Episode rating: 5/10. I mean, clearly, I did not particularly enjoy this episode. But it still isn’t a terrible episode of the show, because it had a lot of potential! And it gains back some points from me because I did feel that Deborah Strang did a really good job as Det. Morrow. Certainly, the plotline and violent scenes could’ve been a lot more eyeroll inducing with a different actress in that role. And I do think that at the surface, the episode is very much an average one, just a historical murder mystery with a present-day connection…with some gross psychology and genetic science applied. If you don’t dig too deep or question anything as I did, the episode is a fine enough watch. But just very much…meh. 5/10, don’t need to watch again, and will probably once again forget that this episode happened in a few years.
X-files cases “solved” to date: 8.5/11 (28.5/35 overall). I actually kind of want to give them credit for solving three cases here. They finally actually connected Cokely to the 1942 murders in Aubrey, they solved the murders of Agents Chaney and Ledbetter, and they solved the present-day murders in Aubrey! Good job, Mulder and Scully! At least this episode had an incredible case closure rate going for it.
Well. After a string of two fairly poor episodes with questionable plotlines, thankfully next week we have “Irresistible”. That episode is without a doubt one of the creepiest episodes of the series, but it is also one of my favourites. It does a much better job of delving into the psychology of criminals, and the character development in the episode (for Scully in particular) is A+.
So I’m very much looking forward to diving into another of my favourite episodes. And putting the weirdness of “Aubrey” behind me.