Season 3: Episode 13: "Antipas"

Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Thomas J. Wright

Airdate: February 12, 1999

Guest Stars: Art Hindle (John Saxum); Sarah-Jane Redmond (Lucy Butler); Rachel Victoria (Divina Saxum)

"Antipas" featured the return of possibly Frank Black's most dangerous enemy - Lucy Butler. A demonic shapeshifter with evil powers; Lucy's infiltrated a wealthy family under the guise of being a nanny. Written by series show runners Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, "Antipas" captures the tone and style of the first season.

The episode begins with John and Una Saxum contemplating a run for Governor. Their daughter Divina appears to have behavioral issues, and she runs off into the woods and gets swallowed by a python but then appears beside her nanny. Lucy begins to bond with Divina and suggests she's her actual mother while trying to seduce her father. Wild dogs and mysterious strangers wander around the property in a visual callback to The Omen.

Meanwhile Hollis is investigating a series of brutal murders that appear unconnected. Frank takes over the case and comes upon the phrase "Antipas" which has connections to Satan and the Book of Revelation. He connects the term to a murder that happened near the Saxum's property (Antipas Gardens). Frank rightly suspects Lucy and advises the Saxum's to stay away from her, but John angrily sends Frank away.

Things get stranger when Frank dreams of Lucy having sex with him and then transforms into a demon, he then wakes up with marks on his wrist. Frank learns Una was murdered, and that Lucy might be shapeshifting as him. Lucy is detained for questioning, but her lawyer gets her freed along with odd accusations of Frank assaulting her. Freed after taking paternity tests, Frank goes back to the Saxum manor to help Hollis, and we discover John is dead from hanging and shapeshifters are chasing Hollis, one of whom takes the guise of Frank. In their escape Lucy gets hit by a car but survives, Frank visits her at the hospital where she threatens Jordan. 

A fast-paced episode, "Antipas" adds to the mythos of Lucy Butler. Did Frank's dream happen? Is she trying to convert Frank to evil? Evil likes to distort the truth, and that's her Lucy's line of attack here, to confuse and get inside Frank's head. Although she fails, the threat against Jordan is not to be taken lightly. As a story the episode works as Frank once again facing pure evil, and coming out with mixed results, a spiritual thriller in the best sense of the term.