Shadows

Two men who attempt to kidnap the secretary of a defense manufacturing company in Philadelphia are strangled to death without any outward sign of injury. That, and other physical impossibilities, lead Mulder to believe that the murders are the handiwork of a poltergeist who is very protective of the secretary. Scully thinks the murders are political. The two try to find the truth while two other mysterious agents try their best to withhold it from them.

Tropes:

• Answer Cut: In this transition:
  Mulder: Sure, all you got to do is prove that Howard Graves is still alive.
  (Cut to following scene)
  Ellen: Howard Graves is very dead.
• Asshole Victim: Most of the people Howard's ghost goes after are criminals or bad people (the extremists, Dorlund, the assassins, etc). Seeing what a Nice Girl Lauren is, it's really hard to feel bad for these people.
• Bad Boss: Dorlund.
• Blood Is Squicker in Water: After taking out the assassins, Graves reveals the true circumstances of his death to Lauren by making blood pool in her tub; as she watches in horror, Lauren realizes:
  Lauren: Oh my God...they killed him!
• Chekhov's Gun: Mulder used the lenses of his normally Purely Aesthetic Glasses to sneak the victims' fingerprints.
• Continuity Snarl: A small case, but an odd one to occur in a single episode; The ATM footage shows Lauren's attack (And therefore the start of this episode) happens on September 22nd, 1993. Graves' tombstone shows his date of death as two weeks later, on October 5th of the same year, despite his death explicitly being stated as happening weeks before the episode.
• Conveniently Distorted Evidence Footage: Mulder and Scully investigate surveillance footage taken from an ATM shortly before a pair of muggers were killed. Scully notes that the resolution of the image is too poor to make out a blur in the background that might be connected to the assault.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Dorlund. Not only is he a creep who hits on Lauren when they're alone, but he arranged for Howard to be killed and make it look like a suicide.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Lauren has been through a lot in a few weeks, and ends up moving halfway across the country to get away from her old workplace (and possibly Howard's poltergeist). By the end, she's found a new job and (while she still has to deal with rude bosses now and then) she's made peace with Howard's passing (and knows that he's still looking out for her).
• Elvis Lives: Mulder's line about how difficult it is to fake your own death — Elvis being the exception.
• He Knows Too Much: This is ultimately why Howard and Lauren were targeted: they both knew about the shady weapons dealings with terrorist groups, and neither was comfortable with it. Dorlund had already silenced Howard and was planning on killing Lauren next.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: After their mission in Pennsylvania is complete, Mulder convinces Scully to go see the Liberty Bell with him.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The other pair of agents are of the same height as Mulder and Scully.
• I Lied: Mulder did, though not in a sinister way. Mulder lies to the agents who called him, saying he can't help them, as he's never seen anything like their case before. Given the team was stingy on the details, it was more of a snarky revenge.
  Scully: You lied. You have seen this before, I can tell. You lied to them.
  Mulder: I would never lie. I willfully participated in a campaign of misinformation.
• Jurisdiction Friction: A downplayed CIA vs. FBI version. Scully goes back to confirm that Graves really died and the coroner is not very pleased but there is no major problem.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: At the end, Lauren's new boss's teacup starts to rattle when she behaves rudely to Lauren. The boss thinks it's just trucks passing by, but Lauren has another suspicion... Either way, Lauren doesn't mind anymore.
• Meaningful Name: Howard Graves — he's dead. In fact, his whole family is: his baby daughter (Sarah Lynn Graves) drowned in a pool at age three, and his wife (Mrs. Graves) died a year later.
• Mugging the Monster: Played with; Lauren Kyte herself is quite harmless, but the several people who try to harm her over the course of the episode quickly discover that she is being watched over by an angry, vengeful and very protective spirit that is anything but...
• Papa Wolf: Howard Graves as a ghost. He protects Lauren Kyte with his psychokinetic powers.
• Poltergeist: Mulder initially thinks one of these might have attached itself to Lauren.
• Replacement Goldfish: Howard Graves treated his secretary Lauren Kyte like a daughter as a stand-in for his daughter Sarah Lynn, who drowned when she was three, and Lauren, who is estranged from her own parents, responded in kind and is absolutely gutted by his death.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Mulder believes that Lauren has latent telekinetic abilities that surface when she feels threatened, while Scully believes Lauren was involved in something and has an accomplice protecting her. They're both technically right: something abnormal does happen when Lauren feels threatened and she does have someone helping her, but both are due to a poltergeist.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: On seeing that Lauren has a poltergeist watching over her, the female assassin who breaks into her home and attacks her quickly decides to change course. Unfortunately for her, the poltergeist isn't in the mood to just let her leave with an apology.
• Shout-Out:
  • Scully's quote of "They're heeere", referencing Poltergeist.
  • When Mulder mentions he thinks Lauren had psychokinesis, Scully also says, "You mean how Carrie got even at the prom?"
• Stalker Without a Crush: When Scully and Mulder begin to believe that Lauren is either telekinetic (Mulder) or has an accomplice protecting her (Scully), they start following Lauren as she goes about her day, trying to catch any sign of paranormal activity.
• Supernaturally-Aided Escape: Howard's poltergeist saves Lauren several times over the course of the episode, namely from Dorland's attempts to get rid of her.
• Token Minority: Of the two other agents, the man is black and the woman is either Asian or middle-eastern. This is the first and last time we see or hear of them.
• Tragic Keepsake: Howard kept a placard with a quote from Benjamin Franklin on his desk. Lauren ends up taking it with her when she cleans out his office, and keeps it on her desk at her new job.
• Unfinished Business: Invoked by Scully when she persuades Lauren Kyte to cooperate with the investigation into Howard's death, saying that otherwise Howard can't move on. Scully may not know it, but that really is the case.