By Chris Snellgrove
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The X-Files pushed the envelope from the beginning, but that usually meant focusing more on things like anti-government conspiracies and gross-out monsters. The transgressive stories rarely touched on religion, though, and the show was generally respectful of the subject. There is one early exception, though: “Miracle Man,” a Season 1 episode about religion that even offended many of the people who made it.
Miracle Man
“Miracle Man” was an episode focused on a faith healer who seemingly has the ability to mend the infirm and even raise the dead. But when someone he healed ends up dying, Mulder and Scully must investigate the case. Their discoveries lead to more than one character questioning their faith, but this strange case ultimately ends up being more about the will of man than the will of God.
Not everyone who worked on “Miracle Man” enjoyed how this episode portrayed religion. For example, co-executive producer Glen Morgan said, “To tell you the truth, there are a lot of people for whom [Christianity’s] their faith, and I would like to have had a little more respect towards that.” What makes this ironic is that one of the biggest architects of this episode went out of his way to make sure that the story was respectful of believers and their beliefs.
This episode was written by showrunner Chris Carter and supervising producer Howard Gordon, and the latter later pointed out that “Miracle Man” is “a show about belief, about possibilities…there’s a power of faith.” Because of that, “we set out right away to not do the obvious, which would be to make these people into buffoons.” In that way, the show was a success. Regardless of whether or not you like this X-Files episode, you must admit that it gives its spiritual characters both agency and dignity.
However, part of what Godon liked about “Miracle Man” is something that many audiences would have most likely hated: the episode’s analogy to Jesus Christ. Most of the episode portrays the character Samuel as a kind of miracle-working faith healer, but his story (spoilers, sweetie!) ends when he is beaten to death by people who think he is a criminal. The idea of being falsely convicted and ultimately killed for someone else’s transitions is a clear reference to Jesus, but some fans thought this portrayal was a bit sacrilegious.
Fans who hated that scene might take comfort in the fact that Fox stepped in to make things a little less offensive. Episode director Michael Lange said that he shot a scene where Samuel’s dead body appeared via silhouette in “a crucifix pose.” This particular shot was ultimately censored, causing Lange to wryly note: “Even the bold Fox network couldn’t handle that one.”
And legendary X-Files composer Mark Snow even seemed mildly annoyed by the religiosity in this episode, if only because it ended up affecting his own work. He later pointed out that “Miracle Man” only had “20 minutes or so” of original music because the rest of the episode’s soundtrack was dominated by “a lot of gospely, organy, evangelist Bible-thumping stuff that I didn’t do.” That helped make scenes with the episode’s believers feel that much more authentic, but it’s admittedly a bummer not to have more of Snow’s spooky vibes throughout this unconventional episode’s soundtrack.
Looking back, “Miracle Man” is a fairly middle-of-the-road X-Files episode. It has a unique premise and moves the Mulder/Samantha story forward, but it also feels a bit paint-by-numbers at times. As usual, the behind-the-scenes production tales are a bit more interesting as they reveal how much the faith-based story divided the show’s creative staff. Fortunately, the show seemed to learn from this, and future episodes were more respectful of religion, including the portrayals of Scully’s own surprising faith.
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