X-Files Rerun "Born Again"

The "No Witty Subtitles" Edition
Originally Aired 4/29/94

"I'll say something crazy, you'll shoot me down; rinse and repeat."

This episode might be more enjoyable if it didn't feel just like "Shadows" from earlier in the season. It's a Law & Order-styled plot with revenge from beyond the grave, this time via reincarnation in the form of an 8-year old girl. Years ago several cops were involved in a dirty deal, with one of them being a reluctant participant so he was "offed" by the rest, only now he's getting revenge through young Michelle Bishop. Mulder and Scully are called to the scene when one of those cops dies, leaving Michelle as the only witness. Cue The Twilight Zone theme. While I was never a huge fan of The X-Files theme, it does have that same simplistic hum of The Twilight Zone's, and is a good fit for following these wacky supernatural shenanigans in each episode's teaser.

I do like the way the investigation unfolds though, as Mulder discovers the mutilated dolls match the wounds inflicted on Charlie, while his wife mysteriously receives Origami that Michelle also has a fascination with creating. Another interesting point is that they use hypnosis on Michelle to make her relive her past lives under Mulder's assumption she's Charlie Morris, which reminds me of Mulder's therapy to learn details of his sister's abduction. Since I'm watching this after seeing Season 4's "The Field Where I Died", that episode also used the same hypnosis to relive past life experiences.

"Born Again" isn't among the worst episodes of this first season, though Howard Gordon's name would be attached to better episodes over the next 3 seasons. After writing reviews for these first four seasons and now redoing them, I'm sensing a few patterns in my style of writing and also of the series. An absence of one-liners from Mulder is a clue to the quality of an episode, while an absence of a good caption from me is another.