10 best episodes of the X-Files

The best The X-Files Episodes combine Monster-of-the-Week tales with alien mythology episodes to flesh out the overarching story of the entire series. Chris Carter created The X-Files in 1993, and the show was an instant hit, lasting nine seasons before finally ending in 2002. The series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as two FBI agents who take on cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder (Duchovny) is a believer and Scully (Anderson) is a skeptic.

The series also received two films and was picked up for two more seasons in 2016 and 2018. While other FBI agents joined the show when Duchovny left the series, fans mainly focused on Mulder and Scully, and the best The X-Files The episodes primarily center on these two individuals, their relationship, and how they grew and developed as the series progressed. Whether hunting monsters and saving people’s lives or exploring government conspiracies involving alien invasions, the series remains one of the best in the history of the genre.

10

Ice

Season 1, Episode 8

The first season saw Mulder and Scully getting to know each other, and while they hadn’t yet developed complete trust in each other, they were growing into each other by the time the eighth episode, “Ice,” arrived. Scully was still skeptical at this point, regardless of what she had seen, and that made it a little difficult to get used to the idea of ​​a mind-altering parasite that caused a team of scientific researchers to turn against each other. This is a The X-Files tribute to John Carpenter’s Thing.

There are some great guest stars here, with Felicity Huffman appearing as a toxicologist and Xander Berkeley as a doctor. As people die, everyone has to figure out which of them might be infected by the parasite. This was not only an homage to Carpenter’s film, but was actually based on the same novel that Carpenter based his film on (Who goes three? by John W. Campbell). The episode proved it was up to the task, resulting in a thrilling yet frightening and paranoid ride.

9

From Outer Space by Jose Chung

Season 3, Episode 20

One of The X-Files The funniest episodes came in the third season with “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.” The strange title allows the entire episode to remain self-referential. This is less of a sci-fi horror episode than most fans are used to, and instead it’s mostly a send-up of sci-fi tropes, all told by an unreliable narrator, so no one really has any idea what is happening, what is real, and if someone is telling the truth. He questions whether there are alien abductions or whether the government is faking them.

Charles Nelson Reilly stars as Jose Chung, a famous novelist who is interviewing Scully to research her new novel. The episode then has several moments that satirize Mulder’s idiosyncrasies and narrow focus, while also analyzing what makes him such a quirky and fun character. Reilly is fantastic as Jose Chung, and he really makes the episode shine by bringing humor into all of his scenes. Alex Trebek (Danger!) also cameos as the Man in Black. It ends on a sad note, but that only makes what came before so good.

8

Small Potatoes

Season 4, Episode 20

Vince Gilligan wrote “Small Potatoes”, a The X-Files episode with one of the most pathetic villains in the franchise. That villain is Eddie Van Blundht (Darin Morgan), a janitor and shapeshifter who is caught after posing as several women’s husbands, getting their wives pregnant. He also impersonates Luke Skywalker, which is weird. When babies are born with tails, it proves that something is very wrong. Eddie is a loser whose only purpose in using his powers is to try to be something he is not.

The episode title describes Eddie perfectly, and the main theme is whether a person can remake who they are. This issue also hints at romance between Mulder and Scully when Eddie poses as Mulder and hits on Scully. David Duchovny was fantastic when he played Eddie pretending to be Mulder, and it was clear that this was a chance for him to play against type and deliver something unique and different. This was a fun episode, even with the disturbing crimes.

7

Triangle

Season 6, Episode 3

The X-Files did something completely different in the Season 6 episode, “Triangle.” While most episodes featured Mulder and Scully investigating paranormal activity and supernatural threats, things never got too out of hand when it came to fantasy and science fiction. However, in “Triangle,” the show took a big risk and introduced time travel. In this episode, Mulder searches for a ship in the Bermuda Triangle and ends up being sent back in time for 1939.

In tribute to The Wizard of OzMilder then ends up encountering characters played by the same actors who play people he knows from his time, but as different people. They even have fun moments where they do something that remains similar to their normal roles. Chris Carter wrote and directed the episode and used an interesting technique where each act of the episode appeared to be filmed in one continuous take without cutting. The filming style and Mulder questioning reality make this one of the The X-Files more creative.

6

Paper hearts

Season 4, Episode 10

“Paper Hearts” is a Mulder episode in which he begins to find information that threatens everything he believes in, and it may be for the best The X-Files episode that is almost completely Mulder-specific. As most fans know, Mulder became an FBI agent investigating the unknown and government conspiracies surrounding alien visitations after aliens kidnapped his sister in front of him. However, this episode leads him to believe he was wrong and that his sister was actually murdered.

The suspect is John Lee Roche (Tom Noonan), a man Mulder had already sent to prison years before. However, when Mulder dreams about Roche’s victims and investigates things, he realizes that the killer may have killed Samantha, which goes against the entire alien abduction he bases his investigations on. This episode is very important because it suggests that Mulder’s obsession was built on a fantasy he made up in his mind, forcing him to investigate to find out if the truth was still out there.

5

Memento Mori

Season 4, Episode 14

“Memento Mori” is the episode that earned Gillian Anderson her Emmy award for her performance. This kicks off Scully’s cancer story, which was a huge moment in the series that changed everything. However, having Anderson play the cancer-stricken FBI agent gave her a lot to think about and resulted in one of the best outings for the actress in a series full of head-turning performances. The best parts were the little moments where people reacted to the cancer diagnosis in their own strange ways.

The uncomfortable silence between Mulder and Scully as she tells him about her tumor was heartbreaking and the moment they hugged in the hospital hallway was one of the show’s best moments. This might be the most exciting The X-Files episode of the series, and the moments of silence often lead to outbursts of emotion, which is a perfect description of what something like cancer brings to the people who have it and those who love them. This is an acting showcase for Anderson and Duchovny.

4

Pusher

Season 3, Episode 17

There were some great villains in The X-Filesbut nothing was really like the season 3 episode “Pusher.” Robert Patrick Modell (Robert Wisden) has a brain tumor. However, although this is a deadly affliction, it also gives him supernatural powers. He can make people do anything he wants them to do. Written by Vince Gilligan, ‘Pusher’ sees Modell turn this ability into a weapon, and he actually kills a man by causing him to have a heart attack while talking on the phone, making him deadly and very dangerous.

Director Rob Bowman (who won four Emmys for Castle) shot the entire episode like a film noir, making it not only a frightening story of a seemingly unstoppable serial killer, but also a beautiful episode that uses its design to build tension as well. There’s an almost unbearable scene where Modell makes Mulder and Scully play Russian roulette that really shows how important their relationship is at this point in the series.

3

Home

Season 4, Episode 2

“Home” may be the most disturbing and shocking The X-Files episode already done. This episode was even banned from re-airing on Fox, so fans had to seek it out on home video and eventually streaming. This episode brings the backwoods Peacock family that has practiced inbreeding since the American Civil War. Mulder and Scully end up being taken to the house where the buried corpse of a deformed baby was found. When they arrive, they will have to fight the deformed members of the Peacock family.

Things really go off the rails when they discover that the Peacock family has repeatedly impregnated their own mother, who has had all four limbs removed to keep her isolated in their home. This was one of the rare The X-Files episodes where the villains weren’t aliens or supernatural monsters, but rather human monsters that were a little more disturbing than anything paranormal in the series. This was the only TV-MA rated episode of The X-Files.

2

Bad blood

Season 5, Episode 12

Before he created Breaking Bad and Better call Saul, Vince Gilligan has written for other showrunners and written some of the best The X-Files episodes in the long run of the show. In season 5, his best script was “Bad Blood”. This was a funnier episode than any other episode of the sci-fi series in its entire run. The case sees Mulder and Scully stumble upon a crime scene, and they disagree on one basic fact – was the killer a vampire?

The episode then unfolds with the case shown from each agent’s point of view, as viewers see how Mulder sees the case and how Scully sees it. The two actors have a lot of fun in this episode, as they basically poke fun at their characters’ personalities and quirks throughout the story. This remains one of Gillian Anderson’s favorite episodes and also featured Luke Wilson as a small town sheriff. The X-Files It’s never been funnier than this edition.

1

Clyde Bruckman’s final rest

Season 3, Episode 4

One The X-Files The episode that received almost universal acclaim from critics and fans was season three’s “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.” This is the episode that most people agree is the best of the best and the one by which all others are judged. Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein) stars as Clyde Bruckman, a medium who has only one real gift – he can tell a person how they will die. The story made people hear the truth but refuse to accept it, a trend in the long-running alien series.

“Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” was the first time The X-Files won an Emmy award, and here he won two of them. Writer Darin Morgan won one of the awards for his script, while Peter Boyle won an Emmy for his guest-starring role in the episode. It was a sad time, because Bruckman had his gift, but no one wanted anything to do with him, because no one wanted to know that they were going to die. This makes the entire story philosophical and darkly humorous, while also conveying a lot of heart. It is a true masterpiece of television storytelling.