AIR DATE:  December 15, 1995
Written by Kim Newton
Directed by David Nutter

	"Revelations" has Scully and Mulder doing the old switch-a-roo
where it is Scully who is willing to believe in miracles and Mulder who
can't bring himself to believe in their possibilities.  This episode
talked as much about Mulder as it did about Scully's faith in the idea of
a higher being creating miracles through a young boy.  Of course, we saw
something like this in "Beyond the Sea" where Scully leans towards
believing in Boggs psychic powers and Mulder dismissed Boggs as a fake,
but in "Revelations" it was completely different in that with
"Revelations" it had more to do with Scully coming to grips with her
beliefs and in Mulder.  The episode also showed that though Mulder is
willing to believe in aliens, supernatural beings, and other things, he is
unwilling to believe this young boy can have the stigmata that somehow it
isn't possible.

	The story itself is simple enough where there appears to be a
serial killer of people who have shown signs of the stigmata.  But this
being the X-Files nothing is as simple as it appears so we get a boy who
really appears to be bleeding from his hands shaking up Scully in the
process.  We can gather that Scully is a lapsed Catholic so when Kevin and
others start talking to her as if she has been chosen by God to protect
Kevin then it starts bothering her.  How would one feel if they are being
told they have been chosen to protect someone who is showing such
religious significance?  This disturbs Scully so much it makes her
reevaluate things about her faith and her relationship with Mulder.

	This case disturbed Scully in two ways, one was what the case was
implying to her with its religious overtones and two, Mulder not trusting
her enough to take her seriously when she made a suggestion that there
might be an outward explanation to things, along with Mulder being unable
to see the things Scully was seeing.

	By having Scully wearing the cross in almost every episode it is
having her express a certain belief so when it comes to the stigmata she
gets a little bothered from the beginning when she first meets Kevin and
sees the marks on his hands though at first she goes along with the belief
it could be child abuse.  It is after she meets Kevin's father and she
gets really bothered by it all when he makes a comment to her that the
truth will only be found when they have come full circle.  The catch to it
all is that only Scully hears him when he makes this comment so we get the
beginning of only Scully hearing and seeing things and not Mulder.  Scully
really wants to know what Kevin's father means by that because she's
starting to realize there is more going on here than a serial killer and
Kevin's father knows what is going on.  This is why she has them go back
to him when Kevin is taken by Gates since she feels he has the answers.

	It makes one wonder why they were assigned this case in the first
place because it certainly doesn't sound like an X-File since it was a
case of a serial killer killing people who claim to have the stigmata.
This doesn't sound like a typical X-File because it doesn't deal with
anything weird other than the people who had died had burn marks on their
neck.  So why was Mulder following the incidents of these people being
murder over the past year if he wasn't somehow being directed to bringing
Scully to the point of meeting Kevin and reinforcing her faith that
perhaps she had started to lose over the years.  She tells Owen that her
beliefs have nothing to do with the case when he brings it up by pointing
out the cross she is wearing.  Well, as we see, her beliefs have
everything to do with this case because it is her beliefs that helps save
Kevin while Mulder's lack of belief leads him on a wild goose chase to the
airport.
	
	The other thing that bothered Scully was Mulder not taking her
seriously whenever she suggested some kind of miracle might be happening.
It seems Mulder finds it easier to believe in other supernatural things
than in God's hand in things. The autopsy and motel room scene are two
prime examples of where Mulder totally dismissed Scully's ideas and
beliefs.  Does he think it is easy for her to admit such things to him? 
Such as when she suggested that there was more to Owen than the fact he
was a weird looking guy who kidnapped Kevin when she detects a floral
smell coming from his body. (Note:  Mulder doesn't smell it).  Instead he
dismisses her comments that there is something beyond explanation going on
here and tells her that she will come back around to his common sense
reasoning once she has finished her autopsy on Owen.  You can see the
slightly annoying look on her face as he leaves as if she is thinking
"I've believed in some of your wackier beliefs and yet you won't even give
me the benefit of the doubt on one of mine."  When he shows her the
fingerprint they were able to use to track down who the killer was it was
his way of saying "you see I told you good old science would explain
everything so forget about this miracle stuff."  This is one of the
reasons why in the end she can't confide her feelings to Mulder about what
had happened because of his lack of belief in her and everything else.  It
wasn't until the priest mentioned that maybe only she was meant to see
these things that the full meaning of what was going on hit her because if
Mulder wasn't meant to see them what does that say about him.  In the
motel room when she is discussing these things with Mulder he tells her he
is losing patience with these fakers out there who use things like the
stigmata to get people to believe, but was he really in a way saying to
Scully he was losing patience with her.

	It could be said that both characters were acting out of character
because usually it is the other way around with Mulder believing the
unbelievable and Scully wanting proof of what is being claimed.  The first
scene in "Revelations" has the Reverend speaking of people who have become
too cynical to believe in miracles anymore and demanding proof of any
unexplained phenomenon.  At first it makes you think he could be talking
about Scully, but he was really talking about Mulder who has become so
cynical in life he is unable to see or believe in miracles.  Even with
everything that has happened to Scully and her demand that things must
always have a logical explanation she is still willing to believe in the
unbelievable which is probably why she has been able to work with Mulder
as long as she has because if she wasn't willing to believe in some of his
outlandish theories I think she would have asked to be reassigned a long
time ago.

Some random thoughts and comments:

- Mulder describing Owen as Homer Simpson's evil twin brother was quite
funny.  Actually I thought he looked more like the Colossal Beast from
that bad '50's movie "War of the Colossal Beast".

- The scene where we hear and see Kevin tell his ghost story to the other
kids in the shelter and intermixing with Owen coming down the hallway
added to the creepyness of the story.

- Mulder being surrounded by those kids in the Shelter was cute because he
seemed so natural around them.

- Mulder just looking and saying nothing to Scully after she tells him
they should take Kevin into protective custody says much about how well
they know each other because Scully knows that he's thinking she's
starting to get personally involved in the case.  Kind of ironic
considering that is exactly what she accused him of doing in "Oubliette".

- Mulder commenting to Scully after she has drawn a bath for Kevin that
she has never drawn him a bath.  You can almost see him waiting for her to
come out of the bathroom to make that comment to her.

- Naming the city where the reycling plant was located Jerusalem, Ohio. 
Boy, those X-Files people are so witty with the names they give things. 

- I have to say I don't think there would be any way Mulder would have let
Scully go by herself to the recycling plant even if he did think the way
she got the idea was illogical.  I guess it was used as a plot device to
have her be by herself in the plant.  By doing this it made it seem as if
Mulder doesn't trust Scully's instinct for things.

- I want to thank TV Nation for doing a story this past summer on
Jerusalem syndrome.  Otherwise I would only have had a vague idea what
Mulder was talking about when he mentions it to Scully.

- What airline do Scully and Mulder travel on because one minute Kevin is
bleeding from his hands and the next minute we see Scully and Mulder are
at the school as Kevin's hands are being bandaged up.  How to avoid
delays? Get on the Scully and Mulder express!

	"Revelations" wasn't a great X-File episode, but at least it
didn't follow the typical pattern of X-Files where the next episode after
an excellent two parter usually isn't that good.  The episode was good in
how it brought up ones beliefs in things and the effects these beliefs
have on the two main characters.  I give this episode a grade of B. 

Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

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