"Talitha Cumi" is the twenty-fourth episode and the season finale of the third season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on May 17, 1996, in the United States. The teleplay was written by series creator Chris Carter, based on a story he developed with lead actor David Duchovny and was directed by R. W. Goodwin. The episode is one of several that explored the series' overarching mythology. "Talitha Cumi" achieved a Nielsen household rating of 11.2, being watched by 17.86 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully search for a man who seems to possess strange powers, who may have information about Mulder's family and the Syndicate. "Talitha Cumi" is the first part of a two-part episode, initiating the plot that is finalized in the fourth-season premiere, "Herrenvolk". The basic premise of "Talitha Cumi", most notably the scene featuring Jeremiah Smith's interrogation by The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), was heavily influenced by "The Grand Inquisitor"—a chapter in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov—on the suggestion of Duchovny. The title "Talitha Cumi" is Aramaic for "Little girl, get up," and alludes to the biblical story of the raising of Jairus' daughter". Plot At a fast food restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, a man draws a gun and shoots three people before he is shot by police snipers outside. An older man revives the gunman and his victims by touching them with the palms of his hands. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive to investigate. They interview the victims and gunman, finding that the mysterious healer, Jeremiah Smith (Roy Thinnes), disappeared while being interviewed by a detective. Meanwhile, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) meets with Mulder's mother Teena (Rebecca Toolan), and the two argue as someone photographs them from a distance. Later, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) notifies Mulder that Teena has suffered a stroke. At the hospital, Teena writes the word "PALM" on a notepad, which Mulder takes to mean her stroke is connected to Jeremiah Smith. Mulder finds footage of Smith being interviewed, and sees that someone else appears in Smith's place when the detective looks away.