Gibson Praise
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| The X-Files character | |
 |
|
| Gibson Andrew Praise | |
|---|---|
| Affiliated with | None |
| First appearance | The End |
| Last appearance | The Truth |
| Portrayed by | Jeff Gulka |
Gibson Praise is a fictional character on the FOX television show The X-Files. Played by Jeff Gulka, he first appeared in the fifth season finale (The End (5x20)) and sixth season premiere (The Beginning (6x01)), and later reprised his role in the eighth season mythology episodes Within (8x01) and Without (8x02) and in the series finale, The Truth (9x19).
[edit] Biography
Gibson is introduced as a young chess prodigy who thwarted the assassination attempt on his life by stepping back out of the path of a sniper bullet. It is Agent Spender who was assigned to investigate the case, but Mulder intruded on the briefing and immediately came to the conclusion that Gibson sensed the shot precognitively, and that he can in fact read minds. Follow-up tests proved that Gibson's mind-reading abilities were 100% accurate. The investigation lead Scully to find that Gibson had an unusual level of development in one brain lobe not yet fully understood by neuroscience. Mulder thought Gibson might be the key to understanding human potential and to everything in the X-Files. He interrogated the would-be assassin in prison, who said the boy was a "missing link," and Mulder jumped to the conclusion that Gibson had alien genetic structure and was proof of ancient astronauts.
Mulder, Scully, and Agent Fowley attempted to keep Gibson safe and under guard, suspecting that the alien conspirators were the ones behind the attempted assassination, but Fowley was shot while at her post, and Gibson was subsequently kidnapped by the Consortium. Months later, after the events of the movie, Mulder and Scully found Gibson hiding in their car. Gibson's skull had been cut open and stitched back shut, signs that the Consortium scientists had conducted experiments or investigations on his brain. They took him to the hospital, where he was soon kidnapped again by an operative of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
In 2001, Scully found Gibson living in Arizona in a school for the deaf, where he was apparently in hiding from alien bounty hunters or the New Syndicate, who wanted him because he was "part alien." At the end of the episode, Agent Doggett said Gibson had become a ward of the state, and had been put under special protection.
His final appearance was in the series finale, where it was revealed that Mulder had been hiding with Gibson in New Mexico for the duration of his ninth season absence. Gibson volunteered to be a witness at Mulder's trial, (despite Mulder's objection that he should stay hidden) and after Mulder and Scully leave to made their final escape, Agents Doggett and Reyes vowed that they would try and keep him safe - a promise that Gibson took with a grain of salt, knowing the capabilities of his past captors.
[edit] Appearances
Gibson Praise appears in the following episodes:
Season 5
- The End
Season 6
- The Beginning
Season 8
- Within
- Without
Season 9
- The Truth
