09. Signs & Wonders
Okay, it's got to be bad if I can't watch it, but I have to do so with VCR remote in hand. I just can't deal with the snakes. Oh, what an episode, though. You've got it all: creepiness, mystery, good vs. evil (and which is which???), spiritual ponderings. All the elements of a great ep.
Especially appreciated is the aspect of evil lurking anywhere. I figured out that the "normal" church was not the picture of godliness as soon as I heard "Rev. Mackey" explaining away Revelation 3:15-16, that it sounds harsh but must be taken into historical perspective. Somebody (I guess that would be writer Jeffrey Bell) knows that Satan best deceives by convincing one to be comfortable with or to diminish the seriousness of sin. I picked up on that earlier, too, when Mackey told Mulder & Scully that he practices tolerance of people of all belief systems.
I'm not sure why the Official Site leaves out the comparison which took place between the churches, because it's kind of important. While Mackey explained the verse in Revelation his way, O'Connor preached the same verse in a quite literal way. I was wondering how all of that would pan out--I know what I believe to be true, but I wasn't sure that the X-Files would reflect that. Almost surprisingly, it did.
Sidenote: While I cannot agree that the Bible teaches snake handling, I do hold to the idea that there are way too many gray areas in the church today. Now, if Reverend O'Connor could only learn about grace...
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