Mulder and Scully are drawn into an investigation of what seems to be a particularly violent dog attack.
This episode is almost like a hybrid of Teso Dos Bichos and Shapes, and it's about as good as both of those. Once we'd had killer cats in the former, I thought that would be it, but apparently it's now necessary to do killer Trickster spirits who inhabit dogs. Almost everything in this episode is telegraphed half a mile away. Man walks into dark room: dead. Man says goodbye to assistant for night and starts locking up: dead. Mulder and Scully don't really do a lot of investigating here, with events generally happening around them rather than involving them.
When Jeffrey Bell wrote Rain King, he played up the romantic slushy angle for comic effect, but here, where there are obvious deaths and no surprise twists, it should have been overdone for comedy rather than taken seriously, which makes the story very flat.
The addition of some jealousy for Scully doesn't play well, and the woman who apparently carries a torch for Mulder seems to be trying to make her feelings clear by dead-panning every line Duchovny style. There is not a hint of emotion in this woman, which is partially explained by her illness, but not to any degree of satisfaction. Which brings us to another point: what exactly is this woman's condition? Scully diagnoses it, but never lets on what the latin means. It's something about wolves, but what effects does this affliction have?
Shape-shifters have been done before to better effect, and despite a nice guest-starring role from Andrew Robinson, there's little here worth paying attention for except the occasional Mulder or Scullyism, and that's just not enough in this case. In the end, this episode will probably be best remembered for the return of Mulder's poster to his office.
**
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