Hell Money
Encyclopedia
"Hell Money" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files
television series
. It was the nineteenth episode broadcast in the show's third season. "Hell Money" features Mulder and Scully investigating a Chinese lottery involving the selling of body parts.
immigrant, Johnny Lo, makes his way to his apartment
. There, he is confronted by someone telling him its time to pay the price, and is overtaken by three figures wearing masks. A security guard
later finds the three figures near a crematory
oven, where the man is inside, on fire.
Agents Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
investigate Lo's death, the latest in a series of fatal incinerations that have taken place in Chinatown; Mulder comes to believe that ghost
activity is behind the deaths, while Scully suspects a cult
. The agents collaborate with Glen Chao, a Chinese-American detective with the San Francisco Police Department
. When they find a Chinese character written inside the oven, Chao translates it as meaning "ghost" (鬼). Mulder also finds a scrap of burned paper in the ashes, which Chao identifies as being "hell money", a symbolic offering to spirits during the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. The agents locate Lo's apartment, where they find his collection of charms, as well as bloodstains underneath the recently-installed carpet.
Meanwhile, another Chinese immigrant, Hsin, tends to his leukimia-stricken daughter. To pay for her treatment, he attends an underground lottery
where participants put tiles in a vase
. The person with the drawn tile has the opportunity to pick another tile from another vase, which will either win him money or cause him lose an organ
. A man wins the lottery but selects a bad tile and his body is found later that day. Scully, performing an autopsy on his body, thinks that the man had been selling body parts, as he has numerous surgical scars. The agents question Chao, who claims that the local community maintains a code of silence and doesn't reveal anything to even him. Chao finds information that leads them to Hsin, who put the carpet in Lo's apartment. Hsin has a bandage over his eye, having lost it to the lottery earlier. Returning to his home, Chao is confronted by the three masked figures.
The agents visit Chao at the hospital. Meanwhile, Hsin visits the Hard Faced Man, one of the heads of the lottery, wanting to end his participation in the lottery. The man warns him that ghostly fire will consume him if he leaves the lottery. The agents return to the hospital, finding Chao gone. They trace his blood to that on the carpet in Lo's apartment, finding a match. This causes the agents to visit Hsin, but find only his daughter at his apartment.
The agents find Chao outside a nearby Chinese restaurant and follow him inside. Hsin wins the lottery, but selects the tile representing his heart
. Chao comes in, demanding the lottery end, and knocks over the table with the vases, revealing the lottery to be fixed. Mulder and Scully stop the Hard Faced Man seconds before he is about to operate on Hsin. They interrogate him, but because no one who participated will testify against him, it is unlikely he will be prosecuted. Hsin is brought to the hospital and his daughter is placed on an organ donor list. Chao disappears, awakening in a crematorium oven, being burned alive.
had about a pyramid scheme involving body parts. Writer Jeff Vlaming combined two concepts he had, one involving a lottery in a small town with another concerning corporate beings assembling the destitute in Chinatown
. Carter combined the stories when the script was submitted. Vlaming had originally hoped that this would be one of those rare episodes where Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) was right, but in the end Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) put everything together.
The episode's exterior scenes were shot in Vancouver, Canada's Chinatown while the crematorium scenes were shot within a soundstage. The vase and tiles used in the episode were created entirely by the show's production department. The scene where a frog pops out of a victim's chest was created by using molds to create a fake human torso, which was placed over the actor. For a close-up shot, the torso was placed on a table with a hole on it, allowing the show's animal wrangler to push a frog through the opening in the torso.
Actors Michael Yama and Lucy Liu had to redo all of their dialogue in a Cantonese accent in post production. Their re-recorded lines were dubbed over the original soundtrack.
Co-producer Paul Rabwin wasn't much of a fan of the episode, thinking that it wasn't really an X-File
. He claimed that if Mulder and Scully were removed from the episode it wouldn't have changed anything and that the two were not affected personally by the case.
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. It was the nineteenth episode broadcast in the show's third season. "Hell Money" features Mulder and Scully investigating a Chinese lottery involving the selling of body parts.
Plot
In San Francisco's Chinatown, an anxious ChineseChinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
immigrant, Johnny Lo, makes his way to his apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
. There, he is confronted by someone telling him its time to pay the price, and is overtaken by three figures wearing masks. A security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
later finds the three figures near a crematory
Crematory
A crematory is a machine in which cremation takes place. Crematories are usually found in funeral homes, cemeteries, or in stand-alone facilities. A facility which houses the actual cremator units is referred to as a crematorium.-History:Prior to the Industrial Revolution, any cremation which took...
oven, where the man is inside, on fire.
Agents Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
investigate Lo's death, the latest in a series of fatal incinerations that have taken place in Chinatown; Mulder comes to believe that ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
activity is behind the deaths, while Scully suspects a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. The agents collaborate with Glen Chao, a Chinese-American detective with the San Francisco Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
. When they find a Chinese character written inside the oven, Chao translates it as meaning "ghost" (鬼). Mulder also finds a scrap of burned paper in the ashes, which Chao identifies as being "hell money", a symbolic offering to spirits during the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. The agents locate Lo's apartment, where they find his collection of charms, as well as bloodstains underneath the recently-installed carpet.
Meanwhile, another Chinese immigrant, Hsin, tends to his leukimia-stricken daughter. To pay for her treatment, he attends an underground lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
where participants put tiles in a vase
Vase
The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....
. The person with the drawn tile has the opportunity to pick another tile from another vase, which will either win him money or cause him lose an organ
Organ (anatomy)
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in structural unit to serve a common function. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues . The main tissue is the one that is unique for the specific organ. For example, main tissue in the heart is the myocardium, while sporadic are...
. A man wins the lottery but selects a bad tile and his body is found later that day. Scully, performing an autopsy on his body, thinks that the man had been selling body parts, as he has numerous surgical scars. The agents question Chao, who claims that the local community maintains a code of silence and doesn't reveal anything to even him. Chao finds information that leads them to Hsin, who put the carpet in Lo's apartment. Hsin has a bandage over his eye, having lost it to the lottery earlier. Returning to his home, Chao is confronted by the three masked figures.
The agents visit Chao at the hospital. Meanwhile, Hsin visits the Hard Faced Man, one of the heads of the lottery, wanting to end his participation in the lottery. The man warns him that ghostly fire will consume him if he leaves the lottery. The agents return to the hospital, finding Chao gone. They trace his blood to that on the carpet in Lo's apartment, finding a match. This causes the agents to visit Hsin, but find only his daughter at his apartment.
The agents find Chao outside a nearby Chinese restaurant and follow him inside. Hsin wins the lottery, but selects the tile representing his heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
. Chao comes in, demanding the lottery end, and knocks over the table with the vases, revealing the lottery to be fixed. Mulder and Scully stop the Hard Faced Man seconds before he is about to operate on Hsin. They interrogate him, but because no one who participated will testify against him, it is unlikely he will be prosecuted. Hsin is brought to the hospital and his daughter is placed on an organ donor list. Chao disappears, awakening in a crematorium oven, being burned alive.
Production
The episode originated from an idea that executive producer Chris CarterChris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
had about a pyramid scheme involving body parts. Writer Jeff Vlaming combined two concepts he had, one involving a lottery in a small town with another concerning corporate beings assembling the destitute in Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
. Carter combined the stories when the script was submitted. Vlaming had originally hoped that this would be one of those rare episodes where Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) was right, but in the end Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) put everything together.
The episode's exterior scenes were shot in Vancouver, Canada's Chinatown while the crematorium scenes were shot within a soundstage. The vase and tiles used in the episode were created entirely by the show's production department. The scene where a frog pops out of a victim's chest was created by using molds to create a fake human torso, which was placed over the actor. For a close-up shot, the torso was placed on a table with a hole on it, allowing the show's animal wrangler to push a frog through the opening in the torso.
Actors Michael Yama and Lucy Liu had to redo all of their dialogue in a Cantonese accent in post production. Their re-recorded lines were dubbed over the original soundtrack.
Co-producer Paul Rabwin wasn't much of a fan of the episode, thinking that it wasn't really an X-File
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
. He claimed that if Mulder and Scully were removed from the episode it wouldn't have changed anything and that the two were not affected personally by the case.