"Bad Dreams"

Episode 213
(aired the week of 2/9/1998)
Case # 34-0212

Log line: Donner tries to find out why a woman has violent nightmares.

Synopsis: Recovering in her hospital bed from a minor surgery, Carole Sanderson suddenly awakens from a terrifying dream to find her body inexplicably gashed and bleeding. The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called in by the local police to get to the bottom of the strange situation. Under questioning by Case Manager Matt Praeger, a male nurse who witnessed the event denies involvement but swears that no one could have been in the room during the attack except Carole; a comatose patient named Alice Ashley who shares her hospital room and himself.

Under questioning from Chief Data Engineer Lindsay Donner and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Hendricks, Carole explains that she was brutally attacked in her dreams by a masked man wielding a knife. Carole also remembers a woman encircled by a radiant light, but the woman was unable to help her.

Keeping a bedside watch the following night, Donner dozes off. When Carole's dream-state attacker returns, this time Donner experiences the terror of the hospital patient's nightmare as well. Praeger, hearing the commotion, runs in and wakes the screaming women. Shaken from their sleep, both are horrified to find their fingers bloodied and raw from trying to claw their way out of a dungeon in their nightmares.

When they discover that Carole is a former patient at the Seigel Sleep Clinic, the O.S.I.R. have something to go on. Although Praeger has doubts about her stability, he allows Donner to go undercover as a patient at the Clinic to pursue any possible connection. Under observation, the investigator dreams of a tragedy from her past: a college friend stabbed to death while waiting alone in a parking lot for Donner, who showed up late. Then, Donner's disturbing dream takes a horrifying turn as the masked man again turns up. But this time, Donner is prepared and kicks the knife out of her assailant's hand. Awakening, Donner is able to identify the woman encircled by radiant light from Carole's dreams as Alice, the comatose roommate.

The team finds that Alice bears the exact same scars as Donner and Carole...and realize that the two women have been re-living the real-life attack Alice experienced that left her in a coma. Investigating the scene of Alice's attack, Donner draws on her ultra-vivid dream memory to locate the knife that police never found.

Realizing that Donner has the power to end Alice and Carole's nightmares, Praeger puts her back to sleep for a final confrontation with the masked man. If Donner succeeds, she could end the suffering of Alice and Carole. If not? She, too, could be doomed to a nightmare-ridden coma for the rest of her days.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Tonya Lee Williams - Carole Sanderson
Rothaford Gray - Nurse Dan Pullman
Collette Micks - Alice Ashley

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: Stephen Williams