MUTANT X'S "SHADOWS OF DARKNESS"

"Shadows of Darkness," a new episode of Mutant X, will air in syndication this week. The episode is written by Mark Amato and directed by Andrew Potter.

Below the photos is a thorough plot synposis, with spoilers. (Click on the thumbnails for larger images).

Brennan (Victor Webster) tells Lexa (Karen Cliche) about an urgent call he received from Dr. Palance (Leon Pownall), his school psychiatrist who was the first person he told about his mutant abilities. Palance is now the head of Psychiatry at St. Pastor's, a hospital that recently reopened 15 years after a fire in the Psych Ward killed several people, including children. There have been reports of strange activity at the hospital and Palance asked for Brennan's help. Intrigued, Lexa offers to help.

At the hospital, an orderly walks down the corridor and hears a child singing a lullaby. A little boy suddenly appears in front of him and the scared orderly runs past a young janitor (Diego Klattenhoff) into a room. Looking down, he sees hundreds of cockroaches moving under the door. The boy appears next to him again and says, "This place is mine." Terrified, the orderly crashes through the window, landing at Brennan and Lexa's feet.

The young janitor approaches Lexa and Palance and tells them the orderly was running from something, but he didn't see what.

Moments later, the hospital's administrator, Dr. Denise Willette (Nancy Palk), arrives and Palance introduces Brennan and Lexa as investigators from the State Board. She insists the orderly committed suicide, and walks off.

Palance then takes Brennan and Shalimar to the room where most of the activity has been occurring, and shows them the words "GET OUT," which are written on the wall in blood.

In the hallway, Brennan spots the Janitor, but when he follows him around a corner, the man disappears.

A short time later, Lexa notices a cockroach crawl out of the drain as she washes her hands and suddenly sees a boy behind her in the mirror, but when she turns, he's gone.

Meanwhile, Brennan finds a nurse in an old fashioned uniform who offers to take him to the basement to find the Janitor. Lexa then enters the hallway and sees Brennan alone by the elevator acting as if hešs talking to someone. The elevator doors open on an empty shaft and Lexa tackles Brennan just before he falls inside.

At Sanctuary, Shalimar (Victoria Pratt) tells Jesse (Forbes March) that the children who died were being treated for various phobias.

Locating the fire's sole survivor, Sandy Fetko (Jessica Greco), the two decide to pay her a visit.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Brennan uses old personnel files to identify the nurse as Donna Campbell (Brandi Marie Ward), the head nurse in the Psych Ward who died in the fire. Her file also reveals that she was involved in Project I.E.T and Dr. Palance suggests they check the records in storage for more information.

Shalimar and Jesse arrive at Sandy's apartment, but the young woman insists she only remembers the smoke and Nurse Campbell taking her to safety.

Back at Sanctuary, Shalimar reads Sandy's medical files and learns she was agoraphobic, but oddly had been given Cortisol, a stress hormone that would have increased her fears.

Back at the hospital, Brennan, Lexa and Dr. Palance are searching the basement when Nurse Campbell appears and puts a lit cigarette on a stack of papers. Palance suddenly hears the valves open on nearby oxygen tanks and yells for Brennan before running to the elevator.

The doors open to reveal the young boy, who raises his arms causing a sea of cockroaches to race out of the elevator. Overcome with fear, Palance suffers a massive heart attack.

When Brennan and Lexa find him, Brennan zaps his chest with a tesla coil, reviving him. When Palance asks Brennan and Lexa if they saw the boy, Lexa admits she saw him in the mirror.

After some research, Jesse learns the boy is Johnny Cummings (Andrew Chalmers), one of the fire's victims.

Meanwhile, Dr. Willette tells Brennan and Lexa that Palance is delusional and offers to show them what she has on Project I.E.T. to prove it has nothing to do with the unusual occurrences.

As Lexa and Willetter sit at the computer the phone rings and when Willette hangs up, she demands to know who Lexa is since the State Board doesn't know.

Meanwhile, Shalimar and Jesse dig up Johnny's grave only to find that it's empty.

Back at Sanctuary, they learn that Johnny's mother was treated for infertility during Genomex's embryo research phase and that Johnny is a psionic mutant who can cast illusions.

Believing Johnny faked his own death, Shalimar goes back to Sandy's apartment.

At the hospital, two guards escort Lexa out, but she makes herself invisible and slips back inside. Brennan is in the basement when a nearby box suddenly fills with cockroaches. Surprised, he drops a tape he's holding just as Willette enters. She hears him, but Lexa quickly grabs Brennan and the tape and they run out.

Convinced that Sandy can help, Shalimar tells her that Johnny's not dead. It is then that Sandy reveals that the hospital was forcing the children to confront their fear in the hopes it would cure them. Since Johnny's fear was insects, Nurse Campbell would give him a drug and let roaches loose in his room.

Johnny's room was next to Sandy's and when she would hear him screaming, she'd sing him a lullaby.

One day Johnny opened the valves on the oxygen tanks in the supply room, and when Nurse Campbell went in to smoke, the wing burst into flames. Taking all this in, Shalimar realizes that it was Johnny posing as Nurse Campbell who rescued Sandy.

Back at the hospital, Brennan and Lexa watch the tape, which shows what was done to Johnny. When Brennan tells Lexa that Willette was in charge of I.E.T, the young janitor, who's been listening outside, morphs back into Johnny Cummings.

Willette is at the nurse's station when Nurse Campbell appears and says she won't get away with what she did. Willette runs to the elevator, and when she looks back, Johnny's there instead.

Proving he's not afraid of bugs anymore, he raises his arms and the hallway fills with cockroaches.

Meanwhile, Shalimar and Sandy meet Jesse at the hospital, but Sandy hesitates and Shalimar stays with her while Jesse runs inside.

Finding Brennan and Lexa, they hurry to the basement where they see Johnny pouring gasoline on Willette, who's tied to a chair.

Just as he's about to ignite the gasoline with a lighter, Sandy enters singing a lullaby. He puts out the flame and Lexa quickly restrains him. Later, Shalimar, Jesse and Sandy watch as Johnny, bound at the wrists, is escorted away. He lifts his hand to wave and Jesse notices the handcuffs are no longer there.

At that moment, the real Johnny sits in the basement, doused in gasoline, and ignites the lighter one last time.

X-MEN 2
Buy This 2004 Calendar At AllPosters.com