A series of deaths by snake bites lead Mulder and Scully to a snake-handling priest who may have the ability to make his charges do his bidding.
Somehow, this episode doesn't quite come off. It drags badly and misses most of the opportunities presented to it in the set-up. Religious tales are usually good material for Scully, but by making Mulder the centre of attention, a personal viewpoint is lost, as we know that despite his belief in the paranormal, Mulder still has problems with God. Likewise, how come Scully seems to be the target for a test of faith? Any priest worth his salt should be able to tell that she's a believer.
We also spend so long following Mulder and Scully around that we find out little or nothing about most of the main characters, aside from a few sudden revelations at the end. There's plenty of weirdness going on, but it's not very well explained until the final scene, which despite featuring a fantastic special effect is no surprise, a little silly and a trick that's been done by this show many times before.
And that's part of the problem. This really is The X-Files by the numbers. Sure, it's creepy, but you know way in advance where it's going, and in this case familiarity breeds a degree of contempt. Because there's obviously going to be a surprise turnaround, it's not tricky to work out how things will be explained. But they aren't.
**
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