Thursday, December 7, 8:23 a.m.

Wells wakes up in his jail cell. The cut is still on his cheek. He pats himself down, looking for bullet wounds. Scully and Doggett arrives. When Wells doesn't recognize Scully, Doggett assumes the prisoner is playing dumb.

Moreover, Wells claims he doesn't know what he is doing in jail. Scully shows him photographs from a murder scene. Seeing that the victim is his wife, Wells breaks down in tears.

Baltimore circuit court, 10:12 a.m. Wells sees his father in-law in the gallery and recognizes him as the man who shot him. When the bailiff calls out the date, Wells begins to understand that he has moved backward in time.

Scully and Doggett visit Wells. He tells the agents that the last thing he remembers is being shot, even though that attack is now tomorrow. Although he can't remember anything else since waking up in his hotel room in Washington D.C. three days earlier, Wells insists that he did not kill his wife.

Back in his cell, Wells has flashbacks in which he sees his wife being murdered.

His nanny brings his daughters to see him during visiting hours. He promises them he will be coming home. As he hugs them, he sees even more of his wife's murder -- which is moving in reverse. He asks the nanny to bring him something from home.

His attorney brings him the relevant item: a stuffed animal that just happens to contain a nanny cam. Although the tape doesn't show the murder, it does show Wells in the apartment when he was supposedly in DC, thereby blowing his alibi.

Wells wakes up in his cell. The cut is missing from his cheek. He meets with his attorney and with another lawyer who is obviously a personal friend. When he tells them about the tape, neither knows what he's talking about.

It quickly becomes clear to Wells that he has jumped forward another day, and that this is the first time he has met his attorney. They assure him that the prosecution has a weak case.

He spends the afternoon in the prison yard, getting hassled by the other prisoners -- at least one of which he sent to jail personally as a crusading prosecutor. One of the prisoners -- a man with a spiderweb tattoo -- cuts his cheek with a razor.

Scully and Doggett visit. He tries "again" to tell them about his experience moving backward in time. Although Scully is willing to indulge him, Doggett storms out of the cell in disgust. Scully asks the crucial question: If he is indeed moving backward in time, why is it happening?

Later, his attorney brings a copy of his case file. As Wells forces himself to look through the crime scene photos, he experiences more reverse flashbacks. He sees the killer's hand holding the knife. A spiderweb tattoo. Wells mutters to himself, "I know who did it."

Wells wakes up on the couch in Doggett's living room. He tells Doggett that he knows who killed his wife. Doggett calls the county jail, but there is no prisoner matching the killer's description in custody.

They head to Wells' apartment to review the nanny cam footage. When Doggett looks at the tape, he decides it places Wells above suspicion. Although the tape shows Wells in the apartment, sunlight reflected in a mirror makes it clear that he was there after the murder took place. Wells and Doggett realize that the killer must have erased the footage of the murder.

They conclude that the nanny must have known about the camera. They go to her house to confront her. Doggett breaks through the door and finds the killer inside. The nanny admits that she gave the killer Wells' card key because he threatened to kill her if she didn't cooperate.

They bring the killer -- Cesar Ocampo -- to jail. Wells talks with him. Ocampo explains that Wells prosecuted his brother Hector on a drug possession charge that led to his being sentenced to life in prison under a three strikes law.

Ocampo accuses Wells of suppressing evidence that would have exonerated his brother. Wells offers to help Hector if Cesar admits to killing his wife. Cesar tells him that Hector hanged himself in his cell a few weeks ago, and is beyond help.

Based on the evidence on hand, the police take Wells into custody for the murder.

Monday, December 4, 2:07 a.m.

Wells wakes up in his hotel room. He calls home, but gets the answering machine. He goes to Doggett's house and tells the agent that his wife is about to be murdered.

Doggett is understandably skeptical. Wells tells him about suppressing evidence that would have exonerated Hector Ocampo. Doggett warns Wells that he could be disbarred for this, but Wells insists that he doesn't care about the personal consequences if it gives him a second chance to save his wife.

Wells races back to Baltimore. The police are in his apartment, but his wife Vicki is nowhere to be found. The police leave. Vicki arrives. Wells sends her to the other room. Ocampo breaks into the apartment and beats Wells.

Vicki returns. Ocampo turns on her. The scene resolves according to the series of flashbacks, but before Ocampo can strike the killing blow, Doggett and Scully arrive. Doggett shoots and kills Ocampo.

As he hugs his wife, Wells looks at Scully's watch. The second hand has stopped. When it starts again, the second hand -- and by implication, time itself -- is once again moving forward.

Maryland State Penitentiary, Three months later

In a voice over, Wells muses:

The passage of time imprisons us not in a cell of brick and mortar, but in one of hopes dashed and tragedies unaverted. How precious then, the chance to go back, only to discover that in facing the past, you must face up to yourself. That exiting the prison of time doesn't free you from the prison of your own character, one from which there is no escape.