This episode is rated lower seemingly for multiple reasons. The religious themes can be perceived as boring, the strange events that happen are never really explained, and most importantly the roles of Mulder and Scully as the believer and the sceptic respectively have been reversed, making Mulder seem heavily hypocritical (which is pointed out by Scully in the episode).
I believe it works very well, but most notably it fits both Scully and Mulder in regards to where they are in their character arcs at the moment. I personally believe it would've seemed strange if Mulder was not sceptical of the seemingly religious nature of the case, as he not only has criticized religion and mysticism before but seems to reject it quite strongly. Maybe it's due to his individualistic personality that he rejects collectivist belief systems and religious ideas, maybe it's because of the events in his childhood. Also that Scully ends up reconnecting with her faith is not farfetched at all considering the recent events in her life.
Either way the resulting reversal in character roles for Mulder and Scully makes her get a taste of her own medicine. It also showcases the mutual respect the main characters have for each other despite their differences. Mulder, much like Scully usually does, tries to explain the phenomena in the episode with logic to challenge Scully's theory, but he doesn't reject her and lets her follow her hunches.
The plot in this episode is alright, but the strength of it is definitely the character interactions between Mulder and Scully, and the charisma between the two is especially strong here.
I believe it works very well, but most notably it fits both Scully and Mulder in regards to where they are in their character arcs at the moment. I personally believe it would've seemed strange if Mulder was not sceptical of the seemingly religious nature of the case, as he not only has criticized religion and mysticism before but seems to reject it quite strongly. Maybe it's due to his individualistic personality that he rejects collectivist belief systems and religious ideas, maybe it's because of the events in his childhood. Also that Scully ends up reconnecting with her faith is not farfetched at all considering the recent events in her life.
Either way the resulting reversal in character roles for Mulder and Scully makes her get a taste of her own medicine. It also showcases the mutual respect the main characters have for each other despite their differences. Mulder, much like Scully usually does, tries to explain the phenomena in the episode with logic to challenge Scully's theory, but he doesn't reject her and lets her follow her hunches.
The plot in this episode is alright, but the strength of it is definitely the character interactions between Mulder and Scully, and the charisma between the two is especially strong here.