Talitha Cumi (The X-Files) - Plot

Plot

At a cafe in Arlington, Virginia, a man draws a gun and shoots three people before he is shot by police snipers outside. An older man revives the gunman and his victims by touching them with the palms of his hands.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive to investigate. They interview the victims and gunman, finding that the mysterious healer, Jeremiah Smith (Roy Thinnes), disappeared while being interviewed by a detective. Meanwhile, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) meets with Mulder's mother Teena (Rebecca Toolan), and the two argue as someone photographs them from a distance. Later, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) notifies Mulder that Teena has suffered a stroke. At the hospital, Teena writes the word "PALM" on a notepad, which Mulder takes to mean her stroke is connected to Jeremiah Smith.

Mulder finds footage of Smith being interviewed, and sees that someone else appears in Smith's place when the detective looks away. Meanwhile, Smith is at his place of work at the Social Security Administration (SSA) when he is captured by the Smoking Man, and taken to a high-security prison. Mulder heads to his mother's home and encounters X (Steven Williams), who shows him his photos of Teena and the Smoking Man. Mulder searches the house and realizes that "PALM" was Teena's attempt to write "LAMP". He then finds an alien stiletto weapon inside one of the lamps—the same kind used by the alien bounty hunter in previous episodes.

At FBI headquarters, Scully meets a man who appears to be Smith, who has come to turn himself in. During an interview with Scully and Skinner, he claims to have no memory of the shooting or of healing anyone. Meanwhile, the Smoking Man interrogates the real Smith, who has lost faith in the Syndicate's project. He shapeshifts into Deep Throat (Jerry Hardin) and Bill Mulder (Peter Donat) to unnerve his captor. Finally Smith reveals that the Smoking Man is dying of lung cancer.

Mulder blames the Smoking Man for his mother's condition. When he learns about the statement given by "Smith", Mulder goes to the SSA to bring him in for questioning. "Smith" initially complies but flees into a crowd, shapeshifting into someone else. The impostor—a bounty hunter—arrives at Smith's cell to kill him, finding it empty. Mulder visits Teena at the hospital, but encounters the Smoking Man. Mulder threatens the Smoking Man with a gun, but he says that Teena met with him about the whereabouts of his sister, Samantha. In the parking garage, Mulder is confronted by X, who demands the alien stiletto. When Mulder refuses to hand it over, the two grapple to a stalemate.

Scully finds other identical "Jeremiah Smiths" working at SSA offices across the country. She is later met by Smith, who reveals she had met an imposter. Smith promises more information, and he and Scully meet Mulder at an abandoned site. Mulder wants to take Smith to see his mother, but the bounty hunter arrives seconds later.