Scully crying. It’s a rare sight in the early seasons of The X-Files, but "All Souls" isn't your typical monster-of-the-week romp. It’s heavy. If you haven't revisited this specific slice of Season 5 lately, you're missing out on the moment the show stopped being about green men and started grappling with the weight of the divine.
Most people remember the big blockbuster beats of the fifth season—the build-up to the 1998 movie, the black oil, the Syndicate. But "All Souls," which aired in April 1998, sits in this weird, melancholic space. It’s the unofficial sequel to "Christmas Carol" and "Emily," dealing with the fallout of Scully’s grief. Honestly, it’s one of the few times the show leaned hard into Nephilim lore and actually made it feel terrifying rather than cheesy.
What All Souls X-Files Gets Right About Religious Horror
The episode kicks off with the mysterious death of a young girl named Dara Kernof. She has Down syndrome and, in a chilling opening scene, is found dead in a prayer position with her eyes burned out. Creepy? Absolutely. But it gets weirder. Father McCue, a recurring figure in Scully’s life, is the one who brings her the case.
This isn't a Mulder case. Not really.
Usually, Mulder is the one dragging a skeptical Scully through the mud to find the "truth." Here, the roles flip. Scully is the one with the personal connection to the tragedy, while Mulder plays the role of the skeptical scientist, trying to find a biological explanation for why a girl’s eyes would literally melt during an encounter with a "stranger."
The core of the story revolves around the Nephilim. According to the lore the show uses, these are the offspring of angels and humans. In the world of "All Souls," there are four "sisters"—quadruplets—who are being hunted. Not by a demon, but by a Seraphim who wants to take them back to heaven to protect them from the Devil. It’s a subversion of the usual horror tropes. The "monster" is actually a divine being, yet its presence is destructive to the human form.
The Nephilim Connection and the Four Souls
The girls in the episode—Dara, Paula, and the others—are portrayed as "soulless" or "incomplete" by those who don't understand them. But the script, written by Billy Brown and Dan Angel (based on a story by John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz), suggests they are actually too pure for this world.
Think about the visual of the Seraphim. It has four faces: a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. When Scully finally sees it, she doesn't see a guy in a suit. She sees a blinding, terrifying light. It’s a callback to the biblical idea that "true" angels are so overwhelming that their first words are usually "be not afraid." Because, frankly, you'd be terrified.
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Why the Production Values of Season 5 Mattered
By 1998, The X-Files was the biggest thing on television. They had the budget to make "All Souls" look like a feature film. The cinematography by Bill Roe is drenched in shadows and high-contrast lighting. You’ve got these deep ambers and cold blues that make the church interiors feel like they’ve existed for a thousand years.
It’s also important to remember where the characters were emotionally. Scully had just lost Emily, the daughter she never knew she had (who was a product of alien experimentation). Her faith was brittle.
When you watch Gillian Anderson in this episode, she isn't just playing a fed. She's playing a woman looking for a reason to believe that her daughter’s life—and death—meant something in a cosmic sense. There’s a scene where she’s in the confessional, and the way the light hits her face makes it one of the most iconic shots in the series. It’s raw. It’s human. It’s why people still talk about "All Souls" even if they can't remember the name of the "villain."
The Controversy of the Ending
Some fans hate the ending of "All Souls."
Scully finds the last girl, and she has to make a choice. She sees the Seraphim, and instead of fighting to keep the girl on Earth, she lets go. She lets the angel take her. In that moment, Mulder sees nothing. He just sees a girl dying in an alleyway.
It’s a brutal contrast.
- Scully's Perspective: A divine rescue, a soul being saved from the reach of the Devil (represented by the creepy Mr. Stark).
- Mulder's Perspective: A sick girl dying because of a lack of medical intervention or a weird atmospheric phenomenon.
This is the peak of the show’s "MSR" (Mulder-Scully Relationship) dynamic. They can stand in the exact same spot, look at the exact same event, and see two entirely different universes. One is a universe of biological anomalies; the other is a universe of spiritual warfare.
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Real Lore vs. X-Files Fiction
The show takes a lot of liberties with the Book of Enoch. In real-world theology, the Nephilim are often seen as giants or "mighty men of old." The idea that they are handicapped girls who need to be "redeemed" by a four-faced angel is purely an X-Files invention.
But it works because it grounds the supernatural in something we can feel. It’s not about some ancient scroll; it’s about the vulnerability of children.
If you're a fan of the "Catholic Scully" arc, this is your holy grail. It bridges the gap between the Season 4 episode "Revelations" and the later Season 7 masterpiece "Closure." It reminds us that while Mulder is searching for his sister in the stars, Scully is often searching for hers—and her daughter—in the pews of a church.
Key Details You Might Have Missed
The "Devil" character, Gregory, is played by an actor named Damian Young. He doesn't have horns. He doesn't breathe fire. He’s just a guy who looks slightly "off." That’s the brilliance of the Ten Thirteen production style. Evil isn't a monster; it’s a person in a hallway you don't recognize.
Also, pay attention to the score by Mark Snow. He ditches the usual whistling theme for something more liturgical. It’s haunting, choral, and incredibly lonely. It makes the "All Souls" X-Files experience feel much more like a funeral than an episode of TV.
How to Revisit All Souls Today
If you’re planning a rewatch, don’t just watch this episode in isolation. You really need the context.
Start with "Christmas Carol" and "Emily" from earlier in Season 5. Then watch "All Souls." Then go straight into the Season 5 finale "The End." You’ll see a clear through-line of Scully’s maternal instinct being weaponized against her by both the aliens and, arguably, by God Himself.
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It’s a bleak realization.
The episode ends with Scully back in the confessional. She’s not asking for forgiveness for her sins; she’s grappling with the fact that she let a child go. It’s a heavy, unresolved ending that doesn't offer a "victory." The X-Files were never really about winning, though. They were about surviving the encounter with the unknown.
Actionable Steps for X-Files Fans
If this dive into the Nephilim and Scully's faith has sparked your interest, here is how to engage deeper with the lore:
Read the Book of Enoch. If you want to see where the writers got their inspiration, this ancient text is the source for the Watchers and the Nephilim. It’s way weirder than anything on TV.
Compare and Contrast. Watch "Revelations" (Season 3) and "All Souls" (Season 5) back-to-back. Notice how Scully’s skepticism evolves. In Season 3, she’s terrified of her faith being real. By Season 5, she’s desperate for it to be true.
Check out the 1998 Movie. "All Souls" was one of the last episodes produced before the show moved production from Vancouver to Los Angeles. You can feel that rainy, dark Vancouver energy one last time before the show gets the "sunny" California look of Season 6.
Listen to the soundtrack. Mark Snow’s work on this episode is available on various X-Files collection volumes. It’s great background music for writing or thinking about the mysteries of the universe.
The "All Souls" X-Files episode remains a standout because it doesn't try to be cool. It doesn't have the snark of "Bad Blood" or the action of "Patient X." It’s just a quiet, devastating look at what happens when the paranormal meets the personal. It’s about the things we lose and the faith we use to fill those gaps.
Whether you believe in angels or just weird weather patterns, the episode forces you to sit in the dark with Scully for forty-five minutes. And honestly? That’s where the best X-Files stories always happened. They happened in the dark, in the quiet moments between the screams.