"Kiss of the Tiger"

Episode 214
(aired the week of 2/16/1998)
Case # 93-6214

Log line: A Chinese healer helps Praeger fight a pharmaceutical company's blackmail.

Synopsis: After a long journey from China, the famous healer Dr. Chen arrives at Zoe Vancha's bedside to cure her unidentified, life-threatening ailment. As he examines her energy chakras in preparation for a curative session, a gang of men - known as the T'Ang Dragons - enters the hospital room to stop the treatment. In the struggle, Zoe's husband, David, is knocked unconscious. Chen attempts to ward off his assailants by focusing his immense internal energy into a single foot-stomp, resonating with the power of an earthquake. While it momentarily stuns his attackers, Chen is taken captive.

With Zoe's condition deteriorating and Chen gone, David calls on his old friend Matt Praeger, Case Manager of the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.). Praeger opens an official investigation to focus on the odd seismic effect caused by the healer...and to find him. Examining the hospital room, O.S.I.R. Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner finds an earring with a Chinese design rarely sold in North America that might lead her to the T'Ang Dragons. Meanwhile, O.S.I.R. advisor Michael Kelly offers insight about the The Tiger, who is the guardian of the Chi, or collective life force, and can theoretically only practice healing inside China. The T'Ang Dragons are committed to protecting The Tiger and the location of his practice at all costs.

While arrangements are made to send Chen - aka The Tiger - back to China, the healer persuades one of his captors to free him so he can complete his benevolent mission. When spotted by other T'Ang Dragons, Chen again uses his Chi power to create a huge wall of wind, sweeping the pursuers off their feet. When they come around, Chen is gone.

Arriving at the hospital, Chen finds Zoe has died. Her husband is riddled with guilt: the couple had done bio-chemical research for Gershon Pharmaceutical Corp and Zoe's death was due to exposure to a man-made virus created by David. When David tried to quit the project, Lang - an ill-willed pharmaceutical executive - had injected Zoe to compel David to complete both the potion and antidote. Lang also knew David was the only one who could lure Chen to Zoe's rescue and, in turn, to the project. Despondent at the loss of his friend, Praeger tries to close the investigation, but his supervisor, Director of Operations Frank Elsinger, now orders the team to uncover both the truth about Zoe's death and Chen's power.

Although they locate Chen in a Chinatown restaurant, Praeger and Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon can't get answers before the healer is dragged back into hiding. Needing a new bargaining chip for his research, Lang now injects David with the virus in order to lure Chen and his elixirs into the company's clutches. But, as David's condition deteriorates, Chen stealthily slips into his hospital room and heals him; moments later, Chen is gone and David is cured.

Furious that he missed his shot at Chen, Lang kidnaps Donner in order to lure Praeger, David and the antibodies generated by Chen's elixir which David now carries in his blood. In a tense stand-off beside Zoe's grave, David offers himself in exchange for Donner. But suddenly, Dr. Chen materializes to square off against Lang. As bullets fly, Lang's corporate greed goes head to head with the healer's ancient code. Whatever the result, Praeger warily suspects that Elsinger once again has furthered his own mysterious agenda by endangering the lives of the O.S.I.R. team.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Karl Pruner - David Vancha
Hayley Hoffbauer - Zoe Vancha
Peter Kosaka - Dr. Chen "The Tiger"
Russel Yuen - Chung
John Bourgeois - Lang

Written by: Tracey Forbes
Directed by: Craig Pryce