Signs and Wonders (The X-Files)

"Signs and Wonders"
The X-Files episode
Mulder is attacked by demonically-possessed snakes. Due to the nature of the episode, it was described as "one of the scariest episodes of season 7" by one reviewer.
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 9
Directed by	Kim Manners
Written by	Jeffrey Bell
Production code	7ABX09
Original air date	January 23, 2000
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Randy Oglesby as Reverend Samuel Mackey Michael Childers as Reverend Enoch O'Connor Tracy Middendorf as Gracie Beth Grant as Iris Finster Eric Nenninger as Jared Chirp Elyse Donalson as Elderly Woman Phyllis Franklin as Middle-Aged Woman Dan Manning as Deputy Steve Johnson as EMT Philip Lenkowsky as Holy Spirit Man #1 Clement E. Blake as Holy Spirit Man #2 Donna May as Holy Spirit Woman #1
Episode chronology
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List of The X-Files episodes

"Signs and Wonders" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000. It was written by Jeffrey Bell, directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Signs and Wonders" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.5, being watched by 13.86 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate the Church of God with Signs and Wonders, a church where the Bible is read literally, and punishment is dealt deftly, after a small town church is the site of a number of ritualistic-like murders. But soon the agents realize that the difference between the peaceful religious and the fanatics may not be very much at all.

Bell wished to write a "down-and-dirty" horror story about a snake-handling church. Furthermore, Bell wanted the true antagonist of the episode to remain hidden until the very end. In order to do this, the script was written so that Mulder suspected the wrong individual. According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz, the theme of the episode was "intolerance can be good", in some cases. The episode used live rattlesnakes; at any one time, there were between six and fifty snakes on the set.

In Blessing, Tennessee, Jared Chirp, while attempting to flee his home, is attacked by rattlesnakes inside his car and killed. Federal agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), after conferring with the completely ordinary Reverend Mackey, go to Reverend Enoch O'Connor's church, Church of God with Signs and Wonders, where Biblical literalism is stressed and snakes are used during his services. As such, O'Connor becomes the prime suspect. Later, a woman named Iris tells Reverend Mackey that she feels guilty because Jared called her on the night he died in order to talk to his girlfriend, Gracie. Iris, however, refused because Gracie was in bed. Later that night, Iris is bitten when her staple remover turns into a snake; she promptly goes into the bathroom to clean up but is killed when snakes appear everywhere in the bathroom.