| "3" | |||
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| The X-Files episode | |||
Fox Mulder with Kristen Kilar |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 7 |
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| Directed by | David Nutter | ||
| Written by | Chris Ruppenthal Glen Morgan James Wong |
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| Production code | 2X07 | ||
| Original air date | November 4, 1994 | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of season 2 episodes List of The X-Files episodes |
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"3" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. First broadcast on the Fox network on November 4, 1994, the episode was written by Glen Morgan, James Wong and Chris Ruppenthal, directed by David Nutter, and featured guest appearances by Perrey Reeves and Malcolm Stewart. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology.
The plot has FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) brought in to investigate a series of ritualistic murders in Los Angeles, which he first believes were the work of a cult, and are revealed to be perpetrated by a group of vampires. Following on from the abduction of Dana Scully in the previous episode, "Ascension", "3" was the first episode of The X-Files not to feature series star Gillian Anderson. The episode earned 9 million viewers during its first broadcast, and received mostly negative reviews from both critics and the show's cast and crew.
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In Los Angeles, Garrett Lorre, a middle-aged businessman, embarks on a one night stand with an anonymous woman he has met at a corporate party. However, as they are making love in his hot tub, the woman bites Lorre to drink his blood. Two other men join the woman, helping her kill Lorre by repeatedly stabbing him with hypodermic needles.
The following day, Fox Mulder stores the missing Dana Scully's FBI badge in an X-File and puts on her under her name before travelling to Los Angeles. At the crime scene, Mulder says to the LAPD detectives that Lorre's murder is the latest in a series of seemingly vampiric serial killings that have spanned two other states. Mulder believes the murders were done by a group who view themselves as an "Unholy Trinity".
Mulder visits a local blood bank where a night watchman has been recently hired. Mulder has the employee arrested after he finds him drinking blood in the facility's storeroom. During his interrogation, the night watchman tells Mulder that he belongs to a trio of vampires who desire immortality; he is known as "The Son" while the other two, a man and a woman, are called "The Father" and "The Unholy Spirit". Mulder does not believe The Son's claims. However, at sunrise, The Son is burned to death when sunlight from the window touches his flesh. Mulder is taken aback, having previously assumed vampires to be purely mythological.
During an examination of The Son's body, Mulder discovers a tattoo for Club Tepes, a local vampire club. At the club, coming across a seductive young woman named Kristen Kilar who partakes in the consumption of blood. Mulder, having his suspicion aroused, follows Kristen after she and another club patron, David Yung, leave for an erotic liaison; he initially fears that Kristen is targeting Yung, but is beaten by Yung when he catches the agent spying on them. After Mulder is forced to flee, Yung is murdered by the three killers shortly afterward.
Mulder runs a background check into Kristen, discovering that she formerly lived in Memphis and Portland—both the previous locations of earlier murders. Mulder assists the LAPD in searching Kristen's home, where he finds various blood-related paraphernalia. When Kristen arrives later Mulder is waiting for her. Kristen tells Mulder that she met The Son, then known as John, in Chicago and that they had drunk each other's blood. Later Kristen fled John as he got together with the Unholy Trinity, but they followed her across the country. Mulder and Kristen kiss while The Son, alive after all, watches on.
The next morning The Son confronts Kristen and tells her that by killing Mulder and drinking the blood of a believer, she will become one of them. Kristen approaches Mulder with a knife but instead stabs The Father, who is hiding in the bedroom. The Son attacks Mulder but Mulder overcomes him and ties him up. Mulder and Kristen try to escape with the car but are attacked in the garage by The Unholy Spirit. Kristen drives into her, impaling her on a wooden peg on the wall. Kristen tricks Mulder into running outside of the house while she goes back inside and pours gasoline all over the house. Kristen lights a match, blowing up the house and taking her own life in order to kill the other vampires. Firefighters find four bodies in the wreckage while Mulder stares at Scully's cross necklace.[1][2]
"It's a very different show because it's the first one without Scully. She's been away for quite some time. It's a situation where Mulder is in a dark place, doesn't know which way to turn, and is really very much on his own. The whole vampire thing happened because he went to a dark place that he normally wouldn't have gone to."
Howard Gordon was originally supposed to write the seventh episode of the season, but when he became unavailable Glen Morgan and James Wong, who were working on writing the eighth episode of the season, agreed to rewrite a freelance script provided by Chris Ruppenthal.[4] The writers had to do significant edits, but retained the main plot surrounding three vampires.[4][5]
Club Tepes, named after Prince Vlad Tepes—better known as Vlad the Impaler, who was the inspiration for Dracula[6]—was shot inside a closed-down and redecorated nightclub, with extras recruited from other Vancouver clubs.[7] The location for Kristen's house was the mansion of hockey player Pavel Bure, then the leading name of the Vancouver Canucks. The producers had an agreement for the late filming from all but one of Bure's neighbors, who was absent during the petitioning. Said neighbor later tried to sue Fox, only agreeing to let production continue after receiving an indenization.[8]
Perrey Reeves, who played Kristen, was David Duchovny's real-life girlfriend at the time.[9] Speaking of Mulder's possible sexual encounter with Kristen, series creator Chris Carter said, "I thought, 'This guy's a monk. Let's let him be a human. Especially in [Scully's] absence, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to do it."[9] Duchovny had previously acted alongside another real-life girlfriend, Maggie Wheeler, in the first season episode "Born Again".[10] Gillian Anderson is absent from the episode as she was on leave to give birth to her daughter Piper at the time.[11] This episode was the first in which Scully did not appear.[6]
"3" premiered on the Fox network on November 4, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on October 9, 1995.[12] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.4, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 9.4 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 9 million households.[13]
Co-writer Glen Morgan felt doing an episode on vampires was a mistake, and said that they also took heat for having Mulder fall for Kristen. Co-writer James Wong was also disappointed, saying that the script was a lot better than the show and that the episode was weakened when Fox censors had problems with the episode.[14] Actor David Duchovny thought the episode had style, but suffered some lapses in logic, including the scene where Kristen shaves Mulder before the two kiss.[15]
While writing about vampire-related television shows for Metacritic, Zeenat Burns described the episode as "wretched".[16] Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a C, criticizing the fact that it did not explore enough the "promising premise" of Scully's absence.[17] Reviewer Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club also considered that without said premise"deserve[d] better than to be background noise for a by-the-numbers erotic thriller".[18] Handlen described Mulder and Kristen's "tedious romance" as "all kinds of misguided",[18] and felt the episode indulged in "lazy writing" regarding the over-explored theme of vampires which resulted in "terrible dialogue and heavy-handed attempts at mood".[18] He still praised David Duchovny's performance and felt the first twenty minutes were "endurable trash" with a "serious USA Up All Night vibe".[18]