Signs and Wonders - 01/24/00	

"Something slithery?" ~ Scully

I a lot ways, I could've been offended by this episode. It was set in the 
south and made fun of accepted religious practices. Being from the south 
however, I found everything extremely realistic and such (like the accents 
the actors had). 

This episode was without a doubt the best since Folie à Deux. 

This thing scared the hell out of me! Quite literally! Snakes and weird 
ministers and a girl giving birth to snakes! Snakes everywhere! Lots and lots 
of snakes!

Technically, it rocked too. The acting was superb, the music was creepy, and 
the story was seamless... the first half, anyway. The second half didn't have 
quite the energy of the first, but it still came together quite nicely in the 
end with a short, but scary, Mulder-as-the-victim scene. Scully even got to save 
him.

The scene with O'Conner in the hospital with the yellow stuff oozing out him 
was delightfully nasty.

In the end, I think we could've used more of an explanation for the murder of 
Chirp, but I guess the benevolent Community Church minister having a live snake 
in his stomach was good enough.

Musings of a K.M.C.

- Was it just me, or did Scully's hair look worse that Chirp, post-mortem?

- I guess Mulder is boycotting ties, since he only wore one for 2 minutes in 
the whole episode.

- Finally, a shot of M&S talking in the office! They even rode in the same car!

- Just how in the hell did Gracie give birth to live snakes anyway?

- IMHO, the last scene would've been better had Mackie eaten the rat himself, 
instead of having his snake do it for him.

For a while there, I could've sworn that this episode was lifted from season 2 
and placed into season 7. I was actually anxious at times! This is the best 
testament of a real X-File, this is what it should be like all the time, not 
once every year and a half. I long for the glory days of S3 and S4, but this 
ep. reminded me Die Hand... so I'm happy.

Rating: 4 lounge chairs out of 5 (the 5th one was lost due to Scully's hair).

"Standin' on the side of the highway 4 exit,
 a lady in tie-dye, a bag by her side,
 not really lookin' like anything special,
 saw Tennessee tags and she waved for a ride." ~ Jimmy Buffet