Lazar (The X-Files)

FBI agent Dana Scully helps his former colleague, Jack Willis, in apprehending the cruel bank robbers Warren Dupre and Lula Phillips. Following an anonymous tip, the two agents corner Dupre during a failed robbery. Dupre hurt Willis hard shot from a shotgun, but he turns out to be shot by Scully. At the hospital, doctors are trying to reanimate Willis, but Dupre's body reacts to the actions of the defibrillator applied to the agent, whose death the doctors have already noted.

Willis regains consciousness in the hospital a few days later. Having stolen another patient's clothes, he goes to the morgue, where he finds Dupre's body and cuts off his ring finger to pick up the wedding ring, then escapes from the hospital. Scully explains to Mulder that Willis was obsessed with Dupre-Phillips for a year, and confesses that he met with Willis when he was her instructor at the FBI Academy . It is found that the scissors were used by a left-handed scissors for cutting Dupre's fingers, although Willis was right-handed. This fact leads Mulder to the idea that Dupre's mind dwells in the body of Willis. Agents visit a medical professor at the University of Maryland , who created the theory that during cases of near death, the energy released can radically change someone's personality.

Willis, who discovered Dupre's tattoo on his arm, rushes into the apartment of Brother Lula Tommy and kills him, being sure that it was Tommy who passed him to the FBI and caused his “death”. The next day, Willis passes several tests that Scully gives him, but when Mulder invites him to sign a fake birthday card for Scully, which passed a month ago, he signs it with his left hand. Scully is skeptical of Mulder's claims that Dupre settled in the body of Willis, being sure that Willis was just under stress because he was so close to death.

When the landlord calls the FBI to reveal Lula Phillips's whereabouts, Scully and Willis rush in to grab her. However, when Scully pushes Phillips into the corner, Willis takes Scully to fly and forces her to handcuff her. Scully is held in the house of Phillips, where she is fastened to the battery and beaten. Meanwhile, Willis successfully convinces Lulu that he is actually Dupre. Willis calls Mulder and reports that he and Phillips are holding Dana hostage.

After Scully sees Willis-Dupree drank a lot of soda, she realizes that Willis is diabetic and will need insulin to survive. Phillips and Willis-Dupre rob a pharmacy to get the medicine they need. Phillips calls Mulder and demands $ 1 million in ransom for Scully. From the sound of a nearby plane, Mulder calculates the approximate whereabouts of the criminals, and the FBI sends police outfits disguised as civilians to scour every house in search of Lula. However, Lula refuses to allow Willis to use insulin, saying that she does not like him and herself told the FBI about an impending robbery, in which Dupré was ambushed.

Willis-Dupre pretends to be dead, and when Lula throws her wedding ring at him, he grabs her gun and shoots his wife. A second later, he himself dies from a lack of insulin. Mulder arriving at the scene of the crime frees Scully. Later, Scully takes Willis's things from the morgue, including the watch she gave him on his 35th birthday. They stopped at 18:47 - the moment when Willis died after being shot at the bank ^{[1] [2]} .

In the original script of the episode, Dupré was supposed to move into Mulder’s body. However, it was believed that neither Scully nor Mulder should be exposed to this effect. FOX and the studio opposed the idea of ​​using Mulder in this way. After weak resistance, the producers agreed to make changes to the script. As scriptwriter, Howard Gordon later mentioned: “We would like Mulder to experience a soul exchange” ^[4] . However, in the end, the position of the FOX television company changed: in the episode of the sixth season, “ Through the Looking Glass ” (consisting of two parts), Mulder's mind would change places with government agent Maurice Fletcher ^[5] . Gordon ultimately came to the conclusion that the final decision will be practically the best, and will find benefits from the appearance of Scully's former boyfriend, because it will allow to delve into her life story ^[4] .

The opening scene of a bank robbery scene was filmed in Vancouver , where the play of Jason Scombing led some eyewitnesses to the belief that the robbery is real ^[6] . Internal surveys of the Dupré cellar were carried out in the asbestos basement of an apartment building — a translator was needed to communicate with predominantly Asian tenants ^[7] . This episode was the first of several cases in which Scully was abducted. ^[4] In this series, Scully's birthday is first mentioned on February 23 ^[4] , whereas the year of her birth (1964) will be revealed only in the episode " One Sigh " of the second season ^[8] .

The premiere of the episode "Lazar" was held on Fox on February 4, 1994, in the UK the premiere was held on BBC Two on January 5, 1995 ^[9] . This episode received a rating of 7.6 according to the Nielsen rating , becoming the 12th program in the ratings for the week, that is, about 7.2 percent of all TVs in the country showed this episode, and 12 percent of families watched this series. This is equivalent to about 7.2 million households ^[10] .

The creator of the series, Chris Carter, had a very positive opinion about the episode, saying that it was “a very good and well-produced episode. I like it because it actually seems real. It is less paranormal and sci-fi than in other series, and more of what can really happen. The whole cast was wonderful. In general, it was a terrific episode. ” ^[11] In the review of the first season in Entertainment Weekly , “Lazar” was rated C +, and described as “as exciting as Scully understands men (not really)”. On the technical side, the episode, however, was described as “normal” ^[12] . Zach Halden, author of the AV Club , gave the series a B - rating, noting that he "has no real thematic resonance." He found that the episode left its riddles "largely unexplored," and would benefit from a stronger emphasis on the relationship between the characters of Willis and Dupre ^[13] . Matt Haig, the author of Den of Geek, described the series negatively, denoting that she “didn’t have enough,” and that she’s “more like the series“ Diagnosis: Murder ”than anything else.” However, Scully’s character study was cited as a positive aspect of the series ^[14] . Anna Jones, author of TV Squad, critically commented on Lazar, stating that his opening scene was the “only good part” of the series ^[15] .

• Edwards, Ted. X-Files Confidential. - Little, Brown and Company, 1996. - ISBN 0-316-21808-1 . ISBN 0-316-21808-1
• Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd. X Marks the Spot: On the X-Files. - Arsenal Pulp Press, 1999. - ISBN 1-55152-066-4 . ISBN 1-55152-066-4
• Lovece, Frank. The X-Files Declassified. - Citadel Press, 1996. - ISBN 0-8065-1745-X . ISBN 0-8065-1745-X
• Lowry, Brian. The Truth is Out There. - Harper Prism, 1995. - ISBN 0-06-105330-9 . ISBN 0-06-105330-9

• " Lazar " (English) on the Internet Movie Database
• Lazar on the X-Files Wiki
• "Lazar" on the official website