The Post-Modern Prometheus

Mulder receives a letter from Shine Berkowitz, a single mother who claims that 18 years ago, she became pregnant in an unknown way while she was unconscious, resulting in the birth of her son Izzy. Recently, history repeated itself, and she is pregnant again. She has heard about Mulder's experience in studying the paranormal from the Jerry Springer Show and wants him to investigate her case.

Mulder and Scully drive to rural Albion, Indiana. They meet Shine and her son Izzy and find out that the description of the creature that attacked the woman with a lumpy head and two mouths corresponds to the appearance of the comic book character invented by Izzy. His monstrous creation called The Great Mutato is inspired by a mysterious creature that many locals have seen. Izzy and his friends accompany the agents to a wooded area, where they themselves see Mutato from afar.

Following the monster, they meet an old man who angrily declares that monsters do not exist, and sends them to his son, a geneticist named Francis Pollidori. Dr. Pollidori shows the agents the results of his genetic experiments on the fruit fly Drosophila. This presentation includes images of a mutated fly with legs growing out of its mouth. He tells the agents that the same experiment could theoretically be performed on a human. Afterward, Mulder tells Scully that he believes Dr. Pollidori, acting like a modern-day Victor Frankenstein, created the Mutato.

Later, Dr. Pollidori's wife Elizabeth passes out in her own home and is attacked in the same way as Shine. At the crime scene, Mulder and Scully find traces of a chemical used in agriculture to anesthetize animals. This leads them to suspect Dr. Pollidori's father, who is a local farmer. Dr. Pollidori comes to his father's house, fights with him, and kills him. Later, Mutato, who lives with Pollidori Sr., finds his corpse and buries it in a shed with tears in his eyes.

Mulder and Scully go in search of Pollidori Sr. and find a shallow grave and photos of the dead man with Mutato. Meanwhile, Dr. Pollidori leads an angry mob of townspeople to his father's house, demanding that Mulder and Scully hand over the alleged killer.

The agents discover that Mutato is hiding in the basement while the crowd gathers upstairs. Someone accidentally sets fire to the barn, and in the resulting confusion, the townspeople suddenly realize that the agents are hiding a monster in the basement. As the people descend, Mutato addresses the crowd and explains that he was created 25 years ago as a result of Dr. Pollidori's genetic experiment. Unbeknownst to his son, Pollidori Sr. saved Mutato and took care of him, but was unable to provide the boy with a friend or life partner. All these years, the old man tried to repeat the experiments of his son, a scientist, creating hybrids of people and farm animals.

Mutato asks Dr. Pollidori to create a woman for him, but the scientist states that he cannot do this, and that Mutato's appearance was a mistake. The townspeople realize that the Great Mutato is not a monster, and Dr. Pollidori is arrested for the murder of his father.

Mulder believes that the ending of the story is unfair for Mutato, and demands a meeting with the author of the comic – Izzy. Mulder and Scully take matters into their own hands and take Mutato along with the townspeople to a concert by his favorite singer Cher. The episode ends with a slow dance between Mulder and Scully.