Scully receives a phone call from her mother, Margaret, relaying the tragic news that her
father died of a massive coronary. Only moments earlier, Scully had seen an ethereal image
of her father sitting in a chair.
Scully returns to work anxious for a new case to keep her mind off her father’s
death. Her curiosity is piqued by a report of a young couple’s kidnapping near Jackson
University. A similar abduction occurred at another university exactly one year earlier. The
bodies of that couple were later found. Authorities believed they had been tortured.
The only lead in the case is a man named Luther Lee Boggs, who is scheduled for
execution in North Carolina’s gas chamber in one week. Boggs asserts that he knows who
the serial killer is, and backs up that claim by describing a charm bracelet worn by one of
the victims. He alleges that his knowledge is obtained from psychic transmissions. He
makes a proposition: that his information be traded for a reprieve from death row.
Before traveling to North Carolina, Scully attends memorial services for her father.
Captain William Scully’s ashes are scattered at sea as the song “Beyond the Sea” is played.
The agents meet with Boggs at the North Carolina prison where he is interred. Mulder
hands Boggs a small piece of cloth from an evidence bag. Boggs falls into a trance and describes landmarks near the
kidnapper’s hideout. Mulder then reveals that the cloth was cut from one of his own T-shirts
and has nothing to do with the victims. Convinced Boggs is a fraud, Mulder exits, leaving
Scully alone with Boggs. He begins singing “Beyond the Sea,” causing a reaction from Scully.
While driving along a roadway, Scully becomes intrigued by imagery described by Boggs
during his trance. She enters an abandoned warehouse nearby and discovers evidence that
the kidnapped couple had been held there.
Police are notified about the warehouse’s location. Scully cannot bring herself to tell
Mulder about her father’s ghost, or about Boggs’ singing. Mulder concludes
that Boggs is in contact with someone involved with the kidnapping rather than the spirit world.
When the agents meet with Boggs a second time he tells them that the victims are being
held at a boathouse on a lake. Agents raid the boathouse and rescue one of the victims, Liz
Hawley. Mulder is shot at close range by the kidnapper, Lucas Henry, who proceeds to
escape on a motorboat with the remaining victim, Jim Summers.
With Mulder recuperating in the hospital, Scully concentrates on locating Lucas Henry.
She again interviews Boggs, who relives his near-death experience in the gas chamber
when he was saved by a last minute reprieve. It was during this brief out-of-body experience
that Boggs first came in contact with the spirit world. He refuses to reveal more details of
Jim Summer’s whereabouts until he is guaranteed that his execution sentence has been
dropped.
Scully approaches the Warden for a stay of execution, but the request is denied. Left with
no other choice, Scully lies to Boggs, telling him his sentence has been reduced to life in
prison. Boggs channels with the spirit world and describes a condemned brewery as
Henry’s new hideout. He then tells Scully he knew she lied to him about the pardon.
Scully and other agents converge on the brewery, rescuing Jim Summers. Henry refuses
to give himself up and is killed. Later, Scully breaks her promise to witness Boggs’ execution, struggling even in the end between her desire to believe and her determination to remain rational.
THE X-FILES “BEYOND THE SEA”
#1X13
Original Air Date: 01/07/94
Starring:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
Also Starring:
BRAD DOURIF as Luther Lee Boggs
DON DAVIS as Captain William Scully
SHEILA LARKEN as Margaret Scully
FRED HENDERSON as Agent Thomas
LISA VULTAGGIO as Liz Hawley
CHAD WILLET as Jim Summers
LAWRENCE KING as Lucas Jackson Henry
DON MACKAY as Warden Joseph Cash
KATHERYNN CHISHOLM as the Nurse
RANDY LEE as the Paramedic
LEN ROSE as ER Doctor
Written by:
GLEN MORGAN & JAMES WONG
Directed by:
DAVID NUTTER
