The X-Files Revival airs Jan. 24 and I can barely contain my true nerd identity. For the unfamiliar, The X-Files is a 90s TV series that follows Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, FBI agents who investigate alien/government conspiracies and the paranormal.
I’ve decided to put my Netflix binge to use and lay out my favorite episodes. I’ve chosen standalones, also known as “monster of the week” episodes, which are good entries for newcomers. If you have no plans on seeing the show, you can safely exit this article. But just know we have nothing in common.
Ice (Season 1, Episode 8)
In this sincere homage to John Carpenter’s "The Thing," Mulder and Scully are sent to an Arctic research station where a primordial worm has begun taking over hosts, causing them to become paranoid and dangerous. This episode is a tense early episode that established how suspenseful X-Files could be.
Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (Season 3, Episode 4)
Scully and Mulder try to track down a murderer who is targeting psychics with the help of the eponymous Bruckman, a lonely insurance salesman who can see the way people will die. "Clyde Bruckman" goes from funny to sad to profound seamlessly.
Jose Chung’s from Outer Space (Season 3, Episode 20)
A science-fiction novelist attempts to write a book about an alien abduction of two teenagers with different versions of the story. "Jose Chung" deconstructs the format, themes, and characters of X-Files and proved the show could be comical and take risks.
Wetwired (Season 3, Episode 23)
TV signals are causing ordinary citizens to hallucinate and commit murder, a concept I found interesting and unsettling. This is not an episode you will see on many fan favorites lists, but it has a special place in my heart.
Home (Season 4, Episode 2)
In rural Pennsylvania, Mulder and Scully find a baby's body buried in a baseball field and begin investigating the neighboring Peacock’s, a family of inbred brothers. If that sounds creepy, it’s because it is; this episode is generally considered one of the scariest to air.
Never Again (Season 4, Episode 13)
Once again, this is not an episode everyone will consider their favorite, but one I always loved because it shows the often dysfunctional and codependent nature of the Mulder-Scully relationship. It also features a talking tattoo which persuades a guy to kill.
Post-Modern Prometheus (Season 5, Episode 5)
Taking place in a strange, small town, the story is not brand new but it is one of the weirder episodes of the show, shot completely in black and white.
Bad Blood (Season 5, Episode 12)
Mulder and Scully tell radically different versions of events that led to Mulder driving a stake through a pizza delivery boy he believed to be a vampire. It’s a playful, funny and self-aware episode of the show.
Triangle (Season 6, Episode 3)
Shot in a series of long tracking shots and set on a cruise ship in 1939, "Triangle" is an example of the show’s ability to surprise. The result is an homage to Hitchcock’s "Rope" that is fun and breathtakingly paced.
Others that I love: “Small Potatoes,” “Squeeze,” “Quagmire,” “X-Cops”
