You call this life?
In the six episodes between Eve and Miracle Man, only one does not have some reference to disability, but the references tend to be isolated and not necessarily pertinent to the storyline. I would be remiss not to reference Young at Heart which is the fountain of youth episode. The search for this fountain of youth is found in children with a debilitating disease called progeria which causes premature aging. The fact that the scientist did not care about the children themselves but only as a way to find the secret to eternal youth is reflective of historical experimentation on persons with disabilities in the name of science.
Additionally, I must mention E.B.E. Mythology episodes have been notable in the series for their use of referencing mental illness (terms such as crazy or insane) to describe persons who believe in aliens; including Mulder. However, in E.B.E. the notable reference is Scully calling the Lone Gunman “paranoid” to believe in government surveillance only to discover that Mulder and her are under surveillance. This is notable in that, for the first time, Scully believes herself in something that in an earlier part of the episode she might have thought was “crazy.”
The next significant discussion related to disability after Eve is Miracle Man. This episode raises the possibility that religious faith and miracle healing can cure the infirmed and the disabled. Numerous individuals with mobility impairments utilizing wheelchairs are seen in the audience of the evangelical tent revival in the hopes of being healed. None of them are developed characters where the audience feels invested in their well being. At one point the Miracle Man, Vince, who we will discuss more in a bit, says to a crowd of people “let the wheelchairs in” and this single dimensional viewpoint is representative of the portrayal in this episode. These, to substitute person first language, persons in wheelchairs come to the revival in the hopes of being healed despite the fact that the evangelical boy is suspected of murder following the deaths of several people he touched. The fact is that people are willing to risk death rather than continue to use wheelchairs. In some cases the individuals might have been ill from a terminal disease, but the last victim is a woman with MS and many individuals live long and productive lives with MS. The family of the woman mentioned they had seen news report and, yet, were eager to have their daughter in the front row in the hopes of being healed.
To emphasize the portrayal in the episode that living with a disability is not a life worth living, we must now discuss Vince. Vince is a man brought back to life by the evangelical boy. Vince, who now works for the ministry, sometimes walks with a cane and other times without a cane but a pronounced limp. His body is scared from burns which forces him to wear gloves, makeup on his face, dark sunglasses and a bad wig. With the reveal that he is in the fact the murderer who framed the boy, the question of motive arises. After all, the boy had brought him back to life! To this Vince exclaims “You call this life?”
In addition to this storyline is a confusing sub-plot where the Sheriff is involved in the murder of the evangelical boy. The sheriff’s wife is a person who uses a wheelchair due to debilitating arthritis, but the Sherriff has never allowed her to be touched by the boy. At the end, when it appears the miracle boy might have been the real deal, she is distraught that she could have been healed. A deeper dive into why the Sheriff had refused to believe, why his wife had no agency in the matter for herself, and why he might not have wanted his wife healed could have been interesting, but this plot line was not fully developed.
Another interesting piece of this episode is the fact that individuals with fervent religious belief might be seen as crazy in a similar manner as those who believe in aliens. A nurse at the hospital who witnessed the dead miracle boy walk out of the hospital in a miracle resurrection echoes Mulder refrains from earlier episodes “I’m not crazy.” Mulder, who repeatedly sees a young girl he thinks might be his sister, tells Scully that he is not delusional. However at the end of episode Mulder ignores the last vision of his sister and tells Scully that “I think people are looking hard for miracles ... so hard that maybe they make themselves see what they want to see.”