Página PrincipalInternal dating: A date! I love this! This episode starts on March 7th 1996.
Skinner goes to the Chesapeake Lounge in the Ambassador Hotel. A pretty blonde woman approaches him. He is solemn and not inclined to speak. She explains that she approached him because a man had been eyeing her up. He is sympathetic, saying people assume you owe them something just because you're out alone. "Does it ever bother you, being along?" she asks him.
Skinner and the woman sleep together. Suddenly she seems to change into a old woman, and Skinner screams, waking up from what was just a dream. However, upon waking, he finds the young woman dead beside him.
Mulder arrives at the crime scene, but the detectives won't let him talk to him until he gives a statement. Skinner himself, as he's led out, says he appreciates Mulder's concern but would rather him not get involved. The detective tells Mulder what Skinner told them - basically what we saw in the teaser - and that Skinner says he can't remember anything else. His refusal to take a lie-detector test means that they are suspicious. The woman hasn't been identified. Mulder makes various suggestions about how to proceed, but the detective firmly points out that he knows his job and Mulder's interference isn't welcome.
Scully examines the body, concluding, as did the coroner, that she was strangled in a sudden and violent act, without the chance to put up a fight. Skinner's were the only prints on the body. By now, the woman's identity has been established. She was called Carina Sayles and was a part-time prostitute. When Scully switches off the light she sees a phosphorescent substance round the woman's mouth.
Mulder and Scully visit the woman's madame, who doesn't yet know about her death. Although she is initially reluctant to reveal the information, she finally admits that Carina called last night, saying she had met someone in a bar who was interested in a "transaction." His name was Walter Skinner.
Scully wonders what Skinner was thinking of. While Mulder says he would have thought Skinner would be more discreet, Scully thinks indiscretion is the least of his sins. Mulder is convinced Skinner is innocent, but Scully thinks there's quite a lot of evidence to his guilt and that they shouldn't dismiss this. Skinner himself has offered no alibi, she says. "We know that he's put his ass on the line for us a number of times," Mulder says. "We owe it to him to find out what really happened." "Even if it means proving his guilt?" Scully asks. Mulder is saved from answering when the phone rings. It's the Detective, saying Skinner's been released.
Mulder and Scully intercept Skinner on the way out of the police station. "This doesn't concern either of you," Skinner says, walking away. Mulder and Scully give chase. "Of course it concerns us," Mulder says, sounding surprised. It is only when Mulder says that the woman was a prostitute that Skinner stops, looking amazed. Then he sees the old woman from his dream, standing outside the police station in a read coat. Silently, he rushes towards her, nearly getting hit by a car. He chases after her, putting a hand on her shoulder to turn her round, but it's his wife, Sharon. She says she heard what had happened and was coming to see him. He walks away.
Mulder and Scully talk to Sharon. Scully admits they never realised Skinner was married. "One of the things Walter's always been good at is keeping secrets," Sharon says. He lives under this misguided notion that silence is strength. He's built a wall to keep everyone out - especially me." She says this is the main reason they separated. She realised one day that they were merely room-mates, not really married. "I couldn't live that way," she says. She tells Mulder he was one of the few people Skinner ever mentioned from work. "From what he said, I could tell her respected you," she says. She asks Mulder is Skinner really killed the woman. He says he thinks he didn't.
Mulder and Scully go to Skinner's office to find an Agent Bonnecaze rummaging through Skinner's desk. He is working with the Office of Professional Conduct and orders them to make themselves available to speak at Skinner's hearing, which will determine if he can continue in his job. He also orders them not to look any further into the case. "In case we turn up any evidence they may prove his innocence?" Mulder asks. Bonnecaze tells him that any evidence he turns up has to be turned over to the committee.
Skinner won't answer his phone. Scully says this looks like the behaviour of a guilty man, but Mulder insists that the evidence is all circumstantial. Scully, however, is concerned at Skinner's "irrational behaviour". She thinks this is indicative of his state of mind. "If an otherwise stable man is capable of going out and hiring a prostitute, what else is he capable of?" she asks. Mulder urges her to give him the benefit of the doubt, and points out that Skinner didn't even know the woman was a prostitute.
Scully shows Mulder a video of a man having severe nightmares, leading him to break his wife's arm. It is called REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder. The video was taken from a sleep disorder centre where Skinner has been receiving treatment for the past three months. Skinner has reported a recurring dream in which he is confronted by an old woman. She speaks to him but he can't understand what she's saying. Then she straddles his chest, suffocating him. She suggests Skinner could have killed the prostitute in his sleep, while fighting this old woman. Mulder is intrigued. He talks about the legend of the succubus. This is a female spirit who visits a man for sex. Sometimes, he says, she would get so attached to the man that she would kill other female rivals. Sometimes the encounter left a residual phosphorescence. Scully, hearing this, looks thoughtful and tells Mulder about the glow she noticed on the prostitute's face.
Scully shows Mulder the body, but this time the glow isn't there. She says she took a sample and sent it for analysis. She calls for the results, but is told there was nothing analysable in the substance. Mulder asks if she's sure she saw something. She says it's hardly the sort of thing she'd make up. Mulder says maybe Skinner's running because he's afraid. "He doesn't know he didn't do it."
Skinner's drinking alone in his new little house when his wife turns up. He tells her he unplugged the phone, which is why she couldn't contact him. There is an awkward atmosphere between them, with lots of long silences. She says she came because she was worried about him. "I just want you to let me in, just this one time," she says, putting her hand on his face. He asks why he should do this. "Because I know you," she says. "I know you're scared and could use some comfort." He pulls away. "I also know that you'll never let me give it to you," she says, leaving.
After she's gone, Skinner looks at his marriage photo. This reveals him to have had black hair. He falls asleep on the couch with the photo on his lap, but is awoken by the loud scream, and the vision of the old woman. Just then there is a knock at the door. It is the police, asking him to come with them as his wife has been run off the road.
Mulder visits Skinner at the police station. Sharon is in a serious condition. Although Skinner hasn't been charged, they are building a case against him and won't let him leave. Mulder says he doesn't think Skinner did it, but admits that he's about the only one. Skinner asks what Scully thinks. Mulder looks away, looking awkward. "Scully doesn't understand why you're not trying to defend yourself," Mulder says. "Defend myself against what?" snaps Skinner. Then he gets quieter. "I don't know what to believe any more," he says. Mulder asks him about the old woman, but Skinner won't talk. "If you don't start trusting someone you don't stand a chance," Mulder tells him.
Skinner tells Mulder about the dreams, saying he started having them "again" three months ago. Mulder asks him about the "again", and Skinner talks again about the near-death experience he had in Vietnam (in One Breath). It was then that he first saw the old woman. Like the other things he saw over there, he didn't really believe them as he was numbing himself to what was happening by taking drugs. "I was no choir boy," he says. "I inhaled." "So you just dismissed it as another hallucination," Mulder asks. "I tried," says Skinner. However the old woman was hard to ignore. In his near-death experience she seemed to be there with him carrying him away from the light, back to his body. Mulder thinks maybe she's here now to protect him. "Protect me from what?" Skinner asks, but Mulder says this is a question only Skinner has answer.
As Skinner says he doesn't know the answer, we see Cancerman watching the conversation through the glass.
Scully and Mulder examine Skinner's car. His prints are the only ones on the wheel, and the paintwork and dents and things show it was definitely the car that pushed Sharon off the road. Mulder wants to stay and examine it further, but Scully wants to leave to attend Skinner's hearing.
Mulder takes the airbag to Pendrell. Pendrell, using some technique tat I'm sure makes sense, finds the imprint of a man's face on the bag.
Scully goes to Skinner's hearing. She tells them that the evidence is all circumstantial. She mentions the substance found on the woman's mouth, but can't say anything more. They warn her about withholding evidence. She looks awkward, saying she's reluctant to talk for Mulder in his absence, but admitting that he had a theory that the substance was from a visitation. She also admits that she has no better idea herself. "Do you believe in paranormal phenomena, Agent Scully?" they ask her. "Whatever extreme cases I have encountered, I have always viewed through the lens of science," she says, firmly. "I believe that is why I was assigned to the X-Files and to Agent Mulder." "And has AD Skinner always been as discriminating as you?" she is asked. She asks for clarification, and they ask if Skinner has become "enchanted" by Mulder's theories. She denies it, but they point out that Skinner keeps approving of all Mulder's wild cases. "I believe the Assistant Director has protected us out of a respect for the work," she says, defiantly. "Just as you might protect him, by trumping up unidentifiable evidence," the spokesman accuses her. She denies it, and is dismissed, despite saying she has more to say.
Mulder arrives in time to hear Skinner has been dismissed, having been given no chance at all. Mulder rightly guesses that they used the X-Files to get at him, and are in turn removing Skinner to get at them. It's to "put us in check. You remove Skinner and you weaken us," he says. Killing him is too obvious, he says, and Skinner's worth more to them alive than dead. He shows her the face on the airbag, but hasn't been able to identify him. They work out he may have been the man who hired the prostitute and go to talk again to the madame and find the truth.
The madame has been pushed from a roof, but they track down another prostitute. They show her the picture of the man on the airbag and she confirms this is the man who hired Carina. They ask her to arrange a meeting with him so they can trap him. Reluctantly she does what they say, telling him she's scared because the FBI has been asking questions. However, the whole plan is ruined as the man himself is watching the whole scene from across the street. He doesn't tell her this and arranges to meet her in an hour at the Ambassador Hotel.
Skinner visits Sharon and tells her (although she's unconscious) that he won't be signing the papers. He tells her how difficult his work is, having to sign his name to lies. This meant "shutting down part of myself just to do my job." She was the only thing that got him through each day, but he never told her that. Suddenly alarms go off and he seems to see the old woman lying in her bed in her place, holding out a hand to him. He takes the hand, and then it is his wife again. "Listen to me," she says.
The airbag man turns up to meet the prostitute. Scully is in the room with her, while Mulder tries to intercept him downstairs. Even so, neither of them manage to prevent her from being attacked in the bathroom (of course!). Scully is stunned by the opening door, and then there are gunshots. When Mulder bursts it, Skinner is standing there, having shot the man. The prostitute is okay.
Skinner moves back into his office, having been cleared of the charges. However, the airbag man doesn't exist in any databases, and Skinner tells Scully there's no point even looking. Mulder also wants to know how Skinner knew to be at the hotel at the right time, but he can't answer. "Whatever I believe may have happened has no place on an official report," he says. Mulder urges him just to tell him, privately. Skinner won't, but thanks them for their work on the case.
Alone in his office, Skinner puts his wedding ring back on. It says "Love forever, Sharon," inside it.
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