4.04 Teliko

Original Air Date: 10/18/96

 

WRITTEN BY: HOWARD GORDON

DIRECTED BY: JAMES CHARLESTON

 

GUEST STARS

Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias

Don Stewart as the businessman

Maxine Guess as the flight attendant

Willie Amakye as Samuel Aboah

Geoffrey Ayi-Bonte as Seat Mate

Bob Morrisey as Dr. Simon Bruin

Carl Lumbly as Marcus Duff

Brendan Beiser as Agent Pendrell

Dexter Bell as Alfred Kittel

Zakes Mokae as Minister Diabria

Sean Campbell as Lt. Madsen

 


The writers have a good imagination.


 

Philadelphia: Four African American men are reported missing. An FBI/Police task force has come up with no leads. . .until the body of the most recent victim is discovered. Violence is not the cause of his death, but a bizarre lack of pigmentation. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) calls in Scully to unravel the medical mystery.

Mulder's investigations, however, lead to a cover-up of a similar death on a plane from West Africa (which was the first murder), and the presence of a toxic plant native to that area. Meanwhile, Scully discover that the victim's pituitary gland (something which produces melanin among other hormones) has somehow been destroyed.

While their investigation is under way, the killer strikes again. A young black student is stalked and kidnapped from a bus stop. This leads Mulder and Scully to a recent West African immigrant, Samuel Aboah. Aboah was also a passenger on the plane where the first murder was performed. He gets arrested while trying to escape. Hospital tests reveal that, among other peculiar abnormalities, Aboah lacks a pituitary gland, something which is necessary to have if you are going to survive.

A tip from an informant within the UN leads Mulder to Minister Diabria, a diplomat from Burkina Faso (a country in West Africa). Diabria admits he had ordered the cover-up of the first murder -because he knew the identity of the killer. He was a "Teliko". A Teliko is a creature from old, African myths. They emerge at night to suck the life and color out of their victims. Who would have believes that a creature from African myths could come to life in tha 20th century America? No one. . .except Mulder.

Mulder explains his theory to a sceptical Scully: the Teliko are not ghostly entities, but members of a lost African clan, who have survived over generations by hunting down other humans to steal what they lack: hormones from the pituitary gland.

Aboah escapes from the hospital. In the ensuing manhunt, Aboah captures Mulder. Scully comes to Mulder's aid and shoots Aboah just in time to save Mulder's life. And the truth about the Teliko is destined to die along with Aboah.

 

 

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