“Teliko” is episode three of season four of The X-Files.
The episode opens on a plane at night, one that appears to be coming from Africa. A man leaves his sat and heads for the toilets. Someone with colourless skin and a pink eye watches him through a crack. The man enters a toilet and splashes water on his face, then looks up and screams. When the plane lands, a flight attendant heads to the toilets looking for a missing passenger. Inside one, a man gets up; not the same as the one who entered, but with normal eyes and skin. The flight attendant enters the toilet and finds the missing passenger there. Dead; all his colour gone. His skin is grey-white, and he used to be African.
The opening text for this episode is ‘Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate’.
At the FBI, Scully is entering Skinner’s office. He introduces her to Dr Simon Bruin of the Philadelphia branch of the CDC. Is Scully familiar with the kidnappings in that city. Not really. Four young African-American men have gone missing in the past three months. There were no leads until last night when the latest victim was found dead at a construction site. No evidence of homicide. COD undetermined. Bruin shows Scully a photograph, of a man, in the same state as the one on the plane. He’s undergone massive depigmentation and the CDC is concerned it may be a fatal disease. They want someone with a medical background to help.
Scully is doing an autopsy on the latest victim when Mulder enters. She explains the situation. Mulder thinks it’s odd a disease would affect several people in succession. Scully says the depigmentation may have led to problems in identifying the other victims. Mulder suggests it’s simply to hide the fact that no-one cares about the victims. Scull tells him that not everything is a conspiracy and not everyone is out to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate. Mulder takes the samples she collected.
A man is in a room when there’s a knock on his door. He’s the person from the plane, but he’s starting to lose his pigmentation. The man at the door is Marcus Duff of the INS; he’s Samuel Aboah’s immigration counsellor. Duff explains that, once Aboah is a naturalised citizen, he will be able to bring over the rest of his family.
Mulder heads to see Pendrell, who is disappointed Scully isn’t there, upset when Mulder says she’s on a date and relieved when Mulder explains that it’s an autopsy. He found something unusual on the latest victim. A seed from a rare species of passionflower found only in certain parts of West Africa. Mulder calls Scully; the plant has certain properties that Scully says could be a cortical depressant and lethal in large quantities. Scully has found something too. The last victim’s pituitary gland was necrotised, and that produces the melatonin for skin cells. Mulder is at an airport.
Mulder is heading to see Marita Covarrubias, who Mr X pointed him towards, by writing a clue in his own blood before he died in “Herrenvolk”. He explains the situation to her as he thought she might be in a position to help.
Elsewhere, a young man is waiting at a bus stop when he is hit with something that quickly, by the looks of it, paralyses him. The bus comes and goes and Aboah is across the road. His eyes and skin are losing pigmentation.
The next day, Scully is at the bus stop speaking to the bus driver when Mulder arrives. She explains the situation, and that the driver said the victim was non responsive. From rare African seeds, is Mulder’s thought. He’s found out about the man on the plane, whose body was reclaimed by Burkina Faso before an autopsy could be done.
The police knock on Aboah’s door, explaining they are looking for the missing man. Aboah looks to be normal again. The man is inside his apartment, paralysed and losing his own pigmentation. When the cops leave, Aboah pulls out something hidden in his throat.
Duff, once convinced that this is a medical problem not police one – though Mulder evidently disagrees – points Mulder and Scully at Aboah, based on the people who were on the flight at the beginning. When they spot Aboah, he runs.
Scully is still convinced it’s a disease. Mulder is not. He has a different theory. Aboah himself seems to share some characteristics similar to those possessed by Eugene Victor Tooms.