The 25th anniversary of the premiere ofThe X-Filesis upon us. This cult-favorite sci-fi/horror show created byChris CarterstarsDavid DuchovnyandGillian Andersonas FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. He is the believer: he believes in aliens, UFOs, psychics, ghosts, and all manner of paranormal phenomenon, likely stemming from his younger sister, Samantha’s, abduction by aliens when they were children. She is the skeptic: a medical doctor who rewrote Einstein and who believes only in the scientific method. Initially Scully is sent to “spy” on Mulder and his pet project, the X-files (unexplained cases that the FBI would rather forget), but the two become much more than just partners. They are confidants, they are best friends, they are soulmates, and eventually, lovers.
I first stumbled ontoThe X-Filesas a 13 year old kid, looking for something to watch on Friday night. I remembered seeing an ad for this show about aliens, and being a weird kid, thought this was right up my alley. Ten minutes into the pilot episode, and I was beyond hooked. I was obsessed. The series ran for nine seasons in its initial run, before returning for two “revival” seasons, the last of which ended earlier this year. With two theatrical movies and 218 episodes, dozens of books and comic books, 16 Emmy awards, five Golden Globes, two SAG awards, a Peabody award, and a rabid fanbase that literally invented the term “shipping,“The X-Filesis an unstoppable force.
In honor of the show’s 25th anniversary, I have ranked the top 25 episodes of the series. This was far more difficult than it sounds. If tasked with the same 25 episodes, I probably couldn’t rank them in the same order a second time. Every time I scrolled through this list, I wanted to rearrange episodes. Finally I had to just stop. It’s like choosing your favorite child.
Note:I should point out that I did not include fan favorite “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” which was Chris Carter’s version of aFrankensteinstory. It is a beautifully shot, delightfully quirky episode with one, fatal flaw. The kid who admits to raping at least two women is basically given a pass because he is severely deformed and forced to live away from other humans. Instead of taking him to prison, Mulder and Scully (and the rest of the town, including the women he raped) take him to a Cher concert. The presumption is that they take him to prison after, but the idea that he is rewarded for being a rapist is just something I cannot stomach.
25) Season 3, Episode 23: “Wetwired”
A mysterious signal is being sent through cable boxes. It causes people to have violent, paranoid delusions that usually end with a murder or two. This episode stands out to me because Scully is affected, and she goes bat-crap crazy. She is paranoid, believing that Mulder has thrown in with the Cigarette Smoking Man, and even pulls her gun on him. I love paranoid Scully.
Not-so-fun fact:Mulder says he is red-green color blind in this episode. This is clearly a way to explain away the fact that Mulder wasn’t affected by the signal, but it is never mentioned again - not even hinted at.
24) Season 3, Episode 22: “Quagmire”
Mulder drags Scully on a hunt for Big Blue, a Loch Ness Monster-type creature, after several bodies have turned up around a lake in Georgia. Because it is the weekend, Scully brings Queequeg, her Pomeranian, on the trip - much to Mulder’s annoyance. Their investigation reveals a hoax, which Scully is fine with - until she takes Queequeg for a walk and he gets eaten, presumably by Big Blue. Mulder finally shoots the monster - and it turns out to just be an alligator. As the agents are leaving, a large, monstery creature swims silently across the lake, suggesting that maybe Big Blue exists after all.
Shipper alert:Mulder and Scully spend most of the third act abandoned on a large rock in the middle of the lake (which they later discover is just a few feet off shore). Often referred to as COTR by fans (“conversation on the rock”) the pair discuss philosophy, cannibalism,Moby Dick, and poor Queequeg - with several of Mulder’s flirty quips for good measure.
23) Season 7, Episode 12: “X-Cops”
Shot on handheld video, “X-Cops” is a perfect blend ofThe X-FilesandCops. Mulder and Scully head out to Los Angeles to investigate a monster attack, one that Mulder suspects could be a werewolf. When they arrive, they find that an episode ofCopsis shooting the same case. Skinner tells them to go with it, as the FBI has nothing to hide. Mulder is comfortable around the cameras - even plays to them - but Scully is annoyed by them. It turns out that whatever they are chasing is like a virus, moving from person to person based on fear. It takes the form of Freddy Kruger, the hantavirus, and a “moth man.”
Fun fact:The crew hired real cops, real sheriffs, and real SWAT team members as extras to ensure the episode felt as real as possible.
22) Season 6, Episodes 4 & 5: “Dreamland”
This two-part episode sends Mulder and Scully to Area 51, where they are met by Men in Black, and a ship passes overhead, creating some kind of bend in space-time. Mulder and Morris Fletcher, one of the Men in Black, switch bodies, unbeknownst to anyone else. Honestly, the X-file in this episode is ridiculous and only serves as a way to get Mulder and Fletcher into ridiculous situations. Highlights include Mulder and Fletcher doing a mirror image dance, a laDuck Soup; Fletcher - in Mulder’s body - trying to hook up with Scully (in a waterbed with mirrors on the ceiling!); and Mulder - in Fletcher’s body - caught by Fletcher’s wife after falling asleep watching porn all night. At the end of the episode, time “snaps back like a rubber band,” putting right everything that is in the correct path, and leaving no one with any memory of the last few days. Yeah, it’s a ridiculous, but guest stars Michael McKean and Nora Dunn add to the ridiculousness, in a wonderful way.
Shipper alert:When Mulder and Scully say goodbye for what they think will be the last time, Scully tells him “I’d kiss you if you weren’t so ugly.” Then Mulder gives her a handful of sunflower seeds to remember him by.
21) Season 6, Episode 19: “The Unnatural”
The first episode written and directed by David Duchovny and told mostly in flashbacks, “The Unnatural” tells the story of Josh Exley, a talented black baseball player in 1947 Roswell, New Mexico. Arthur Dales (a retired FBI agent who originally found the X-files) is assigned to protect Exley when the KKK take an interest in him. Dales discovers that Exley is actually an alien, who came to this planet, fell in love with baseball, and took the form of a black man so he could stay on the planet and play the game, while avoiding the spotlight that would come with a white player as talented as he is.
Shipper alert:The last scene, set in the present, has Scully joining Mulder for a “totally platonic” baseball date. It is a favorite scene amongst ‘shippers.
20) Season 3, Episode 12: “War of the Coprophages”
Mulder spends his Friday night hunting UFOs, and when a local cop approaches him for loitering, Mulder finds out about a deadly cockroach attack in town, the third that day. Throughout the episode, he calls Scully, thinking she should come help him, then Scully offers a highly probably answer, and Mulder realizes she is right and doesn’t need to come. This happens multiple times, but it isn’t until Scully hears that Mulder is working with Dr. Bambi, a USDA agricultural researcher, that she decides to go out and help Mulder. It turns out the cockroaches are partially robotic, part of a government experiment. Another Darin Morgan gut-buster!
Fun fact:Three hundred live cockroaches were used in this episode, and only one died - of “old age.”
19) Season 3, Episode 4: “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”
Small-time psychics are being killed across the city, and when Scully and Mulder investigate, they meet Clyde Bruckman, an elderly insurance salesman who has the ability to see how people die. It is not a skill he is proud to have; nor does he make a big deal out of it. Peter Boyle plays Bruckman as dismissive of his skill, believing it to be an inconvenience at best. Bonus points for the Stupendous Yappi, a Kreskin-like celebrity psychic who reads Mulder as the skeptic and Scully as the believer.
Fun fact:Bruckman tells Scully that she won’t die, suggesting she is immortal. Episode writer Darin Morgan initially meant this to be a kindness on Bruckman’s part, but later, Scully’s alleged immortality becomes an issue in “Tithonus” and an off-hand joke in “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster.”
18) Season 4, Episode 10: “Paper Hearts”
“Paper Hearts” offers a different take on Samantha’s disappearance. While Mulder has spent his entire life believing that she was abducted by aliens, he has dreams that lead him to discover the body of a dead little girl, buried in the woods. It is soon discovered that she was a victim of John Lee Roche, a convicted pedophile already serving life for the murder of 13 girls. Roche used to cut a heart out of the clothing of his victims, and kept them in a book that investigators never found. Turns out that Roche had more victims, and got started earlier than the FBI previously thought. This new time frame would mean that it was possible - even likely - that Samantha was one of his victims. Roche, mad that Mulder was the one who caught him, messes with Mulder’s head, making him believe that Samantha could have been one of his victims. Mulder is so desperate for answers that he loses his objectivity and takes Roche out of prison, which leads Roche to escape, and abduct another little girl. Mulder shoots him dead, but is left with one remaining “paper heart” with no identification.
Fun fact:The scene in which Mulder sinks a half-court basket was done in one take. David Duchovny played basketball in college.
17) Season 7, Episode 21: “Je Souhaite”
An often underappreciated episode, this one centers on a genie who grants the most literal wishes. An idiot and his paraplegic brother discover the genie, and hijinks ensue. Both brothers end up dead, and Mulder is the one who next discovers the genie. The genie has been around for 500 years and is brutally bored with life and annoyed at the stupidity of humans. She tells him that most people make the mistake of making selfish wishes, so he wishes for world peace - and the genie makes all other humans on Earth disappear. Mulder uses his second wish to undo his first wish, then sets about making his final wish perfect. In the end, he decides to use his last wish to do something truly selfless: release the genie from her miserable existence and allow her to live a human life - and have a human death.
Stand-out scene:When Scully discovers that she, indeed, has an invisible corpse in her autopsy lab, she begins dusting it with powder. With every dab of dust, she becomes giddier and giddier, like a child opening Christmas presents. It is a joy to see Scully so deliriously happy.
16) Season 5, Episode 4: “Detour”
A trip to an FBI “team building” seminar is interrupted when Mulder is distracted by a potential X-file. A small town in northern Florida is being stalked by an invisible forest creature that Mulder later theorizes might be an evolved version of the conquistadors that landed there 450 years ago. There are lots of opportunities for Mulder to make dry, Mulder-ish quips, and even Scully seemed more relaxed than in any previous episode, laughing at his jokes instead of just rolling her eyes. This episode also has an infamous flirty scene with the agents, lost overnight in the forest. Mulder is injured, so Scully tries to keep him warm to stave off shock. They talk about deep things (like life and death) and about silly things (Betty or Wilma?). Then Scully tries to sing. The X-file in this episode was a little underwhelming, but the character moments make “Detour” a stand-out.
Shipper alert:I firmly believe that Scully was trying to come on to Mulder when she brought wine and cheese to his room. But Mulder was totally oblivious.
