"Schizogeny" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on January 11, 1998. It was written by Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger, directed by Ralph Hemecker, and featured guest appearances by Bob Dawson, Myles Ferguson, Katharine Isabelle, Chad Lindberg, and Sarah-Jane Redmond. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Schizogeny" earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.9, being watched by 21.37 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to negative reviews, with several critics calling it the worst episode of The X-Files.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully become convinced that a greater evil may be lurking in the community when a teenager is suspected of murdering his stepfather.
"Schizogeny", written by first-year staff writers Scott and Wollaeger, became humorously known as "The Killer Tree Episode" amongst the cast and crew. Many of the scenes shot for "Schizogeny" were filmed on a real orchard named Hazelgrove Farms near the small town of Fort Langley, British Columbia. The episode utilized various post-production techniques, in order to clear up vocal issues and to censor one line, which Fox's standards and practices department had issues with.
Plot
In Coats Grove, Michigan, a teenager with anger management issues named Bobby Rich gets into an argument with his stepfather Phil about yard work. Bobby eventually darts into a nearby orchard to evade Phil, but the latter gives chase. Later, Bobby's mother Patti enters into the orchard and finds Phil dead, his body almost entirely buried in a mud puddle. A terrified Bobby is next to the body.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the crime. Scully believes that Bobby killed his stepdad by luring him into a pit trap. Patti repudiates this hypothesis, arguing that when she arrived it looked like Bobby was trying to help Phil rather than harm him. Mulder and Scully meet with Bobby's therapist, Karin Matthews, who tells them that the boy has been physically abused. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Mulder begins to believe that Bobby is innocent.
Bobby meets up with his classmate Lisa Baiocchi. Just like Bobby, Lisa attends therapy sessions with Matthews as her father Eugene is abusive, Bobby tells Lisa that she should not take any more abuse from Eugene. When Lisa returns home her father angrily tells her to stop seeing Bobby. Suddenly a mysterious arm-like appendage bursts through the window and yanks him outside. The next day Scully examines the body and concludes that he was pushed out of the window. Mulder however, thinks he was pulled.
While examining Eugene's corpse Mulder finds a splinter in his neck, the wood of which matches the trees outside his house. While they continue to investigate the crime Mulder and Scully are approached by a mysterious man (George Josef) who claims that a "bad man" is killing the area's trees. While this is happening, Matthews takes Lisa to her house claiming that she is protecting her. After Lisa overhears Matthews arguing with a man she journeys into Matthews' root cellar where she finds a corpse. When she tries to leave she finds she has been locked in.
Mulder later discovers that Matthews' father was retrieved from a mud puddle twenty years before the events of the episode. He begins to suspect her of wrongdoing suspicion that is furthered after he digs up her father's empty coffin. Later the mysterious man from earlier tells Mulder that Matthews' father's death ended a blight that had been killing trees in the town.
Lisa's aunt journeys to Matthews' house to retrieve her niece, but is killed by Matthews who is revealed to have a split personality engendered by abuse from her own father. This has also given her power to control the trees in the area. Mulder and Scully later search Matthews' house and find the mysterious corpse in the basement who they realize is the body of Matthews's father as well as an unharmed Lisa. Meanwhile, Matthews goes to Bobby's house and chases him into the orchard. The agents show up soon thereafter and both Mulder and Bobby are nearly drowned in mud. The mysterious man suddenly appears and cuts Matthews' head off with an axe, ending her power over the trees.