Season 8 Episode 20: The D’Arcy Files

March 20, 1994

Published 03/20/94

April Fool’s Day is coming, and Jefferson has a confession. His name is not Jefferson D’Arcy. He worked for the CIA for years before he met Marcy, under a different identity, and a covert operation he ran put a great many people in prison. One of them got away, a man named Walter Traugott, and Traugott is the only person alive who can expose him. Marcy’s reaction to the news is one of the best beats in the episode, because her first guess about what her husband is confessing to is considerably more offensive to her than espionage, and her second reaction, when he confirms a detail she had not asked about, is worse. Al finds out, and Al discovers that there is a fifty thousand dollar reward for information leading to the man behind the identity, which puts him in a genuine moral position for about ninety seconds. He tries to get Jefferson to admit it on the record, and the moment Jefferson does, Al’s hand goes for the telephone. Elsewhere Bud and Kelly want to start a business serving lonely men and need five thousand dollars in capital, and Al’s response is to walk them through the family wall safe, which is the funniest thing in the episode. Peg spends the episode dealing with a broken tooth. It is one of the better Jefferson episodes the series made, because for once the backstory the show had been joking about turns out to be real, and the only person who finds that less interesting than the Cher revelation is Marcy herself. Al’s willingness to sell out his only friend for money takes about a second and a half to establish.

Episode Facts

Original air date: February 27, 1994
Season and episode: Season 8, Episode 20
Overall episode number: 177
Written by: Ilunga Adell
Directed by: Gerry Cohen
Production note: This is the episode that establishes that Jefferson D’Arcy is not his real name and that he worked for the CIA, which the series had hinted at for years without committing to.
Production note: The closing shot of Jefferson blowing a party whistle was lifted for Ted McGinley’s clip in the season 9 opening credits.
Title note: A play on The X-Files, then in its first season on the same network.