“Shapes” is episode nineteen of season one of The X-Files.
The episode opens on a stormy night at Two Medicine Ranch in Browning, Montana. An older man and a younger one are loading their weapons before they head outside to check on the animals. One of the cattle is dead and the younger man gets attacked by something animalistic. The older one shoots the creature, but a flash of lightning reveals a naked dead man. Not an animal.
The older man, Jim Parker, is telling Mulder he isn’t a killer. Something had been butchering his cattle and he doesn’t know of an animal that could kill them the way they had been killed. Parker’s lawyer wants the discussion to remain on the matter at hand; not on the current court case Parker has with the Indian reservation. Parker wants to speak anyway; he didn’t go and kill a young Indian man because of an argument over land that they are going to settle in court. Joe Goodensnake is still dead with a wound that came from Parker’s shotgun.
Parker says that what he saw was no animal, but it didn’t seem human either. He suggests they look at his boy, Lyle’s, scars – Lyle being the younger man. Mulder examines them as Parker says he went to protect the cattle and could swear he saw red eyes and fangs. He was worried about Lyle, but was shocked and upset when he saw the dead boy. However, if it was Joe doing the killing, at least that’s the end of it. Mulder would like to see the corral.
Outside, Lyle speaks to Mulder and Scully. He knows their story doesn’t stand up that well; he can’t even understand it himself. For the last few months, when they’ve gone outside to check on the cattle, they never saw anything out of the ordinary but could feel something watching. It was so still and quiet, it was as if nature itself was terrified.
Scully says that the victim was shot from less than 3 metres away. There was no chance Parker could mistake a person for an animal; an open and shut case. She’s surprised that Mulder volunteered; any agent could have investigated. So, why is Mulder interested? Mulder is looking in the mud, where naked human footprints seem to change into animal prints. Scully sees nothing unexplainable about the case – and Mulder shows her something he’s found. Scully says it looks like snake skin. She believes the Parkers intentionally killed Joe Goodensnake but doesn’t believe they would have skinned him. Plus, as Mulder points out, there was no mention of the body being skinned.
They need to look at the body, which has been handed over to the reservation authorities. In a pool hall on the reservation, they ask to see Sheriff Charles Tskany, and get a less than friendly welcome. One of the locals is a bit more open to talking and asks why they are here and what they are looking for. Mulder thinks they already know; something that leaves human tracks one step and animal tracks the next. He’s told that Parker found and killed what they are looking for. A woman, clearly not happy, tells the others they are frightened of a legend. She is the dead man’s sister, Gwen.
The sheriff arrives and agrees to let them look at the body, as they are entitled to. He isn’t that welcoming either. The sheriff explains that Joe and Gwen were the ones who started the lawsuit with the Parkers, not the other way around. Joe’s body bears scars from an animal attack also; not the same one, according to Scully, as the wounds are healing. Mulder wants to look at Joe’s dental records – because the body has very pronounced canines. The records are normal, and the sheriff says that could be an explanation. If Parker caught Joe’s mouth with a torch he, expecting to see a mountain lion, could have shot Joe. An autopsy isn’t allowed, because of their beliefs, and a cremation is scheduled for tonight.
As they are waiting in the car, Scully tells Mulder he has acted as if he expected to find every bit of evidence they have come across. Because of the first X-File, dating back to 1946 and done by J. Edgard Hoover himself. There were a series of murders in the region during World War II, people torn to shreds and eaten as if by an animal. But many were found dead in their homes, as if they allowed their killer to enter. The authorities cornered the animal and shot him, but afterwards found the body of a Richard Watkins. The murders stopped, but have started up again every few years. There were records in the Lewis and Clarke expedition about a wolf that changed shape. Scully says that what Mulder is describing is lycanthropy, a form of insanity. Besides, Joe is dead; end of mystery. Only Lyle has the same marks on him that Joe did.
Mulder outright asks the sheriff about what really happened and about shapeshifting. The sheriff avoids answering, then matters mean that more has to be looked into, as another is killed in a similar fashion. The old man from the pool hall, Ish, has some information – and makes a comment about how Mulder is more open to Native American beliefs than some Native Americans, meaning the sheriff.