If you were somehow able to snatch someone from Death’s irresistible grasp, would you?  To free someone, perhaps a loved one, from that which  is an undeniable – and inescapable – fact of life.

Would you grant them a second chance?

But nothing is without cost.  For those you would return, they would be – physically – as they had died.  For instance, if you died in a fire, you would still bear the physical and mental scars of that horrific event.

Every day, every breath, every look in the mirror, a drop in what is a ocean of torment.

So…if you were somehow able to snatch someone from Death’s grasp, would you?

That’s one question among many that should have been contemplated by Rev. Calvin Hartley (George Gerdes) and his son, Samuel (Scott Bairstow).  The Reverend runs a tent revival, where they have been curing the sick of their ills for ten years.

But recently, Samuel’s gift seems to be failing him, which brings Mulder and Scully into the case.

“Miracle Man,” the 18th episode of the series is fascinating because it’s less concerned with the returning individuals from the dead, or curing what ails them, than the cost of such an action to them and those around them.

It’s an angle also covered by Stephen King’s “Pet Cemetery,” though in a much gorier fashion.