Eve (The X-Files)

"Eve" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on December 10, 1993. It was written by Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato, directed by Fred Gerber, and featured guest appearances by Harriet Sansom Harris and Jerry Hardin in his role as Deep Throat. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Eve" earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.8, being watched by 6.4 million households in its initial broadcast; and received positive reviews from critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. When Mulder and Scully investigate two seemingly identical murders that occurred simultaneously thousands of miles apart, they find that both victims' daughters may be the product of a secret human cloning project created by the government.

The episode was pitched to series creator Chris Carter by freelance writers Biller and Brancato under the title of "The Girls from Greenwich", with the focus being on genetic experiments conducted on sets of twins. The producers initially looked for twins to play the roles of Teena and Cindy in Los Angeles, but child labor laws made using children from there so difficult that they instead searched locally in Vancouver, finding Erika and Sabrina Krievins.

Plot

In Greenwich, Connecticut, a jogging couple find a girl, Teena Simmons, standing alone. Nearby, they find her father sitting dead on a swing set with two incisions in his neck.

Fox Mulder takes the case and reviews it with Dana Scully, believing the death is an example of extraterrestrial cattle mutilation on a human being. When Mulder and Scully travel to Connecticut and interview Teena, she claims to have seen "red lightning" when her father died and that "men from the clouds" had wanted to exsanguinate him. Afterwards, the agents travel to Marin County, California and visit the Reardon residence, the scene of a similar murder. They realize that despite the distance between the killings, they were committed on the same day and at the same moment. Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, Teena is kidnapped by a dark-clothed figure.

When Mulder and Scully meet the Reardons, they discover that their daughter, Cindy, is identical to Teena. Cindy's mother tells the agents that she was conceived via in vitro fertilization at a fertility clinic in San Francisco. There, Scully learns that both the Simmons and the Reardons were treated by a woman named Dr. Sally Kendrick, who was fired for conducting eugenics experiments with ova from the clinic's lab. Meanwhile, Mulder is contacted by Deep Throat, who details a Cold War-era supersoldier program that produced genetically modified children—identified as "Adam" or "Eve" based on their genders. Deep Throat tells Mulder of a woman connected with the project who is currently kept in a mental hospital.

The agents travel to the hospital and meet "Eve 6", who tells them that the clones created in the project had extra chromosomes which led them to display superhuman intelligence and strength, as well as homicidal psychoses. The last three clones, Eves 6, 7 and 8, were institutionalized after the project was cancelled. However, Eve 7 escaped, joined the fertility clinic as "Sally Kendrick", and modified the ova of the clinic's patients to create new Eve clones. Eve 8, who also escaped, is still at large.

Mulder and Scully are unable to prevent one of the escaped Eves from abducting Cindy. The Eve takes Cindy to a motel where Teena is already being held captive, and introduces the two girls to each other. The woman reveals herself to be Eve 7, who explains how she had created them to improve upon the project's flaws, only to learn about the girl's "accelerated development" when they murdered their fathers. The girls, in turn, poison Eve 7's drink with a fatal dose of foxglove. When Mulder and Scully arrive at the motel, the girls falsely claim that both Eve 7 and Eve 8 were trying to goad them into a mass suicide. The agents decide to take the girls with them as they leave the scene.

That night, when the group arrives at a roadside truck stop, one of the girls sneaks out and poisons the sodas the agents ordered. Mulder realizes the girls' plan and manages to keep Scully from drinking her soda. The agents then pursue the girls through the truck stop, with Mulder eventually capturing them. Teena and Cindy, now known as "Eve 9" and "Eve 10," end up sharing the psychiatric ward with Eve 6 in the mental hospital. Eventually, a woman wearing a lab coat—identified as Eve 8—comes to the ward. When Eve 8 asks the girls how they knew she would come for them, the girls each respond, "We just knew."^[1][2]

Production

Freelance writers Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato pitched the idea for this episode to series creator Chris Carter under the title of "The Girls from Greenwich", with the focus being on genetic experiments conducted on sets of twins.^[3] Brancato said the duo decided to do "an X-File with a genetics experiment gone awry" inspired by The Boys from Brazil, where Nazi scientists create clones of Adolf Hitler, while finding "our own themes and characterizations to explore", such as commenting on human condition similarly to The Twilight Zone.^[4] The characters of Teena and Cindy were named after the wives of Glen Morgan and James Wong,^[5] who rewrote the original script prior to filming.^[6] "Eve" was the only episode of The X-Files to be directed by Fred Gerber,^[7] who Carter felt "brought some interesting stuff to it".^[6]

The producers initially looked for twins to play the roles of Teena and Cindy in Los Angeles, but child labor laws made using children from there so difficult that they instead searched locally in Vancouver, finding Erika and Sabrina Krievins.^[5] The difficulty in finding suitable actors for the roles had led producer R. W. Goodwin to consider casting one actor in both roles and using special effects and body doubles to create the impression of twins; however, this idea was rejected as it would have proved too impractical and expensive.^[6] The scenes in the episode set in the roadside diner were filmed in a café in White Rock, British Columbia, whose large gravel car park helped it appear "very rural in its setting". A large awning was used to complement the exterior shots of the building.^[8]

Reception

Ratings

"Eve" premiered on the Fox network on December 10, 1993, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on December 1, 1994.^[9] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.8, with a 12 share, meaning that roughly 6.8 percent of all television-equipped households, and 12 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 6.4 million households.^[10]

Reviews

The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly, "Eve" was rated a B+, with the episode being called "tidy, satisfying, and suspenseful". The episode's premise and the casting of Harris were both cited as highlights.^[11] Keith Phipps, writing for The A.V. Club, also rated the episode a B+, calling it "a nicely realized episode" that "does a nice job building slowly and offering some shocks along the way". The acting and tone were also praised, especially the "dead-eyed performances" of the Krievins twins.^[12] Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, felt that the episode had "a good, original story" that proved "you can't go wrong when it comes to twins and horror"; with the girls' acting being called "suitably menacing".^[13] Jessica Morgan of Television Without Pity gave the episode an A grade.^[14] Series creator Chris Carter stated he liked the casting of the episode, calling Harriet Harris' performance excellent.^[6] He also praised the performance of Erika and Sabrina Krievins, stating "those two little girls were so wonderfully understated and creepy".^[15] The band Eve 6 took its name from this episode, as the band's member Tony Fagenson was a fan.^[12] The plot for "Eve" was also adapted as a novel for young adults in 1997 by Ellen Steiber.^[16][17]

Footnotes

References

• Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-21808-1. 
• Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-066-4. 
• Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1-933784-80-6. 
• Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1745-X. 
• Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-105330-9. 

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: TXF Season 1

• "Eve" on The X-Files official website
• "Eve" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Eve" at TV.com