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"Signs and Wonders" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000. It was written by Jeffrey Bell, directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Signs and Wonders" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.5, being watched by 13.86 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate the Church of God with Signs and Wonders, a church where the Bible is read literally, and punishment is dealt deftly, after a small town church is the site of a number of ritualistic-like murders. But soon the agents realize that the difference between the peaceful religious and the fanatics may not be very much at all. Bell wished to write a "down-and-dirty" horror story about a snake-handling church. Furthermore, Bell wanted the true antagonist of the episode to remain hidden until the very end. In order to do this, the script was written so that Mulder suspected the wrong individual. According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz, the theme of the episode was "intolerance can be good", in some cases. The episode used live rattlesnakes; at any one time, there were between six and fifty snakes on the set. ==Plot== In Blessing, Tennessee, Jared Chirp, while attempting to flee his home, is attacked by rattlesnakes inside his car and killed. Federal agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), after conferring with the completely ordinary Reverend Mackey, go to Reverend Enoch O'Connor's church, Church of God with Signs and Wonders, where Biblical literalism is stressed and snakes are used during his services. As such, O'Connor becomes the prime suspect. Later, a woman named Iris, tells Reverend Mackey that she feels guilty because Jared called her on the night he died in order to talk to his girlfriend, Gracie. Iris, however, refused because Gracie was in bed. Later that night, Iris is bitten when her staple remover turns into a snake; she promptly goes into the bathroom to clean up but is killed when snakes appear everywhere in the bathroom. Gracie is questioned by Mulder and Scully about O'Connor because she is a former member of his church. The two agents discover that she is, in fact, O'Connor's daughter and was kicked out of his congregation and home when she became pregnant. The agents go back to O'Connor's church and Scully is attacked by O'Connor, who attempts to stick her head in a box of snakes. He is promptly arrested. Later, while in his cell, he is attacked by snakes in his cell, but is not killed. O'Connor later wakes up in the hospital and is visited by Gracie. O'Connor then takes Gracie and leaves the hospital. Reverend Mackey tells Mulder and Scully that Enoch O'Connor is the father of Gracie's child. Meanwhile, O'Connor takes Gracie back to his church and baptizes her. Suddenly, she goes into labor and gives birth to live snakes. O'Connor goes to Mackey's church and attempts to kill him, but Mulder intervenes and saves Mackey. In the ambulance, Gracie tells Scully that Mackey was the real murderer, and the father of Gracie's baby. He killed everyone to keep the fact that he was the father a secret and in order to destroy O'Connor. Back at the church, Mulder realizes O'Connor was innocent all along, but Mackey summons snakes who promptly attack Mulder. Luckily, Scully is able to break down the door and save Mulder. Mackey, unfortunately, disappears to Connecticut, changes his name to Reverend Wells, and starts another church. The episode ends with a snake coming out of Mackey's mouth and eating a mouse.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Signs and Wonders (The X-Files)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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