1.22 - Born Again
Almost three minutes exactly, this cold open is pretty okay. The length combined with the slow pace make it a little underwhelming, albeit with an interesting hook. Little Michelle Bishop stares with dead eyes after Detective Barbala cannon-blasts out of a window, falling to his death. Immediately noteworthy is Miss New Yawk herself, Janice from Friends.
I normally try to avoid calling actors by their roles, but we’re all humans, and when anyone sees Maggie Wheeler there’s a good chance they’re going to say/think “That’s Janice from Friends.” Wikipedia has it listed that Wheeler was Duchovny’s girlfriend at the time of filming, despite which he still detested this episode. He wasn’t alone.
Quoted in X-Files Confidential by Ted Edward, the episode’s co-writer Howard Gordon said: “The idea of reincarnation hadn’t been done yet, and there were parts of it that I think were interesting, but I don’t think it was very well executed on any front. It was a pretty classic back-from-the-dead revenge tale, and not done particularly interestingly. And it had elements that were repetitive to one of my previous [X-Files episodes], ‘Shadows.’”
Co-writer Alex Gansa doesn’t get a quote so it’s left to Gordon to crap on their work, but Chris Carter joined in and said, “One of our least successful episodes,” and “I thought the direction was a little sloppy.” He’s slightly complimentary about its treatment of reality (which is hilarious, since psychokinesis and reincarnation play a major MAJOR role) and the special effects. There’s not a ton for me to say about it more apt than those quotes.
We do get some classic Spooky vs. Science dialog though.
“Why is it still so hard for you to believe, even when all the evidence suggests extraordinary phenomena?”
“Because sometimes looking for extreme possibilities makes you blind to the probable explanation right in front of you.”
The rest of the episode is alright, it’s definitely not one of the “least successful” of the first season, however. It’s better than Shadows for sure.