Milagro (18 Apr. 1999)
"The X Files" Milagro (original title)

An introverted writer, Philip Padgett, develops an obsession with Scully and moves into Mulder's building in order to be closer to her. Inspired by her, Padgett writes his magnum opus: a ... See full summary »

Director:

Kim Manners

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Chris Carter (teleplay),

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John Hawkes

Cast

Episode credited cast:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
John Hawkes	...	Phillip Padgett
Nestor Serrano	...	Ken Naciamento
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Guard
Angelo Vacco	...	Kevin
Jillian Bach	...	Maggie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Casey O'Neill	...	Cemetery Groundskeeper

Storyline

An introverted writer, Philip Padgett, develops an obsession with Scully and moves into Mulder's building in order to be closer to her. Inspired by her, Padgett writes his magnum opus: a story of secret love and serial murder, featuring Scully and Padgett as main characters. However, the murders in his story begin occurring exactly as written. As he struggles to finish his novel, Padgett realizes that only Scully's death can produce the perfect ending.

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Plot Keywords:

elevator | night game | interrogation | box score | hit on the head | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 April 1999 (USA)

Filming Locations:

First Congregational Church - 540 S. Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

• The newspaper that Mulder reads in his apartment is called the DC MUSE. A subtle allusion to the band MUSE, who released their debut album, Showbiz, the same year this aired. The font for the newspaper is clearly the band's logo, which was incorporated

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Goofs

In several shots, the milagro charm, given to Scully by Phillip Padgett, is blank on both sides. When shown in a close up, there is clearly a burning heart on one side of the charm. As Scully turns it in her fingers as she explains to Mulder that it was Padgett who gave it to her, you can see that it is flat and unmarked on both sides.

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Quotes

Dana Scully: Loneliness is a choice.

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Connections

References Party of Five (1994)

User Reviews

Eat your heart out!

Milagro. This is an interesting episode. While Scully is the main focus of the episode we get yet another episode where there is a strange creepy guy that Scully gets woo'ed by. I quite enjoy scenes where they have voice-over of what the author is writing to narrate Scully's emotions and thoughts. Very interesting. I also like the actor that plays Padgett. While this episode is a little slower than I am used to I have to say that overall I still enjoyed the story. It only loses 2 points for slowness. Oh one other thing. Is it just me or does every single Scully-falls-for-a-psycho-killer-man episode end with a furnace? Anyway 8 out of 10.

Addendum: After watching some of the interviews on the X-Files: Revelations compilation which this episode was included on, I have gained a deeper appreciation for this episode. Frank Spotnitz explains a little more about the deep relationship that a writer tends to develop with his character's. He talks about his own experiences with Mulder and Scully and how he viewed them as real people a lot of the time. This episode was an attempt to turn that idea into an X-File episode. In a sense, Padgett's obsession with Scully represents Spotnitz's own feelings.