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PLOT: An unusual death of a teen prompts Mulder and Scully to investigate a preacher and his church.
This episode only makes me wonder what exactly are the producers and writers on lately. This is *another* religious based episode and by far, the worst of the bunch we've seen this season. "Signs and Wonders" continues that disturbing trend in January when the show is trying to come up with an episode and throws logic out the window (i.e. "El Mundo Gira," "Schizogeny," "Agua Mala"). The only redeeming quality of this episode was the direction and cinematography. The whole "feeling" of the episode reminded me of classic Season 2 and 3 shows. Other than that, my mind seemed to wander throughout this one.
The teaser was highly effective in conveying the claustrophobic feeling most of us have when encountering snakes. Being locked in a car or any enclosed space for that matter with one snake is bad enough. Jared Chirp was with *lots* of them! Just the sounds they make with the hissing and rattling is enough to unnerve me, and I'm just watching it. I'm sure every actor in this episode must have wanted a bonus to work with the little slimy things. That was admirable in itself.
Beyond that effective opening, I just really couldn't follow the episode that well. What exactly was the point? It seemed as though the plot was following the themes of the last two episodes. There was the religion angle and then the misdirection of who we thought was "good" and "evil." That was something I found totally bizarre. Why would a priest go through all the trouble to make another priest, who does not seem to have all his marbles, look bad? On top of all that, why would this same priest emulate a conventional one? And why would he need to impregnate a girl who doesn't seem to recall who the father is? Like I mentioned before, the logic behind this episode was lost on me.
One of the plot points that disturbed me was how Mulder seemed to be accepting of all this religious mumbo jumbo when he was so indifferent in "Orison." Isn't Scully the religious one? There was even a reference to it with the line "it's very difficult to walk away from a belief system that one is raised with." Her reaction to it shows us that is the underlying secret with her entire skepticism. Like she encountered in "The Sixth Extinction," if there really are aliens that helped cultivate human beliefs and sciences, where does God fit in? That would have been a good personal conflict for Scully, who has yet to mention her little shooting of Donnie Pfaster from "Orison." Then, this episode would have made better sense in the entire scheme of things. Instead, we get this mess.
I must admire both David and Gillian
for having the professionalism to be around snakes. I don't care if they were well-trained and every ounce of venom was sucked
out of them. They're snakes! Most biblical references are of serpents and snakes, so for most Judeo-Christians in the world,
snakes bring about a very powerful image of evil. This episode definitely perpetuated that image in a big way. And I'm glad that
someone remembered that Scully is actually afraid of the little critters (as anyone should!).
The most fascinating segment of the episode was the obvious contrast between the religious services of Enoch O'Connor and the bible study group of Rev. Samuel Mackey. I am always curious on how any sane person would voluntarily accept an absurd belief system as what O'Connor showed. As usual, Mulder answered that with the idea of someone offering all the answers. That is a powerful attraction to anyone who is "lost" both emotionally and spiritually. Heaven knows how Mulder hasn't joined one of these cult-like groups yet. While Mackey exemplified the devil in easily hiding right in front of everyone with providing answers to questions that have been answered million of times over by every other priest or minister. So Mackey did not look suspicious to anyone who did not see past what he showed. That was about the closest thing to what I considered "clever" in this episode.
Not really much else to say about this one. I do have some interesting observations though. How many teenage boys go out and get fertility tests when their girlfriend tells them they're pregnant? I know that would be the *first* thing I would do. Did Mulder lose his luggage on the way to Tennessee? He looked as though he was wearing something from a local Gap store. Just what your normal FBI agent would wear on a case. How could a little twirp like O'Connor overpower Scully when she practically beat the crap out of Donnie Pfaster? And didn't Scully look awesome in that long black coat? She looked like someone from "The Matrix."
Okay, let's get to February sweeps!
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