Season 1, Episode 18
Director: Michael Lange
Writer: Chris Carter, Howard Gordon

It was only a matter of time until The X-Files specifically dipped into religion for one of their supernatural-tinged stories. “Miracle Man” plays with the concept of faith in both obvious and and yet extremely fascinating ways. As a result, it is unexpectedly one of my personal favorites of the first season thus far.

The episode begins with a flashback to 1983 where a high intensity fire has killed at least one man. Enter a preacher and his little boy to come and lay the healing hands on the corpse. After their religious zeal is exercised, the hand protruding from the body bag begins to twitch and grasps the young boy. Unfortunately, the hand and the body connected to it are horribly burned beyond recognition. Hold that one in your memory banks, folks.

Flashforward to modern day where the boy, Samuel (Scott Bairstow, Party of Five), continues to perform acts of healing to the faithful. He is accompanied by the preacher, Reverend Hartley, and the now-disfigured man Samuel brought back to life years ago, Leonard Vance. Unfortunately, Samuel’s acts of faith have taken a dark turn as many of the sick he attempted to heal have died, and Mulder and Scully have been called in to assist with the murder investigation. Samuel believes God is punishing him for having, as Samuel says, the water of his faith muddied. Both Mulder and Scully are skeptical until Samuel begins to reveal personal details about Mulder’s missing sister, which obviously shakes Mulder to the core. As the episode progresses, another person becomes the victim of their faith, and Samuel is arrested again. This time, local toughs are allowed into his cell, and they beat him to death (cue image of Samuel hanging on the bars of his cell like Jesus on the cross).

My least favorite aspect of ‘Miracle Man’ is the fact that the mystery isn’t really all that mysterious. Reverend Hartley’s right-hand man, Leonard, clearly had a hand in the death of those Samuel attempted to heal. And sure enough, after Samuel’s spirit visits Leonard, he poisons himself with the arsenic he used to commit the crimes. Turns out, he didn’t really want to be brought back to life as burned toast and wanted to discredit Samuel without actually causing him physical harm. The episode closes as Samuel’s body has mysteriously gone missing from the morgue – not taken out, mind you, but walked out on its own, further solidifying the Samuel/Jesus connection.

Let me be the first to admit that I find the concept of tent revivals and healers to be completely fascinating. I’m not a religious person, but the fanaticism associated with the event and the Southern culture inherent within me breed this obsession. Many of the crowd shots used in the tent scene feel real, populated with persons of faith caught up in the spirit of the moment. It lends incredible authenticity to the proceedings. Additionally, this episode of The X-Files is one of the more interestingly filmed episodes thus far. The light play with shadows and amber colors are prevalent throughout, and it’s hard not to find a gorgeously captured moment. But finally, the themes of faith flowing through the episode are interestingly conveyed. Sure, there is the immediate skepticism of faith healing, but The X-Files asks you to believe in that as much as you would an alien or a liver-eating serial killer. Scully’s viewpoint becomes critical here as the deaths are indeed based in fact. Someone poisoned the faithful, and she uses science to determine the truth. Mulder, on the other hand, becomes swept up in the Samuel legacy, particularly when he begins to see a persistent representation of his missing sister.

The X-Files always seems to want to have it both ways – believe in our core mythology but trust science to work out the details. As difficult an assertion that may be to fathom, “Miracle Man” carries that forward perfectly. It wants the audience to have faith in the unexplained but also understand the hard facts when proving a seemingly supernatural case is caused by science fact. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and one that the series has always carried off extremely well. “Miracle Man” is, perhaps, the best example of that dichotomy yet.

That and who doesn’t love a courtroom scene overrun with locusts?

Season 1, Episode 17
Director: William Graham
Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

“Mulder, the truth is out there, but so are lies.” – Dana Scully

“E.B.E.” is the seventeenth episode of The X-Files. It seems to hold a special place in the collective hearts of series obsessives. It returns the narrative to the overall mythology of the series, bringing the character of Deep Throat back into the foreground to (potentially) learn some of the truth behind the mysterious figure. It also introduces a set of much-beloved characters – the Lone Gunmen – who would eventually receive their own brief spin-off series. But above all of this, the episode is well plotted and extremely engaging because it heavy dips into many of the conspiracy theories that have been gradually introduced over the course of the season.

The episode begins when a truck driver has a close encounter with a UFO that has great interest in the unusual cargo the truck contains. Mulder and Scully gradually begin to unravel a significant conspiracy regarding the whereabouts and the content of that truck. They are lead down wildly divergent paths, hop planes all over the country, and chase down the truck only to be fooled by an elaborate decoy. Even Mulder’s “friend,” Deep Throat, appears to be misleading him when he provides a doctored photograph and unsubtle hints that point Mulder and Scully to a location far removed from their actual target. Thanks to an underground network of UFO spotters, Mulder and Scully eventually find the destination of the mysterious truck and use fake credentials – doctored by their new cohorts the Lone Gunmen – to gain access into a heavily guarded facility. Mulder faces a final encounter with Deep Throat who informs him that the E.B.E. (extraterristrial biological entity) has died. According to Deep Throat, it is part of his directive to kill any E.B.E. after the famed Roswell incident in 1947. Mulder and Scully are allowed to go free at the end of the episode as Deep Throat walks away into a bank of fog.

“E.B.E.” is a heavily plot driven episode that relies on the overall mythology The X-Files is cultivating over specific theming. The episode has the feel of 70s conspiracy cinema like The Conversation or All the President’s Men which is extremely amibitious for an hour of television to undertake. The confusion and paranoia rampant through the episode keep viewers engaged, particuarly when Mulder seems to rip his apartment apart in search of a bugging device – which he eventually finds. If there is a theme of the episode, then I suppose Scully comes closest to speaking it directly when she advises Mulder that “the truth is out there, but so are lies.” Mulder’s blind faith in alien conspiracies and government entities who provide him information in clandestine locations make him oblivious to those who apparently enjoy fooling him. Scully persistent skepticism makes a nice balance in this regard – particularly when Mulder (like a child) is over the moon about an alleged UFO photograph provided by Deep Throat. Scully immediately pegs the picture as a fake, and she is later proven right.

The trouble with an episode like this is you don’t really know who or what to believe. Just when characters like Deep Throat seem to reveal an ounce of truth, the audience’s trust is undercut by another conspiracy, another piece of doctored evidence, or another bug placed in Mulder’s apartment. The writers have done a great job of putting the viewers in the position of Fox Mulder much moreso than of Dana Scully in this episode. Our perspectives are constantly shifting, and we eventually doubt all information given to us. And that’s clearly the point, right? Mulder closes the episode with a particularly prescient line of dialogue, “I’m wondering which lie to believe.”

And of the Lone Gunmen? Well, they’re certainly fun. It’s easy to laugh at a group who are established as comic paranoids *this close* to becoming lunatics. Especially close when one of the first lines of dialogue they spout involve having lunch with the “real” J.F.K. assassin. These characters are fun and good for a laugh or two, but I can’t see them, yet, as focuses of their own show. They’re seasoning to the overall meat and potatoes of The X-Files. They’re not the main course.

Thankfully, though, they bring a bit of humor to the overall series, and humor is something The X-Files would benefit from immensely.

Season 1, Episode 16
Director: Michael Lange
Writer: Chris Carter, Scott Kaufer

The best sequence in The X-Files sixteenth episode, “Young at Heart,” comes somewhere around the halfway point. Dana Scully sits in her apartment recording her thoughts for her on-going series of reports on Mulder’s cases. As she works, she hears a noise come from another room. Ignoring it, she continues to work. Then, another noise. This time, the sound of something resembling a creaky door. This time, Scully reaches for her gun. Background music appropriately amps up the tension. She approaches the darkness. Then, a quiet knock at the door. The camera pulls back into the darkness to reveal a shadowy figure, waiting. As Scully answers the door, the figure retreats through an open door. The tension is over.

If the episode were filled with more moments like this, then “Young At Heart” might have a better reputation than it does. As it stands, it’s an innocuous, slightly dull episode that, again, goes light on the supernatural and heavy on the medical and police procedurals.

The core story involves the unexpected return of John Barnett, here played for various reasons by two actors (Alan Boyce and David Peterson), a nemesis of Mulder’s who was responsible for several deaths until apprehended by Mulder. A moment’s hesitation and an insistence on following the rules by Mulder causes Barnett to kill two other people – one another FBI agent – before being apprehended. Barnett blames Mulder for his capture and insists that, despite a life sentence (they kind of gloss over exactly why Barnett never received the death penalty) and a recorded death, he will seek revenge. Flash-foward to modern day, and Mulder begins to receive notes that resemble the handwriting and M.O. of Barnett, who should be dead. Haunted by the possibility, Mulder drags Scully into an investigation with Scully adopting her usual skeptics stance and Mulder completely convinced that Barnett has returned from the dead.

He’s right, but not completely…

Barnett was an unwitting volunteer to a series of experiments performed on prisoners by the amoral doctor Joe Ridley. Ridley was previously stripped of his medical license for using progeria patients in search of a “fountain of youth” serum that would reverse the aging process. Barnett turns out to be Ridley’s only successful subject, the big difference being that Ridley replaced Barnett’s bad right hand with salamander cells. This modification to the experimentation apparently helped Barnett survive will giving him a grotesque, slimy claw of a hand. Barnett continues to taunt Mulder, killing another FBI agent in the process, before he is shot by Mulder during a cello rehearsal that Scully was scheduled to attend. Barnett dies on the operating room table, taking with him the location of Ridley’s secret formula.

So, even for an episode of The X-Files, this episode felt unsteady and ill-conceived from the beginning. it doesn’t help that it becomes something of a variation of the last episode, “Lazarus,” where a figure from Scully’s past becomes a threatening force. As with Scully in “Lazarus,” “Young At Heart” gives some character color to Mulder, diving into his early days as an FBI agent when he was less sure of his abilities. Those scenes were indeed effective given Mulder’s half-annoying, persistently cocksure attitude. But the real faults come in the Frankenstein’s monster of a plot where the pieces don’t really seem to fit together. It’s a Mulder character study. It’s a police procedural free of supernatural details. It’s a horror film. And finally it’s a medical drama about progeria and experimentation. Honestly, the bit about the salamander cells and hand regeneration felt completely out of left field and only devised so that the filmmakers could focus on the regenerated hand, something that fits more in line with traditional X-Files storytelling.

Plus, given the filmmaking skill of the earlier scene in Scully’s apartment, the climax at the concert hall felt completely flat and underdeveloped. The scenes here could have been extended to encompass some tense and carefully plotted cat-and-mouse games as the killer hunts for Scully. And, for a few minutes, it appears the filmmakers are headed in that direction. Until, that is, Barnett pops out of nowhere and shoots Scully nearly point blank (she’s of course wearing a bulletproof vest). It’s moments like these where a more cinematic approach would have greatly enhanced the material. Instead, “Young at Heart” gives us a guy dying on a table with a frog hand.

Season 1, Episode 15
Director: David Nutter
Writer: Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon

After a small string of challenging, above-average episodes, The X-Files returns to Earth (literally) with “Lazarus.” Honestly, this review won’t be as lengthy as my last for “Gender Bender” because there really isn’t anything going on under the covers. It’s an extremely straight-forward story where more time is spent on the mechanics of tracking down criminals and Dana Scully as a kidnapping victim than on any supernatural exploration. As a result, it’s a well executed episode that, because this is The X-Files, still feels slightly flat in comparison.

“Lazarus” begins with Scully and ex-boyfriend FBI agent Jack Willis (Christopher Allport) stationed in a bank, responding to an earlier tip that robbers are about to hit. When Warren Dupre (Jason Schombing) says goodbye to his wife Lula Phillips (Cec Verrell) and bursts through the bank door, Scully and Willis are ready for action, but, before Dupre gives up, he shoots Willis. Scully immediately returns the favor by firing multiple rounds in his direction. In the ER, Dupre is pronounced dead, and Willis has flatlined and fails to respond to treatment. Standing by, Scully pushes the attending physicians to continue treatment, and Willis ultimately responds. Strangely, no one realizes that, as Willis’s body is shocked, Dupre’s body responds.

Later, Willis’s body awakes but is inhabited by Dupre’s consciousness. After finding his former body and cutting its fingers to remove his wedding ring, “Willis” leaves the hospital and goes about finding his beloved Lula – and the large sum of money they’d robbed together. Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully review the case – mutilated corpse and all – and it’s comical how quickly Mulder jumps to the (correct) conclusion that Dupre now inhabits Willis’s body. Willis continues to look for Lulu, leaving fingerprints and other evidence behind. He eventually finds Lulu with Scully’s assistance and ends up kidnapping Scully to bargain for a kidnapping ransom. Lacking Mulder’s easy belief system, Scully still believes Willis is traumatized by his near-death experience and has assumed Dupre’s personality as a matter of psychosis. Chained to a radiator in their safe house, Scully tries to appeal to Willis’s memories. However, “Willis” doesn’t know that his body is diabetic, and he consumes massive amounts of soda, putting him in great risk of a diabetic coma. The episode wraps up when “Willis” discovers that Lulu doesn’t love him and plotted to get rid of him with their final robbery. Grief-stricken, “Willis” shoots Lulu and dies. Faced with insurmountable evidence of Dupre’s possession of Willis’s body, Scully struggles to come to a logical conclusion with the events she’s faced.

“Lazarus” is a decent episode. Nothing on display here is particularly poor or badly executed. It just doesn’t feel like an episode of The X-Files to me, particularly when Mulder shifts from supernatural obsessive to a by-the-numbers FBI agent. It’s nice to see some Dana Scully backstory (yes, she’s loved before, and her birthday is February 23), but there really isn’t anything particularly new going on here. I would have preferred the episode further explore the changes in the “Willis” body caused by Dupre’s possession. Dupre’s tell-tale tattoo fades into existence on “Willis”‘s arm, and he begins to bleed from old wounds. These supernatural touches, however, are brushed aside for the procedural details.

In looking at the backstory of the episode, apparently Dupre was to have inhabited Mulder’s body, not Willis’s, but network and studio brass eschewed the idea that Scully or Mulder would actually have paranormal events happen to their own bodies. Let’s just set aside Mulder’s early Season One “missing time” or erasure of his memory by the Air Force and ask why the network would have interfered with the producers’ and writers’ wishes for the episode. I believe the episode suffered tremendously because of this studio influence.

Having Mulder possessed by Dupre would have been a far more interesting and engaging development.