Mutant X Episode Synopses Once Around: Episode #216.
Tag: The Mutant X team must protect a key prosecution witness after he is nearly assassinated before the trial. [
Transcript]
Cast & Crew: Written by Mark Amato; Directed by Bruce Pittman
Lawrence Bayne....
Sam "The Reader" Raymond Stephen Bogaert....Harry Davis
Christopher Bondy....
Ronald SilvermanKarl Campbell....Prison guard
Megan Fahlenbock....
Claudia ManfredJennifer Lynn Hill....Jenna
Thomas Patrice....FBI driver
David HirschfieldRobert Smith....
Vic CollarusoMatthew G. Taylor....Jack Martin
Official Synopsis: Adam (John Shea) and Prosecutor Ronald Silverman (Christopher Bondy) wait inside the courthouse for the arrival of key witness Vic Collaruso (Robert Smith). Adam assures a nervous Silverman that Vic’S testimony will finally put Sam Raymond in prison. Moments later, Raymond (Lawrence Bayne), who’s been evading trials for the last 10 years, enters and approaches Silverman with an outstretched hand. When Silverman takes his hand, an eerie connection is made which Adam notices. Meanwhile, Brennan (Victor Webster) and Shalimar (Victoria Pratt) wait at the rear door for Vic to arrive, but as the car driving Vic approaches, a motorcycle cop comes out of nowhere and opens fire on the vehicle. Vic, realizing both FBI agents in the car are dead, slams his foot down on the car’s accelerator and takes off. He then crashes into a row of garbage cans, grabs his tape recorder and one of the FBI agent’s wallets and flees the scene. Learning that Vic is missing, a disappointed Silverman tells Adam that Raymond’s called “The Reader” because he knows things before they happen. Meanwhile at the jail, Raymond’s attorney, Harry Davis (Stephen Bogaert) is confident that even though the Judge granted a 48-hour continuance, the chance that Vic will still testify is unlikely. Raymond then discloses to Davis that he has the ability to look through people’s eyes as if they were his own. At Sanctuary, Jesse (Forbes March) discovers that Vic used the FBI agent’s credit card to rent a room at the Treelodge hotel. Adam and Emma (Lauren Lee Smith) rush to the courthouse to tell Silverman that they’ve found Vic, unaware that Raymond is using his powers to tune into their conversation. Across town, Shalimar and Brennan bust into Vic’s hotel room and tell him that they’ve come to protect him. Vic, realizing that he’s in a no win situation, begins to panic. As he heads to the bathroom to dress, he insists that Raymond knows everything and that they’ll never lock him away. Jesse, who’s standing guard, enters Vic’s room to warn the others that three of Raymond’s men are approaching. Brennan grabs Vic from the bathroom and Jesse phases out the wall so they can escape. They climb onboard the Double Helix just as Raymond’s men blast the aircraft with bullets, shorting out the controls. Brennan shifts to manual and Helix takes off, but the controls soon start to fail and Vic loses his cool. Back at the courthouse, Adam and Emma ask Silverman whom he leaked Vic’s whereabouts to. Silverman insist he told no one. Unbeknownst to them, Raymond is again tuned into their conversation. Moments later, Emma confesses to Adam that she got the strong feeling that they were being watched. Pondering this, Adam figures Raymond might have psionic powers. Meanwhile, as Jesse and Victor try to gain control of the aircraft, a terrified Vic begins telling the three the history of his and Raymond’s relationship and how a woman named Claudia helped him turn his life around. In the jail interrogation room, Raymond insists to Davis that if they can’t find Vic that they need to go after someone close to him. He calls Martin (Matthew G. Taylor), one of his men who’s searching Vic’s hotel room, and orders him to do a once around while he’s on the phone. Concentrating, Raymond is able to see the room through Martin’s eyes and leads him to a pile of pictures. Figuring that the woman in the pictures is Vic’s girlfriend, Raymond instructs Martin to find her. Back on the Helix, the team prepares to land when the controls freeze and they start barreling towards the ground. On Jesse’s suggestion, Brennan shoots an electrical arc at the control panel and the aircraft steadies. Jesse lands the Helix in a nearby schoolyard and Brennan, Shalimar and Vic take off in a dilapidated school bus, leaving Jesse behind to fix the Helix. Meanwhile, Raymond’s eyes shoot open when Adam and Emma enter the interrogation room. When he extends his hand for Adam to shake, Emma warns Adam not to touch him. Back on the bus, Brennan and Shalimar agree to take Vic to see his girlfriend Claudia for a brief visit. Claudia (Megan Fahlenbock) and Vic are arguing in the bedroom when Adam alerts Brennan that Jesse is coming to pick them up in the Helix. Shalimar opens the door to tell Vic it’s time to go, but to her surprise he and Claudia have vanished. As Claudia and Vic race down the street, Claudia hands him her cell phone and some money telling him she can’t be part of his life. In that moment, Vic realizes that he has to testify against Raymond to prove his love for her. Just as Vic and Claudia part ways, Raymond’s thugs approach Vic. Shalimar and Brennan arrive just in time and take out Raymond’s men. Back on the school bus, Vic receives a call on Claudia’s cell phone from one of Raymond’s men who tells him that they’re holding Claudia and that he has until 9:00 am the next day to turn himself in or they’ll kill her. At Sanctuary, the team discourages Vic from turning himself over to Raymond’s people. Adam realizes that the only way to rescue Claudia and get Vic to the courthouse in time to testify is to create two of him. In the examination room, Emma scans Vic’s face while Brennan and Shalimar use a computer to synthesize his voice. Jesse arrives at Claudia’s apartment disguised as Vic. Realizing that Martin is going to kill them, he leans in to Claudia and tells her to follow his lead. He touches the wall, phasing it and pulls Claudia through with him. Emma then appears and bombards Raymond’s men with psionic blasts. Later, Brennan and Shalimar bring Vic to Claudia’s where they inform him that they’ve made arrangements for them to move somewhere safe.
Quotes:
Brennan: There’s an honor among thieves, you know? I mean, you never roll over on anyone. Ever.
Shalimar: Sounds like somebody who’s been on the other side of that equation.
Brennan: No, actually, the opposite. I got busted for a job that a buddy of mine pulled.
Shalimar: What, so rather than flip on your friend, you did the time?
Brennan: Well, they didn’t have enough evidence for a conviction, but I would have.
Vic Collaruso: He’s like the Wizard of freaking Oz.
Brennan: Well guess what, Toto. It’s time to take your ass back to Kansas!
Vic: You got a thing for me, don’t you?
Shalimar: What?
Vic: Don’t be embarrassed. I noticed back at the hotel.
Shalimar: What?
Vic: It’s okay. I have that effect on a lot of women, all right? It’s my cross to bear, it’s my curse. I’m sorry, this guy is spoken for.
Brennan: What? You have a girlfriend?
Vic: Don’t look so shocked, okay? There’s a lot about Vic you don’t know.
Shalimar: Well, that’s great. Does Vic know how to take a seat?
Vic: Yeah, okay. Excuse me, though, Miss? You got a bag of peanuts? Pretzels, maybe?
Vic: See, Claudia, she didn’t care about the cars, and the money, or the lifestyle. All she really cared about was me. You know, it’s kinda like The Godfather III, only in reverse. Instead of pulling me back in, she was pulling me out.
Shalimar: She sounds pretty special.
Vic: Yeah. In the movie, I see her played by a Julia Roberts. If it’s a tv movie, Justine Bateman.
Sam Raymond: See that photograph by the edge of the bed? Pick it up.
Martin: Boss, you’re freaking me out.
Shalimar: Take a seat!
Vic: Forget that! I’d rather grow wings!
Shalimar: Will you calm down?
Vic: I can’t! I wo- [Shal hits him]
Brennan: Thank you.
Jesse: Hit him again!
Shalimar: I don’t think that’ll be necessary.
Brennan: Don’t tell me you’re gonna try and defend him.
Shalimar: Look, honey, I think if you had a romantic bone in your body, you might see that he took off after her because he really loves her.
Brennan: Okay, you know what? I guess I don’t have a romantic bone in my body.
Vic: You guys want to know why I ran.
Brennan: We know exactly why you ran. Because you’re a selfish, pathetic little man who only cares about himself.
Vic: Woah, that’s not true.
Shalimar: Yeah, right. The whole time you were running, you were actually thinking about us.
Vic: I’m sorry I took off, okay? I thought maybe if Claudia and I could get far enough away, they’d give up on us.
Brennan: Yeah, and then Raymond goes free.
Vic: Look, I never signed up for this hero thing, okay? It’s not who I am.
Brennan: Well, thanks for shattering that image for me.
Emma: You okay?
Vic!Jesse: Are you kidding, hot stuff? It was a cakewalk!
Emma: You can stop that now.
Vic: Guys, I don’t know what to say.
Shalimar: Goodbye would be good.
Emma: If you ask me, it’s a dream come true. Starting a new life in a new town where no one knows you. No worries, no preconceptions.
Jesse: Sounds to me like somebody’s a little bit envious.
Emma: Oh, come on. Haven’t you ever thought of just running away from it all?
Jesse: I don’t know. Have you?
Emma: I don’t know. The idea of living the simple life somewhere in suburbia is kind of appealing sometimes.
Jesse: Suburbia, huh? Maybe for about a week until the boredom set in.
Emma: Yeah, well after the last couple of days we’ve had, boring isn’t such a bad thing.
Jesse: Come on, Emma. I know you. You thrive under pressure. We’re just not like that. And sooner or later, that little slice of heaven’s gonna turn into hell.
Emma: Yeah, and what makes you think Vic’s gonna fare any better?
Jesse: Vic’s different. Vic’s gonna get exactly what he wants. Vic’s gonna spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves.
Emma: I knew there was a part of the equation I was envious of.
Brennan: I spent a lifetime being let down by people I thought were my friends. I learned early on that loyalty was everything. That’s why when I did work the streets, I tended to work alone.
Shalimar: Felt like you couldn’t trust anybody.
Brennan: Nope. No, you see I’m very loyal. And all I expect is the same in return.
Shalimar: Hey Bren, what if it was me thrown in some prison for some crime and you were put in a life or death position to turn on me. What would you do?
Brennan: What? Like you even need to ask. I’d roll over on you like an old dog.
Shalimar: You would not!
Brennan: Yeah, I would. You’d be so done, you’d be crispy.
Trivia & Nitpicks: Adam‘s discussing his security plans with Silverman as they stand across the room from Sam Raymond; even had Sam turned out to have been nothing more than a run-of-the-mill feral, he could have heard that. Then after he discovers that this information was leaked, Adam shouts Vic’s location to Silverman as he and Emma are standing in the street. Seriously, any of Sam’s accomplices could have been listening in at that point.
When Jesse looks up FBI agent's credit card to find out how Vic has been spending his money, he types David Hirschfield into the computer. But when we cut to Vic at the apartment, the last name on the credit card he's holding (his thumb is conveniently over some of the digits) is Brewster. Also, the date the card expires is 2000, though season two takes place after that year.
Since Mutant X has been doing nothing but fly around in circles since the hydraulics line blew, it’s amazing that Sam’s men managed to lose them at all.
The EDD is finally up and running again, in a way. Adam uses it to create a double of Vic.
Brennan crash-lands the Helix in the middle of a schoolyard, and then, apparently sticking to his “they’d never suspect this kind of car” theory from “Within These Walls,” grabs a slow moving schoolbus as a getaway car. Interesting choice...
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