IMAGES FROM "THE GIFT"


TEASER
SQUAMASH TOWNSHIP
PENNSYLVANIA
A car drives up to a house. A man gets out and walks up to the house. He’s carrying a gun. As the man goes inside, the camera pans to show a symbol written in blood, of a circle with lines through it going both ways.

Inside a man and his wife, Marie, are yelling at the person to stop. On the wall is the shadow of some creature moving. The person that entered the house fires three shots. The creature falls to the floor. Marie hugs her husband and cries.

The man walks back outside, gets in the car, and puts his gun down on the seat. The camera pans to show that the man is Mulder.

Mulder backs up and leaves.

ACT ONE
Doggett is driving in his car thinking about his involvement in the search for Mulder. He sees flashbacks of different conversations he’s had. He sees Scully talking to Skinner after reading his medical reports. He sees himself asking Scully how well she knows Mulder and how far he would go to find his truth. He also sees himself telling Scully as she lies in the hospital bed, that no matter what they differ on, he will find Mulder.

Doggett passes the “Squamash” sign.

The sheriff watches Doggett through the window as he pulls up and parks.

Doggett meets the sheriff, Curt Fry. He tells Doggett that he’s wasting his time, but Doggett says that he isn’t if he can confirm what he told him on the phone.

He tells Doggett that he can. He starts looking for a file in the cabinet and then says that Agent Mulder was there in the spring. Doggett says that he told him on the phone that Mulder was investigating a missing woman. He tells him that she wasn’t exactly missing, and Mulder wasn’t exactly investigating either. It was a false report. Marie never even left the house. The reason Mulder found out about it is because her sister got all excited about it.

The sheriff finally finds the folder he is looking for, and hands it to Doggett. He tells him that he can see for himself.

The sheriff asks him what his interest is. He was surprised when one agent gave the case a thought. Doggett tells him that it wasn’t so much the case as the agent, and that Mulder disappeared last May.

He tells Doggett that he’s sorry to hear that, but he doesn’t see what it has to do with them. Doggett asks him if Mulder had a personal connection to something that may not have been in his report. He tells him that he doesn’t think Mulder was ever there before as far as he knows. Doggett says that Mulder’s phone records show that he came back there a week before his disappearance. He asks him why. Doggett says that that is what he wants to know. It’s his job to find him.

The sheriff takes Doggett to see Marie and her husband Paul who might be able to help him, since it happened in their house.

Paul tells Doggett that it was a personal matter that was blown out of proportion. The sheriff tells him that he is not investigating him, but rather Agent Mulder.

Doggett asks Paul what Mulder and they talked about.

In a flashback, Mulder talks to Paul and Marie. He says to Marie that she told her sister that she was going to disappear tonight. Paul interrupts and says that he told him that they had a fight and she was going to leave, not disappear. Mulder tells him that he was talking to his wife. Marie tells Mulder that it is what Paul said. Her sister lives out of state, and she told her that she was going to go. She didn’t want her to worry. Mulder thinks that she told her sister a story that she was afraid of.  Paul interrupts again, saying that there was no crime there. Mulder tells her that he doesn’t think that she’s going anywhere, but rather someone or something was coming there, and that maybe it still is.

Back in the present, Paul tells Doggett that they had a fight and patched it up. That is it.

Doggett says that the sheriff’s report says that he talked to Mulder on Saturday, May 6th. He asks if they saw Mulder again that night.

Paul sees a flashback of Mulder as he shoots the creature.

Paul tells Doggett that they didn’t. Doggett tells him that his cell phone records say he did, at least to the area.

Doggett notices something on the mantle, and asks if it is a dialysis machine. Paul tells him that Marie suffers from a kidney disease, and is very sick.

Doggett mentions the “someone or something” that Mulder said was coming. Marie tells him that she just told her sister that she was afraid of the stories.

Paul asks if Mulder was sick in the head, and if that’s why he is checking into what happened. Doggett just ignores him and asks about the stories. Paul tells him about an Indian folk legend about a creature that lives in the woods. He’s heard the stories since he was young. He says that Doggett colleague twisted into the theory that she was going to disappear, because this creature was going to come and eat her. Doggett questions this, but Paul just adds, “alive.”

Doggett and the sheriff come out of the house. He tells Doggett that he’s sorry he had to waste his Saturday. Doggett asks him if the couple owns a gun. Curt says that he doesn’t think that they do, and asks why. Doggett tells him that he saw three bullet holes in the wall covered with plaster. The sheriff asks if they were gunshots, and Doggett tells him that they possibly could have been. He asks Doggett if he wants to go back and ask them, but he tells him that he doesn’t.

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
2:18 PM
Doggett goes into Mulder’s apartment and feeds his fishes. Then he searches everywhere, making a mess. Taped under the sink he finds Mulder’s gun and holster. 

The sheriff and some of his men have a grave opened. On the grass covering it, there was a symbol, like the one from before.

FIREARM-TOOLMARKS
F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS
4:41 PM
Doggett is looking at a close-up of the gun on the computer screen when Skinner walks in. Doggett asks him if he was aware that Mulder carried a second gun. He tells him that he is – Mulder wears the second gun on his ankle.

Doggett tells him that he found it under Mulder’s sink, and the clip was three rounds shy. Skinner asks him what he’s talking about.

Doggett tells him that three bullets were fired in a house where Mulder investigated a case last May. Mulder never filed a report on the case or the discharge of his weapon. Skinner just tells him that if Mulder did these things he would have reported them.

Doggett says that Mulder submitted case reports, but they indicate he was in Washington D.C. on days that his cell phone records prove he was in Pennsylvania. He hands Skinner a file, but he just puts it down and asks if he’s calling Mulder a liar.

Doggett shows Skinner the muzzle of Mulder’s gun. Skinner says that it’s blowback. Doggett tells him that it’s a macro spatter of dried blood in a semicircular pattern, which indicates Mulder fired close range at something or someone.

Skinner tells him that he’s had enough. He turns around and starts to leave.

Doggett asks him where he’s going. Skinner just says that it’s where he’s going. He questions if he’s trying to build a case that Mulder killed someone and then made himself disappear. He says that he told him before that that’s not what happened.  He saw him being abducted.

Doggett tells him that Mulder signed falsified case reports. Skinner yells at him and tells him that he knows it’s not about Mulder, but about himself and his own career. If Doggett gives the F.B.I. a narrative for Mulder’s disappearance, he’s off the X-Files and back on the fast track to the director’s ship. Doggett tells him that he is just trying to find the truth. Skinner says that if he wants the truth to ask Agent Scully. He tells him that he can’t because she signed the reports too.

Skinner walks up to Doggett and looks at one of the files. He tells Doggett that if he takes that story to OPR, the accusation alone could cost Scully her job. He tells him that he’s not taking it to OPR. He’s taking it to him.

The sheriff and his men come with their search dogs to a woman’s house. The sheriff yells to her that she has two minutes to bring it outside, and if she doesn’t, then they’re coming in to get it.

The woman comes outside. He asks where it is, and she tells him that it’s dead and buried, and he knows that. He tells her that it’s there and they have come for it. A man says that she lied to them.

They hear a noise nearby in the woods. The creature runs, but they catch it in a net.

As the pull the creature out of the woods, the woman pleads with them not to do it. They ignore her and put it into a cage in the truck. The camera pans to show the creature’s face. It is actually a really disfigured man.

ACT TWO
SQUAMASH SHERIFF’S STATION
7:48 PM
Doggett and Skinner go to see the sheriff. They tell him that he wasn’t answering the phone, but he just lies and says that he was hunting. Skinner asks him about a death certificate he has. The sheriff tells him that a local woman found the body of the unidentified transient in the woods. Skinner asks him if there were any suspects or a motive. He tells him there weren’t, and asks why. Doggett asks him if they get a lot of shootings around there and that is why he failed to mention the body. He asks what Doggett is insinuating. Doggett says that the body was found dumped outside the woman’s cabin, on Sunday, May 7th – the morning after Mulder was at the couple’s house. The sheriff says that he failed to make the connection, but doesn’t know why that matters. Doggett tells him that three rounds were missing from Mulder’s weapon. The sheriff asks if he means that Mulder came back to town to kill the man and now Marie, Paul, and I are lying about it. Doggett just says, “Pretty much.”

SHERIFF: This theory is even nuttier than the one Agent Mulder came to town with.

He asks Doggett where the evidence is. Doggett asks where the body is buried.

Doggett and Skinner go to the man’s grave, only to find it already dug up and empty. Doggett climbs in. Skinner says that the earth is fresh. Doggett says that the sheriff must have dug it up that afternoon, right after they left. Skinner asks what he would want with a body. He tells him he doesn’t think he found it, and indicates the tunnel coming out of the casket. Skinner asks him if he’s saying that the man inside the casket did it. Doggett tells him that it’s pretty deep, and that a man doesn’t get shot three times and then tunnel out of his own grave.

When Doggett comes out, Skinner asks him, that if he was an unknown transient, then why did someone leave the rocks on top of his grave. The camera pans down to show the symbol.

Marie’s husband paints the symbol in chicken’s blood on the wall. The sheriff comes in. They agree that it’s time, but Marie is scared and not sure if she wants to do it. Her husband tells her that she has to.

Marie slowly undresses and lies down on the floor. Her husband hugs her for a moment.

The creature is let lose and goes to Marie. He opens his mouth and contorts his face. He leans over Marie and bites her.  Her husband prays for her. She screams, but no one comes to her side.

Doggett and Skinner come to talk to Marie’s husband again. They want to talk to Marie, but he tells them that she is not there. Doggett notices blood on the floor. Marie’s husband insists that she just coughed up blood because she was sick.

Somewhere underground, the creature regurgitates, loosely forming the shape of a body.

ACT THREE
Doggett is outside, imagining what might have happened.

In his vision, Mulder gets out of the car and goes inside the house. Marie pleads with him, but he raises his gun and shoots the creature.

Skinner comes over to Doggett. Doggett tells Skinner that Paul said that Marie must have coughed up the blood and insists that he didn’t harm her. Skinner says, that, “of course he says that.” Doggett tells him that maybe he didn’t. Doggett tells him that he said it before: Mulder wouldn’t shoot a man in cold blood, unless he was trying to protect Marie. Skinner asks him from whom. He tells him that he means from the man that is supposed to be buried in the coffin. Skinner tells him that the county police found something he should look at.

Skinner holds up a fluorescene bloodstain enhancer and shows Doggett the symbol on the door in blood and tells him that they must have just used water to clean it off.

Doggett and Skinner talk to the Lone Gunmen through videoconference, asking about the symbol. They obviously woke the gunmen up. Doggett asks Langly if he has on any pants. He runs out of the room.

Byers tells them that the pattern they described is most likely a medicine wheel. It’s a symbol for healing usually associated with North American Shaman. Frohike adds that the circle represents the continuum between life and death. The journey is separated by two roads – one for happiness, and one for sorrow. Byers says that the Code of Indians teach that all of these elements – life, death, sorrow, happiness – are all one, but it takes an enlightened mind to see it. Doggett asks them why someone would paint it on a door or mark it on a grave.

Langly comes back into the room. He says:

LANGLY: Well, that’s the part that takes some conjecture there, Agent Dogbird.

Byers tells them that they don’t know what Mulder was doing out there. Frohike says that legends date back hundreds of years to a Sin Catcher Shaman, also known as a Souleater. Langly says that they administer to the  consume their illnesses. Byers says that the symbol might be placed on a grave a sign of respect, or on a door as a summons to indicate someone is there that is in need of the healing creature’s gift.

Doggett thanks them and Skinner closes the laptop.

As he walks out, Doggett tells Skinner that Marie suffers from a kidney disease.

Outside, Doggett tells him that there wasn’t a transient buried in the grave. Doggett gets in the car and leaves.

Doggett goes to talk to the woman who found the body. He wants to know what is going on, and mentions that Mulder must have thought it was a souleater. She tells him that maybe it is. She says that everything has been the way it is for hundreds of years, and he has everything backwards.

Doggett finds a trap door in the floor. He opens it and goes down inside. It is some sort of a tunnel. He follows it with his gun drawn.

At the end of the tunnel he finds Marie – naked and covered in a slimy substance, presumably bile. He wipes some of it off of her mouth and she wakes up. Doggett carries her out. From the window, the woman watches him leave.

ACT FOUR
Doggett watches Marie and her husband in her hospital room. Skinner walks up and he tells him that Marie is healthy, and her kidneys have spontaneously healed. Doggett tells Skinner to explain it, but he tells him that he will be the one that will have to. The sheriff is waiting to take his statement. He tells Skinner that the sheriff has known all along, and so does Marie’s husband. The souleater took her to cure her. Doggett tells him that he thought Mulder that shot the man to protect Marie, but it wasn’t her he was trying to protect.

Doggett leaves, telling Skinner that something happened there. It just wasn’t what they thought.

Doggett goes back to the woman’s house to talk to her again. She tells him that to understand what it is, he has to understand what it can do. It’s gift – people hate it because they need it. She tells him that it looks the way it does because of their sickness. Doggett says that he cures disease, but she tells him that it consumes it and is in pain.

Doggett realizes what happened. He tells her as Mulder appears in a flashback. He tells her that Mulder came to see her last year, not to save Marie, but to save himself.

Mulder lays naked on the floor of the cabin. The souleater leans over him and opens his mouth.

Doggett tells her that Mulder was dying, but he kept it a secret. He had an undiagnosed brain disease. He was a sick man, desperate to find a cure.

In flashback again, the creature looms over Mulder, but he looks it in the eye. It opens its mouth wide.

Doggett tells her that Mulder didn’t do it. The woman tells him that Mulder saw how it suffered. He saw it in his eyes. She knew what needed to be done; she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Doggett guesses that Mulder killed it. She tells him that he couldn’t bear to add to his pain. Doggett then guesses that he came back there that night to take away its pain.

In a flashback again, Mulder raises his gun and fires three shots at the creature.

She tells him that they buried it. It wanted to die. It still does, but it can’t. She says that all the months she’s kept it there in secret, but now that they know it’s back, it will keep suffering.

The creature walks up behind Doggett. Doggett stands up and looks at it. The souleater is crying.

Doggett brings the souleater out to his car so he can take him away from there.

Before he can drive away, the sheriff and his men drive up.

The sheriff tells Doggett that they have sick people who need it. Doggett tells him that he is taking it, and turns to get back into the car. The sheriff shoots him in the back.

When they look back in the car, the souleater is gone. The sheriff says that it will come back. It always does.

Doggett is buried.

Doggett wakes up naked in the cave covered in slime. He looks around and sees the woman kneeling near the creature lying on the ground. She tells Doggett that they didn’t know what would happen. He took Doggett’s death, and now he can finally be free.

Doggett is in the office at the computer. Skinner comes in and Doggett tells him that he wants to write the report and have it finished before Scully comes in, in the morning. When Skinner asks him how far he is, he tells him that he doesn’t even know where to begin. Skinner tells him that he got inside Mulder’s head and figured out why Mulder did something that he wouldn’t have thought him capable of doing. He tells him that if he writes a report, it would hurt both Mulder and Scully’s reputation, along with his (Doggett’s) own. Skinner hands him the print out of the symbol the Lone Gunmen sent them and tells him that they both know what happened, but no one else has to.

When Skinner leaves, Doggett envisions Mulder standing in front of him. In a moment he vanishes.

IMAGES FROM "THE GIFT"


Overall Rating : 8.5
*Shippy Rating: 1.5 *This was from the flashback*
*Note: Shippiness will ALWAYS be based on MULDER and SCULLY. The scale is based on the Redux II scale (1-10, as Redux II being a 10 [now with Triangle being an 11, All Things being an 11.5, and Millennium being a 12, all above the scale])*


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