Milagro (The X-Files)

"Milagro"
The X-Files episode
Phillip Padgett and Dana Scully discuss the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By Frank Spotnitz's own admission, the episode's feel was intentionally personal.
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 18
Directed by	Kim Manners
Teleplay by	Chris Carter
Story by	John Shiban Frank Spotnitz
Production code	6ABX18
Original air date	April 18, 1999
Guest stars
John Hawkes as Phillip Padgett Nestor Serrano as Ken Naciamento Angelo Vacco as Kevin Jillian Bach as Maggie Michael Bailey Smith as Guard
Episode chronology
← Previous "Trevor" Next → "The Unnatural"
List of season 6 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"Milagro" is the eighteenth episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on April 18, 1999 in the United States. The episode's teleplay was written by Chris Carter from a story by John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, and was directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Milagro" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9, being watched by 15.2 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received positive reviews. The episode's title means "miracle" in Spanish.

In this episode, FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate a series of murders takes place where the heart has been removed from the victims. A writer that lives next door to Mulder is writing a novel about the murders before they actually happen and soon, Scully finds herself confused and drawn to the writer, who has a romantic interest in her.

"Milagro" was inspired by the idea of someone thinking of something so much that it becomes a reality, a topic Shiban later noted was "familiar" to anyone who had written a script. The part of John Padgett had been written specifically for the actor John Hawkes. In addition, the production for "Milagro" was decidedly low-budget due to its "intimate and personality-driven" nature.

Plot

Author Phillip Padgett sits at a desk, starring at a typewriter and storyboard. He eventually retires to the bathroom to discard a spent cigarette. Without warning or concern, the stranger suddenly reaches into his chest and removes a bloody heart. Later, the man walks down metal stairs into a cluttered basement, and opens the door of an incinerator. Noticing a beating heart amidst the flames, the mysterious individual appears unfazed by the vision and nonchalantly tosses in a paper bag.

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) later encounters the stranger as she walks into an elevator. Both ride in silence up to the fourth floor, with Scully somewhat unsettled by the experience. At Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) apartment, Mulder and Scully being discussing a case the pair are working on, wherein the heart of the victim had been removed with the absence of any significant physical evidence. Mulder believes the heart was removed with a technique known as psychic surgery. Meanwhile, Padgett, who is Mulder's neighbor, stands on a chair with his ear to an air vent, listening to the conversation.

Later that night, two teenagers get into a fight in the woods. Frustrated, the girl, named Maggie, runs into the woods to be alone and Kevin, her boyfriend, gives chase. However, he is attacked and his heart is removed. Meanwhile, the writer intensely transcribes the event on his typewriter. The next day, Mulder and Scully discuss this latest incident via phone. An unmarked envelope is discovered by Scully in the office containing a pendant. While she examines the pendant, a voice-over from the writer describes Scully's most intimate feelings as she examines the unsolicited gift.

Scully later runs into the author at a church. He admits sending Scully the pendant and discusses with her the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She leaves, visibly shaken. Scully meets Mulder and relays her most recent encounter with the writer to Mulder. Later, Padgett woos Scully into his apartment with more character revelations. Mulder bursts in and arrests him based on accurate descriptions of the case murders in his novel, which he secretly read after discovering it in the mail. While Padgett is in custody, Maggie is murdered in the same fashion as Kevin. This establishes a de facto alibi for the author. Lacking concrete and connective evidence to the murders, and hoping Padgett might lead them to his partner in crime, Mulder releases Padgett from custody.

Back at his apartment, Padgett converses with the killer from his book, a deceased Brazilian surgeon named Ken Naciamento. It is revealed that through some sort of psychic connection, Padgett's Naciamento has come back to life and has been removing hearts from victims. The two discuss motivations for the killings. Realizing that his novel prognosticates Scully's murder, Padgett heads to the incinerator to destroy his novel. Mulder intercepts him, thinking Padgett is instead simply destroying incriminatory evidence. Meanwhile, Naciamento accosts Scully. After hearing gunshots, Mulder runs toward his apartment and shockingly finds Scully on the ground, covered in blood but alive. The episode closes with a voice over from the author, explaining his final actions. The stranger lies stricken on the basement floor in front of the incinerator, his beating heart in hand, having "... given what he could not receive".

Production

The part of author John Padgett was written for John Hawkes, who possessed a "dignity and simplicity".

Writing

The idea behind the episode occurred during a conversation between John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz. The two were discussing about the particular stress of their jobs. The episode's theme of someone thinking of something so much that it becomes real was "familiar" to anyone who had written a script, Shiban later explained. Shiban and Spotnitz created a rough draft for the episode and then sent it to series creator Chris Carter, who was busy shooting the pilot for the new television series Harsh Realm. Carter re-wrote portions of the script, including the ending, to show that the writer, although confused, does in deed have love in his heart.

Spotnitz later called the episode "personal". He noted that the cards that hang on Padgett's wall were put up to emulate the original writing style of The X-Files, saying, "in fact, that the cards that are on the writer’s wall are the same format that we wrote The X-Files in. We would use those same cards when figuring out stories for the series. And those cards are in my handwriting because the prop guy couldn’t do it as well as we could because that’s really the way we did it. It’s a very emotional love story and it’s really about our love for these characters as writers". The title of the episode, "Milagro," means miracle in Spanish.

Casting and filming

The part of John Padgett had been written specifically for the actor John Hawkes. Several weeks before the casting for "Milagro" began, Hawkes had audition for the part of Pinker Rawls in the episode "Trevor". Both Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz felt that Hawkes was not right for the part, however, the believed he possessed a "dignity and simplicity" that would prevent the main character in "Milagro" from becoming a simple caricature. Therefore, the script was written to suit Hawkes characterization.

The production for "Milagro" was decidedly low-budget due to its "intimate and personality-driven" nature. Several locations that were scouted for the episode proved difficult to use. Two churches that had been selected for the episode pulled out just before filming began and replacements had to be found immediately. Finding a graveyard with "old-fashioned vertical tombstones" proved a challenge for locations manager Ilt Jones. Eventually one was found in Altadena, California, east of Los Angeles.

Music and cultural references

For his score, Mark Snow used the sound of recorded human heartbeats to go along with the conceit of the episode. During the graveyard scene, one of the tombstones is marked "Salinger," with the names "Nicholas" and "Diana" visible underneath, a reference to the parents of Charlie, Bailey, Julia, Claudia, and Owen in the Fox television series Party of Five. The date on the tombstone reads 1994, the date the series premiered. P.K. Simonds, writer and executive producer for the show was initially unaware that the tombstone made an appearance. Others, including Spotnitz, believed the tombstone to be a joking reference to famous author J.D. Salinger.

Broadcast and reception

"Milagro" first aired in the United States on April 18, 1999. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9, with a 14 share, meaning that roughly 9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 14 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 15.2 million viewers. The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on June 27, 1999 and received 0.85 million viewers, making it the second most watched episode that week.

Spotnitz considers "Milagro" to have been an "underappreciated" episode. For this reason, it was later included on the X-Files Essentials DVD compilation, along with seven other episodes. The character of Ken Naciemento has been listed as one of the best guest roles of the series, with TV Guide and UGO Networks both listing him amongst the greatest monster-of-the-week characters in The X-Files. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five, calling it "a study of overwriting with all the mistakes left in" and "one of the most remarkable" episodes of the series. Shearman and Pearson also felt that Anderson's performance was "revelatory", and also praised guest star Hawkes as "both sinister and sympathetic".

Footnotes

References

• Meisler, Andy (2000). The End and the Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6. HarperCollins. ISBN 0061075957. 
• Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X. 

External links

• "Milagro" on The X-Files Wiki, an external wiki
• "Milagro" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Milagro" at TV.com