Jump the Shark

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For the term that this episode is named after, see Jumping the shark.

"Jump the Shark" is the fifteenth episode of the ninth season of The X-Files. It also serves as the fourteenth and final episode of the canceled television series The Lone Gunmen.^[1] As a composite episode, it adopts the title sequences for both shows. The long-time supporting characters Melvin Frohike, John Fitzgerald Byers and Richard Langly, collectively known as The Lone Gunmen, meet their end in this episode.

[edit] Plot

When Morris Fletcher approaches FBI agents Reyes and Doggett with information related to the supersoldiers, they turn to the Lone Gunmen. He provides an alleged photo of the supersoldier, which the Lone Gunmen recognize as being Yves Adele Harlow, a fellow hacker who went missing a year ago. The Gunmen refuse to believe the evidence, especially when they find that Fletcher provided it, although the agents continue to pursue the trail.

Harlow murders a biology professor, cuts out an organ and disposes of it in a furnace. After the Gunmen capture her, she reveals that he had been experimenting with the immune system of sharks and had been grafting pieces of shark onto his body in order to become a living host to a biological weapon. His research had been funded by Yves' arms dealing father, who had commissioned Fletcher to find her and prevent her from stopping his biological terrorism plot. She further informs them that there is another host, whom she is trying to identify and locate before he can unleash his deadly payload.

Once Fletcher realizes that he's been used by Harlow's father, he teams with the Gunmen to help Harlow find the second bioterrorist. After a few false starts and chases, the Lone Gunmen corner the bioterrorist with only a few minutes before his virus is due to be released. They realize that they lack the time to destroy his virus-filled organ and pull a fire alarm, causing large emergency doors to seal shut, simultaneously containing the virus and entrapping them with it. Their sacrifice earns them a final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery, where Fletcher and the FBI agents pay their respects to them.^[2]

[edit] Trivia

• The episode title is a humorous reference to the phrase "jumping the shark", which is used to describe shows that have reached their peak and started to decline in quality.
• Despite being billed in the main titles Gillian Anderson (Scully) and Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) only appear briefly in the closing scene of this episode.

[edit] References