"Redrum" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on . The story for the episode was developed by Steven Maeda and Daniel Arkin, the teleplay was written by Maeda, and the episode was directed by Peter Markle. "Redrum" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. The episode received a Nielsen rating of 8.1 and was viewed by 13.2 million households. Overall, the episode received moderately positive reviews from critics.
The series centers on FBI special agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her new partner John Doggett (Robert Patrick)—following the alien abduction of her former partner, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)—who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, a lawyer friend of Doggett's named Martin Wells tries to clear his name of the crime after his wife is murdered. Unfortunately for him, his perception of time regresses backwards, day by day. This leads to confusion, but ultimately an answer as to who killed Wells' wife.
"Redrum", described as a "Twilight Zone-type thriller" by critics, heavily featured the actor Joe Morton, who had previously played a role in the 1991 sci-fi film Terminator 2: Judgment Day alongside series co-star Robert Patrick. The title of the episode was purposely picked by episode writer Steven Maeda to be "murder" spelled backwards, a reference to Stephen King's The Shining. The episode's main character, Martin Wells, was named after famed 19th century author H. G. Wells.
Plot
Martin Wells, a renowned Baltimore prosecutor, wakes up in a prison cell and notices a stitched-up wound on his right cheek. A guard enters and takes him for his transfer. Wells' long-time friend, John Doggett (Robert Patrick), and Doggett's partner, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), await him and warn of reporters outside. As he exits the building, a man Wells recognizes draws a pistol and shoots him. Wells stares at Scully's watch as he dies. The hands stop and then begin to turn backwards.
Upon waking up again, Wells is surprised to find no bullet wounds on his body. Scully and Doggett arrive to interrogate Wells, but he is confused about what is going on. A furious Doggett claims that he has been accused of murdering his wife, Vicky, and initially believes that Wells is faking his confusion in order to build an insanity defense. However, Doggett shows signs of doubt when he notices Wells' genuine anguish over Vicky's death. Wells is brought into court and he recognizes his father-in-law, Al Cawdry, as the man who shot him. When Wells' next court date is announced to be Thursday, he realizes that he has somehow travelled back to the day before his shooting. When the judge decides to transfer Wells to a different cell, he makes a scene in the court and accuses Cawdry of planning to kill him during the transfer.
In his second meeting of the day with Scully and Doggett, Wells explains that he cannot remember the last few days. Scully suggests that maybe he did do it. Wells begins having flashes of the murder but they are unclear. Waiting in his cell, he kills a spider. Later, a nanny cam from his house reveals that the only person to arrive between the police's arrival and the last time his wife is on camera is Martin Wells. Eventually, Wells meets his lawyers and tells them about the nanny cam. However, it turns out that it is Wednesday: Wells is somehow “living the week backwards”.
While going to meet Doggett and Scully, Wells gets shoved into a dominos game and while picking them up gets slashed on his right cheek from a man with the spider web tattoo on his hand. Wells tells Doggett and Scully that he is moving backwards in time and cannot recall the past few days. Doggett is skeptical, but Scully hears him out. Wells says there must be a reason for it and Scully suggests that the answer may already be within him. Studying the evidence of the case, Wells has a flash of the murder that reveals the knife in a hand with a spider web tattoo.