The X-Files - 6.

writers: Vince Gilligan, Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban

director: unknown

STARRING:

David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

James Pickens Jr. as Assistant Director Kersh

Michael McKean as Morris Fletcher

Part two of "Dreamland".

In a nutshell, this ep picks up where part one left off, with Mulder and Morris Fletcher, an employee of Area 51, being affected by a passing UFO. Their bodies are fused and they somehow trade places. Morris takes over Mulder's life, Mulder is sent to the Area 51 prison and meets a man who looks like a woman ... or something like that. Scully is reprimanded by Kersh for something she did in part one and Mulder/Morris asks her over for dinner ... to Mulder's apartment where some fun and games involving handcuffs and a waterbed (in Mulder's bedroom, yes, he has one) ensue! Everyone's looking for a flight data recorder from a downed "UFO", Morris' wife wants to know why her hubby is messing around with Scully and UFOs cause havoc in the Nevada skies.

Plotline

The following plotline is not confirmed and my sources cannot be revealed, just enjoy and don't ask any questions! Some of this is going to be a tad confusing right now as I don't have the plotline for part one, but stick with me, this sounds like it could be a hoot! Heeeere we go!

We begin with a recap of part one, which ends with Mulder and a man named Morris Fletcher, an employee at Area 51 and a Man In Black who looks exactly like him, engaged in a fight when a UFO flies over them, their bodies are fused and they somehow trade places.

The teaser begins with a man's hand opening up an x-file folder, noted by a large red "X" on the cover. The file belongs to Fox Mulder (until now, we've only known of an x-file on Samantha, not Fox himself) and we scan over his basic info sheet and picture as the voiceover, apparently Morris Fletcher, tells us Fox led a normal life as a young boy way back in October of 1968 ...

Cut to the house in Chilmark, Massachusetts, or at least an old home movie of it as little Fox and his sister, Samantha, appear on-camera all dressed up for Halloween. He's wearing a Mr. Spock costume (from "Star Trek", for the three of you out there that don't recognize the name!) and Samantha's dressed up as a fairy. Fox is waving at the camera and trying to hold on to one of his Spock ears as it keeps sliding down. Eventually the ear falls off, Fox starts to cry and he runs off-camera, awwww. His mother pulls him back on-camera but Fox tromps on the fallen ear and runs away again. Mom decides to play the vamp for the camera, batting her eyelashes and flashing a little leg. At this point, the voiceover says there was a possibilty of infidelity in the marriage and talk of another man. In the movie, Mom motions for the camera to move away from her and towards the couch ... where we find a man in his 30's lighting a cigarette. Yikes, only one man we know of that smokes on this show, Cancer Man! He smiles and waves the camera away while our collective heads spin. As the camera focuses on little Samantha hugging her Mom's knees and waving her fairy wand, the voiceover says, "One day, she just disappeared." The image freezes and the scene fades to white. Bye-bye little Mulders ...

As we scan along a trophy wall of Mulder's achievements and photos, such as his Oxford diploma, Morris' voice says that Mulder wrapped himself in his work to try and forget what happened to his sister but she was never far from his mind. We scan over the beloved "I Want To Believe" poster and pictures of Bigfoot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster etc. and we're told that Mulder slowly but surely went out of his mind (gee, do ya think?!). He now lives like a monk, has a "great looking, but weird partner" and if the two of them had any sense, "they'd be boinking each other's brains out." Oh, I like this fella Morris, he's a smart dude ;-)

According to the script, we now see Mulder's "old" office, but the description makes it sound like we're in current time, so it must be his "new" office. The office is empty, save for an x-files cabinet (and a desk, I'm assuming) with folders lying on top of it and reconstructed x-files, including Mulder's file. Morris says Mulder has thrown away a great career, respect and friends, now living a lonely life, "shaking his fist at the sky." We're back to the man going through Mulder's file, he's seen from the shoulders down. He's wearing an FBI badge ... marked as Fox Mulder! The camera shows his face and although he's supposed to be Mulder's double, we know it's Morris Fletcher (don't ask me how, just reporting the facts, ma'am). The voiceover wraps up with, "...he's one step away from pushing a baby carriage filled with tin cans down the street. But now, all that's gonna change." End of teaser, let's get this show on the road!

The road in this case is a desert highway and Mulder is being tossed in the back of a Jeep Cherokee by some soldiers as he yells, "He's not me! Scully!". She's standing next to her car concerned about her decision to have this man arrested and looks over at Howard and Jeff, two more Men In Black (we obviously met them in part one). The men meet her glance and then get into their own Jeep Cherokee, taking Mulder's car with them. Scully is left standing next to Morris and his car (she thinks he's Mulder, remember?) and Morris sidles over to her nervously. He asks her if she hates him for "narking" on her to Kersh (ya got me, what did she do?!), but no, she's glad he did the right thing and is finally going by the book. The Mulder look-alike smiles, "Hey, it's the new me."

Next we see Mulder inside Area 51 but not quite the way he's always dreamed ... being dragged down a long hallway in leg-irons and tossed into a small cell in the Maximum Security Brig, the door locked behind him. He yells for someone to remove his leg-irons, but the soldiers ignore him. Spotting Jeff Smoodge (same Jeff as earlier I'm assuming), an old friend of Morris Fletcher, through his cell's window, Mulder yells at him to get him out of here, he doesn't know what's going on. Jeff walks over to the cell, stares at Mulder and says, "I sure as hell don't know." then walks away ignoring Mulder's shouts to come back. Hearing a chuckle, Mulder looks into the next cell through a plexiglass wall and sees a woman who says they've both "disappeared". This "woman" is Lana Chee, but she's now Robert McDonough. Let's see if I can get this straight ... Mulder sees a woman, but she's actually a man ... or something like that, okay? Lana lights up a smoke (ooo, maybe she's really Cancer Man! Naaaa, just joshing) and moves over to the plexiglass wall where Mulder asks who she is and is told her call sign is "Maverick." Mulder's really confused now, this woman's far too old to be a pilot. He calls her "ma'am" and asks if she's okay, but "she" yells out, "Ma'am? Kiss my ass, you desk monkey!"

We now focus in on a computer golf game Morris is playing in Mulder's office (yeah, right, Mulder's got a GOLF game on his 'puter and not Space Invaders or Doom or Naked Babes In Peril or something?!). More importantly, Scully arrives and walks over to HER desk across from his and across the land satisfied xphiles breathe a sigh of relief. Over at her desk, Scully is packing her things into a box! Sheesh, a gal finally gets her own desk and now she's moving on, what gives?! Relax fans, Kersh apparently told her she was insubordinate (when she did whatever she did in part one) and if she can't be a team player then she has to be suspended for two weeks without pay. As she leaves, Morris invites her to his (Mulder's) apartment for dinner at 8 and ... she says yes! Trouble with a capital T, girl.

Meanwhile, back at the Area 51 brig, as the sun rises on a new day we see Mulder lying on his cot, wide awake, looking like he hasn't slept a wink all night. His neighbor, Lana, is nattering on and on about his (Robert's) airplane adventures and it seems the tales have been pouring out for hours. Mulder's had enough and yells, "Hey Grandma Top Gun! Shut ... the hell ... up!" Mulder gets a ciggie butt flicked at him through the vent in wall and Lana/Robert says "You're my bitch, pencil-neck." Before this can get SO much more interesting, Mulder's cell door suddenly opens and two Air Policemen (?) tell him to come with them as General Wegman wants to see him.

In the General's office, Wegman is seated at his desk, Mulder's seated in front of him flanked by the two cops and a flight data recorder holds center stage on the desk. As we'll soon learn, everyone thinks Mulder is actually Morris and Jeff (his buddy from before) asks him why he didn't tell them what was going on. Mulder's thoroughly confused yet again and asks what the heck he means. Jeff taps the flight recorder saying it's the wrong one. General Wegman tells him Mulder (now actually Morris) replaced it and was running a scam on the FBI but failed to tell them about it. Struggling to fake his way through this, Mulder tells them he didn't know who to trust, there may have been a security leak and he had to approach Scully alone to find out who her real contact was. Howard pipes up and asks why he didn't tell us afterwards and Mulder says he knew they wouldn't believe him. When asked if Mulder (as in, Morris) has the real flight recorder and if it's safe, the real Mulder says, "Oh, yeah. Absolutely." Will he (Mulder, now Morris) bring it back? Yes, he will, says our Mulder, secretly concerned about how he'll pull this off. Whew, let's just hope this whole Mulder/Morris thing won't be as confusing on-screen, eh?

If you thought the discovery of Scully's desk was exciting, wait 'till you see this ... Morris walks into Mulder's apartment and unloads a few grocery bags containing everything he needs for an intimate meal, including a bottle of champagne, onto the counter. Looking around for a bedroom, Morris stops at a hallway door and tries to open it. The doorknob doesn't want to budge, but it finally opens and unloads a pile of old file folders, UFO pictures and porno magazines on Morris. He's found Mulder's long-lost bedroom and it's piled high with junk. "Guy hasn't been laid in ten years!" Told ya this Morris was smart as a whip! So there ya have it, the reason Mulder's been sleeping on the couch all these years.

As Morris is invading Mulder's turf, so we now see Mulder invading Morris' as he pulls up to the Fletcher house behind the wheel of Morris' car. He pulls into the driveway and narrowly misses hitting Morris' belongings all piled up on the driveway. In part one, Morris' wife, Joanne, was apparently furious at her husband as she believes he's carrying on with Scully. Mulder gets out and notices a car parked down the street with two N.D. men inside (haven't a clue, sorry) watching him. As Mulder turns towards the house, he sees Morris' daughter, Chris, walk out sporting a gold nose ring. He tells her he likes it and she says, "As if." Behind her comes her brother, Terry, and as he runs by he tells Mulder that Joanne is taking out a restraining order on him (thinking Mulder is his Dad, Morris). Nevertheless, Mulder walks in the house and a surprised Joanne asks him what he's doing there. Before Mulder can explain that he's not her husband, Joanne berates "Morris" about "that tramp Scully". Hey, watch your mouth, lady!

Back at the love grotto, I mean, Mulder's apartment, Scully knocks on the door and is greeted by Morris wearing an apron that reads, "Something smells good". Can't wait for this scene myself, can you picture it? As if the apron isn't enough, Scully walks in and can't believe her eyes ... the place is spotless, squeaky clean, you could eat off the floors. Clue number one, Scully, Mulder's never cleaned his apartment, wake up, girl! She's then shocked again as Morris opens the door to Mulder's bedroom and Scully says she never knew he HAD a bedroom. And, get this, it has a canopy bed! The Lounge Lizard, I mean, Morris, pats the bed and tells Scully to sit down ... and she does! She then starts to bob up and down ... it's a waterbed! Oh, somebody stop my tears of laughter, this is too good, but wait, it gets better ... Scully's knocked onto her back by the waves, looks up and sees a mirror on the top of the canopy, this boy's too much! Morris tells her to stay put, he's off to get the champagne. He returns with the bottle and closes the door on the viewers, "leaving our imagination to run horribly wild." Please, Scully, come to your senses, it's not supposed to be like this ...

Luckily, nothing has happened yet as we now see Morris and Scully seated on the waterbed, Morris struggling with the champagne's cork. Scully frightens us all by saying, "You know what would be really fun?" and whips out her handcuffs. Oooo, she's kinky, Frohike would be beside himself if he knew. Morris cuffs himself to the bedpost, raring to go. Scully puts an end to this madness and pulls out her gun saying he's not Mulder. Whew! Morris says, "Baby?" and Scully replies, "You "baby" me and you'll be peeing through a catheter. You're Morris Fletcher." Line of the night goes to Scully, you tell him, babe! Morris fesses up and Scully asks him how to get everything back to normal. He says he has no idea, but then I doubt he wants to go back to being Morris what with his angry wife and the Men In Black who won't let him leave the "organization" (must be a plotpoint from part one again). The phone rings, Scully tells him to answer and it's one of Mulder's contacts with the real flight recorder everyone's looking for. Morris tells him to meet him at The Little A'Le'Inn. Meanwhile, Mulder/Morris and Joanne seem to have made some progress as she wants to make up and go out. Hey, how about going to The Little A'Le'Inn? Popular spot apparently.

The next scene takes place at The Little A'Le'Inn, a roadhouse. Morris and Scully arrive in their car, she has her gun pointed at him. Scully's going to stay in the car so the contact isn't scared off. Morris walks into the place looking for the red Buffalo Bills cap his contact is supposed to be wearing and walks right by Mulder and Joanne but doesn't spot them. He slows down and spots the cap ... on General Wegman's head! Back at the other table, Mulder seems to have been sucking 'em back and gets up to go the bathroom. Meanwhile, Wegman admits to Morris (Mulder) that he sabotaged a UFO, or "black aircraft" as he calls it, that he's the security leak and for Morris to look under the table where he finds a brown paper bag containing the flight recorder.

While these dirty dealings are going on, Mulder has snuck out the back door and tries to escape but finds the car locked. He looks around the parking lot and spots Scully. Seeing salvation, he jumps in the car, but Scully tells him what Morris is doing inside (how does she know this is the real Mulder? Wait and see, I guess), so Mulder goes back to the roadhouse and finds Jeff (he's everywhere!). As Jeff starts talking to him, Joanne appears and tosses a glass of white wine on Mulder's shirt (a little club soda will get that right out) and she storms off. He goes to the bathroom and begins dabbing at the shirt (oh, it'll just spread that way, tsk, tsk, you bachelors) when he suddenly sees himself enter the bathroom wearing different clothes, it's Morris! Mulder says, "So, you're the guy that wants my life. I'm assuming that includes all the ass-kickings." and shoves Morris up against the wall, preparing to do a little kicking himself. Morris gets on Mulder's good side by handing over the flight recorder and he loosens his grip.

Out in the parking lot, Jeff finds a sobbing Joanne who is convinced her hubby is fooling around with Scully. She points to Scully's car, but it appears to be empty. Next we see Scully crouched on the floor, listening in to the discussion. Back in the washroom, General Wegman arrives trying to hide from Jeff and starts pacing as he bides his time. The two Mulders suddenly pop their heads up above the door of one of the stalls Kilroy-style, "Hey." At a loss for words, Wegman proclaims, "Hey."

Not wanting to miss out on all the action, Scully enters the roadhouse on the lookout for Mulder and Morris but she spots Jeff instead. He's questioning the bartender with the two guys that were watching Mulder at Morris' house. She ducks into the ladies washroom and peeks out. Wegman surprises Jeff and the boys by walking out of the men's room and asking them to come outside with him. Both Morris and Scully head out after the gang leaves. Once outside, Wegman points out Mulder and tells the boys to detain him, hmmmm ... They grab him, he asks what's going on and Jeff asks "Morris" what he's got in the brown bag. Mulder says it's beer, Wegman asks if it's the flight recorder, so Mulder opens it up ... and it's a 6-pack of beer. With a glance, Mulder and Wegman signal they're in on this as we hear a car peel out of the parking lot. Obviously, they let Morris get away.

Next thing we know, Morris and Scully arrive at the Lone Gunmen's office, the boys are eating Huevos Rancheros (it's in the script, not even sure what these are, nevermind why it's important to note!) when they knock on the door. Naturally, the Gunmen think Morris is Mulder as Scully seems to be the only one with the natural gift to not confuse the two (or so it seems). Scully hands over the flight data recorder, telling them it came from Area 51. She might as well have handed them the Holy Grail, the boys are beside themselves with joy. Someone's having fun, anyway, they hear Morris laughing as he peruses the Gunmen's newsletters. The boys are curious now, who IS this guy? Scully tells them the truth, that Morris assumed Mulder's identity through a warp in the space-time continuum. Natch, Scully, happens all the time in this neighborhood. Morris ticks Frohike off by calling him Melvin, Frohike says, "It's Frohike, you punkass, what've you done with Mulder?"

Meanwhile, the real Mulder is in General Wegman's office where the General is hoping they aren't seen together. Mulder tells him that Scully is working on decoding the flight recorder, but Wegman tells him it's too late, "they" will make Wegman disappear. Mulder asks him why he made the UFO crash and is told it was an accident, he only wanted Mulder to see it as he believes in Mulder's search for the truth. Wegman says, "We just fly these birds, they don't tell us what makes 'em go. They engineer 'em all up in Utah." Hmmm ... all of 'em? No aliens, just the nasty government and their little projects? Has Mulder finally uncovered one of his elusive truths?

Back at the Lone Gunmen's office, the boys have broken through the code and find readouts of Tachyon flux ... and gravitational displacement. The boys are stunned. Scully and Morris get set to leave when her cellphone rings. A.D. Kersh's secretary tells Scully that Kersh wants to see her right away, in person, hop to it.

In the darkness of the Nevada desert, three UFO devotees, two guys and a girl, are backpacking when they come upon the infamous "black mailbox" (ummm, maybe I'm not as worldy as I thought, what's this?). While one of the guys gets friendly with the chick, the other guy, Sam, scans the heavens with his binoculars. All of a sudden he hears a rumbling and spies an incredible sight, a heat ripple and warp in the sky. Uh oh, it's happening again! Sam is amazed and when it disappears he asks the others if they saw it. No reply, so he turns around and is greeted by another eye-popping sight ... the two have "melted" into one with an arm coming out through the others' back and an eye in the other one's cheek, far out! Sam freaks and takes off on a run for help.

Mulder's waiting beside Ahearns Gas Station as Scully and Morris pull up. Scully gets out to talk to Mulder, leaving Morris in the car flipping through radio stations. She tells him what happened with the flight recorder, that there actually was an anomalous event that night. Mulder just wants to know how to fix things, get him back where he belongs and get Morris out of his body (stop it, you naughty people!). Seems to Scully the only way to sort this out is to get Morris and Mulder back to the exact spot where the crash and event occured in the first place. She then tells him she's been relieved of her position yet again and Mulder joins the audience in its disbelief. Scully says, "I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly." (a nod to "The Planet Of The Apes"). She gets back in the car with Morris and drives off as Mulder watches.

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair ...", we find Howard, one of our Men In Black from earlier, driving along when he suddenly comes upon Sam, the freaked-out UFO buff, running down the middle of the road. He forces Howard to stop and tells him what he witnessed, that his buddies are now fused into one. Howard gets out, follows Sam to where his friends are and finds them as two seperate bodies again, making out on a blanket as if nothing happened. Sam insists they were "messed up", Howard tells him he believes him.

In the daylight now, in another car on the Nevada highway, we find Scully and Morris. He's nattering away as he drives, she's barely listening as she ponders how to help Mulder. Suddenly she yells for him to stop and back up the car. She gets out and walks to a gas station we saw completely destroyed in part one now looking perfectly normal. The attendant, last seen in some sort of fused state on the floor, burned to a crisp, now walks out to greet Scully. She's flabbergasted and tells him the place burned to the ground not two nights ago, but he denies it, she doesn't know what she's talking about. What can it all mean? Scully ponders.

Mulder's playing moving man as he tosses Morris' belongings into a U-Haul back at the Fletcher house. Scully and Morris drive up and she gets out to talk to Mulder leaving Morris behind as he's not sure he should be there or will be welcomed at his house. His wife, Joanne, comes out dragging a Lazy-Boy recliner, spots Scully and starts to yell at her. She soon gives up and goes back to working on the chair, having trouble getting it out the door. Morris gets an attack of the guilts and goes to help her, convincing her he's the real Morris, not Mulder. Scully tells Mulder that whatever happened to him and Morris may be reversing itself and they have to get back to the original spot quickly. The three of them head for Scully's car, but are stopped by a couple of Jeep Cherokees containing Jeff and some soldiers. As Scully, Morris and Mulder are detained, one of the soldiers goes into Scully's car and returns with the flight recorder, "Got it."

"On a dark desert highway ..." yet again, the Jeeps drive by a sign telling us they've entered Area 51 when they're stopped by a roadblock manned by good old Howard. Jeff gets out and asks him what he's doing. Howard says, "Cleaning up a mess." For some reason, Mulder realizes the time-warp thingy is now snapping back like a rubber band and they have to be in its path or they'll never get the chance to fix things again. There's an ominous rumbling in the sky, Mulder and Morris get out and everyone looks to the sky as a heat ripple washes over them. Next thing we know Mulder and Morris are back in their own clothes and bodies, everything's back to normal. Mulder and Scully get into their car (it was driven back by one of the soldiers) and Morris watches as they drive away.

For some reason, Scully's now back in the office at her desk (I thought she was reprimanded?), she calls Mulder on the phone and he thanks her for all her help. They hang up and as Scully opens a drawer to put a file away, she spots something from part one ... a four-sided fused coin ... oooooo!

Meanwhile Mulder arrives at his spotless apartment and as the screen goes to black for the credits, we hear the sound of waves on a water bed ... Mulder asks the darkness, "What the hell is this?" The End.