“Excelsis Dei” is episode eleven of season two of The X-Files.
The episode opens at night at the Excelsis Dei Convalescent Home in Worcester, Massachusetts. Two orderlies are watching boxing when a nurse enters. They tell her that Mrs Richards died that afternoon and yes, they left the room for her to clean up. The nurse, Michelle Charters (Teryl Rothery), first turns off the television in the room where two elderly men are also watching the boxing; another orderly, Gung, had said they could watch it. One of the men pinches her and she fastens him to the bed with restraints.
In the hallway, Charters speaks to Gung about the television. Gung replies that Dr Grago said they were getting better. She replies that they don’t pinch his butt. In Mrs Richards’ room, she starts changing the sheets when the door slams shut and the lights dim. The bed slides in front of the door and Charters can’t move it. She’s thrown on the bed, then gets up, but the restraints open and she gets fastened down.
Mulder arrives in his office to find Scully there watching a video. He tells her that whatever tape she found in the VCR isn’t his. Scully put it in a drawer with the rest of the tapes that aren’t his. Mulder comments that the video Scully is watching definitely isn’t his. It’s a video showing the injuries sustained by Michelle Charters. According to her, she was raped, and Scully says that her injuries are consistent with her claims.
The video didn’t come from Violent Crimes; Charters made it herself. No-one believed her story; she claimed she was raped by an invisible entity. Mulder has a number of X-Files on similar cases. Scully knows; she’s been ion since six going through them. According to Mulder, none have ever been substantiated. Often, the attack blurs the memory of the victim. In this case, Charters has a lawsuit against the federal government.
Charters, when they interview her, claims it was the man who pinched her, Hal Arden. He’s made advances towards Charters and said things. After bathing someone every day for five years you know more than you really need to about them. An old man smells a certain way. It’s hard not getting anything and being forced back to work. She knows they can’t make a case without physical evidence, but she didn’t make it up or repress the memory.
Mulder and Scully interview Arden after he’s been bathed at the home. He claims his plumbing is older than the building and doesn’t work much better. Showing them. He may have said things but it’s not like he’s a ghost, and that’s what Charters claims assaulted her. Mulder thinks this is a waste of time; another unsubstantiated phenomenon.
Mrs Dawson, the head of the facility, tells them that 10 years ago it was a leading facility until funding was cut. Now, they are nearly shut down. They specialise in later life degenerative diseases. Arden has Alzheimer’s, even though it doesn’t seem like it. Dawson recommends they speak to Dr Grago. They are being watched by Arden’s roommate, Stan Phillips. He wants to know what Hal told them. Nothing. Stan wants Hal to be more careful, so he doesn’t ruin it for everyone. Then takes a pill; he says he knows where they are kept. Dawson is telling Mulder and Scully about the insurance claims and other matters Charters has tried in the past when they get called to see Hal, who is choking to death.
Hal dies, and Dr Grago says it’s a setback; he was one of a group of Alzheimer’s patients being treated. With a drug that had never seen much in the way of benefits, but these patients have noticeably improved. Inside, Gung sees Stan taking another pill, and asks where he got it. It seems the pills come from Gung, and the patients want more. Dr Grago’s treatment is probably not what’s behind the improvements.
Mulder is ready to leave, but Scully convinces him to stay overnight. She suggests that the patients have been affected by the treatment. Mulder doesn’t think that a 74-year-old schizophrenic could invisibly rape someone. Scully suggests the place itself. Mulder asks if she thinks it’s haunted. No, she meant such as fungal contaminants.
The patients want more of Gung’s tablets, and he isn’t willing to hand them out in the quantities that they are asking. Stan is being taken home by his daughter, as his granddaughters don’t like visiting him here and he’s much improved. Now, however, he doesn’t want to leave. Gung’s treatment seems to work quite well, but there are some rather unfortunate side effects, and other bad things happen.