The X-Files Recap: Episode 15 - Lazarus

Posted by Brian Cramer on 08.05.2008

Mulder loves Scully. Scully loves Jack. Jack's not really Jack though. Come inside to make it all make sense!

Cast:
David Duchovny - Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson - Dana Scully
Christopher Allport - Agent Jack Willis
Cec Verrell - Lula Phillips
Jackson Davies - Agent Bruskin
Jason Schombing - Warren James Dupre
Callum Keith Rennie - Tommy
Jay Brazeau - Prof. Varnes

Unfortunately, there will be no X-Phacts this week. I have a ridiculously inordinate amount of things going on in my life right now, the details of which I will not bore you with. You’re here for the column and the column is what you shall get. X-Phacts should be back in play next week.

Twitch: I’m announcing you as the official winner of the “Name the Facts section” contest. Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I’ll get your dollar and letter of congratulations in the mail as soon as I am able. Congratulations man and thanks for being a loyal reader!

Episode 15 – Lazarus

MARYLAND MARINE BANK
5:55 PM

Scully and Agent Jack Willis are chillin’ in the bank, apparently due to a tip they received about a robbery that’s supposed to go down. Outside, in a car on the side of the building, Dupre sucks dace with Lula before heading into the bank with a shotgun. He pulls the “Gimme all your money!” spiel before Willis draws his weapon and tells Dupre to lower his. Scully also trains her gun on him. Dupre relaxes just long enough to get Willis to drop his guard before raising his shotgun and shooting him square in the chest. Scully retaliates in kind, shooting Dupre three times.

At the hospital, everyone is trying to resuscitate Willis. They’re ready to give up on him but Scully insists they keep using the defibrillators on him. It should be noted that everytime they shock him, Dupre’s body (on a gurney in the background and covered with a sheet, indicating he’s quite dead) arches in unison, as if they were shocking him. Finally, after being clinically dead for over 13 minutes, they’re able to resuscitate Willis.

*cue The X-Files introduction credits and theme song*
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
12:51 AM
TWO DAYS LATER

At the hospital, Willis wakes up and steals another patient’s clothes. While hiding in the bathroom to avoid a nurse (who he is prepared to strangle with a band of rubber if she entered his hiding spot) he notices his face in the bathroom and appears shocked. After the nurse leaves, he goes down to the morgue, finds Dupre’s body and, after not being able to negotiate the wedding ring off of his finger, simply cuts the whole finger off.

Cut to later when Mulder joins Scully and other law enforcement at the morgue. Scully gives him the rundown on Dupre and Lula’s relationship and suggests that Willis is experiencing some sort of psychosis, thus causing the corpse mutilation. Mulder, of course, notes that they were recently married and uses that to come to the conclusion that Willis was specifically after the wedding ring.

Willis breaks into an apartment, which we can assume belongs to Lula and Dupre. Inside, no one is home. He looks for something in the fireplace which apparently isn’t there and notices that Dupre’s tattoo is starting to spontaneously materialize on his arm.

Mulder starts making his argument for Dupre being “inside” Willis. Yes, that’s what is going on, for those of you who may have not been clued in by the anvils they’ve been dropping on your head thus far. He points out that the thumbprint from the tool used to cut off Dupre’s fingers was a left thumbprint and Willis is right-handed. He also shows Scully the EKG strip that recorded Willis’ cardiac activity, which seems to show two heartbeats. Mulder tells her that two men died in that room and one came back. He then questions which one.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

Mulder takes Scully to a biologist who attempts to appeal to her by arguing Mulder’s theory in a scientific manner. Scully is not convinced. Oh – and we found out she dated Willis. He was her instructor at the academy. And they had the same birthday. And played pool together. And took long walks on the beach. And had tantric sex. Three of those last five statements are true. Two are not. You do the math.

Willis tracks down Lula’s brother Tommy in an attempt to find her. After accusing him of selling them out to the F.B.I., Tommy realizes it’s Dupre but doesn’t get to think too much about it, as we cut to the hallway of the apartment building as we hear a gunshot from inside.

CRIME SCENE
DESMOND ARMS RESIDENT HOTEL

At the apartment the next day, Willis shows up acting like…Willis. Or at least trying to come off that way. Mulder finds a print on the television, which doesn’t make Willis too thrilled.

At the shooting range, Mulder asks Willis to sign a card for Scully’s birthday. He indulges, signing it with his left hand. Mulder thanks him and takes the card to Scully. She still isn’t convinced. He points out that the print from the crime scene was stolen and that Willis’ signature from the card doesn’t match his signature from before he got shot. Scully still doesn’t budge.

At his desk, Willis gets a phone call while staring at a picture of Lula from the case file. Apparently, a landlord saw her picture at the post office. Scully brings up the missing print, which he denies any knowledge of.

At the apartment building, they see Lula heading down a staircase with a laundry basket. She bolts and they chase her to the basement. Scully catches her but when Willis approaches, he takes Scully’s gun and throws her his handcuffs with instructions to put them on. He tries to talk to Lula and tells her she’s not going to believe where he’s been while Scully looks on in disbelief.

Back at Lula and Dupre’s apartment, Scully is handcuffed to the radiator while Willis tries to convince Lula he’s really Dupre. She starts to reluctantly believe him as he assures her not to worry – it won’t make any difference in the dark. Ha.

Willis calls Mulder and tells him to find him. Well, that was pointless.

Scully tries to take the psychological approach, making it a point to keep calling him “Jack” instead of acknowledging he’s actually Dupre. After seeing him with a can of soda, she points out that Willis is diabetic, which means that regardless of who’s actually in his head, the body standing before her his also diabetic. She tells him that he needs insulin. He gets pissed and walks away.

FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mulder points out that a drugstore had just been broken into and insulin was stolen. He points out that Willis is diabetic and he’s betting Scully is nearby.

Back at the apartment, Scully is ready to administer the insulin when Lula points a gun in her face and tells her to drop the syringe. She tells Willis that she set them up, not her brother and then crushes the insulin bottle under her foot.

At the Bureau, they get a call from Lula that they attempt to trace. She demands *pinky to lip*…one MILLION dollars by the next day. They get the number but Mulder points out it’s Scully’s cell phone and gets frustrated.

FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Random audio geek at the Bureau identifies a background noise in a recording of the call from Lula as an aircraft taking off. Mulder uses information from the airport to identify a three square mile area that it could’ve occurred in. The teams rally for canvassing but not before Mulder reminds them how important “this one” is to him.

Back at the apartment, Scully and Willis reminisce about days of yore. Or at least the ones he can remember. In a strange moment, he has a flashback to the bank and his face becomes Dupre’s for a moment. You can tell by Scully’s expression that she saw it also. A knock on the door interrupts them and when Lula answers, it’s a bible-pusher, who turns out to be an undercover FBI agent. When he gets back outside, he indicated into his hidden receiver that the target has been sighted.

Inside, Willis plays dead and when Lula approaches him and drops her wedding ring at his feet, he grabs her gun and tells her that he loves her and reminds her that she’s the reason he came back.

A quick cut outside shows us that the troops are mobilizing for their grand entrance.

Back inside, Lula tries to talk Willis out of turning against her by bribing him with insulin. He doesn’t bite and instead, shoots her in the side, which corresponds with the FBI breaking down the door. Mulder checks on Scully as an agent indicates that Willis is dead. Fo’ real this time, yo. In fact, we get a shot of his arm and the tattoo miraculously fades away.

At the Bureau, Scully is packing up Willis’ things as Mulder drops by to drop off Jack’s watch, which he got from the morgue. She asks him what she’s supposed to tell to the kid that Willis has been a Big Brother to. Mulder tells her to tell him the official story – Willis died in the line of duty in a shoot-out with fugitives. Scully wonders aloud what she’s supposed to tell herself. She then notices that Willis’ watch isn’t working. It stopped at 6:47 – the exact time that he went into cardiac arrest at the hospital. She asks Mulder what that means and he tells her that it means whatever she wants it to mean.

*end credits*

The 411: A run-of-the-mill "monster of the week" episode with an interesting premise. While nothing fantastic, it's nothing horrible either.

An average episode but one worth a watch.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]