Leonard Betts is an intriguing episode from season four written by the three-headed monster of John Shiban, Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Kim Manners. It's a well-written story done with excellent camera work. I liked how Kim did reflection shots in the morgue freezer doors and the iodine in the tub. The props and special effects also stand out in this episode. Toby Lindala, the special makeup effects artists deserves props for his work on Leonard Betts head. The special effect of Leonard growing a new body is not too shabby as well. This episode is full of good, witty dialogue between Mulder and Scully. Chuck Burks also makes an appearance, who is always good for a few laughs. Other highlights of this episode include Mulder showing his queasiness toward digging for body parts and Kung Fu Scully. Leonard Betts is well-paced with a couple of gross scenes and it has a big reveal at the end of it. The makeup and special effects along with the good dialogue and story help make Leonard Betts to be an above-average season four addition.
10 Reviews
You got something I need
SleepTight66615 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A gory, smart fascinating little episode that reveals a shocking secret that not even Scully was aware of.
The episode is about a highly evolved man called Leonard Betts (played by the great Paul McCrane) who can not only regenerate his head, but also his entire body. What's intriguing about it is that he needs to consume cancer to be able to survive.
This whole cancer storyline was the start to a great revelation. When he told Scully that 'You got something I need', is when she found out that she had Cancer. But was unable to tell Mulder due disbelieve. Some great acting from Gillian in that particular scene.
Despite being a smart shocking 'drama', it also works as a creepy gory horror episode. In particular, when Leonard regenerated his entire body and when Scully was examining his decapitated head and he blinked.
FOUR stars.
The episode is about a highly evolved man called Leonard Betts (played by the great Paul McCrane) who can not only regenerate his head, but also his entire body. What's intriguing about it is that he needs to consume cancer to be able to survive.
This whole cancer storyline was the start to a great revelation. When he told Scully that 'You got something I need', is when she found out that she had Cancer. But was unable to tell Mulder due disbelieve. Some great acting from Gillian in that particular scene.
Despite being a smart shocking 'drama', it also works as a creepy gory horror episode. In particular, when Leonard regenerated his entire body and when Scully was examining his decapitated head and he blinked.
FOUR stars.
Uncomfortable, but very good.
Sleepin_Dragon6 August 2022
When Scully has a decapitated head on her slab, she's a little surprised when it starts to flinch.
Well, this was another episode with an uncomfortable storyline, one which may well have you squirming in your seat, Series 4 was definitely not afraid to push the boundaries, and tackle taboo subjects.
Dramatic start, with some shocking twists and turns in the middle, together with a dramatic ending make for a very entertaining watch.
Credit to the writer for combining The X file content, namely Betts, along with something very real, cancer. Paul McCrane was excellent as Betts I thought, suitably sinister and creepy.
Considering that this was made back in 1997, some of those special effects still look rather impressive.
8/10.
Well, this was another episode with an uncomfortable storyline, one which may well have you squirming in your seat, Series 4 was definitely not afraid to push the boundaries, and tackle taboo subjects.
Dramatic start, with some shocking twists and turns in the middle, together with a dramatic ending make for a very entertaining watch.
Credit to the writer for combining The X file content, namely Betts, along with something very real, cancer. Paul McCrane was excellent as Betts I thought, suitably sinister and creepy.
Considering that this was made back in 1997, some of those special effects still look rather impressive.
8/10.
How evolved can a man be who drives a Dodge Dart?
Sanpaco1324 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Leonard Betts sits up there with Pusher, Squeeze, and other great monster of the week episodes. It begins with a great teaser of an EMT getting decapitated and taken to the morgue only to have his body jump up and walk out. That's right he is a worm man who can regenerate not only limbs but any part of his body up to and including his entire body. There are some great scenes in this episode. I love when Scully is digging through the bio-waste without flinching as Mulder is obviously disturbed and when she tells him she needs his help because he has longer arms. Another great scene is when the head of Leonard "winks" at Scully and Mulder is teasing her about it. In fact all of Mulder's paper-weight jokes about the head are great. I love the ripping off of the thumb in order to escape the handcuffs. I love the random Simpsons-esquire explosion of the car when Mulder and Scully shoot a couple bullets at it. And I love when Scully takes the defibrillator to Leonards head. Man she's such a bad A haha. Anyway, for one of the better monsters and stories including the mythology teaser about Scully's cancer I give Leonard Betts 10/10.
Mulder: Are you sure about this, Scully? Because if you're not sure I don't see that there's any reason to disturb all this stuff, just ...
bombersflyup26 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Leonard Betts is about a man who is riddled with cancer, that can regenerate by consuming it.
A brilliant episode, the tone both sad and humorous, an interesting mix. Leonard's life's consumed with pain and death, saving and taking lives and Scully finding out she has cancer. Then you have Mulder chasing after a headless man, digging through bio waste and lots of funny dialogue. Unfortunately it ends on the sad note not the humorous one. Scully's kicking I DID NOT BUY. The effects and the evolutionary discussion both excellent. With all the referring to CSM as the Cancer Man, they thought to have an actual cancer man, heh. Nothing here's ever revisited or apart of the show's lore though, quite insane.
Scully: Mulder, what are we doing here? Mulder: Did I mention that Mr. Betts had no head? Scully: Yes. So? I mean, you're not suggesting that a headless body kicked his way out of a latched morgue freezer, are you? Are you? Because I think it's obvious this is some kind of bizarre attempt at a cover-up.
A brilliant episode, the tone both sad and humorous, an interesting mix. Leonard's life's consumed with pain and death, saving and taking lives and Scully finding out she has cancer. Then you have Mulder chasing after a headless man, digging through bio waste and lots of funny dialogue. Unfortunately it ends on the sad note not the humorous one. Scully's kicking I DID NOT BUY. The effects and the evolutionary discussion both excellent. With all the referring to CSM as the Cancer Man, they thought to have an actual cancer man, heh. Nothing here's ever revisited or apart of the show's lore though, quite insane.
Scully: Mulder, what are we doing here? Mulder: Did I mention that Mr. Betts had no head? Scully: Yes. So? I mean, you're not suggesting that a headless body kicked his way out of a latched morgue freezer, are you? Are you? Because I think it's obvious this is some kind of bizarre attempt at a cover-up.
"Why do I think that Charles Darwin is rolling in his grave?"
classicsoncall24 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Oh boy, better have a barf bag ready for this one. With stories like 'Sanguinarium' and 'El Mundo Gira' already airing previously, it appeared that the X-Files writers were going full tilt monte on the gross out factor for the fourth season. This one could be the topper though, with a headless corpse regenerating itself, or vice versa, and the principal character, Leonard Betts (Paul McCrane), breaking off a thumb to avoid arrest after killing an EMT worker. But the best had to be Mulder's response to Scully when they discovered all those cancerous organs collected by Betts - "Snack food". Really, if you didn't heave right there you've got a pretty strong stomach.
Maybe even more disturbing was the manner in which Elaine Tanner (Marjorie Lovett) ran interference for Leonard's earlier, alternate self, Albert. Protective to a fault, she seemed rather non-plussed to give him a blood bath to help him recuperate from his trauma. No seriously, she gave him a bath in a tub full of blood, lending a rather novel meaning to the term. Like I say, barf bag material.
But the shocker in all this is the resolution when Leonard comes after Scully because she has something 'he needs'. You can see the look of recognition on her face when he mentions it, while also becoming conflicted over the idea of finding out for sure. The uncertainty affects her personality in ensuing episodes, as this was one of those stand alone episodes that actually lent itself to a multi-part story.
Maybe even more disturbing was the manner in which Elaine Tanner (Marjorie Lovett) ran interference for Leonard's earlier, alternate self, Albert. Protective to a fault, she seemed rather non-plussed to give him a blood bath to help him recuperate from his trauma. No seriously, she gave him a bath in a tub full of blood, lending a rather novel meaning to the term. Like I say, barf bag material.
But the shocker in all this is the resolution when Leonard comes after Scully because she has something 'he needs'. You can see the look of recognition on her face when he mentions it, while also becoming conflicted over the idea of finding out for sure. The uncertainty affects her personality in ensuing episodes, as this was one of those stand alone episodes that actually lent itself to a multi-part story.
Leonard Betts will give cancer man a run for his money.
devonbrown-9064924 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Will the real Leonard Betts stand up
Would have loved to know more about Leonard. How did he aquire his abilities and remain under the radar for so long? What did he do to his mom ? And is this the last we'll see of him?
Brilliant episode. I really enjoyed the plot and some of the scientific explanations provided by mulder was a feat of brilliant writing along side the ordinary denial and whit of scully. Charles Darwin would have definitely rolled in his grave for this episode.
Scully has something the cancer man needs, does this mean scully has cancer? The very thing she's been denying after all these episodes. Hard pill to swallow. I would love to see the group of women who had the same implant meet with her again so she can face her demons.
Would have loved to know more about Leonard. How did he aquire his abilities and remain under the radar for so long? What did he do to his mom ? And is this the last we'll see of him?
Brilliant episode. I really enjoyed the plot and some of the scientific explanations provided by mulder was a feat of brilliant writing along side the ordinary denial and whit of scully. Charles Darwin would have definitely rolled in his grave for this episode.
Scully has something the cancer man needs, does this mean scully has cancer? The very thing she's been denying after all these episodes. Hard pill to swallow. I would love to see the group of women who had the same implant meet with her again so she can face her demons.
Leonard Betts
lassegalsgaard18 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Our body is a truly mysterious thing. It provides us with a husk to live our life through and it gives us the ability to do all the things that are needed to truly be able to know what it feels like to be alive. We're a unique species because of our bodies and how we're able to experience it; in contrast to many other creatures who will never get the full potential out of life through their bodies. However, it's also an organism that will constantly come up with new and improved ways to try and kill you; almost like your soul is the disease and your body provides a virus to kill the disease. But in classic "X-Files" fashion, the show now wants to provide an alternative. An alternative that brings all of these things together and suggests that if you live with all of them in perfect harmony, you will actually be able to live forever. It provides the backdrop for one of the most interesting episodes of the show, not necessarily because it does anything new, but because it puts such a different spin on its case, as well as providing us with some truly creepy and scary scenes throughout it.
The first place the episode does something different is in terms of its antagonist. Leonard Betts is not necessarily an interesting character on the surface, but it's the underlying idea behind him. This is a guy who kills, not because he wants to, but because he needs to in order to survive. There is a biological evolution that allows him an extraordinary ability to cheat death, but it needs something to survive. It forces him to tap into his animalistic senses, bringing him back in the evolutionary food chain, which is a very fascinating contrast to bring up inside Betts.
It's the most human approach to a character that has been presented so far when it comes to their "antagonists." He has a very human will to survive and he wants to go on living, not really with any goal in mind, but the chance of life, but he has been reduced to doing this in order to actually get there. I love the guts of the writers to take him in such a deranged direction, yet still manage to find the sympathetic side of him and constantly present that to the audience instead of making him scary yet again.
It also presents an exciting new direction for the show, providing Scully with some insane character development. In a season that has been very heavy on the Mulder character arc, it's nice to see that they're tapping into an area that is going to be very critical for Scully going forward and for their relationship as well. It's also a big way of ending the episode, and using the "monster-of-the-week" model to also incorporate important information into the main storyline of the show. It'll be interesting to see where it goes and what it brings along for these beloved characters.
"Leonard Betts" is a different kind of "monster-of-the-week" episode and it works as one of its best because of its approach to its central "monster." It's a much more sympathetic approach, and it goes throughout the entire episode, with the ending reveal being one of the most gut-wrenching things to come out of the show.
The first place the episode does something different is in terms of its antagonist. Leonard Betts is not necessarily an interesting character on the surface, but it's the underlying idea behind him. This is a guy who kills, not because he wants to, but because he needs to in order to survive. There is a biological evolution that allows him an extraordinary ability to cheat death, but it needs something to survive. It forces him to tap into his animalistic senses, bringing him back in the evolutionary food chain, which is a very fascinating contrast to bring up inside Betts.
It's the most human approach to a character that has been presented so far when it comes to their "antagonists." He has a very human will to survive and he wants to go on living, not really with any goal in mind, but the chance of life, but he has been reduced to doing this in order to actually get there. I love the guts of the writers to take him in such a deranged direction, yet still manage to find the sympathetic side of him and constantly present that to the audience instead of making him scary yet again.
It also presents an exciting new direction for the show, providing Scully with some insane character development. In a season that has been very heavy on the Mulder character arc, it's nice to see that they're tapping into an area that is going to be very critical for Scully going forward and for their relationship as well. It's also a big way of ending the episode, and using the "monster-of-the-week" model to also incorporate important information into the main storyline of the show. It'll be interesting to see where it goes and what it brings along for these beloved characters.
"Leonard Betts" is a different kind of "monster-of-the-week" episode and it works as one of its best because of its approach to its central "monster." It's a much more sympathetic approach, and it goes throughout the entire episode, with the ending reveal being one of the most gut-wrenching things to come out of the show.
A Schlocky Bunch of Schlock
frankelee8 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The X-Files returns to the tried and true formula of giving a weird mutant guy a name and then naming the episode after him. Genius!
This episode features a new kind of cancer man, one made of it. I guess as far as The X-Files goes, I can't be too harsh, that's an idea on their level. But once again the writers could think of nothing interesting or new to do with it, so he quickly becomes a monster/serial killer who murders people when his life would be infinitely easier if he just didn't.
It's really rather confusing why the writers decided to start the episode off as they did, a talented EMT with seeming psychic powers is killed in an automobile accident. (The ambulance driver took her eyes off the road because she was talking to somebody! Don't TV characters know 100% of all TV car accidents occur because the driver takes their eyes off the road while talking to somebody?) The now decapitated man seemed to be a model citizen, if a bit private, he even volunteered in cancer wards.
Why set up your monster/serial killer to be a normal guy who isn't a monster or a serial killer? Don't you realize that the audience will notice that and then when he suddenly turns into a monster/serial killer for no explicit reason it'll seem really contrived and silly? The answer is no, they did not realize that.
This guy has a secret, he can't die from things like car accidents. Okay I get keeping that a secret, but it's not like he'll be put to death if people find out. I mean heck, look at Scully's reaction, most people will go out of their way to excuse all of the evidence that something bizarre is going on here. He probably could just lie and tell people what they want to hear, like there was some kind of mistake and he's actually alive. If his headless corpse had told Scully that in the first five minutes of the episode she would have gone home and there wouldn't have been an episode.
But no, it makes way more sense to start murdering people who knew you, because that will ensure the authorities come after you and disrupt your life. And do it at your job too. With many witnesses standing 20 feet away. I'm sure they won't notice. But oh no, wait, they did notice!
And then also he has to eat cancer, and now suddenly he needs to eat cancer so bad he has to murder people every 12 hours or so and cut the cancer out of them so he can eat it. How did he manage to survive as a child? Did this cancer evolution thing only happen after he conveniently became an EMT and volunteered in cancer wards and snuck out cancer samples and ate them? And it just naturally dovetailed with that? Because if not and it caught him totally unprepared, and he needs to eat cancer every 12 hours, how'd he complete the EMT training, find a job, sneak into a cancer ward, steal some cancer and eat it, all in 12 hours? Seems like a lot to do in 12 hours. And if he can do that, once discovered, why not just drive to a new city, get a new job as an EMT, and steal cancer there? He clearly must have all the prerequisite skills to do that, he's already done it here.
Of course, I'm just playing, none of this episode is shooting for anything higher than totally stupid, and it hits the mark. Wacky cancer monster/serial killer starts killing people and Scully figures out his one weakness and shocks him to death. Because that stops your heart. Getting decapitated, see that doesn't stop your heart. Burning to a crisp, that doesn't stop your heart. But getting shocked, there's no coming back from that.
Also Scully has cancer.
This episode features a new kind of cancer man, one made of it. I guess as far as The X-Files goes, I can't be too harsh, that's an idea on their level. But once again the writers could think of nothing interesting or new to do with it, so he quickly becomes a monster/serial killer who murders people when his life would be infinitely easier if he just didn't.
It's really rather confusing why the writers decided to start the episode off as they did, a talented EMT with seeming psychic powers is killed in an automobile accident. (The ambulance driver took her eyes off the road because she was talking to somebody! Don't TV characters know 100% of all TV car accidents occur because the driver takes their eyes off the road while talking to somebody?) The now decapitated man seemed to be a model citizen, if a bit private, he even volunteered in cancer wards.
Why set up your monster/serial killer to be a normal guy who isn't a monster or a serial killer? Don't you realize that the audience will notice that and then when he suddenly turns into a monster/serial killer for no explicit reason it'll seem really contrived and silly? The answer is no, they did not realize that.
This guy has a secret, he can't die from things like car accidents. Okay I get keeping that a secret, but it's not like he'll be put to death if people find out. I mean heck, look at Scully's reaction, most people will go out of their way to excuse all of the evidence that something bizarre is going on here. He probably could just lie and tell people what they want to hear, like there was some kind of mistake and he's actually alive. If his headless corpse had told Scully that in the first five minutes of the episode she would have gone home and there wouldn't have been an episode.
But no, it makes way more sense to start murdering people who knew you, because that will ensure the authorities come after you and disrupt your life. And do it at your job too. With many witnesses standing 20 feet away. I'm sure they won't notice. But oh no, wait, they did notice!
And then also he has to eat cancer, and now suddenly he needs to eat cancer so bad he has to murder people every 12 hours or so and cut the cancer out of them so he can eat it. How did he manage to survive as a child? Did this cancer evolution thing only happen after he conveniently became an EMT and volunteered in cancer wards and snuck out cancer samples and ate them? And it just naturally dovetailed with that? Because if not and it caught him totally unprepared, and he needs to eat cancer every 12 hours, how'd he complete the EMT training, find a job, sneak into a cancer ward, steal some cancer and eat it, all in 12 hours? Seems like a lot to do in 12 hours. And if he can do that, once discovered, why not just drive to a new city, get a new job as an EMT, and steal cancer there? He clearly must have all the prerequisite skills to do that, he's already done it here.
Of course, I'm just playing, none of this episode is shooting for anything higher than totally stupid, and it hits the mark. Wacky cancer monster/serial killer starts killing people and Scully figures out his one weakness and shocks him to death. Because that stops your heart. Getting decapitated, see that doesn't stop your heart. Burning to a crisp, that doesn't stop your heart. But getting shocked, there's no coming back from that.
Also Scully has cancer.
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