Chinga
- Episode aired Feb 8, 1998
- TV-14
- 44m
Rumors of witchcraft and sorcery surrounding a bizarre murder at a supermarket in a small New England fishing town lead Scully, who's on vacation, to a little girl and a cursed doll that may... Read allRumors of witchcraft and sorcery surrounding a bizarre murder at a supermarket in a small New England fishing town lead Scully, who's on vacation, to a little girl and a cursed doll that may be hiding a murderous presence.Rumors of witchcraft and sorcery surrounding a bizarre murder at a supermarket in a small New England fishing town lead Scully, who's on vacation, to a little girl and a cursed doll that may be hiding a murderous presence.
- Dave the Butcher
- (as Harrison R. Coe)
- Shopper
- (as Elizabeth McCarthy)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis marks the introduction of the pencils in the ceiling in Mulder's office, a sign of Mulder's boredom without Scully. They would feature in various episodes throughout the show's run.
- GoofsAt about 23:45, after Scully has finished taking her bath, she walks past a mirror and a crew person wearing a blue shirt is briefly visible.
- Quotes
Fox Mulder: It sounds to me like that's witchcraft or maybe some sorcery that your'e looking for there.
Dana Scully: No, I don't think it's witchcraft, Mulder, or sorcery. I've had a look around and I don't see any evidence of anything that warrants that kind of suspicion.
Fox Mulder: Yeah, well, maybe you don't know what you're looking for.
Dana Scully: Like evidence of conjury or the black arts, or shamanism, divination, Wicca, or any kind of pagan or neo-pagan practice? Charms, cards, familiars, bloodstones, or hex signs, or any of the ritual tableau associated with the occult, Santeria, Vodun, Macumba, or any high or low magic?
Fox Mulder: Scully...
Dana Scully: Yes?
Fox Mulder: Marry me.
Dana Scully: I was hoping for something a little more helpful.
Fox Mulder: Well, you know, short of looking for a lady wearing a pointy hat, riding a broomstick, I think you pretty much got it covered there.
Dana Scully: Thanks, anyway.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The X Files: Resist or Serve (2004)
- SoundtracksFirst movement 'Allegro moderato' from Piano Concerto No. 3 in B minor Op. 89
(uncredited)
Composed by Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Scully listens to this in her car when she drives into the gas station and later when taking a bath
This little girl played by Jenny-Lynn Hutchison (who was also one of the victims Mulder sees in a dream in "Paper Hearts") was the best thing in this episode. This little girl frightened me... she really played the part well, but she did not do much acting after this episode.
There is some fun with a record player constantly playing "do the hokey pokey"... again and again and again...
And although Mulder and Skully are having a comedic discussion over long distance telephone in the vein of "War of the Coprophages", this episode has a serious dark streak, epitomized by this little girl who is tormenting her mother- a little girl who seems to be controlled by her doll. Which speaks even when the pull string is not pulled... and whoever the doll speaks to, the mother sees a horrific death for in a vision, usually reflected in glass. When Scully is given a brief history of the little girl and her family by an old man, we see how the child came to be in possession of it, indirectly from her father. The doll originated from the ocean and returned to the ocean... this also is reminiscent of "the cursed objects" from "Friday the 13th: The Series". I could have sworn I saw this exact doll in "Uncle Lewis'" Inventory... Raise your hand if you remember "Friday the 13th: the series".
The creepiness of the little girl was homaged in Season 11's "Familiar" almost 20 years later to the day this episode came out, when the little girl named "Emily" tells her mother "I want juice please"- Emily uses the same demanding tone of voice as this child does. This episode was released somewhere around February 8, 1998. "Familiar" was broadcast March 8, 2018, so it is like 20 years and one month after "Chinga" that "Familiar" was broadcast. I don't know if this was deliberate, but it's just another one of those things that connects the two episodes.
This episode has a creepy doll, "Familiar" has a creepy Evil "Pee-wee Herman/Bobs Big Boy" clown named "Mr. Chuckleteeth". There were also Teletubby style creatures called "Bibbletiggles", so when the christians freaked out about the pink Teletubby, if they were to see BibbleTiggles they would freak right out even more. I mean, as Mulder says, who would not be obsessed with Bibbletiggles?
There is the similarity in locale as well, this episode in a harbor town in Maine, Familiar, in the forests of Connecticut. Two very traditional and ancient East Coast locations.
It is as if Stephen King had his hand in both episodes, although not directly for the latter.
I find myself watching this episode just for the scenes with the little girl, she was very good. She should have been given more acting parts, she was mostly used as a prop. Almost. These were the most speaking lines I had heard from the actress. She was also in a Millennium episode involving a train car that fills with water while at the same time Jordan Black's lungs keep filling up with water inexplicably... but it is only in this episode where she becomes menacing.
- XweAponX
- Mar 17, 2022