Anita after his death. Michelle uses her powers to destroy the fish tank, but spares Fiore after hearing pleas from Anita not to hurt him. Later, Fiore pleads guilty to charges of murder and grand larceny, whilst Michelle seemingly recovers and goes on to become a normal little girl. Production Writer Howard Gordon has expressed his disappointment with the episode, feeling that it was too similar to his earlier work on the episode "Shadows" and finding that it was "not done particularly interestingly". Series creator Chris Carter also felt that "Born Again" was "just not one of [his] favorites", adding that he "thought the direction was a little sloppy, but it's one of those episodes that plays a little closer to reality and I like that about it". David Duchovny reportedly "detested" the episode, despite a guest appearance by his then-girlfriend Maggie Wheeler. Executive producer R. W. Goodwin recalls being on location for the episode's opening scene, in which Detective Barbala is thrown from a window. The room used for the scene had two windows side by side, and one had been replaced with sugar glass for the stunt. When the false window was blown out to simulate someone being thrown through it, the crew found that the glass window beside the false one had also accidentally been blown out. The episode's key grip, Al Campbell, suggested that the next shot show Barbala's dog lying beside his body to explain the second window breaking. Broadcast and reception "Born Again" premiered on the Fox network on April 22, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on February 23, 1995. This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.2, with a 14 share, meaning that in the US, roughly 8.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 14 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 7.7 million households. In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly, "Born Again" was rated a B−, with the episode being described as "engaging but ultimately just serviceable", although Andrea Libman's casting as Michelle was called "inspired". Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club, felt negatively towards the episode, feeling that its plot was too reminiscent of earlier episodes, such as "Eve" or "Shadows". However, he found the scene in which an image is found in the static of a video recording to