"The Egress"

Episode 222
(aired the week of 5/18/1998)
Case # 10-2964

Log line: A portal may be a path to the afterlife; closed cases reopen; dead clients live.

Synopsis: Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) Chief Analyst Peter Axon receives an emergency call for help from his old MIT colleague, Dr. Leon Schraft, warning that, "This is the big one." Axon and O.S.I.R. Security Coordinator Ray Donahue respond immediately to the call. But when they arrive at Dr. Schraft's secret research facility, he's nowhere to be found. And, based on the condition of the facility, it looks as if someone has beaten the O.S.I.R. to the scene and made off with what would have been key evidence.

Searching the facility, the investigators find an imposing metal and stone archway replete with flashing lights, warning tape and computer circuit boards. When Donahue moves across a line painted on the floor for a closer look at the fascinating structure, it fires up and begins to hum and shake violently. Grabbing his colleague and pulling him back to safety, Axon realizes that this is unlike anything he's ever seen.

Case Manager Matt Praeger arrives at the investigation site, but there's still no sign of Dr. Schraft. Leading Praeger to the mysterious Arch, Axon is mesmerized by the sound emanating from the structure. As he absently walks towards the structure it again begins to stir, Praeger yanks him back and cautions him to stay behind the yellow line.

Returning to the mobile lab, Praeger watches a video disc he received from his recently slain friend and advisor, Michael Kelly. On the disc, Kelly ominously warns Praeger that certain O.S.I.R. operatives are working without moral or ethical accountability while searching for the paranormal phenomenon they call "the big one."

Going on to draw uncanny parallels between P.T. Barnum's Dime Museum freak show exhibit and a series of recent O.S.I.R. investigations, Kelly leads up to Barnum's famous last exhibit - The Egress (or exit). Joined in the screening room by Senior Data Analyst Lindsay Donner, Praeger seems to have bought into Kelly's story. Convinced that the odd archway is the "Big One" and an "Egress," he realizes how palpably close to the edge this case might take him and his team.

Standing on opposite sides of the arch, Praeger and Axon perform an experiment where Axon attempts to throw a baseball through the center of the Arch. But, on its way through, the ball is engulfed by the swirling center and never reaches the other side.

As Axon moves towards the structure to try to comprehend this latest oddity, a man shouts at him to stop. The man, an intern on the research project (played by actor Corey Haim), then leads the O.S.I.R. team to a gruesome discovery - half of a dead body.

O.S.I.R. Pathologist Dr. Claire Davison and Dr. Anton Hendricks examine the decomposed remains of the body. The intern goes on to explain that a group of scientists were drawn into the Arch and that this man was half consumed before being pulled from the Arch. Then, when the intern ran to get help, he found the research office being ransacked by a group of men who systematically removed all off the research information and equipment related to the Arch experiment.

The team's ongoing search of the research facility is marked by further tragedy. Intrigued by the afterworld, Dr. Anton Hendricks is lured into the mass of the arch by the voices of his late wife and daughter. Getting too close to the center, he suddenly disappears inside. Shaken by the loss of Hendricks, Praeger sternly interrogates the research intern who yields a few new leads. Praeger heads to the mobile lab and bursts into the office of O.S.I.R. Director of Operations, Dr. Frank Elsinger. Elsinger confirms Praeger's suspicion that the research facility and the arch were both O.S.I.R. operations from the start.

Elsinger goes on to reveal that Praeger and his team were assigned to the case specifically in to uncover any leads on the team of O.S.I.R. scientists that disappeared into the arch. Then, when he learns that Schraft is still alive and in custody, Praeger demands to be taken to the missing scientist. At first, Schraft stonewalls Praeger, but once Praeger reveals that his team has a communication link to Hendricks inside the Arch, Schraft warms up and the two men discuss using this to rescue Hendricks and to further the research into the arch.

When information on the case reaches the press, Praeger is convinced there's an information leak inside the O.S.I.R. Praeger quickly (and wrongly) assumes it is Axon and confronts him. Then, Donner shocks Praeger as she reveals that she is the leak and admits her motivation came from a desire to expose Elsinger's questionable ethical activity. The surprises keep coming as individuals believed dead turn up alive and cases already closed seem ripe for reopening. By the close of this cliffhanger we're not sure who lives, who dies and who still works for the O.S.I.R.?

With so many questions unanswered, the first Episode of season three is shaping up to be a Big One....

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter Blais - L.Q. Cooper
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Daniel Kash - Dr. Leon Schraft
Corey Haim - Intern
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Neil Foster - Bram Page

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: John Bell