October 19 2000: Cast List:

Gillian Anderson as Agent Dana Scully
David Duchovny as Agent Fox Mulder
Robert Patrick as Agent John Doggett
Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Gary Bullock as Tall George
Annie O'Donnell as Elderly Woman
Bradford English as Detective Abbott
Eve Brenner as Little Old Lady
Jim Swanson as Swanny Swanson
Brent Sexton as Gravedigger
Bryan Rasmussen as Sheriff's Deputy
Dan Leegant as Myron Stefaniuk
Gene Dynarski as Ernie Stefuniak
Jay Caputo as Batty

October 26th 2000: Credits:

Written By:

Chris Carter

Directed By:

Chris Carter

Air Date: November 19th 2000

November 17 2000: From The Official X-Files Web Site: Excerpt from the "Patience" script:

CLOSE ON THE DESK NAMEPLATE OF FOX MULDER

Held by two feminine hands. The hands of: DANA SCULLY

Looking at the plate with inscrutable emotion. She opens the top drawer of Mulder's desk now, as if to put the nameplate in it. Hesitating, though, due to some kind of commotion o.s. She is:

INT. MULDER'S BASEMENT OFFICE - MORNING; ANGLE FROM THE DOORWAY. We see Scully is dressed for work, turning her shoulders to the commotion, the hallway outside.

MEN'S VOICES. Chatter, joking. "So this is where the bad kids are banished to... Put me down here I'd probably cook up a lot of crazy ideas too..." The tone is sarcastic. Teasing banter.

BODIES break frame f.g. now. Stopping in the doorway to Mulder's office -- as they catch sight of Scully standing across the room. The chatter stops, too. Conspicuously and abruptly.

SCULLY: Good morning.

REVERSE ON JOHN DOGGETT: Styrofoam cup of coffee in hand. Accompanied by TWO OTHER AGENTS, who are the source of the joking and the chatter.

DOGGETT: Morning.

The discomfort is mostly the Other Agents'. We see it in their looks. Doggett turning to them, letting them off the hook.

DOGGETT: Catch up with you guys later.

They shoot semi-guilty glances Scully's way, then disappear. Doggett enters now. On a similar beat of discomfort. Between he and Scully, as she looks away.

DOGGETT: Friends of mine. Just curious.

SCULLY: I'm not here to be a curiosity. I'm here to work, Agent Doggett.

DOGGETT: I am, too, Agent Scully.

TV Guide Synopsis for "Patience":

"Neither man nor beast is the conclusive culprit in a brutal double homicide that forces Doggett to think outside his 'old-fashioned' lines."

From the FOX press release for "Patience":

"Agents Scully and Doggett investigate their first official case together -- a series of gruesome murders linked to a bat-like creature. Though skeptical of Scully's logic, Doggett finds a begrudging respect of her investigative process.

October 31 2000: From Fox:

"In the Nov. 19 episode 'Patience' (written and directed by Chris Carter), Scully and Doggett investigate their first official case together - a series of gruesome murders linked to a bat-like creature. Though skeptical of Scully's logic, Doggett finds a begrudging respect for her investigative process."

September 24 2000: From SkippyRat:

"Have now seen a script for episode 4. It's an early version, so it doesn't answer all questions, but the answer to whether there is going to be a continuing focus on Mulder's absence has been answered, at least for this episode. (It's also fairly obvious why CC decided to write this one, since this is the episode that will chronologically follow ep 2, not 'Redrum.')"

"Skipping over the teaser... as I think may have already been stated, the teaser deals with an attack by the bat creature on an undertaker.<"br>
"Act 1 opens on a close-up shot of Fox Mulder's desk nameplate, then pulls back to show it is being held in Scully's hands. Doggett shows up a few moments later, in the company of some fellow agent/friends who are teasing him about his new digs, as Scully is still contemplating the nameplate, thinking about putting it into the desk drawer. Their interaction is awkward at best. Doggett asks where Scully's space is, and where he should situate himself. Scully replies that this is *Mulder's* office, and they are both merely sharing it -- and she puts the nameplate back on the desk to emphasize this point."

"Doggett has been a busy guy. Over the weekend, and earlier that morning, he took the time to read every single X-File in the cabinet! He'd only stepped out of the office to get some coffee, thus missing Scully's arrival."

"The scene also provides a counterpoint to Mulder's slide show for Scully's benefit that we see in the XF pilot -- only here it is Scully conducting the slide show for Doggett's benefit."

September 24 2000: From TLynn:

"First, by the by, I should clarify that both the undertaker and his wife are killed in the teaser. Don't think I was clear on that before."

"There are other Mulder references in ep 4, apart from the ones in Act I."

"At one point early on in their investigation, Doggett, in trying to explain the odd footprints they have found, suggests that perhaps nothing more strange is involved than a killer with a deformed foot. He asks Scully if she's ever heard of Occam's razor. Scully defines it for him; then comments that Mulder used to call it *Occam's principle of handicapped imagination.*"

"At one point, Doggett describes Scully as an expert in the paranormal. This makes her very uncomfortable. She prefers to think of herself as a scientist who's seen a lot."

"There's a discussion about making 'leaps' in resolving these cases. Doggett notes that most of the X-Files were solved with 'leaps.' Doggett distrusts leaps, preferring traditional police work. This lays the groundwork for them to revisit this subject later, in another scene, already described by somebody else, where Doggett asked her what happened to taking a leap, and Scully wonders if she's wrong about the case and is just trying too hard to make the pieces fit. As already described in that other post, Doggett asks if she's trying to be Mulder. He then follows up by saying he may not be Oxford-educated, and his closest association to an abduction may have been his sister's elopement, but he doesn't think she's wrong about the case."

"One more observation. Judging by the script, Doggett seems a bit more open to extreme possibilities than Scully was at the beginning of her association with Mulder. He's the one who identifies the killer they're seeking."

"Doggett gets attacked by the bat creature. Don't remember if I mentioned that before. "

August 29 2000: From Star:

"Episode four of the eighth season, [now titled 'Patience'], reminds me somewhat of 'Shapes.' Instead of changing into a wolf however, the MOTW is a bat. The creature is described with various adjective such as spindly, large, sinewy and hairless. The wings are thin, and veinous. The print found during the investigation of a body that looks like it's been bitten repeatedly, shows only the ball of the foot, four toes and hints of webbing. Detective Abbott and Scully differ when speculating about whether it's animal or human. There is more animosity between Scully and the local detective. (The episode takes place in Somewhere, Ohio.) Abbott speaks to Doggett excluding Scully and isn't too happy when Scully one ups Doggett. Doggett ends up being the mediator between Scully and Abbott. Scully comes out of the scene smelling like a rose."

"The creature was captured 44 years ago and the warden describes him as the model prisoner. (I guess I shouldn't say him. As Scully says [I never said you're looking for a man.]) Anyway they say 'Bird Man of Alcatraz' isn't just interested in bats, he is a bat. He spends every waking minute stuffed into the prison window. All they see is a big eye. He doesn't eat prison food but they occasionally find rat bones on the floor although no one ever sees him leave the window. When the warden tries to show him to Scully and Doggett, he's not there. He's escaped."

"When another body is found the Sheriff's Deputy is furious with Doggett blaming Scully and her far out theories for this next murder. Doggett sticks up for Scully, turning the blame over to the bat man."

"As Scully and Doggett continue their investigation, Scully doubts herself. She thinks she's trying too hard. Doggett wonders if she's trying to hard to be Mulder."

"I won't give away the outcome of the X-File but it's interesting for a MOTW."

August 22 2000: From The Official X-Files Web Site:

"Strange bites mark the next case for Scully and Doggett in Cockrill County, Ohio. The still untitled fourth episode is written and directed by Chris Carter, and begins shooting on 8/28. It will tentatively air on 11/26."

August 20 2000: From Autumn:

"This episode takes place in Cockrill County, Ohio. The Monster of the Week has escaped from prison and liked to shove himself up in the highest window of his cell and eat rats. The story involves a 40 year old murder case. Scully fears she is 'trying too hard' to make mental leaps."

August 18 2000: From Donna Marie:

Characters in this episode include:

"Detective Abbott: 40's, an Ohio sheriff w/ strong personality and an alpha presence. He is in charge -- he has much dislike for Scully and her being in charge makes it worse."

"Myron Stefaniuk: Late 50-60's. Man of few words -- doesn't want to be bothered -- for a reason."

Sheriff's Deputy: Angered when Scully's investigation leads to sheriff's death."

"The episode seems to deal with a highly controversial case from 40 years ago in a small Ohio town. One very interesting character is a 'human bat!'"

August 17 2000: From Donna Marie:

"This episode will be written and directed by Chris Carter. Shooting begins on August 28th. Takes place in a small Ohio town and involves a sexist sheriff who resents Scully and her authority. Still Untitled."

"An anonymous source confirms though alludes to the sheriff being more taken aback by Scully's theories. Also, the source reports there may be (if it isn't cut) a scene where Doggett asks Scully if she's trying too hard to be or think like Mulder."




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