| abstract
| - The episode opens on the image a comic book titled “The Great Mutato” featuring the picture of what appears to be a two-faced ghoul. The book flips Disney-storybook-style and, in the place of “Once Upon a Time,” are the words: “Somewhere in the Land a Monster Lurked ...” This unusual opening, backed by quaint yet creepy music with a circus-like quality which invokes the feeling of a world just a little off from reality, signals the regular audience of the series that this will not be just any average episode, even for The X-Files. The cartoon images of the comic book fade into live action video. A group of boys in their late teens struggle to start their car in order to depart on a road trip. Just as they finally get the engine going and load up to set out, Izzy’s mother, Mrs. Berkowitz, comes out of the house and threatens to prohibit him from going on the trip (to a comic book convention) in light of the unreliable vehicle. She quickly gives in, however, and watches as the boys’ car putters away down the small-town street. That night, Mrs. Berkowitz sits alone at home and watches television in disbelief as Jerry Springer interviews a woman about her “werewolf baby.” Unbeknownst to her, an assailant creeps into the house, accompanied by Cher’s “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” and sets off a gaseous anesthetic. As the intruder peers around the door-frame into her room she glimpses a hideous, deformed, lump-covered face with two mouths. When Mulder and Scully are called to investigate, it is revealed that Mrs. Berkowitz lost consciousness for three days and later discovered she was pregnant, despite having had her tubes tied two years previous. Furthermore, this is how her son, Izzy, was conceived eighteen years ago. She insists that a monster was in her home preceding her mysterious impregnation. The agents discover the “Great Mutato” comic, the title character of which matches Mrs. Berkowitz’s description of her assailant. Mrs. Berkowitz informs them that Izzy is the author. Izzy insists that the Great Mutato is based on an actual monster which has been seen by many people in the town. Before long, Scully and Mulder spot a glimpse of the allusive creature themselves. As they pursue the monster through the woods the agents meet a curmudgeonly old reclusive farmer who sends them to see his son, the arrogant geneticist Dr. Pollidori, whose experiments involve altering the genes of fruit flies. Pollidori leaves town to give a lecture in Ingolstadt, and meanwhile his wife, Elizabeth, is too assaulted and impregnated. Pollidori's father is seen by the audience, but not by any of the characters, at the scene of Elizabeth's assault wearing a gas mask. Pollidori, who seems to quickly understand what has happened, subsequently confronts and kills his father. Ultimately, Mulder and Scully discover the creature in the basement of the farm of Dr. Pollidori’s father. The townspeople, led by Pollidori, descend on the farm to kill the monster. The agents abate the angry mob and all listen as the creature explains that he was created by Dr. Pollidori and later taken in by the doctor’s father as a son. Pollidori’s father wanted to create a mate for the creature so he would no longer have to be alone, and the impregnation of Mrs. Berkowitz and Pollidori’s wife were the results of his efforts. The monster states that Izzy was the failed first attempt at such a creation, but the details of their efforts are unclear. He says that Pollidori's father attempted to learn his son's science in order to create a mate for the creature, but it is not explained whether the creature himself was the father of the children or if they were rather the product of some kind of genetic engineering. Given Pollidori's field of science, the latter seems likely. Similarly, beyond the fact that Pollidori in an expert in a particular gene that, as Scully explains, "has something to do with growth and development," the methods employed by Pollidori in his creation remain a mystery. Though they feel great sympathy for him, the agents must arrest the creature for violating the two women. The creature has found comfort in the music of Cher, and especially in her film Mask, in which she portrays the mother of a severely deformed young man who falls in love with a blind girl. The episode ends with them taking the creature to see a Cher impersonator, where he sits amongst the crowd without being ostracized. Interspersed with images of the creature singing along and dancing to “Walking in Memphis” are Mrs. Berkowitz and Elizabeth holding their newborn babies, which are miniature versions of the two-faced creature, as they are interviewed on The Jerry Springer Show. Springer asks: “Is it hard to love these babies?” To which Mrs. Berkowitz replies: “What’s not to love?” As Scully and Mulder dance together, the picture freezes and they morph into comic book images.
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