The X-Files - 3.

French title: La Règle Du Jeu
translation: The Rule Of The Game

Italian title: Estrazioni macabre

US Airdate: March 29, 1996

writer: Jeff Vlaming

director: Tucker Gates

STARRING:

David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

B.D. WONG as Detective Chao

MICHAEL YAMA as Hsin

GRAHAM SHIELS as the Night Watchman

DOUG ABRAHAMS as Lt. Neary

LUCY LIU as Kim

STEPHEN CHANG as the Large Man

DONALD FONG as the Vase Man

PAUL WONG as the Wiry Man

DINA HA as Dr. Wu

JAMES HONG as the Hard Faced Man

ED HONG-LOUIE as the Money Man

DEREK LOWE as Johnny Lo

MULDER AND SCULLY INVESTIGATE A SERIES OF CHINATOWN MURDERS AND DISCOVER A LOTTERY WHERE THE PRICE OF A TICKET IS LIFE ITSELF.

When a young Chinese immigrant is burned alive in a crematorium, the X-Files team go to Chinatown in search of a ring of masked killers. During the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, they are aided by a handsome young Chinese-American police detective as they delve into the secrets of the close-knit community, where outsiders are viewed with suspicion and centuries-old traditions still rule. A clandestine burial is uncovered and Scully finds a living frog in a dead man. Finally, a father's desperate sacrifice for his dying daughter leads Mulder and Scully to a secret room, a cold- blooded surgeon, and a lottery from hell.

The title refers to the phoney money the Chinese buy to tempt (ie bribe) their family ghosts.

Personal note: Unfortunately, after a couple of repeats and "Teso Dos Bichos", we were ready to have our socks knocked off and were disappointed with this one. I have not watched it since it's original broadcast. BUT, points for highlighting the wonderful B. D. Wong, a very underrated Canadian actor. Cute as a bug's ear too :-) He won a Tony (Broadway's biggest award) for "M. Butterfly", so trust me, he's had better showcases than this episode.

Scully: "What a way to go...." (burned alive in a crematorium)

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Cop: "We got lucky with this one." (finding a body)

Mulder: "Lucky? Thats an interesting word for it."

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Mulder: "How many dishes do you have to break before your boss tosses you in an oven?"

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Scully: "So you're saying that the ancestral spirits pushed Johnny Lo into the oven and turned on the gas?"

Mulder: "Well, it would sure teach him to respect his elders, wouldn't it?"

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Scully: (feeling paint on door) "It's still tacky."

Mulder: "Can you copy it down for me?" (painted words)

Cop: "Yeah, sure..."

Mulder: (looking around apartment) "Talk about tacky..."

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Cop: "But the truth is I'm more haunted by the size of my mortgage payments." (than ancestral spirits)

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Mulder: "Looks like somebody was trying to get two burials for the price of one."

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Scully: "Do you know how much the human body is worth, Mulder?"