X-Files Episode Guide: Signs and Wonders

Written by Jeffrey Bell

Directed by Kim Manners

Too bad this episode didn't happen a few years later. Then Mulder would've been able to say: "I have had it with these motherf---ing snakes in my motherf---ing X-Files!" It wouldn't have gotten past the censored, but it would've been more fitting given the nature of the episode. And frankly, this episode needs a couple of deliberate laughs.

Jeffrey Bell has been only modestly successful when it comes to writing comedies, but the sad truth is, he's not much better at monsters-of-the-week. Alpha was way to tame, and relied on the same premise over and over. Signs and Wonders does the same thing, but at least, it tries to be a little more deliberate with its scares. Its an easy one to work with, I grant you - everybody hates snakes, including some of the actors. So there are opportunities for some genuinely frightening moments. Unfortunately, the same problem comes with Alpha: we see too much of the monster. It's frightening in the tease, when poor Jared gets killed in his car. But the longer the episode goes on, the more silly the snakes seem to be. By the time the good reverend's daughter gives birth to snakes in her father's church, one can't take the premise seriously any more. Mulder confrontation with snakes comes as a distinct anticlimax as a result.

At least Bell makes something of an effort to give a purpose behind what we see. To have a church that has the worshippers handling snakes is at least in principle an intriguing idea. And considering the X-Files generally terrible track record when it comes to organized religion, the episode does a much more balanced approach to it then you'd think (particularly considering the nature of the practice involved) It's also very unusual that it's willing to give Mulder a chance at being the more open-minded one (something that Scully can't help but raise an eyebrow at). And there are definitely some interesting concepts being floated between the idea of the fundamentalist religion and the more reformed version, as delightfully contrasted between O'Connor's showy prayer meeting and Mackey's restrained study group involving the same passage.

But as good as the ideas are, the problem is the same kind of sloppiness that we have been getting in a lot of the Season 7 stories so far - the revelation (pun not intended) that the man who has been responsible for all the deaths  is the kindly minister, not the righteous fundamentalist, comes from so far out of left field that the writers don't even try to come up with an explanation. It seems like something Bell does is so many of his scripts - he does so much dazzling work with the effect that he never bothers with even a hint of an explanation. And rather than try to explain, he just has Mulder have a messy encounter with snakes so he can steal away into the night, and make his way to Connecticut, apparently now revealing that he actually is a snake. You don't know whether to take it seriously or not, and I have the sinking suspicion Bell didn't either.

Whatever Signs and Wonders problems are, one can't argue that the scenes with the snakes are very effective, at least at first. The scene where kindly Alice ends up getting bitten by a hole-puncher that turns into a snake is admittedly unnerving, as is the scene where she is killed by him. And watching Scully nearly getting attacked by O'Connor is a fairly unnerving one, particularly considering what happened to her just a few weeks ago. But the fact is, snakes aside, one wonders if Bell was trying to make about religion or faith in this episode. Given his general problem with this part of the story, I'm not convinced there actually is a point - Bell just wanted to do this kind of story, and devil take the consequences when it came to an actual plot. Ultimately, there would've had to have been more of a contrast between Mackey and O'Connor than we actually end up getting, as well as some kind of explanation as to why he chose to do it to this man. What we basically get is par for the course for a Jeffrey Bell episode - some interesting effects, a few scattered good ideas, but mostly nothing of particular sustenance for us to pull it all together.

My score: 2 stars.