Mutant X Episode Synopses Wages of Sin: Episode #302.
Tag: The Mutant X team must stop the auction of a highly lethal substance that a number of notorious international terrorists are vying to acquire. [
Transcript]
Cast & Crew: Written by R.B. Carney; Directed by Jorge Montesi
George Buza....Lexa's Dominion Contact
Jeff Camson or
Francisco Trujillo....
Eduardo CruzNoah Danby....
CarterDiego Fuentes....Gary Allen
Michael A. Miranda....
Carlos "The Tiger" LavistaDeborah Odell....
Kristen Greg Official Synopsis: Based on a tip from Lexa’s (Karen Cliche) contacts, Brennan (Victor Webster) and Shalimar (Victoria Pratt) wait in an alley where a new genetically engineered weapon is supposed to be exchanged. A car suddenly pulls up and a man gets out and places something small next to a dumpster. As he drives off, Jesse (Forbes March) traces the license plate to the Westland Casino. Moments later, Carlos "The Tiger" Lavista (Michael Miranda) and his bodyguard enter the alley and pick up the package, which is an aerosol container. Without notice, Carlos hits his guard in the stomach and sprays the contents of the container into his face. Within seconds, the man drops to the ground, begins violently convulsing and dies. Brennan and Shalimar go after Carlos and when Shalimar kicks him to the ground, he drops the container and a hotel key. Carlos then throws a knife at Brennan which Shalimar catches just as Carlos escapes. At Sanctuary, Jesse reveals that the aerosol can contained a prion, a poison made of a modified protein molecule that converts normal proteins and kills those infected. Suspecting Kristen Greg (Deborah Odell), the Westland Casino owner, is involved in selling the prion, Lexa suggests Brennan and Shalimar go to the casino to investigate. At the casino, Shalimar watches Kristen from the bar. When a man sits next to Shalimar, Jesse uses a video feed to identify him as known terrorist Eduardo Cruz (Jeff Camson). Noticing the man has a mysterious gold chip, Shalimar asks if she can join him while Jesse monitors the crowd and sees a number of other terrorists, all of whom he believes are there for the prion. Brennan, wanting to get closer to Kristen, draws her attention by using his powers to win a great deal of money at a roulette table. Meanwhile, Lexa uses the key Carlos dropped to enter his hotel room. She shoots a laser beam from her hand to melt the lock on the room’s safe where she finds an assortment of passports and a gold chip, which she pockets. Carlos suddenly appears and holds a gun to her neck, but she slaps the gun out of his hand and knocks him over the balcony with a flying kick. When she runs to the railing to make sure he’s dead, she realizes he’s gone. Back at Sanctuary, Jesse tells the team that the gold chip Lexa retrieved is filled with electronics and encrypted with an I.D. He also reveals that Kristen has a few ex-GSA members on her payroll. When he shows them photos of the people, Lexa reacts strongly to one of the pictures and walks out. Jesse suggests Shalimar put a device on one of Kristen’s computers in order to locate the prion so they can switch it for a harmless substitute. Meanwhile, Lexa contacts a mysterious man on her computer and asks to be set up with a new I.D. so she can get to Kristen, who she believes is the link to Dominique, a woman she’s been searching for. At the casino, Brennan is having a drink with Kristen when he notices Lexa across the room. After saying goodbye to Kristen, Brennan approaches Lexa who tells him that he and Shalimar are off the case. She then kisses Brennan and tells him to stay out of her way before walking off.Using her new I.D., Lexa convinces Kristen to let her attend an auction she is holding later that night. Meanwhile Jesse tells Brennan and Shalimar that Lexa’s sudden actions may be linked to a woman named Dominique who was in one of the photos of ex-GSA members he had shown them earlier. Brennan tells Jesse to research Dominique while he heads back to the casino. At the casino, Brennan finds Kristen and suggests they go somewhere private. She takes him to her office and leads him into a posh back room. Shalimar then sneaks into Kristen’s office and attaches a device Jesse gave her to a computer, allowing Jesse to monitor the casino from Sanctuary. An enraged Lexa suddenly appears and the two are about to fight when Shalimar senses someone approaching and runs out of the office. A moment later, one of Kristen’s employees, Carter (Noah Danby), enters and hits her with a psionic blast, freezing her in place. In the back room, Kristen tells Brennan she feels like he’s playing a game with her. He placates her with a soft kiss. Meanwhile, Shalimar comes to Lexa’s rescue, knocking Carter out with a series of kicks and punches. Having heard the commotion, Kristen breaks the kiss with Brennan opens the door to her office just as Shalimar pulls Lexa and an unconscious Carter under a table to hide. Kristen walks right for them, but Lexa refracts the light around them and they all disappear. Finding no one there, Kristen returns to Brennan. As the two engage in another kiss, Kristen gently pushes him away and excuses herself for a moment. She goes back into her office and makes a call to check out the name Allen Dawson -- Brennan’s alias. Meanwhile, Jesse tells Shalimar that the container they’re looking for is in a vault in the basement and that she’ll need Brennan’s help to replace it with the substitute container. Kristen walks back towards Brennan with a pistol aimed at him and tells him she knows he’s not Allen Dawson. Brennan calmly tells Kristen he’s known as "The Tiger" and takes the gold chip from his jacket pocket. He says he didn’t reveal his true identity to her as he was ambushed when he picked up the sample and wasn’t sure if he could trust her. Still skeptical, Kristen lowers the gun and tells him the auction is in her office in an hour. Brennan leaves the office and contacts Jesse who informs him that the mutant that attacked Shalimar and Lexa has a fixed genetic code that has stabilized his mutations. Brennan insists it’s not possible as Adam failed many times trying to stabilize their mutations. Jesse suggests that Dominique may have figured out how to accomplish this, and assumes that’s why Lexa is looking for her. Seeing Lexa, Brennan rushes over and confronts her. Lexa is shocked when he asks about Dominique, but she refuses to offer any information. In the basement, Shalimar makes her way through the vault’s security system with Jesse’s help and goes inside. Meanwhile at the auction, Brennan’s cover is blown when Carlos "The Tiger" shows up. Brennan tries to escape, but Kristen’s feral mutants pin him down. Inside the vault, Shalimar is caught off-guard when the lasers suddenly turn off and she hears someone approaching. A feral mutant enters the room and the two engage in a fight causing the two identical containers to fall to the floor. Shalimar knocks the mutant out, grabs one of the containers and flees. Meanwhile, Kristen tells her bodyguard to find out who Brennan really is and then kill him, but Lexa suddenly blasts the guard with a beam of concentrated light and she and Brennan race out the door. As they race down the corridor, Brennan fires tesla coils at their pursuers. Shalimar meets up with them and begins to show them the way out, but Kristen’s guards use gunfire to push them into the vault. Having just completed her business with Carlos, Kristen hits a key on the computer to close the vault door and tells Brennan, Shalimar and Lexa through a speaker that she’s arranged for a demonstration of the biological weapon. Shalimar assures her teammates that she grabbed the prion container from the vault, just as a mist enters the room. Kristen watches as Mutant X falls to the ground one by one, but Carlos quickly notices that Lexa has disappeared and the guards enter to investigate. Lexa reappears and blasts the guards with a bright flash of light. Returning to Sanctuary, Jesse asks Lexa about Dominique and she tells him it is believed Dominique knows more about genetic engineering than anyone and that she may be able to help a man Lexa is looking for. Meanwhile, Kristen is on the phone with Dominique, apologizing for the theft of the weapon. When they hang up, Dominique tells one of her men to find out who stole the weapon so they can prevent any further interference.
Quotes:
Lexa: My contacts tell me someone's developed a new genetically engineered weapon and they're looking to hook it up with a buyer tonight.
Brennan: Well, maybe they're wrong.
Lexa: Never.
Brennan: Well, if they know everything about everything, then why are we out here running their errands?
Lexa: Because they're the ones paying the bills for Mutant X, Brennan.
Shalimar: You have a lot to learn about hunting, Brennan. This is the best part. The anticipation, the stillness, waiting for your prey to show itself.
Lexa: We're no closer to whoever created this stuff than we were last night.
Brennan: Yeah, I'll bet you would've done better if you had been there.
Lexa: Well, I couldn't have done worse.
Lexa: She got into the gambling circuit quite young. She disappeared to Europe for a few years. She's got a reputation as a hard-core risk taker.
Brennan: Sounds like my kind of girl.
Eduardo Cruz: I like a strong woman.
Shalimar: You don't know the half of it.
The Tiger: The pictures don't do me justice.
Lexa: Yeah. You're a lot uglier in person.
The Tiger: I think I'm going to enjoy killing you.
Lexa: You already missed your chance.
Brennan: Find out where he went?
Lexa: Hell, I don't even know how he got away.
Brennan: Nice work.
Lexa: One for you.
The Voice: Be careful, Lexa. Don't get in over your head.
Lexa: I was born there.
Brennan: Is this what your contacts want?
Lexa: It's what I'm telling you we're doing.
Brennan: Oh, and I'll bet you're used to getting your way, aren't you? [Lexa kisses him] Well...what was that for?
Lexa: I just wanted to get that out of the way. Now you won't have to wonder what it'd be like. And you won't have to think it'll ever happen again. Stay out of my way, Brennan.
Jesse: Brennan, this guy's mutation is similar to ours, but it's stable.
Brennan: Stable?
Jesse: His genetic code has been fixed. There's no continuing mutation. Brennan, this guy could live to see his grandchildren.
Brennan: Wait, that's impossible. Adam's the one who invented the technology, and he couldn't stabilize the mutation.
Jesse: Yeah, well, someone did. Dominique?
Brennan: Dominique. Maybe she could stabilize us too. Could be that's why Lexa's so hot to find her.
Brennan: Well, my cover's blown. Almost got me killed. Was that your work?
Lexa: Well, you didn't have to come back here. I warned you.
Lexa: I'll call a clean up team.
Shalimar: A clean up team?
Lexa: You don't want to know.
Shalimar: Or you don't want to tell me.
Lexa: You're catching on. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that what I'm doing, I need to do it alone, all right?
Shalimar: Knock yourself out. [Lexa tries in vain to move the body by herself] That's what I thought.
Lexa: Dammit, Brennan, I told you to stay out of this!
Brennan: Can we argue about this later?
Brennan: That's all I got!
Shalimar: You're not 18 anymore, are ya?
Brennan: You switched containers, right?
Shalimar: Yeah.
Jesse: Well, there might've been a little--
Shalimar: Shut up, Jess.
Lexa: What? A little what?
Shalimar: I got the right one.
Shalimar: Told you I was right.
Jesse: Never doubted you. Really.
Jesse: So who is Dominique? I think we deserve to know.
Lexa: Maybe it's just a myth. But they say she holds the power to life and death. That she controls an army of half-human monstrosities. That she gained her knowledge from a demon lover.
Jesse: That's good. That's what they say. What do you say?
Lexa: That she knows more about genetic engineering than anybody else.
Trivia & Nitpicks: This episode's title, "The Wages of Sin," comes from the Bible,
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Special guest star: Joshua Valentine's mother from "Crime of the New Century" pops up as casino owner Kristen Greg here.
The Dominion is paying the bills for Mutant X in Adam's absence.
The Dominion has access to Sanctuary's computer system. Remember this tidbit when we get to "The Assault."
Dominique has stabilized the DNA of the new mutants she employs. Yet, in "The Assault," The Dominion asks that Lexa hand over Jesse so that they can determine how Adam fixed his genetic structure so that he was able to pass his expiry date. Since Dominique is part of The Dominion Council, they should already have this information.
Non-Americans in Mutant X never seem to be on the side of good. Here, Jesse discovers that every Chilean in the casino is a terrorist with expertise in biological weapons.
Brennan cheats at the roulette wheel by shocking the turning mechanism. Something tells me he's done that before...
Why is it that whenever Lexa or another member of Mutant X calls her Dominion contact, he's always sitting right by the computer? Doesn't he ever need a potty break?
For someone who is as suspicious as Kristen Greg appears to be, it's odd that there are no cameras in her outer office to catch the fight between Shalimar and the psionic mutant. It's even odder that, after all the commotion, including Shalimar's throwing the psionic across the table, the only thing disturbed in the room are two chairs.
Shouldn't Lexa be able to move again once the psionic is knocked unconscious, thus rendering his mind unable to maintain her immobility?
Damn. If Brennan would just follow simple instructions, we might have found out about the depths of Dominique's knowledge base. It's funny to watch him, after Lexa has blown his cover and Kristen's already suspicious, walking down the hall apparently talking loudly to himself. Nope, that wouldn't draw unwanted attention.
As demonstrated at the beginning of the episode, the prion weapon causes skin breakdown before death. Brennan, Lexa, and Shalimar clearly don't have these symptoms before they collapse, so why does Kristen believe they are truly dead?
Dominique tells her henchman to find out as much as he can about who stole the prion weapon. Once again, since Dominique is actually a member of The Dominion Council, she should already have inside knowledge about Mutant X's mission.
We never do find out how The Tiger survived his fall from the hotel balcony. Maybe he's a feral. Would explain the name.
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