Miracle Man 

The agents investigate a ministry led by a man whose son possesses the power to heal, and to kill, with a touch of his hand.

Director:

Michael Lange

Writers:

Chris Carter (created by), Howard Gordon

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, R.D. Call

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
R.D. Call	...	Sheriff Maurice Daniels
Scott Bairstow	...	Samuel Hartley
George Gerdes	...	Reverend Calvin Hartley
Dennis Lipscomb	...	Leonard Vance
Walter Marsh	...	Judge
Campbell Lane	...	Hohman's Father
Chilton Crane	...	Margaret Hohman
Howard Storey	...	Fire Chief
Iris Quinn	...	Lillian Daniels (as Iris Quinn Bernard)
Lisa Ann Beley	...	Beatrice Salinger
Alex Doduk	...	Young Samuel
Roger Haskett	...	Deputy Dennis Tyson

Storyline

The FBI is called in to assist Sheriff Maurice Daniels who thinks that a preacher's son, Samuel Hartley, is responsible for several deaths. Since he was a young child Hartley has reputedly been able to cure the sick by the laying on of hands. As a boy he revived someone who had been badly burned and pronounced dead at the scene. He and his adoptive father, Calvin Hartley, now run a revival-like tent ministry but Samuel's attempts at healing has resulted in several deaths. As far as Sheriff Daniels is concerned, Samuel is a murderer and wants to get the proof to arrest him. Mulder isn't so sure and wonders if there might be other forces at work.

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Plot Keywords:

evangelist | teenage boy | faith healer | locust | poison | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, North Shore Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ten Thirteen Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

46 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo DTS (blu-ray)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Guest stars R.D. Call and Scott Bairstow each appeared in one of the two films that harmed Kevin Costner's career. Call appeared in Waterworld (1995) and Bairstow appeared in The Postman (1997).

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Goofs

(at around 15 mins) The screen caption says "Kenwood County Courthouse" but the building shown is the "Dekalb County Courthouse" in Auburn, Indiana. In the original broadcast, the sign on the courthouse had not been changed, resulting in a revealing mistake. Subsequently, the sign was changed digitally to replace "Dekalb" with "Kenwood" so there is no error when viewing the episode in broadcast syndication or on home media.

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Quotes

Mulder: I think I saw some of these same people at Woodstock.
Scully: Mulder, you weren't at Woodstock.
Mulder: I saw the movie.

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Connections

References Woodstock (1970)

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Soundtracks

The X-Files
Written by Mark Snow
Performed by John Beal

User Reviews

One of the better religion-based episodes

Chris Carter has made it no secret that he is a man of faith and that Scully's struggle with her own Catholicism is likely a very personal issue for Carter to write about. Scully's struggle with her own faith and with the Church's doctrine is a theme that Carter in particular clearly finds inspiration to return to on a regular basis, but "Miracle Man" is possibly the first episode to really deal with Scully's Catholic upbringing and struggle between her work as a scientist and her faith in God.

Not surprisingly, "Miracle Man" is rated quite low, not just at the moment, but it was never a widely-liked episode. I say 'not surprisingly' because religion isn't many people's favorite topic- atheists tend to dismiss anything with religious undertones as stupid and outdated, and very devout people tend to get upset at even things like "Miracle Man", something clearly written by a Christian which still brings into question some of the more unusual practices and phenomenon surrounding religion, or more specifically extreme cases of religious devotion.

All that said, "Miracle Man" is not just a smart script that opens Scully's character to many of the aspects which would later become key to episodes focused on her, it's also a fun little thriller script, and one with weighty and well-written enough subject matter that it doesn't become laughable as several season one episodes do. "Miracle Man" is quite good, really.

8/10