It was written by Chip Johannessen, directed by Rob Bowman, and featured guest appearances by Nick Chinlund and Scott Wilson.
In addition, "Orison" serves as a sequel, and brings closure, to the second season episode "Irresistible", with Chinlund reprising his role as Donnie Pfaster.
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, Reverend Orison releases Donnie Pfaster, Scully's former kidnapper, from jail in the hopes of passing judgment on him.
Executive producers Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, and John Shiban enjoyed the premise and decided to bring back Donnie Pfaster.
Time seems to slow down as another inmate, Donnie Pfaster (Nick Chinlund)—a "death fetishist" and serial killer who kidnapped Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) five years earlier—walks out of the room and leaves the prison.
After a medical exam, Mulder finds out that Orison has three times the bloodflow capacity of the brain due to a hole he has drilled into his own head, allowing him to perform mental tricks by hypnotizing people.
[2] After reading the first draft, Spotnitz and Carter decided to reintroduce Donnie Pfaster, a character from the second season episode "Irresistible".
Shiban explained "we decided late in the process to turn him into this totally demonic character, essentially evil as an entity.
Even though she shot him in the heightened state, you couldn't deny the fact that she killed Donnie Psaster [sic] in cold blood.
Rick Millikan, the show's casting director, eventually settled on Scott Wilson for the role of Orison believing that he could pull off the "dual nature" of the character better than anyone else.
[2] The episode featured several scenes making use of complex effects, most notably the shot at the beginning, where time grinds to a halt.
"[5] Mark Snow, the show's composer, used various musical effects for emphasis, explaining: "There's a slo-mo scene where Mulder comes in the room with Scully and guns are drawn.
Kenneth Silber from Space.com wrote positively of the episode, saying, "'Orison' rises above its origins in the depressing, hackneyed genre of serial-killer dramas.
The episode combines a fast pace with a richly gloomy mood, and even serves to blur the all-too-sharp distinction between standalone X-Files stories and the series' 'mythology arc.
Rosell argued that the episode "adds fuel to the fiery argument that it is [Scully], and not Mulder, that the real heart of the series was built on.
"[11] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review, writing "['Orison'] was a journey filled with horror, mystery, and self-analysis.
[14] He noted that the titular chaplain was a "potentially fascinating figure" who was never explored to his full extent, and that the ending was effective in that it "helps transform the episode’s climax into something more than a simple regurgitation".