The title gives the game away, so this pretty forgettable episode is forced to catch up with the audience as the predictable twists and turns unravel. Born Again starts well, but once we get scenes of guest stars communicating with other guest stars and it turns into a general procedural-style mystery, it loses steam.There's a lot of unintentional comedy to this episode, especially concerning little Michelle Bishop. Actress Andrea Libman has clearly been directed to act as sullen and vacant as possible, and a lot of her "creepy" facial expressions come off a little humorous. Also funny is the general madness Michelle is described as having experienced. Her mother's breakdown of her woes is crazily melodramatic, while the disfigured dolls are equally silly. Coupling with all that the ridiculous scene where a man is dragged along by an out-of-control bus to his death, his scarf stuck in the doors, this is just a really, really dumb episode.
It's not all bad, however. The direction was pretty good, and I liked Maggie Wheeler ("Oh... My... Gawd!!") as the detective helping out Mulder and Scully, but the episode is still all-together pretty lifeless, redundant even in the wake of Shadows and Eve, both of which explored similar subject matters to greater success.
Completely skippable, Born Again is pretty flat, predictable, and sometimes ridiculously comedic. Snore. Rating D+
Credits
Guest stars Brian Markinson (Tony Fiore); Mimi Lieber (Anita Fiore); Maggie Wheeler (Detective Sharon Lazard); Dey Young (Judy Bishop), Andrea Libman (Michelle Bishop)
Writers Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa Director Jerrold Freedman
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