Écrit par: Vince GilliganDISTRIBUTION:
RÉSUMÉ:Mulder et Scully sont suivis d'une équipe de tournage pour l'émission-documentaire "Cops" lors d'une enquête sur une créature lypocanthrope.
LIEU: Los Angeles, Californie
DATE: 20 Février 2000
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. 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. 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. Scully doesn't like the camera crew, but Mulder think that finding proof of the paranormal on national television would be good. Scully takes deputy Wetzel to the hospital.
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. 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. They talk to the men in the nearby residence who are homosexual. 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.
Mulder tells the camera that there have been so many conflicting reports that it is hard to tell what they are looking for but he is certain that it is paranormal. 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.
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 only way to find it must be to determine it's pattern. Scully realizes that the two homosexuals, who were witnesses, could also be in the pattern of attack. 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. 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, asking a series of questions about possible disease. Scully says there is no suspicion of disease here, mentioning the Hanta virus in passing. The attendant becomes even more upset, 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. Whatever it was just went away until the next full moon. It's going to be a hard one to write up, concludes Scully.
L'épisode a été tourné comme une émission de "Métier Policier" (Cops) et le thème de la série COPS a été ajouté au début de l'épisode.
Ceci marque le 150e épisode de la série.
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