Premiering in 1993, Chris Carter’s showThe X-Filesfollows FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate various supernatural happenings. Elevated by its two great leads, the show combined monster-of-the-week episodes with its own overarching mythology about aliens. Nearly 30 years later, it is still highly regarded and recognized forhow it changed TV. Here are the show’s most memorable episodes, ranked.
11Triangle
This episode goes to a place of grand mystery: the Bermuda Triangle. Mulder is lost at sea and taken aboard the Queen Anne, a ship that disappeared in the Triangle in 1939. Stuck in the past, Mulder tries to get home while meeting counterparts of his friends and enemies. It’s a fun twist on the weekly monster format, and though it ends with Mulderbelieving it was a dream, there’s just enough to leave it up for debate.
10Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
The Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) is a fixture of the show, and in this episode, he takes center stage. We see his involvement in history like the Kennedy assassination, the Rodney King verdict, and even the 1980 Winter Olympics, while still keeping his overall character mysterious. It’s a great episode that explores such a memorable character and the show’s own mythology.
9Memento Mori
This emotional episode sees Scully get diagnosed with cancer, which is seemingly caused by her abduction in a previous season. It delves into the show’s mythology and government conspiracy, but it’s also an emotional episode that shows how much Mulder and Scully mean to each other. In a heartbreaking detail, the episode is done as Scully narrating a letter to Mulder in case she’s unable to talk to him later as a result of her illness. Anderson is excellent throughout, and earned a Best Actress Emmy for her performance.
Related:These Are Gillian Anderson’s Best Performances, Ranked
8Small Potatoes
Written by Vince Gilligan, “Small Potatoes” centers around the investigation when a group of mothers gives birth to children with tails. What seems like a typical alien-related episode changes things up, with an alien that can shift its appearance to entice and then impregnate the women. The alien then shifts into Mulder, which allows for some of the funniest moments in the show. It’s a fun twist on the usual alien episode that lets Duchovny shine in the funny scenes.
7Jose Chung’s From Outer Space
This episode is one of the show’s odder offerings, which is saying something. It starts with a typical abduction scene of two teenagers. Scully is interviewed about the case by Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Reilly), who is writing about alien abductions. From there, Chung speaks to more people about possible alien experiences, each one with vastly different viewpoints and events. It’s one ofthe show’s funniest episodes, and plays with the alien theme in new, hilarious ways.
“Squeeze” marks the introduction of Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchinson), a serial killer who emerges from hibernation every thirty years to eat human livers. Tooms is more than just a killer – he’s a mutant who can stretch himself to fit in tiny places, like dog doors. The episode is tense and creepy, heightened by Hutchinson’s performance as Tooms, which was so well-received he returned for another episode. As only the third episode of the show, it really hooked viewers and showed them whatThe X-Filescould do.
5The Post-Modern Prometheus
Known for being in black-and-white, this episode pays tribute to classicFrankensteinmovies, as Mulder and Scully meet a woman who believes her pregnancy comes from a monstrous creature called the Great Mutato. It ends on a happier note than theFrankensteinmovie, with Mutato being accepted – and taken to a Cher concert in one of the show’s most outrageous moments. Finally, its greatness concludes with the closing shot of Mulder and Scully dancing together, which Looper considers one ofthe duo’s best moments.
Memorable for horrifying reasons, this episode sees Mulder and Scully investigate a baby with severe birth defects. The search takes them to the Peacocks, a family with similar deformities. This leads to the horrifying reveal that the Peacocks’ mother is in their basement, and has been reproducing with her own sons for years. Creepy and intriguing, it was the first episode of the show to receive a TV-MA rating, and per Fangoria,Fox would rarely re-broadcast it.
Related:The X-Files: The Most Messed-Up Episodes
Another Gilligan episode, “Bad Blood” sees the team take on something unexpected: vampires. Mulder kills someone he believes is a vampire, but is really a man with plastic fangs. In explaining what happened, he and Scully have to put together a story, and recount their experiences with the case. It’s hilarious to see the case through both Mulder and Scully’s eyes, and how the details change because of their viewpoints. It’s lighthearted and still makes for a great watch.
2Beyond the Sea
“Beyond the Sea” is an emotional episode that twists Mulder and Scully’s believer and skeptic dynamic. It begins with a dream Scully has about her father before he dies. She and Mulder then meet a serial killer who claims to have insight on a case, and says he can communicate with her father. Scully believes the killer, and follows his clues, which further makes her believe; however, she must decide how far that belief goes when the killer offers a message from her father if she attends his execution. Anderson does a great job showing Scully’s dilemmas and desire to believe, bringing an emotional end to the episode.
