The X-Files (TV Series) Tithonus (1999) User Reviews

Enjoyable X-Files' "Monster of the Week"

[andyetris · 9/10 · 19 October 2006]

An FBI agent from the New York City field office has an X-File: Alfred Fellig (Geoffrey Lewis), a photographer who gets to the scene - BEFORE the crime! With Mulder in hot water with Deputy Director Kirsh, Scully is sent alone to NYC to investigate the mystery. Meanwhile Mulder discovers that Mr. Fellig has been taking photographs of death for a LONG time!

This is one of the best dark episodes of season 6. It's very well done and enjoyable - I've liked Geoffrey Lewis since "The Wind and the Lion", and he turns in a fine performance.

Much of season 6 is self-parodic or derivative. This episode is a classic, and the equal of the best stuff from the Vancouver period.

An excellent episode from Season 6

[bigblue123 · 9/10 · 1 September 2010]

Tithonius is one of the best episodes from Season 6. The storyline is brilliant and revolves around a man, Alfred Fellig, who can seemingly predict when people are about to die and photographs their dying moments. The episode keeps you guessing for a while as to why he is doing this but it is revealed later that he wants to photograph Death so that he himself will be able to die. He had encountered Death many years before and it had left him behind. As a result, Fellig is well over 100 years old and is unable to die. The best parts of the episode are the conversations between Fellig and Scully where Fellig reveals all of the above to her.

The episode is competently directed and a wonderfully tense atmosphere is created. The acting is good, particularly by Anderson and Geoffrey Lewis who plays Fellig. Lewis creates a rather pitiful yet creepy character and Anderson yet again is brilliant as she tries to find a scientific explanation for Fellig's claims.

The ending, where Fellig gives his own life to save Scully's, is actually very poignant.

A pleasure to meet you, Peyton.

[Sanpaco13 · 9/10 · 18 October 2008]

Agent Scully and Agent Mulder have been pulled off the X-Files and are being punished by the FBI and are stuck doing background checks. In the midst of this, Scully is called into Kersh's office and put on a case with an up and coming new agent. The case is about a photographer who appears to have captured a crime scene photo before the crime has been reported and is thus suspected of having committed the crime. This man, we soon become acquainted with as a paparazzi photographer who does crime scene photography part time. Nosy Mulder insists that this is an X-File and Scully very quickly is inclined to agree. Each time she speaks to Mulder she goes from "its not" to "maybe" to being the first to suggest that "it is an X-File". During a surveillance of the man's apartment, Scully sees him staring at her out the window and realizing her cover is blown, confronts him. They go on a ride so he can show Scully what he does. They find a hooker who is about to die and when the hooker is being harassed by a man, Scully stops it and arrests the man. This does not save the hooker's life however as she is almost immediately struck by a semi. Even stranger about this case is not that the man seems to know who is going to die and where but that it appears that he is about 140 something years old. Scully is convinced that although the man is strange and extremely old, he is innocent of murder. Mulder later finds out that he is indeed guilty of one murder for which he was convicted in 1929 and rushes to Scully's rescue. Scully is shot along with the photographer and they arguably (explanation to come) switch roles. The man dies and Scully survives.

This episode is by many, used as evidence of the theory that Scully is immortal and will never die, just as predicted by Clyde Bruckman. I don't really know myself and I doubt that we will ever get a definite answer to this enigma, but it sure is fun to speculate and look for secret references to her invincibility. I also think this episode is interesting in its similarity to the episode "Unruhe" where people's deaths can be predicted through their photographs and also in which Scully comes close to being killed. I think it would be interesting to go through and count how many times Scully almost gets killed or how many times she gets kidnapped or something. Right from the start of the series with "Squeeze" she is in mortal danger and from there it seems like every couple episodes she almost dies. But she's a fighter. When looking death in the face she just gives him a slap like she did to that pimp guy she arrested in this episode. I give Tithonus a 9 out of 10.

Do I Creep You Out?

[Muldernscully · 8/10 · 5 February 2007]

Tithonus is a very good, somewhat creepy episode. After the light-hearted beginnings of season six, it's nice to see the X-Files get back to some darker episodes from S.R. 819 through One Son. Alfred Fellig can sense when people are going to die and then stalks them in order to be able to photograph them as they die in the hopes of photographing "Death". Geoffrey Lewis gives an exceptional performance as Alfred Fellig. His demeanor is down perfect. I like the special effect of the person about to die being black & white in Fellig's view as opposed to everything around the person remaining in color. There are three deleted scenes for this episode. The first two aren't noteworthy, but the one showing Fellig taking a bath after he's been stabbed in the back several times is a gruesome image. I wish they would've kept it. Mulder is great as a secondary character in this episode, displaying his uncanny wit as he performs background checks. He anxiously volunteers to help Scully by performing a background check on Alfred Fellig, which helps him to discover Fellig's dark secret. Peyton Ritter is a bad agent, and it's a surprise he has a position in the FBI. Scully exposes this when she discovers facts that may exonerate Fellig. Ritter is upset because he says, "I thought we were trying to bust this guy.." and Scully responds, "I thought we were looking for the truth." One thing that I found very interesting is towards the end when Scully is interrogating Fellig and he explains to her his motives. She remarks that he took her picture last night when she was surveilling his apartment. Fellig then says, "No, that was different." All I have to say is, everyone is hot for Scully. All this guy photographs is death, but he makes an exception to snap a shot of Scully in her car, before he receives the premonition of her death. And finally, when Scully is recovering from her gun shot from Ritter in the hospital, Mulder informs Ritter that he is a lucky man. What I would've liked to have seen Mulder do to Ritter if Scully hadn't survived. Tithonus is another prime example that the X-Files can still be dark and gritty, even in L.A.

"This is what I do. Looking for the shot."

[classicsoncall · 9/10 · 26 July 2017]

So what the heck does the title of this episode supposed to mean? The X-Files did this a lot, especially in the Third Season with weird names like 'Oubliette', 'Nisei' and 'Syzygy'. The explanation actually details what this story is all about. In Greek mythology, Tithonus was a Prince of Troy, son of Laomedon and a lover of the Greek Goddess of Dawn Eos. Eos obtained immortality for Tithonus, but in her request to Zeus, forgot to ask for eternal youth. Tithonus grew older very slowly, and when he became incapacitated by age, Eos felt sorry for him and turned him into a grasshopper (or cricket, depending on who's telling the story). Consequently, Tithonus begged for death to overcome him.

Knowing that, you now have pretty much the synopsis of this story. I've seen Geoffrey Lewis in any number of movies, mostly in Westerns, but I don't think I've ever seen him as effective as he was in his role here as crime scene photographer Alfred Fellig. Fellig is the 'Tithonus' of the story, having been around for a century and a half using various names, in a never ending pursuit to capture the image of 'Death' so he can finally come to rest. I liked the way he described his mission to Scully, stating that he always knew when a person was going to die, but that the 'how' was always a surprise.

To my thinking, I was somewhat surprised that Scully didn't experience some personal angst over the death of the hooker in the alley when she went to her rescue from the mugger, Malcolm Wiggins (Thomas Rosales Jr.). Obviously, Scully saved her from the attack, but in the 'how' of Fellig's experience, she wound up getting hit by a passing truck and dying. One could reasonably argue that if Scully hadn't intervened, she would still be alive. So there's that to think about.

What it appears that Scully WAS thinking about was her own mortality, and the cancer that almost claimed her before a cure came along. It was telling that while Fellig sought death for himself, Scully's perspective was "How can you have too much life?" I thought that was an interesting exploration of opposites that the episode conveyed, one that makes you think about growing old and facing infirmities that take away one's humanity.

It's Mulder who takes a back seat in this episode, handing off information to Scully as he digs into Fellig's past and comes up with his multiple identities. The thing I wonder about, and this was only a couple decades ago when these shows were filmed, was how can it be that at the FBI of all places, there wasn't more security installed or available to prevent Mulder from intercepting Agent Peyton Ritter's (Richard Ruccolo) field reports to Assistant Director Kersh (James Picken Jr.)? Mulder did stuff like this rather routinely, and one would think that after the first time, the FBI would have learned their lesson and tightened things up a bit.

A gripping, excellent episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 16 September 2022]

Young Agent Peyton Ritter asks Scully for some help, he wants to prove that keen photographer Alfred Fellig is actually a serial killer, he has a strange habit of being in the right place at the right time, as if he's somehow stalking death.

This is a very imaginative, a very different type of story, it's like no other episode that I can think of. It's intriguing, it's captivating, the acting is first class, I like that Scully is the primary investigator, with Mulder behaving like the background information gatherer, it works on every level.

That scene where Scully got into the car with Fellig, and was made aware of his gift/curse was a really a shocking, oh my days moment.

Some powerful visuals, what Fellig gets to see looks pretty impressive on screen, the images of all and sundry looking grey, effectively having been marked for death, that's chilling.

Very impressive,

9/10.

Scully questions everything.....

[stevenjlowe82 · 10/10 · 21 October 2023]

This was a stellar Scully led episode that was made all the better by the casting of Geoffrey Lewis.

The character of Scully has been tested a lot in the run of the X Files thus far and this episode is no exception. Having experienced and witnessed half the things she has it makes sense that Scully would start becoming less sceptical and more open minded in her approach to certain cases. What I liked here was it was at her own behest and not being led my Mulder and his theories. Yes he did chime in on the phone occasionally but it was Scully who chased the theory this time, one she came to by herself.

What also made this episode so good was the terrific casting of Geoffrey Lewis, another fine character actor who has appeared in dozens of things and is always a treat to watch. I especially enjoyed the scenes between Scully and himself.

Overall a really strong episode with a great story, good writing and excellent performances all round.

"I can't tell you how many bridges I've jumped off, all I get is wet"

[derangedxzombie · 9/10 · 27 September 2022]

An intriguing episode, has some similarities to the idea's behind the cult horror Final Destination. It's a some what morbid episode, the x files always manages to weave between more serious and dark story's, and then the fun lighter hearted or humorous story's.

This one follows the story of a photographer Fellig, and the protagonists are separated in this episode. If you're a fan of horror/thriller movies then this will be up your street.

Maybe not suitable for kids though, the episode does have a dark tone and dabbles a lot in death, including scenes where people are murdered or have died.

Great episode horrendous ending

[wtw-92302 · 8/10 · 17 January 2024]

This is a really great Scully-centric episode. Many Scully episodes are ones where she's just investigating something vaguely religious or whatever, she hardly gets to flex her FBI muscles. In this one she's paired with some rookie still wet behind the ears and we're reminded that she's one of the most driven and competent agents in the FBI. Mulder takes a back seat aside from providing occasional support, but Scully is finally able to draw her own conclusions. This is a really compelling and interesting central mystery, Geoffrey Lewis is a great feature in this, and I love the characterization of Scully searching for the actual truth while her temporary partner just wants to railroad some guy. The only bad part of this episode is that it ends on the blandest of all possible bowties on the case from Mulder. "Death only comes if you're seeking the opposite" or whatever. It's such a dull way to end what was otherwise a Top 20 episode. It's almost like they ran out of time writing or editing this and just rolled David Duchovny out there half-drunk to figure something out for himself. Obviously they had to do something at the end of the episode to show Scully is alive and well, but I would have much preferred this episode just end with them both bleeding out and Fellig accepting his death. I think it would work fine and give more emotional weight than the utterly bland bedside wrap up Mulder gives us.

Great episode I just wish I was in that editing booth so I could tell Vince Gilligan to try a little harder.