Margi Kleinjan (Wendy Benson-Landes) is an antagonist in the 1996 episode “Syzygy” for the TV sci-fi series “The X-Files”.
Margi is a high school girl and cheerleader in Comity, New Hampshire, that was born on the same day (January 12, 1979) as Terri Roberts (Lisa Robin Kelly) when certain planetary alignments caused the cosmos to focus all its energy on them.
Now, days before their mutual 18th birthday, the planetary alignment is granting them the ability of telekinesis. The two girls are using this power to kill classmates they don't like and blaming it all on satanic ritualists.
After the funeral of a classmate, Margi and Terri get a ride home from a jock, Jay "Boom" DeBoom (Ryan Reynolds). During the drive, the girls tell Boom that the cult seeks a blonde virgin as a next victim, convincing him to turn off the road. The next day, the police find Boom hanging from a cliff. Out of sight of the police, Terri and Margi sit at the top, picking off flower petals and laughing.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive in Comity and go to Boom's funeral. During the ceremony the coffin starts smoking and catches on fire.
Mulder and Scully go into separate rooms to interview Margi and Terri, both of whom offer an identical story about a satanic ceremony where a baby was sacrificed. Scully thinks their stories are cliché and points out the fact that the belief in a satanic conspiracy is illogical and paranoid. Looking at the latest victim's body, Mulder and Detective White find a burn mark in the shape of a horned beast.
Terri and Margi watch basketball practice, lusting over one of the players, Scott Simmons (Russell Porter), whose girlfriend is fellow cheerleader Brenda Jaycee Summerfield (Gabrielle Miller). One of the other players accidentally spills a table of drinks on them, so they cause the basketball to bounce underneath the bleachers and it closes when he goes to get it, killing him.
A town mob searches for a mass grave in the woods and finds a bag belonging to the town pediatrician filled with bones, which Spitz mistakenly assumes belonged to a child. The angry mob goes to see the doctor, who claims the bag was sold. The bones end up belonging to "Mr. Tippy", a dog that belonged to Terri.
Margi and Terri celebrate their birthday and Brenda uses a Ouija board to know who she will marry. Everyone thinks it's Scott before the planchette veers away from the C and spells out Satan. Upset, Brenda rushes to the bathroom where Margi and Terri are chanting "Bloody Mary" and is locked in. Brenda is killed by glass from a shattered mirror.
Terri and Margi try to console Scott, who tells them off. Turned down, Terri is mad at him but Margi still likes him and leaves.
Mulder visits Madame Zirinka (Denalda Williams) who tells him that the planets come into alignment like this only once every 84 years, and additional alignments will cause anyone born on January 12, 1979 (Margi and Terri's birthdate) to have all the energy in the cosmos focused on them.
Margi goes to see Scott alone, but an angry Terri arrives. The two argue with each other and end up accidentally killing Scott as they cause objects and implements to fly about. Confronted with his accidental death, they both blame each other for the murders. Margi immediately goes to Mulder, telling him that Terri is responsible for all the murders, while Terri goes to see Scully and tells her the opposite. The agents call each other and bring both girls to the police station, where the place starts shaking and all the guns go off on their own endangering everyone in the office who barely escape being shot dead.
Mulder first separates the girls, then locks them in a room together and their power ceases completely once the clock ticks midnight. This leaves the girls power removed for the next 72 years. The girls are left docile, sobbing, and clutching tightly to each other in the far corner of the room. The town mob and Detective White finally see the now seemingly-innocent Terri and Margi as the culprits. However, Spitz is at a loss for any logical explanation, and immediately claims it was indeed the work of Satan, oblivious to the cosmic alignment's energy.
Trivia[]
- Wendy Benson-Landes appeared as Sue Ann Stepanek in the 1996 remake of the film "Pretty Poison".
- Wendy Benson-Landes appeared as Tiffany K. in the 1997 episode "Homecoming Queen" for the TV series "Clueless".
- Wendy Benson-Landes appeared as Joanne Hertz in the 1999 episode "Deja Vu All Over Again" for the TV series Charmed".
- Wendy Benson-Lades appeared as Amy Kemp in the 2012 episode "Till Death Do Us Part" for the TVV series "Castle".
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