From Michael Marek , The Time
Line and Jamie Ruby
(This episode,
the 150th of the series, was shot on video using the
handheld camera style of the FOX network series "COPS." In
the episode "tease," before the opening credits, we see the
standard "COPS" intro, with the "Bad Boys" music, and see
Mulder and Scully among the law enforcement officers seen in
the opening credits. A "viewer discretion" warning is also
included.)
Los Angeles
sheriff's deputy Keith Wetzel, on patrol, talks about how
crazy stuff happens under a full moon. A prowler call is
received of a reported monster lurking around a high-crime
neighborhood. Exiting his car the officer searches the
neighborhood. Claw scratches are found on the door of the
woman who reported the monster. She is hysterical. He walks
behind the house to search further then runs back toward the
cameraman - "run, get back in the car, 10-33 officer needs
assistance." Something attacks the car.
Assistance
arrives to find the police car overturned. Wetzel is
disoriented but tells other officers that it must have been
"gang bangers." A report of armed suspects nearby is
received and the officers run off to find Mulder and Scully.
They are first held at gunpoint but then released when the
deputies find the agent's FBI IDs. They're working on the
same case as the officers. Mulder says it is not a question
of who did this, but what. The sheriff however wont reveal
anything about what he saw. There have been a half-dozen
similar sightings in the last 60 days and only on nights
with a full moon. Based on previous descriptions, Mulder
says it was large, stood on hind legs, and was covered with
fur. It had glowing eyes, teeth and claws. Mulder discovers
that the deputy was bitten. Mulder thinks it was a werewolf.
29 days ago a man was bitten and gave a full description
before he died. Mulder says the deputy will have to be
isolated and kept under guard, because he will become a
werewolf. The cop swears at Mulder, which is beeped out.
("With all due respect, what the *beep* are you talking
about"). Scully pulls Mulder to the side to talk to him, and
the cameracrew follows them, which really annoys her.
Mulder:
Oh, what is it?
Scully: What is it? Mulder have
you noticed that we're on television?
Mulder: I don't think it's live television, Scully… she just
said *beep*
Scully: Mulder, there's a camera
here! It's recording -- It's recording every word you say.
You understand? I need to make sure you're aware of that.
Mulder: Of course I'm aware of that.
Scully: My point being, we're investigating a
case -- .
Mulder: -- And this presents an
opportunity. I feel we're very close here. The possibility
of capturing concrete proof of the paranormal, of
werewolves? Proof that would be witnessed by a national,
even international audience? What's not to love?
Mulder think that
finding proof of the paranormal on national television would
be good. He tells her that he knows he looks foolish, but he
doesn't care. However, she doesn't want to look foolish so
he says okay and asks Scully to take deputy Wetzel to the
hospital Scully dials Skinner on her cell and turns to the
cameraman and tells him to give it a rest. Ofcourse he
doesn't listen, so she puts her hand over the camera lens.
The Hispanic lady
is still distraught, talking about a claw monster. The
sergeant overseeing the scene is highly skeptical. Mulder's
previous witness provided a sketch that looks like a
werewolf but a sketch artist works with this lady and
produces a sketch that looks like Freddie Krueger.
Scully returns.
The deputy's wounds turned out to be insect bites. Scully
checked with Skinner who told her to cooperate with the crew
from COPS because the FBI has nothing to hide. Mulder tells
her that he's not entirely convinced its a werewolf, but he
doesn't know what it is. Scully goes to get in her car and
the cameraman tries to get in the back. She won't let him
and makes him go with someone else.
Another incident
is reported and everybody races off to find the sketch
artist who had left a few minutes earlier. He has claw marks
across his chest. Scully finds a pink artificial fingernail
on the ground nearby. Mulder just says, "Nice color." Scully
tells him to check out the other color - blood red.
They talk to the
men in the nearby residence who are homosexual. The one
acting like a woman keeps trying to get in front of the
camera. They didn't see the attacker but heard all of the
screaming. They recognize the color of the fingernail as
belonging to a streetwalker, Chantara Gomez. When Mulder and
Scully leave, one of the men starts singing for the camera.
In the car:
Mulder: So
apparently we're on the lookout for someone whose hair
matches her fingernails. Bubblegum pink. That'd be a good
color for you, Scully. It'd have to say at this point in the
investigation, I'm usually a little more secure in what it
is we're actually investigating. But, we've had so many
conflicting eyewitness reports that it's hard to ascertain
exactly wht it is we're looking for. But the crimes we are
investigating are paranormal. I can say that with absolute
certainty. And...and the nature of these crimes...they are
notoriously hard to quantify on any kind of rigorous
scientific level as Agent Scully will tell you.
Scully: Oh yeah.
Mulder: Which in its
own way is a kind of validation if you think about it in and
of itself. But, ya know, that's our job. That's why they pay
is the big bucks.
Scully: Bubblegum
Driving around
they see Chantara, identifying her by her description of
bubblegum pink hair. She runs but they corner her - with her
face blurred on the video. She is crying. She heard
screaming and went to help but ran away when she heard the
sirens. She says the attacker was "Chuko," her boyfriend who
has been chasing her for a week. He told her he was going to
twist her neck off like a chicken if she didn't give him
more money.
Police know him -
he is a drug dealer. With a warrant they go to his crack
house but Mulder doesn't think he is responsible because no
matter how bad his reputation he can't turn over a squad
car. Officers raid the crack house. They find chuko's body.
He died of a drug overdose, probably a couple of days ago
and could not have been who Chantara saw. Shots are soon
fired outside. The officers rush outside to find Deputy
Wetzel who says that whatever it was came back. Chantara,
who was in one of the squad cars, is dead. Her neck has been
twisted.
They find a stray
bullet in the road, and Mulder theorizes that maybe the
Sheriff hit what he was aiming for. The sergeant doesn't
understand what is going on but Mulder finally gets Wetzel
to admit what he saw. He says it looked like the "wasp man"
quoting a horror story his brother told him when he was
little. That fits with his wounds being insect bites, but he
can't explain and doesn't know what it really was.
Mulder wonders if
all of the attacks are all by one creature that appears as
your worst nightmare. The first victim had claimed it was a
werewolf after him and the injuries indicated that. The
sheriff saw a waspman and recieved insect bites. Another
witness claimed to see Freddie Krueger. The only way to find
it must be to determine it's pattern. He tells her that they
need to find out how it chooses it's prey. It's seems to
spread like a contagion. One person's fear becomes the next.
Mulder goes through the cycle of who it's attacked. Scully
tells him that he's missing some people - Steve and Edie
(the homosexuals). They're a part of the chain, but they
haven't been attacked.
The agents return
to their home and find them fighting about their
relationship. Mulder and Scully stay with them for some time
to keep watch but eventually leave, stationing a couple of
deputies there to protect them. He realizes that they aren't
in danger because they aren't scared.
There are only
4-5 hours until the moon sets. Scully goes to examine
Chantara's body while Mulder rides with Wetzel, the only
person to have seen it twice. Deputy is surprised that
Mulder believes him. He's been on the job for 18 months and
is worried about being considered crazy. It's hard to get on
the law enforcement fast track when people think you're
nuts, he says, and Mulder agrees.
At the morgue a
second film crew watches Scully do the autopsy, blurring the
open body. The morgue attendant is disturbed, and asks
Scully why she was doing an autopsy so early in the morning
at 2:47 AM and why was the cameraman following her. Scully
turns to the camera and says "Because the FBI has nothing to
hide".
The assistant is
asking a series of questions about possible disease. Scully
says there is no suspicion of disease here, the woman
obviously died of a broken neck and not the Hanta virus. The
attendant becomes even more upset about what Scully said was
a figure of speech. She suddenly sneezing. Blood comes out
her nose and she collapses and dies.
When Mulder
arrives, Scully says it was certainly not the Hanta virus,
which doesn't kill that fast. It was like the power of
suggestion. She was afraid and her fear killed her, says
Mulder, claiming that it is the same MO as the other
attacks. Scully didn't see anything, Mulder says, because
she wasn't afraid. This thing is attracted to mortal fear. A
high crime neighborhood would attract it.
Meanwhile the
other camera crew is with Wetzel, back at the crack house.
They've checked every place else for this thing to reappear,
so they'd better check here. They go inside but hear a noise
and Wetzel and the camera crew panic, then the screen goes
to static. Mulder and Scully arrive at the crack house with
other officers and find the door locked. The FBI agents go
around and enter a back door while the deputies continue
hammering at the front door with a battering ram. They find
the camera crew that was with Wetzel hiding in a closet.
Proceeding upstairs they hear Wetzel behind a locked door,
is crying for help. Mulder calls to him "it can't hurt you."
when Mulder finally breaks down the door they find Wetzel on
the floor, injured but alive. The sergeant enters, deputies
having finally broken open the front door. "What happened?"
she asks. "The sun just came up," Mulder responds.
Scully: Do
you think the deputy stopped it, whatever it was?
Mulder: Maybe it just went away until the next
full moon. Really, you gotta figure there's enough fear in
the world, that if it doesn't show up in Willow Park, it's
gonna show up some place else.
Scully: You didn't
get the proof that you wanted Mulder.
Mulder:
Hey, it all depends on how they edit it together.
[Points to the camera]
Scully: It's gonna be a
hard one to write up.
The screen fades
out to the different X logo, and then to "Executive Producer
Chris Carter."
