Werewolves are cool creatures for an episode; they fall right into the realm of The X-Files. Unfortunately, it's not done in a remotely creative way. We know there are werewolves and Mulder knows it's werewolves while Scully, incorrectly, says otherwise, a typical trope that isn't particularly illuminating after one or two instances.
Tim Parker, a rancher, shoots a Native American, Joe, dead. He claims to have been protecting his son, Lyle from a vicious animal. To make matters worse, there is a boundary dispute. The episode moseys with Native American stories surrounding the death of Tim. Gwen is suspected, and since she's the obvious candidate from the beginning who acts innocuous, it's obviously not her. The second werewolf is Lyle who was mauled in the beginning by Joe. As Mulder should know from the various werewolves stories created, people can people werewolves from being attacked by one.
If things couldn't be worse, the special effects and werewolf audio are very cheesy and not scary at all. Overall, "Shapes" is another lackluster season 1 episode, a good premise but little else.
Score: 8.4/10
