In a rural Indiana neighborhood, Shaineh Berkowitz watches a daytime talk show on
television. So entranced is she by the interview, that she fails to notice someone covering
the home with termite tenting. A dark figure enters the kitchen and drops a white cake into a
skillet, triggering a chemical reaction that produces a gaseous white cloud. Sensing a
presence in the house, Shaineh investigates. Suddenly, a horribly disfigured,
Frankenstein-like face emerges from the misty darkness. Shaineh gasps in horror.
Later, as the agents drive through the Indiana farmland, Scully reads aloud a letter
addressed to Mulder. In it, Shaineh describes how, eighteen-years earlier, a presence
entered her smoke-filled bedroom as, strangely, the voice of singer Cher filled the air. Three
days later she woke up pregnant with her son, Izzy. Shaineh explains that she saw Mulder
on the Jerry Springer show, and hopes he will investigate her case. The agents do, indeed,
drive to Shaineh’s home. There they discover a comic book bearing the exact likeness of
the creature Shaineh claims attacked her. Shaineh explains the monster is called The Great
Mutato, a creation of Izzy’s fertile imagination. Izzy claims he, and many others in the
community, have seen the creature–who apparently has a penchant for peanut butter
sandwiches. Izzy and his friends lead the detectives to a wooded area, and using
sandwiches for bait, lure the creature from its hiding place. The group gives chase, but the
creature disappears into the darkness. Mulder then encounters an Old Man, who claims the
real monster is his own son, renowned scientist Dr. Francis Pollidori. The agents visit
Pollidori, who describes his experiments in genetic manipulation. He displays a photo of a
fruit fly head… with legs growing out of its mouth. Later, Pollidori bids good-bye his wife,
Elizabeth, as he embarks on a trip out of town. Moments later, termite tenting falls past
Elizabeth’s window.
When the agents stop by a country diner in downtown Bloomington, they are feted with
heaping plates of food. It turns out that the entire town believes Jerry Springer will do a story
on the creature… the result of a newspaper article in which Mulder is quoted as verifying the
monster’s existence. The agents realize Izzy secretly tape recorded their conversations.
As the agents drive along a country road, Mulder spots Pollidori’s tented house. The pair
race inside, where they discover Elizabeth’s unconscious body. Shortly thereafter, the
agents also lose consciousness. The Old Man, Professor Pollidori’s father, steps from the
smoke, a gas mask covering his face. When the agents regain consciousness, Elizabeth
describes her attacker as a hideously deformed man with two mouths.
The Old Man brings the Creature a peanut butter sandwich as it watches the movie Mask,
starring Cher, on television. Pollidori confronts his father, and in a rage, strangles him.
A mob of townspeople forms around the local post office as a mail clerk proclaims he’s
found the monster. He pulls someone wearing a rubber Mutato mask from the back room,
then yanks off the mask, exposing Izzy. The postal worker then displays a box he
intercepted, which is filled with identical masks.
Records indicate that the residue from the white cakes is a substance used to
anesthetize herds of animals. Its use is monitored by the FDA, leading the agents back to the
Old Man’s farm. When the agents arrive at the scene, a diligent newspaper girl, who had
been recording notes about the case, describes how she witnessed the creature burying the
Old Man. Shortly thereafter, an angry mob makes its way towards the farm. The agents
realize Pollidori killed his father. They befriend the frightened Mutato and attempt to escape,
but they are spotted by the mob and retreat into a cellar. Pollidori and the townspeople burst
into the basement. There, Pollidori claims the Creature was brought to life by his father. The
Creature claims he never harmed another soul. He explains how, 25 years earlier, the Old
Man realized his son was conducting secret experiments–of which he (Mutato) was an
unfortunate product. The Old Man grew to love the Creature, and then set out to create it a
mate. As the Creature continues his tale, the agents, putting together two and two, look
around the cellar at the townspeople… one of whom resembles a horse, another a Billy goat
and so on. The mob concludes Mutato is not a monster after all. A police cruiser transport
Pollidori from the scene. The agents take the Creature into custody, but instead of
transporting him to jail, they head for a Memphis nightclub, where Cher sings to Mutato, her
biggest fan.
THE X-FILES “THE POST-MODERN PROMETHEUS” #5X06
Original Air Date: 11/30/97
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
Pattie Tierce as Shaineh
Stewart Gale as Izzie
Chris Giacoletti as Booger
Chris Owens as Mutato
John O’Hurley as Dr. Pollidori
Miriam Smith as Elizabeth Pollidori
Vitaliy Kravchenko as J.J.
WRITTEN BY:
CHRIS CARTER
DIRECTED BY:
CHRIS CARTER
