| "Eve" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The X-Files episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 11 | ||
| Directed by | Fred Gerber | ||
| Written by | |||
| Production code | 1X10 | ||
| Original air date | December 10, 1993 (1993-12-10) | ||
| Running time | 45 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| The X-Filesseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Eve" is the eleventh episode of the Americanscience fiction television seriesThe X-Files, premiering on theFox network on December 10, 1993. It was written byKenneth Biller andChris Brancato, directed byFred Gerber, and featured guest appearances byHarriet Sansom Harris andJerry Hardin in his role asDeep Throat. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' widermythology. "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 onFBI agentsFox Mulder (David Duchovny) andDana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, calledX-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 secrethuman cloning project created by the government.
The episode was pitched to series creatorChris Carter by freelance writers Biller and Brancato under the title of "The Girls from Greenwich", with the focus being ongenetic experiments conducted on sets of twins. The producers initially looked for twins to play the roles of Teena and Cindy inLos Angeles, but child labor laws made using children from there so difficult that they instead searched locally inVancouver, finding Erika and Sabrina Krievins.
InGreenwich,Connecticut, a jogging couple find their neighbor, a young girl named Teena Simmons, standing alone in her driveway. After she explains her father is in the yard, the couple find him sitting dead on aswing set with two incisions in his neck. WhenFBI agentsFox Mulder andDana Scully take the case, Mulder explains that he believes the death is an example ofextraterrestrialcattle mutilation on a human being. The agents meet Teena, who claims to have seen "red lightning" when her father died and that "men from the clouds" had wanted to "exsanguinate him."
Leaving Teena in the state's care, the agents travel toMarin County,California, where a similar death has occurred at the Reardon residence. Mulder and Scully realize that, despite thousands of miles lying between the two crime scenes, the killings were committed on the same day and at the same moment. Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, Teena iskidnapped by a dark-clothed figure.
When Mulder and Scully meet Mrs. Reardon and her daughter, Cindy, they discover that Cindy is completely identical to Teena. Cindy's mother tells the agents that her daughter was conceived viain vitro fertilization at a fertility clinic inSan Francisco. There, Scully learns that both the Simmonses and the Reardons were treated by Dr. Sally Kendrick, who was eventually fired for conductingeugenics experiments withova from the clinic's lab. Meanwhile, Mulder is contacted byDeep Throat, who details aCold War-erasupersoldier program that produced genetically modified clones who were identified as "Adam" or "Eve" based on their sex. Deep Throat tells Mulder of a woman connected with the project who is currently kept in a mental hospital.
Mulder and Scully travel to the hospital and meet "Eve 6", who bears an identical resemblance to Sally Kendrick. Eve 6 tells them that the Adam and Eve clones created for the program had extrachromosomes which led them to display superhuman intelligence and strength, as well as extreme homicidal psychoses. The last three Eve clones—Eves 6, 7, and 8—were institutionalized after the project was cancelled. However, Eve 7 escaped and later joined the fertility clinic as "Sally Kendrick", modifying the ova of the clinic's patients to create new Eve clones. Eve 8, who also escaped, is still at large.
Though Mulder and Scully place Cindy's house under surveillance, they're 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/Sally Kendrick and explains that she cloned the girls using her own genetic material to improve upon the original program's flaws, only to learn about the girls' "accelerated development" after they murdered their fathers. She asks the girls how they learned of each other's existence and how they planned the murders, to which they reply that they "just knew." The girls poison Eve 7's drink with a fatal dose offoxglove.
Mulder and Scully arrive at the motel, only to find Eve 7 dead. The girls claim that both Eve 7 and Eve 8 were trying to goad them into amass suicide. The agents decide to take the girls with them as they leave the scene. That night, the group arrives at a roadsidetruck stop and order drinks at the diner. One of the girls, however, discreetly poisons the sodas the agents ordered with foxglove. After finding odd stains on the diner counter, Mulder realizes the girls' plan and manages to keep Scully from drinking more of 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 in the same psychiatric ward as Eve 6. Eventually, a woman wearing a lab coat—and immediately recognized by Cindy and Teena as Eve 8—comes to the ward. When Eve 8 asks the girls how they knew she would come for them, the girls again respond: "We just knew."[1][2]
Freelance writersKenneth Biller andChris Brancato pitched the idea for this episode to series creatorChris Carter under the title of "The Girls from Greenwich", with the focus being ongenetic 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 filmThe Boys from Brazil (1978), whereNazi scientists create clones ofAdolf Hitler, while finding "our own themes and characterizations to explore", such as commenting on the human condition similarly toThe Twilight Zone.[4] The characters of Teena and Cindy were named after the wives ofGlen Morgan andJames Wong,[5] who rewrote the original script prior to filming.[6] "Eve" was the only episode ofThe X-Files to be directed byFred 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 inLos Angeles, but child labor laws made using children from there so difficult that they instead searched locally inVancouver, finding Erika and Sabrina Krievins.[5] The difficulty in finding suitable actors for the roles had led producerR. W. Goodwin to consider casting one actor in both roles and using special effects andbody 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 inWhite 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]
"Eve" premiered on theFox network on December 10, 1993.[9] This episode earned aNielsen 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]
The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. In a retrospective of the first season inEntertainment 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 forThe 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 ofTelevision 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 bandEve 6 took its name from this episode, as a band memberTony Fagenson was a fan.[12] The plot for "Eve" was also adapted as a novel for young adults in 1997 byEllen Steiber.[16][17]
Based on the teleplay written by Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato
