Official Document: The Best Standalone Episodes of The X-Files
for when the library of congress requests it.
I’ve been pondering for a while ways in which I could write an X-Files substack, a la my viral, inaugural piece on season 7 of Gilmore Girls and my close watch of Normal People. The trouble in this case is the scope; there are 11 seasons of X-Files, most with 20-25 episodes, and two feature-length movies. There is an overarching alien/conspiracy plot, yet much of the time, the show is episodic, with Scully and Mulder assigned to various FBI cases that have paranormal or unexplainable phenomena — aka X Files.
Whenever I start talking to someone about The X-Files, I get very long-winded and excited, and start doing an impression of Mulder when he’s trying to convince Scully, at the start of every episode, that what they’re looking at is NOT, in fact, a run of the mill crime scene: “Contusions on the back of the head but no blunt trauma? Body temperature of 110 degrees? I’ve got six X files JUST LIKE THIS!”
Then I do an impression of Scully when she tells Mulder that he’s “letting his sister get in the way” of seeing the case clearly (Mulder’s sister was abducted when he was 12 and she was 8, which is basically The Thing driving Mulder to seek “the truth” for several seasons [it’s out there!]). Spoiler alert though? Mulder is basically always 100% right in his wacky spooky hunches, and they’re not “about his sister” as often as Scully thinks they are. I actually think Mulder has a real penchant for humanity, and his dedication to victims is the reason these X Files ever even have a chance of getting solved. See? I’m already making 0% sense to you.
What I’m saying is, it’s hard to talk about the show in a general way, because the things that happen are just so insane, creative, and specific. (Like— is there an episode where TREES are the perpetrator? Yes. There is.)
Another great thing about the show is it has real character development, and you get to see Scully and Mulder’s relationship grow and solidify into one of total trust (and…. something… else).
Scully and Mulder are foils to each other — Scully is a Catholic, a skeptic, a scientist, and a medical doctor; Mulder is an atheist, believer in all things paranormal, and a grade-A investigator who can get inside a perpetrator’s head. The tension between the two of them in how to best approach a case is what drives each episode, as does the push and pull that happens when it comes to them accepting each other’s beliefs.
They learn a lot from each other and, though I said Mulder’s hunches are the reason these cases get solved, Scully’s thoroughness and attention to facts are what keep Mulder reined in and focused. He wouldn’t be able to solve these cases on his own! Omg and the amount of times Scully bails him out of a dire situation.. omg AND the amount of times these two die, almost die, are abducted… man. Ok!
What I’ve decided to do is a Best Of Monster Of The Week,
aka the episodes where Scully and Mulder are investigating an X file that doesn’t relate to the overarching alien plot.1
I figured that a list of Top Hits would help me highlight different aspects of the show that I love, and would also be the approach most likely to get you to watch. Which is what I want.
And trust me, unless you want to spend over 200 hours of your life watching a deeply complicated alien/government conspiracy unfold2, only to still be confused by the end, you’re better off this way.
Now the problem I have to acknowledge with this list is I’ve been watching this show for like 3 years and I didn’t think of this idea until like season 6. So I’m relying on memory for the earlier seasons, as well as some serious Reddit sleuthing to see which episodes the fans love that were missing from my list.3
Honestly, you’re going to be pretty safe in general with any episodes from seasons 1-3, including those of the myth arc — it doesn’t start to really devolve until later. For example, I think the Duane Barry — Ascension — One Breath trio of episodes in season 2 is a good taste of the early myth arc if you get curious.
One last note that this is not necessarily a Series Best of MOTW — I wanted to include episodes from each season, even if some not-included episodes from earlier seasons are better than included episodes from later seasons.
Okay! Let’s begin, shall we??
Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot
I mean pilots are good for obvious reasons of laying out basic premise but I’m also recommending this one specifically bc of Mulder A.) in a backwards ball cap and B.) in these glasses that did in fact inform a Zenni Optical order I made after seeing it. (If you can’t beat em, join em!)
Scully is assigned to the X Files to “keep an eye” on Mulder and add legitimacy to his wacky spooky cases. In their first case, they go to Oregon to investigate a supposed alien abduction of high school students. So it’s also a good alien episode without needing to get full on into the alien plot.
Also, this episode has THIS scene, in case you were wondering how long they wait to introduce the ***sexual tension*** element.
Season 1 Episode 3: Squeeze
This episode is the first true MOTW of the series, and features a very flexible murderer who gets at his victims through vents! How is this possible? And why does he kill people by extracting their liver??
If you like this episode, there’s a follow-up later in the season (ep 21) called “Tooms.”
Season 1 Episode 4: Conduit
This isn’t exactly MOTW but it’s a good episode for Mulder lore, as well as for getting some alien content without getting into the whole mythology of the series.
Mulder decides to investigate the disappearance of a girl in Iowa, near a lake with supposed past UFO activity. When Mulder and Scully arrive, they notice that the girl’s younger brother is doing some crazy drawings that turn out to be binary code. WHAT is going on here??? Mulder thinks an alien abduction, but everyone else isn’t so sure. Classic!
Season 1 Episode 8: Ice
Ah, good, an episode about contagion!! This episode is fucking fun, especially if you see the comedy in paranoia, like I do: I love to see an absolutely seething Mulder grit his teeth and say, to a distrusting Scully, “I’m! not! SICK!”
Scully and Mulder travel to remote Alaska to investigate a missing (or perhaps simply perished?) crew4, and end up getting stuck with two other people there who I think are like, scientist people? Again, I watched this in 2021. The question is, who of these four gets infected by the killer parasite?? I’m gonna side with Mulder here and say it’s not him.
Season 1 Episode 11: Eve
Two dads are found dead at the exact same time, thousands of miles apart. To make things weirder, their daughters are… identical. Great! I’m sure they are totally sweet little angels who have nothing to do with this.
Because this episode gets into a “government conspiracy” angle, we hear from Deep Throat, a key figure in the early myth-arc episodes who often informs Mulder of secret shit going on (hence the Watergate reference). Don’t mind him, he’ll be in and out.
Season 1 Episode 13: Beyond the Sea
This episode is the first time in the series where Mulder and Scully switch roles, so to speak. A serial killer on death row (caught by Mulder) claims to have psychic info about a couple who have been kidnapped and for whom a search is ongoing. Knowing this guy’s whole manipulative deal, Mulder is the skeptic here, and Scully is actually the believer (for reasons related to backstory/other things in her life). This episode is in general a good one for Scully and her lore.
This is a pretty chilling episode (a lot of people compare it to Silence of the Lambs), and executions are ofc a heavy topic, so just.. FYI, I guess? Tbh every episode of X Files needs a serious FYI! This shit is not for the faint hearted!
Season 1 Episode 14: Gender Bender
This is an episode I totally forgot about until I kept seeing it in a bunch of Redditers’ rankings, and when I looked it up I was like oh yeah it was like…. a murderer who can change gender but then also like… there was the Amish? Like all best X Files, a rewatch is needed to remember how that all quite fit together.
Season 1 Episode 20: Darkness Falls
A group of loggers goes missing in the forests of Washington State. Turns out we need an entomologist because we’re dealing with some dangerous insects who are only active at night (I also think they are like glow-in-the-dark green?). I like how in this episode, similarly to Ice, Scully and Mulder are working with a team. I love episodes with teams. Just a fun energy!
Season 2 Episode 2: The Host
Warning! This episode has truly the most horrifying monster of all MOTW. I’m shocked I’m even recommending this, because I think when this episode was over I was like, hope I never have to see that again.
Also, this monster lives in sewers, so like… if you ever had a childhood fear of a snake or something swimming up into your toilet while you were going, this episode might be triggering lol.
Season 2 Episode 14: Die Hand Die Verletzt
Okay so I remember being genuinely very scared watching this episode, which I think is a good reason to add it to the list??
If you’re interested in satanic cults, this is the episode for you! It also takes place at a high school, which just is kind of a great locale for a satanic cult. Although this one is v v disturbing, there is comedy here.
Season 2 Episode 19: Død Kalm
This is an episode where I was like, wow, they really committed to the bit with this one. Scully and Mulder board a “ghost ship” to investigate what happened to the crew. Turns out they died from exposure to *something* that causes rapid aging, meaning cracking the mystery of this case is truly a race against time for these two….
Season 3 Episode 4: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
Omg Clyde Bruckman has to be my favorite MOTW character in all of X Files. This episode is pure comedy.
A man is going around murdering psychics, because they can’t tell him why he keeps murdering people. But then an ACTUAL psychic (Clyde Bruckman), who is specifically able to see how/when people meet their death, becomes both a target for the killer and a key for Scully and Mulder as they try to solve the case. I love Clyde, he is iconic, and he delivers my all time favorite line in the show (which I won’t spoil). He also delivers a favorite line of fans, when Scully’s curiosity gets the better of her and she asks Clyde how she dies. Won’t spoil his response to that, either!!!
Season 3 Episode 8: Oubliette
I almost didn’t include this one because, yeah, it’s extremely hard to watch. But it’s very powerful and a strong one for Mulder, as it’s about a teenage girl getting abducted, so it of course draws parallels to his sister (Scully’s favorite cases!). Because of how emotionally invested Mulder gets in this, and his wacky spooky conviction that a young woman who was abducted by the same man years earlier now has a psychic connection to the new victim, Scully kinda goes too extreme the other way… kind of a bad pattern for them, but in any case, if you can handle it, this episode is worth seeing; it’s a bit of a flip that the supernatural element here exists between the victims, and the “monster” is simply a vile human being.
Season 3 Episode 12: War of the Coprophages
This one has a WARNING attached. There are COPIOUS COCKROACHES!
Still, gotta throw in a #gross one for balance. Also it’s interesting because it also is about like, fear / panic! We’ve also got a hot entomologist on the scene who seems to momentarily threaten the Mulder/Scully dynamic.
Season 3 Episode 17: Pusher
This one is about this guy Robert Modell who can somehow “push” people into putting themselves in harm’s way, thus making their deaths look like suicide. Because no one in the world but Mulder believes in telekinesis or psychic suggestion, Modell is able to remain pretty elusive from law enforcement — even if they catch him, they end up letting him go. But Mulder’s on to you, Modell!
Modell returns in Season 5 (Ep 8, “Kitsunegari”), if you want a follow-up.
Season 3 Episode 20: Jose Chung’s From Outer Space
Ok. This episode has to be in my top 3. Might even be my all-time fav. It deals with memory and perspective, and is told in sort of frame narrative.
A writer named Jose Chung comes to visit Scully at the FBI to ask about an alien abduction case she worked on with Mulder. The episode then runs us through Scully’s version of events, but she is often interrupted by Chung as he says things like, “Well, here’s what THIS witness says happened,” or, “Here’s what MULDER said happened.”
It becomes a very fun episode to watch, because you’re seeing these different versions of events and you have to sort through the grains of truth that exist in all of them. I also love this episode because there’s a part where Mulder eats an entire pie and it’s comedy.
Season 3 Episode 22: Quagmire
Didn’t think you’d get a Loch Ness Monster ep, did ya????
A good episode for town legends! How do they start? Are we dealing with a snake? A crocodile? A prehistoric swimming dinosaur??? Or are some things perhaps… unclassifiable? There’s also some nice Scully/Mulder heart to heart time here when they get stranded on a rock.
Season 3 Episode 23: Wetwired
A man murders his wife and police, thinking they are all someone else. When Scully and Mulder arrive to investigate, they soon discover that the cable in the area // TV signals are somehow being messed with and inducing paranoia in people. Does this mean Scully and Mulder are vulnerable to exposure as well????
It’s an interesting episode for their relationship but also good for getting some of the other elements of the show: i.e., it features the “Lone Gunmen,” a bestie trio of alien conspiracy theorists / government watchdogs who often help Scully and Mulder with cases that require computer hacking or whatever, as well as Cigarette Smoking Man / Cancer Man, a figure Scully and Mulder believe to be responsible for all the government conspiracy mayhem.
Season 4 Episode 4: Unruhe
Warning! We’re back to women getting abducted! This episode is fucccked, but it’s going in the list because it’s slightly easier to handle IMO than Irresistible and Oubliette.
A woman is abducted after going to get her passport photo taken, but Mulder and Scully get called in because when the passport photos developed, they ended up being of her screaming, and not the photos that were taken. This of course leads Mulder to believe the perpetrator is capable of “psychic photography,” especially as this phenomenon continues to occur as more women are abducted, including…. one FBI agent near and dear to our hearts.
Season 4 Episode 5: The Field Where I Died
This episode is not for everyone, but I enjoyed it mostly because of my interest in past lives. Scully and Mulder are trying to take down the leader of a dangerous cult, and a key witness ends up being a member of the cult who is experiencing intermittent past life regressions. I’ll give you one guess who out of Scully and Mulder ends up doing a bit of past life regressing themself……
Warning tho this episode is #sad. (My sister and I watch these together virtually, and after almost every episode I end up sending her a text saying “creepy!” “fun!” “gross!” or “sad.” And this episode gets a #sad. [Some episodes also warrant a “well that sure was a ride.”]
Season 4 Episode 12: Leonard Betts
This is about a guy who dies getting decapitated but then somehow can GROW BACK A NEW HEAD. This guy is similar to Tooms, actually (our first MOTW way back!!) because he … seems to need to consume stuff other people have in their bodies to survive.
This episode also kind of sets up what will become a big plot in the myth arc for Scully, but, don’t be alarmed, this is X Files and truly it won’t matter in the long run.
Season 4 Episode 20: Small Potatoes
Okay so… because of the insane amount of episodes that feature people / creatures / beings who can shapeshift, body double, morph, swap bodies, whatever, there end up being a few plotlines scattered throughout the show where David Duchovny is acting as a character who is not Mulder, but like, is in Mulder’s body and is pretending to be Mulder. These are episodes I enjoy a lot. They hit the right comedic chord for me. This is one of those episodes.
FYI tho this episode is about a town where babies keep being born with tails, and there’s a bit of a rape element, brought to our attention so well by AD Skinner. Have I mentioned Skinner ONCE yet?? In this house we love Skinner.
Also, in case you’re wondering what’s going on in the myth arc at this point in the show, enjoy the below screen grab.
Season 5 Episode 4: Detour
We’re in the woods again! Which, you know, I think I just really like. I like episodes in the woods. This also is a good Scully/Mulder relationship ep, by which I mean, they’re at their most supportive here, instead of in some episodes where they’re at odds or not on the same page.
Initially, Scully and Mulder are on their way down to Florida with some other agents for an FBI team building conference (lol), but then they come upon a crime scene. Mulder, wanting any excuse to ditch the conference, convinces the gang to stay and help local law enforcement. (No, this is not the episode I was referring to earlier where trees are the perpetrator, although, I guess it kind of is?)
Season 5 Episode 5: The Post-Modern Prometheus
This one isn’t exactly MOTW, but more like a Halloween/Christmas special one-off? It’s like, X Files does Frankenstein. It’s filmed in black and white and has a “town monster”… but is he really the monster? Perhaps he just loves Cher and wants to help? You guys will notice that I really tend to relegate the silly episodes.
If you find this one enjoyable, there’s another holiday one-off in Season 6 (Ep 6, “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”).
Season 5 Episode 12: Bad Blood
Omg this episode…. it has one of my all-time favorite quotes from TV, spoken by Mulder: “I did NOT overreact! Ronny Strickland was a vampire!”
Yes, this one is about a vampire on the loose, terrorizing a community! But perhaps it’s not quite so simple….
There’s also some fun comedy here where Scully and Mulder are telling each other their version of events (similarly to Jose Chung, this episode is told in flashback), and in each re-telling, we see how they are characterized intensely by each other, i.e., in Mulder’s version, Scully is insanely stubborn and unreasonable, and in Scully’s version, Mulder is like on an ADHD rampage. Luke Wilson guest stars!
Season 5 Episode 19: Folie a Deux
This one is #sad and also #fun, because we’re back to people thinking Mulder is crazy and he’s fucking NOT, okay??? He’s! Not! SICK!
In this episode, this guy Gary Lambert who works for some company is convinced his boss is a literal monster, and sees him as such — like, he literally appears to Lambert as this giant insect monster, and Lambert starts going crazy that no one else can see it. He records / distributes a tape of himself saying there’s a monster hiding in plain sight in the company, which Mulder then is called to investigate… but could he come to the conclusion that Lambert actually might not be wrong???
This episode has what I would call several “acts” — things transpire in really, truly, only an X Files sort of way.
Season 6 Episode 3: Triangle
Okay, we’re on board a ghost ship again, this time, a ship that went missing and reappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. I forget why Mulder decides to board this ship (and, of course, without consulting Scully), but I do remember the fun little time portal he slips into, with some familiar faces! And of course, Scully is tasked with getting him out of this pickle, as always.
Season 6 Episodes 4 + 5: Dreamland Pts 1 and 2
Scully and Mulder make a big mistake and head to Area 51 to follow an anonymous tip re: evidence of aliens. When they get there, they’re surrounded by army vehicles, but a mysterious aircraft flies overhead before they can be apprehended. Cut to, Mulder wakes up in the body of one of the Men in Black who was there — and, yes, in true Freaky Friday style, the Man in Black is now in Mulder’s body! You know this means it’s time for my favorite comedy.
Although I fervently despise “Morris Fletcher,” the dude Mulder swaps into, and puke in my mouth anytime he says or does anything, these episodes are satisfying overall because they show how strong the relationship between Scully and Mulder has become; it takes all of like two seconds for Scully to start clocking that this “Mulder” is a suspicious customer.
But even if Scully is able to believe this body swap has really happened…. how to undo such a thing????
Season 6 Episode 14: Monday
This is an episode for anyone who is in the mood for that movie Groundhog Day, but like, make it Christopher Nolan. Mulder (well, and everyone too, I guess, but this episode is more from his POV) somehow gets stuck in this time loop where he keeps reliving a day where this guy sets off a bomb in a bank and no matter what changes, it can’t be prevented. Unless….
Season 6 Episode 15: Arcadia
Scully and Mulder are undercover as a *mArRiED CouPLE* to investigate the disappearance of a couple in a planned community with a bunch of weird rules. Are the neighbors the cause of the disappearance? Are they *that serious* about no flamingos in the yard? Or might the neighbors be targeted next???
Season 6 Episode 21: Field Trip
This episode is legit a trip. Scully and Mulder investigate skeletal remains that have weird yellow dust on them, and the two split up — Mulder to investigate the site where the remains were found, and Scully to further study the yellow dust. Then Mulder goes missing!
There’s a lot of cutting through the fog required in this episode, but we trust our besties will get through it together.
Season 7 Episode 12: X-Cops
As is true for many X Files episodes, some of the content here I don’t think ages great. Like, I don’t think I love the way the “ghetto” is characterized, but, I’m recc'-ing this one because it’s X Files as reality TV, which I find hilarious.
Scully and Mulder are called in to help local police with an unexplainable case who also happen to be, at the same time, being taped by a film crew for that show Cops. Looks like everyone’s in this together now!
Ingenuity of the form aside, this is another good episode about the nature of fear, as the monster on the loose in the area seems to be, according to witnesses, shapeshifting into what scares people most.
Season 7 Episode 21: Je Souhaite
Again, we’ve got a silly one. The mythology gets so insane in these later seasons that I cling to these silly MOTW.
This one is about a real life GENIE who grants WISHES! Of course, almost every human being is dumb and wishes for things without really thinking it through and then cause things like getting themselves hit by a car. Even, of course, one Fox Mulder.
Okay. It’s time for us to have a talk.
X-Files is basically over now.
The show you knew this whole time? I mean, for this entire substack? It’s done. For reasons I won’t get into, Mulder is absent for much of the show’s final seasons.
Seasons 8 and 9 work best if you accept this is just a different show now. It’s like, a lead-in to Black Mirror, or like if True Detective had a season with the Matthew McConaughey character, but not the Woody Harrelson character. That’s fine! Trust that the new hires (namely, the dad from Bridge to Terabithia, the therapist from Pretty Little Liars, and Cary Elwes) all actually do pull their weight around here, perhaps more even than one David Duchovny did. (Boyish charm and perfect hair aren’t everything, Ducho!)
That being said, if you’ve always been more of a Scully fan anyway, I think you’ll like these seasons. Scully is assigned a new partner with “good ol fashioned cop” tactics, so she actually takes on Mulder’s role of the open-minded believer, while the new guy becomes the new skeptic. It’s interesting character development for her, and for the show itself; I think Scully is actually better able to express what an X File means than Mulder is. Mulder comes from the tack of, “How can you not believe all this paranormal stuff is real when we’re literally seeing it happen?” whereas Scully is like, “None of this can be explained, but that’s OKAY— you don’t need to understand what’s going on or "solve" the mystery of the case, as long as you’ve protected victims and prevented further harm from happening.”
Gillian Anderson leads the show extremely well in these seasons — it’s made me realize that while Mulder might be the star (and I’m in love w him), Scully might be the one who has carried the show all along. I can stand an X Files without Mulder — but I don’t think I could stand it without Scully!
Also, I love Agent Doggett (Bridge to Terabithia dad), as is well seen in the texts I sent my sister during these seasons: Poor Doggett. Lol Doggett. Doggett has energy. I’m with Doggett, as per usual honestly. Like I say every week — trust Doggett!! I think Doggett is totally right. Doggett is my freaking guy. Doggett seriously never misses. Doggett never misses.
Okay, now back to the episodes.
Season 8 Episode 6: Redrum
Lol, in the first episode with the new cast I’m going to be recc-ing an episode that mostly focuses entirely on someone else.
Again we’ve got like a Black Mirror / Twilight Zone esque special, in which a man wakes up in prison with no memory of what he did to land him there. He knows Doggett personally, so Doggett and Scully appear every so often as this guy tries to piece together what’s happening… which, it turns out, is that he’s living his days in reverse!
Season 8 Episode 7: Via Negativa
We’ve got another religious cult here, but this one is led by a guy who can somehow infiltrate people’s dreams and.. kill them? It’s a real unsettling atmosphere. You’re also gonna really get to know Doggett in this episode, because Scully is mostly MIA for personal reasons. Don’t worry tho, Skinner is here and the Lone Gunmen are too! They’ll make sure Doggett doesn’t succumb to a third eye.
Season 8 Episode 12: Medusa
Scully and Doggett are called in to Boston to investigate the death of someone in the subway. What ensues is a labyrinthine quest into the tunnels of the subway to figure out what’s going on and why glow-in-the-dark poison might be involved.
I remember this episode being a significant one for showing the trust that is being established between Scully and Doggett — Doggett stands by Scully’s instincts in how to solve this case through to the end, and we love him for that! #Doggett #is #my #freaking #GUY !
Season 9 Episode 4: 4-D
Oh this one is wild. There’s like two different realities occurring simultaneously, one in which Agent Reyes (PLL therapist) is attacked by a serial killer she and Doggett are pursuing, and one in which Doggett has been shot with Reyes’ gun, making her the prime suspect. Somehow, Reyes and Doggett have been switched into the wrong set of events — somehow at the fault of this serial killer — and need to figure out how to get shit back to normal.
Season 9 Episode 11: Audrey Pauley
We’ve got another episode where Reyes is close to death! She gets struck by a car and goes into a coma, but in her coma state, she’s like stuck walking around an empty version of the hospital she’s in, the only other people there being people who are also in comas. Then a hospital worker (Audrey Pauley) appears, because somehow she can tune in to the coma world even though she’s not dead // lives in the real world. Can she help Reyes come back to life??? Meanwhile, Doggett is pretty sure there is a quack of a doctor who is up to no good…..
Season 9 Episode 13: Improbable
We’ve got Burt Reynolds this episode and he is just constantly doing hijinks and confusing people!
This episode is also about numerology, in case any of you are into that — Monica (Reyes) is certain that a serial killer is somehow choosing victims for numerological reasons. Somewhere along the way Burt Reynolds asks her and Scully if they want to play checkers. Is this supposed to be… some kind of helpful hint at catching the killer? Also, Burt Reynolds, why are you even here????
Okay, it’s time for us to have a talk again.
The original run of X Files is now over, and even though Mulder came back and we’re thrilled about that, the ending made no sense (of course!).
For whatever reason, in 2016, the show has a 2-season revival, one with 6 episodes, one with 10. Do they do anything to clarify the myth arc? Not in my opinion!
I’m giving you one MOTW for each season, mostly for posterity. I’m not exactly recommending that you watch these.
Season 10 Episode 3: Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
Okay so although I remember the writing / acting being ~Extremely Questionable~ here, I thought this episode was still kind of clever, because it’s rather subversive — it’s about a MONSTER who BECOMES human and HATES it!
Scully and Mulder are called in to investigate a dead body with its throat cut, but it quickly gets confusing when everyone starts talking about seeing either A) a werewolf or B) a giant lizard? Or is this just the work of a regular old human being? Or all three?
Bonus, Kumail Nanjiani guest stars!
Season 11 Episode 7: Rm9sbG93ZXJz
Like many of the X Files revival episodes, the writers really beat you over the head with the themes here — in this one, it’s how AI is going to ruin our lives. Still, this episode is clever, has classic funny X files moments, and feels very akin to an episode of Black Mirror — there are copious robots causing copious mayhem.
Okay! So…
have you watched an episode yet????
I hope you do! No matter what insanity it puts me through, I love this show, because at the end of the day, it’s about how we ought to stay open-minded and curious, how all we have is each other, and how often, the things most worth exploring are the things that are hardest to explain.
Also? There is quite possibly no duo I love more.
Thank you for being here, and thanks also to our sponsors imdb, Pinterest, and this last-updated-6-years-ago Tumblr account X-Files Out Of Context for most of our images. If you want to keep this document updated with your thoughts on various episodes, I’m sure the Library of Congress would be thrilled.
I want to believe,
xxx your twin flame
P.S.!! We have an amazing resource with which you can cross-check my favs: The Ultimate X-Files Skippable Guide. Super helpful if you want mythology and MOTW and don’t want to waste your time with absolute abysmal episodes like S2E3: Blood. DO NOT WATCH THAT EP. All hail the mysterious Jesse J Chapman for creating this spreadsheet.
FYI this is also referred to by fans as the “mythology” or “myth arc” of the show.
But if you DO, prepare to welcome me into your life as your new best friend. We will have so much discussing to do.
i.e., I was starting to notice that I had almost *no* episodes from Season 2 compared to Seasons 1 and 3, and was like, did I just black that season out or something? But again, blessed be to Reddit, I was reminded that S2 had a lot of episodes about rape and abduction of women, and it’s a really rough season for Scully in particular (spoiler, she gets kidnapped a lOT, once even by the gOVErnMENt!). Sooooo…. I’m sure there’s a lot worth watching but it’s hard for me to be like, ah, yes, go watch the episode where the serial killer likes to cut his girlies’ fingernails and give them baths before killing them!!! But if you’re up for it, that episode is S2 E13: Irresistible. Many fans rank it up top. (And then, if you want, there’s a follow up episode, S7 E7: Orison.)
Bonus points if you’re reading this and also watching True Detective: Night Country!!
Dude you literally need like a NYT pop culture column. This is amazing, as always
I truly think the x files is some of the greatest television ever created!! Always such a delight to watch. I just bought an "I want to believe" air freshener the other day at my fav local bookstore--will send pic soon! Thoughtful roundup and I am grateful for it!!