This show was way more than just a banger theme song! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the greatest episodes of the timeless sci-fi series, “The X-Files.”
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00:00 "Major Mulder, I'm Dana Scully. I've been assigned to work with you."
00:04 "Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded?"
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the greatest episodes of the
00:11 timeless sci-fi series The X-Files. "Skull, human skull. Silver, gray."
00:18 #20. Pusher
00:21 This classic procedural-style episode follows Robert Patrick Modell, a man with psychic powers
00:26 who can convince other people to do just about anything. He uses his ability in his work as a
00:30 hitman, and it later enables him to escape FBI custody and get off scot-free at trial.
00:35 "You deny these charges?"
00:36 "Absolutely, your honor. I'm not guilty."
00:42 The tension ratchets up throughout the episode as Modell is constantly one step ahead of Mulder
00:46 and Scully, and the audience never knows what he'll do next.
00:48 "Where might I find the computer records section?"
00:50 "Fourth floor, west wing."
00:53 The story reaches its climax in an incredibly tense standoff between Modell and the agents
00:57 featuring a game of Russian roulette. The scene almost didn't make it past Fox's censors,
01:01 and it left viewers on the edge of their seats.
01:03 "One in six chance."
01:05 #19. Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man
01:08 He's been working behind the scenes to keep the truth hidden from the public for years,
01:11 but until this episode, his identity and backstory were a total mystery.
01:15 "Cigarette?"
01:15 "No, thank you, sir. I never touch 'em."
01:18 In Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man, we learn that his father was a communist
01:22 traitor, and that he was responsible for the assassinations of both JFK
01:25 and Martin Luther King Jr., among others.
01:27 "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"
01:31 He's also a semi-failed novelist, with an unsurprisingly cynical outlook on life.
01:36 At least, he might be. At the end of the episode, we find out that this is just
01:39 one possible backstory that the lone gunmen have discovered.
01:42 Even if the entire thing is made up, getting an insight into the smoking man's life was
01:46 an unexpected treat for fans.
01:48 "Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for."
01:56 #18. Dwayne Barry
01:58 The first episode directed by creator Chris Carter, this thrilling season 2 storyline
02:02 completely upended the show's mythology.
02:04 The title character believes he's been abducted by aliens multiple times.
02:07 "No, no, not again!"
02:11 He escapes from a mental hospital, taking hostages with him and leaving Mulder and
02:15 Scully to resolve the crisis.
02:16 When Mulder confronts Barry, the special agent discovers that he's not as ready for the
02:20 truth as he thinks he is.
02:22 "You're baking it up."
02:23 "Isn't that what they've been saying to you, Dwayne?"
02:25 The episode ends on a cliffhanger that shocked fans and raised the stakes in a way no previous
02:29 episode had done.
02:30 It earned Carter a well-deserved Primetime Emmy nomination for writing.
02:34 #17. Mulder and Scully meet the Weremonster
02:43 The 2016 revival season was met with mixed reviews, but most fans agree that this was
02:47 the best thing to come out of it.
02:49 Adapted by writer Darren Morgan from a script he originally wrote for the short-lived series
02:56 Night Stalker, it's one of the more light-hearted episodes of The X-Files.
03:00 As Mulder questions the time he spent investigating so many monsters that turned out to be hoaxes,
03:04 he and Scully are called to look into a mysterious killing.
03:07 They eventually encounter a creature who subverts the usual monster tropes.
03:11 "Jane!"
03:11 "Ahhhh!"
03:13 In addition to containing a number of Easter eggs, the episode brought back some of the
03:19 charm of the original nine seasons, much to the fans' delight.
03:22 "You wouldn't happen to be BSing me right now about all this, would you?"
03:26 "I don't know. Maybe. I don't understand half the things I'm telling you."
03:30 #16. Darkness Falls
03:32 When an entire logging crew vanishes in a remote town for the second time in a century,
03:40 agents Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate.
03:43 Although the local officials suspect it to be a case of ecoterrorism gone too far,
03:47 an activist points blame in a very odd place - insects.
03:50 As it turns out, the loggers cut down older trees that were marked as off-limits and let
03:54 loose a swarm of deadly locusts. With our heroes trapped in light being the only thing keeping the
03:58 insects at bay, we really get to see how Mulder and Scully handle a desperate situation.
04:03 "You said that call hours ago. I mean, help would have been here by now."
04:08 Darkness Falls is a prime example of one of the X-Files' recurring themes - humans
04:12 tampering with things they don't understand. "Get out of there! Get back in the car!"
04:16 #15. Tombs
04:20 This episode marked the return of the X-Files' first monster of the week - the eponymous serial
04:25 killer Eugene Victor Tombs. After Mulder's assertions about Tombs' unnatural longevity
04:29 and ability to contort his body are dismissed in court, the mutant murderer is let free.
04:33 "If you release Eugene Tombs, he will kill again. It's in his genetic makeup."
04:37 When Mulder refuses to let it go, Tombs frames Mulder for assault.
04:40 However, Tombs' need to kill ultimately leads to his undoing.
04:43 The story also introduces Walter Skinner, who, despite his eventual role as a critical ally of
04:54 the X-Files, is looking for any excuse to shut them down - albeit under the watch of the shadowy
04:59 smoking man. "Then may I advise you to step away for a while. Clear your head, take an extended
05:05 vacation." #14. X-Cops
05:08 When you heard the opening theme song to Cops at the beginning of this episode,
05:16 you might have thought you were watching the wrong show. Although it's not a true crossover,
05:20 since Cops is a reality show and the X-Files is definitely not, it had the feel of a crossover.
05:24 "We're investigating a case. What case?" "Same case you're working on."
05:29 Mulder and Scully investigate a monster of the week that, like a boggart from Harry Potter,
05:33 takes the shape of its victim's worst fear. Meanwhile, their activities are being filmed
05:36 for an episode of Cops, which annoys Scully but excites Mulder. The episode highlights
05:41 the writers' incredible skill at terrifying fans one week and making them laugh out loud the next.
05:45 "I don't know, you gotta figure there's enough fear in the world that if it doesn't show up in
05:48 Willow Park, it's gonna show up someplace else." #13. Beyond the Sea
05:52 Everyone who's watched this show knows that Mulder is the believer and Scully's the skeptic.
05:56 But this episode flips the script, turning Scully into the credulous one after she has
06:00 visions of her dead father. "Dad? I thought you guys left."
06:06 When a convicted serial killer claims to have psychic intuitions about a kidnapping,
06:10 she and Mulder have to decide whether to trust him. "It has nothing to do with the crime."
06:15 Gillian Anderson shines in this performance, which gives her character a degree of depth
06:19 and nuance that she hadn't yet shown in the series. Her interactions with the killer are
06:23 dark and intense, and have even been compared to parallel scenes in The Silence of the Lambs.
06:27 "Well I came here to tell you that if he dies because of what you've done,
06:32 four days from now nobody will stop me from being the one that'll throw this
06:36 witch and dash you out of this life for good, you son of a bitch!" #12. Triangle
06:41 Mulder is suddenly transported to 1939 as he investigates the disappearance of a ship in the
06:46 Bermuda Triangle. "The Queen Anne is stuck here on the eastern edge of it. You've been caught in
06:50 some kind of time warp." The episode is a fascinating technical achievement, jumping
06:54 back and forth between the past and the present in film to look as though each act was shot in
06:58 a single take. Like The Wizard of Oz, it uses regular cast members to play major characters
07:02 in the past, leaving the audience wondering whether the whole thing really happened. "It's
07:06 me, Mulder." "Oh, you speak English, do you?" By this point in the series, the creators had
07:10 earned the right to take some artistic chances, and the risks paid off in this truly enthralling
07:15 chapter. "You went looking for a ship, Mulder, in the Bermuda Triangle." #11. Paper Hearts
07:23 Mulder has lived his entire life believing that his sister was abducted by aliens as a child.
07:27 But this episode presents an alternative theory. What if Samantha was simply killed by a man?
07:31 When new evidence turns up linking a child serial killer to the Mulder family, he's forced to
07:44 consider that possibility as well as the likelihood that everything he believes is a lie. "What do you
07:48 know about my sister? You bring me my hearts, and maybe I'll tell you more." Featuring a spine-chilling
07:57 performance from Tom Noonan as the killer, the episode is grim and creepy, and both Mulder and
08:01 the fans are left without a definitive answer to Samantha's disappearance. "How are you going to
08:05 find her without me? How sure are you it's not Samantha?" #10. Humbug The first X-Files episode
08:12 to go full comedy finds Mulder and Scully investigating a series of attacks in a town
08:17 populated by former circus performers. Those impressive looks aren't makeup. Some characters
08:21 are played by actual circus entertainers, including Dr. Blockhead in the conundrum.
08:25 "I saw him this morning down by the river. He was eating a fish." The episode utilizes more
08:32 deadpan humor than laugh-out-loud jokes, but it was still a risky choice for a show
08:36 that was known for its dark and spooky tone. "May I ask what you're doing?"
08:39 "We're exhuming
08:45 your potato." However, the wit and the endearing group of oddballs at its heart quickly made
08:49 Humbug a fan favorite. "You see, I've seen the future, and the future looks just like him.
08:53 Imagine going through your whole life looking like that." #9. Small Potatoes Another delightfully
09:00 comedic episode, this one follows a pitiable janitor named Eddie who can take on other
09:04 people's appearances. Instead of using his talent to become a supervillain, he assumes
09:08 false identities, including that of Luke Skywalker, so he can sleep with random women. "His name is
09:13 Luke Skywalker. He's what's known as the Jedi Knight." The premise is even funnier when you
09:17 realize that the goofy shapeshifter is played by Darren Morgan, who wrote some of the smartest
09:20 episodes in the series. When Eddie takes the shape of Mulder, David Duchovny gets to flex
09:25 his comedy chops, playing the janitor in disguise as his character. "I was just here. Where did I go?"
09:31 The episode is a lighthearted outing that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself and its leads.
09:36 "Who's the man? He looked exactly like me. Did you see where he went?" "I don't know." #8. Bad
09:42 Blood In this comedic episode, it's a case of he said/she said when Mulder kills a young man
09:47 he believes to be a vampire. "Look at that." To make sure they have their story straight,
09:53 Scully relates her version of what happened, while Mulder presents his own. The contrast
09:57 between their stories and the way each exaggerates the other's negative traits while making themselves
10:01 look more confident is hilarious. What's really going on in the town is stranger than either of
10:06 their recollections, though. But we don't want to spoil that here. "You were in big trouble."
10:09 #7. Home Home is where the horror is. When a baby with
10:13 birth defects is found dead after being buried alive, Mulder and Scully stumble upon a warped,
10:18 murderous, and incestuous family. "Hey, Sheriff, who lives in that house there?" The only episode
10:22 never rebroadcast on Fox, Home features some of the most graphic violence in the series,
10:26 along with some of the most horrifying subject matter in the entire series. And that's saying
10:30 a lot. Reminiscent of the 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Home puts Mulder and Scully in
10:36 the middle of a slasher story. "Pastor, no!" It's telling that, despite the many grotesque
10:43 and supernatural creatures depicted in the X-Files each week, among the most disturbing of all were
10:48 these - essentially human monsters. "Feveral agent, on board!"
10:52 #6. Anasazi A pivotal episode in the overall arc of the
10:56 show, Anasazi has a lot happening, from the death of Mulder's father, as well as the revelation of
11:00 his role in the disappearance of Mulder's sister, to the discovery of evidence of the alien
11:04 conspiracy encrypted in Navajo. "Is it worth it? Is this cassette worth risking everything?"
11:10 "I'll tell you when I find out what's on it. Now just tell me who I can talk to about breaking
11:14 that code." The truth-seeking agent is really put through the ringer this time, emotionally
11:18 and physically. Dosed with paranoia-inducing drugs and running a high fever, Scully, through it all,
11:23 tries to keep him from losing his job and being framed for his father's murder.
11:27 "You shot me." "Yes, I did. You didn't give me much choice."
11:32 Along with its two follow-up episodes, Anasazi revealed parts of the truth while deepening the
11:36 series' central mythos. #5. The Postmodern Prometheus
11:45 A black-and-white tribute to the classic Frankenstein films, this episode details a
11:56 town's own fantastical local legend, the Great Mutato. "Oh, that? That's the Great Mutato."
12:03 Afflicted with a second face and other deformities, Mutato is the result of a mad scientist's
12:08 experiments. Framing his creation for murder, the scientist incites the townsfolk into an angry mob,
12:13 complete with torches. "That repulsive physiogamy is the vilest perversion of science."
12:18 However, Mutato proves to them that he's not a monster, merely a lonely man with a love of
12:22 share and peanut butter sandwiches, leading our agents to make sure Mutato's story gets a happy
12:27 ending. With its distinctive style and exploration of themes like motherhood and human connection,
12:31 The Postmodern Prometheus is a must-watch. "Despite my appearance, which you see is
12:36 quite horrible to the human senses, I have never acted to harm another soul."
12:41 #4. Jose Chung's From Outer Space Much like Bad Blood, Jose Chung's From
12:46 Outer Space features multiple points of view, all told to author Jose Chung about the events
12:50 surrounding a pair of teenagers' apparent abduction by aliens. "Jack, what is that thing?
12:55 How the hell should I know?" Many of the stories are contradictory and nonsensical, featuring air
13:01 force pilots masquerading as aliens and a bizarre man who starts a cult where an alignment can be
13:05 found at the center of the earth. "Assuming, of course, that your soul is able to avoid
13:10 the lava men." Furthermore, we are treated to an appearance by the Men in Black, played by Jesse
13:15 Ventura and Alex Trebek, who insist that UFO sightings are merely an illusion of light off
13:20 the planet Venus. "I find absolutely no reason why anyone would think you crazy if you describe
13:25 this meeting of ours. You're feeling very sleepy, very relaxed." #3. Pilot
13:36 Untrue, Mulder? Our most wanted federal agents are first brought together to investigate a group of
13:45 murdered high schoolers and, of course, Mulder believes may have been abducted by aliens. "This
13:49 is the way it happens. I don't know how I get out there. I'll just find myself out in the woods."
13:56 So much that to find the series is laid out here, from Mulder's belief in the paranormal and his
14:00 obsession with his sister's disappearance to Scully's role as a skeptical and logical
14:04 counterpoint. "You don't honestly believe this is some kind of an extraterrestrial.
14:08 This is somebody's sick joke." "We can do those x-rays here, can't we?" The ever-present smoking
14:13 man even has an appearance, establishing the government's conspiracy to keep the public in
14:17 the dark. The X-Files first episode is still a great hour of television and a fantastic way to
14:22 kick off the series. "Agent Mulder believes we are not alone." #2. Ice In a plot reminiscent of
14:29 John Carpenter's The Thing, a remote station in a frigid climate is terrorized by an unknown
14:33 organism. The opening scene featuring two bloody crazed men killing each other leaves a lasting
14:38 impression and things remain tense even after Mulder and Scully are called in. "Before we touch
14:42 anything, we have to thoroughly document the scene." As they and their fellow investigators
14:47 become exposed to the parasitic creatures and turned paranoid, the still new partners must
14:51 learn to trust one another to escape the desperate situation and find a cure. "I'm not gonna let him
14:56 stick a needle in me, he could be infected." "He has to be confined now." Although some strong and
14:59 engaging stories preceded it, Ice is when the X-Files really began to hit its stride. "What
15:04 would happen if this got into the population? A city the size of New York could be infected
15:11 within a few days." Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to
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15:27 #1. Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose Clyde Bruckman is a psychic able to see how
15:33 people die. Instead of becoming a television psychic, however, Bruckman takes the high road
15:37 and uses his knowledge to sell insurance to provide for those the deceased will leave behind.
15:41 "As a young husband, I think you're going to find that your new responsibilities to your family
15:46 take precedence over your recreational needs." But when a psychic begins killing other fortune
15:51 tellers, Bruckman is called on by Mulder and Scully to assist in apprehending the killer,
15:54 and must face his own heartbreaking destined fate. "He thinks he's psychic. Is he? I hope not."
16:01 Peter Boyle's understated, funny, tragic portrayal of Bruckman earned him a well-deserved Emmy Award,
16:06 and made this episode a true gem. "Why does anyone do the things they do? Why do I sell
16:10 insurance? I wish I knew." Which X-Files episode kept you up at night? Let us know in the comments
16:15 below. "Come on now, you're pissing me off!" Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other
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