Synchrony

"Synchrony" is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Howard Gordon and David Greenwalt and directed by James Charleston. The episode aired in the United States on April 13, 1997 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Synchrony" earned a Nielsen rating of 11.3, being watched by 18.09 million people upon its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to positive reviews from television critics. 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. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a murder for which the suspect presents an incredible alibi—that the death was foretold by an old man able to see into the future. Upon investigating the case, the duo discover an increasingly bizarre series of events that leads Mulder to believe time travel may be involved. Gordon and Greenwalt wrote the episode after being inspired by an article in Scientific American about time travel and quantum physics. The idea of a scientist trying to stop the invention of something terrible was inspired by Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who complained to Harry S. Truman about the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan. Plot In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT cryogenics researchers Jason Nichols (Joseph Fuqua) and Lucas Menand (Jed Rees) become embroiled in an argument as they walk down a city street. They are approached by an old man (Michael Fairman), who warns Menand that he will be killed by a bus at 11:46 pm that evening, but Menand ignores him. After the man is arrested by campus security, his apparent prophecy is proven true when Jason tries, but fails, to save Menand, who is promptly run over by a bus and killed at the exact time (11:46 pm).