My 25 Favorite Episodes of The X-Files

by HypnocraticGoat | created - 15 May 2011 | updated - 06 Jan 2017 | Public

This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It started out as a Top Ten list, then I had to go to 25, and I still had to leave out plenty of favorites. What an amazing show.

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1. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (1995)

TV-PG | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A grumpy old man with psychic powers that show him how someone will die assists the agents with the hunt for a crazed killer who targets psychics. He also cryptically reveals to Mulder and Scully their own ultimate fates.

Director: David Nutter | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Peter Boyle, Stuart Charno

Votes: 7,403

2. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster (2016)

TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Mulder questions his faith in the unexplained. He attempts to gather proof of the existence of the new creature he and Scully investigate before jumping to conclusions.

Director: Darin Morgan | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Rhys Darby, Kumail Nanjiani

Votes: 9,160

3. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Humbug (1995)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The agents search for a killer in a Florida town inhabited by sideshow performers.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Jim Rose, Wayne Grace

Votes: 5,908

4. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: War of the Coprophages (1996)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

While looking for signs of alien ships in the sky above a small town, Mulder learns of a series of deaths supposedly caused by metallic cockroaches. He turns to sexy entomologist Bambi for help, which makes Scully angrily rush to his aid.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Bobbie Phillips, Raye Birk

Votes: 5,714

5. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Quagmire (1996)

TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Mulder suspects that a beast similar to the Loch Ness Monster is responsible for the deaths of several people who reside near a large lake. Frustrated Scully insightfully confronts Mulder about the futility of their work on X-Files.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Ellis, Timothy Webber

Votes: 4,510

6. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Bad Blood (1998)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Scully and Mulder each recount their version of events that led Mulder to drive a stake through the heart of a Texas teenager he claims was a vampire.

Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Luke Wilson

Votes: 6,718

7. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' (1996)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Scully recounts the investigation of an alleged UFO encounter for the famous quirky author Jose Chung's latest novel. The case gives a whole new meaning to the term Rashomon effect. Chung later returns in Millennium: Jose Chung's 'Doomsday Defense' (1997).

Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Charles Nelson Reilly, William Lucking

Votes: 6,545

8. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Unusual Suspects (1997)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

In May 1989, the Lone Gunmen meet for the first time when they assist a woman who claims the government plans to use civilians in a secret experiment.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Richard Belzer, Signy Coleman

Votes: 4,170

9. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Three of a Kind (1999)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

While infiltrating a defense contractor conference in Las Vegas, The Lone Gunmen are reunited with Susanne Modeski, the mysterious woman who disappeared 10 years earlier after the trio first came together to help her.

Director: Bryan Spicer | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Signy Coleman, Charles Rocket

Votes: 3,389

10. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Jump the Shark (2002)

TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The Lone Gunmen, with the (unwanted) aide of Morris Fletcher, must stop a destructive virus from entering the populace.

Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, Annabeth Gish, Mitch Pileggi

Votes: 2,599

11. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Monday (1999)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A woman desperately attempts to change the outcome of the events of a day she is forced to relive again and again in which her boyfriend explodes a bomb during a failed bank robbery killing everyone inside, including Mulder and Scully.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Carrie Hamilton

Votes: 4,544

12. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Je Souhaite (2000)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Two brothers have a less than helpful genie who grants their wishes with disastrous consequences. Mulder comes into possession of the same genie, and his wishes garner similar results.

Director: Vince Gilligan | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Paula Sorge

Votes: 3,672

13. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Hungry (1999)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Rob Roberts has an addiction to human brains. As he tries to control this overpowering hunger and turn his life around, Mulder and Scully try to find out who the brain-eating monster is.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chad Donella, Mark Pellegrino

Votes: 3,637

14. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (1998)

TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

On Christmas Eve, Mulder and Scully find themselves trapped in a haunted house with two ghosts who are determined to prove just how lonely the holiday can be.

Director: Chris Carter | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Lily Tomlin, Edward Asner

Votes: 4,460

15. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Hollywood A.D. (2000)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A screenwriter tags along with Mulder and Scully as they investigate a church bombing. The case becomes the plot of a Hollywood movie, but the agents find their case, and themselves, distorted on the big screen.

Director: David Duchovny | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Garry Shandling

Votes: 3,586

16. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Eve (1993)

TV-14 | 46 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Mulder and Scully search for two missing girls who disappeared after their fathers were murdered in an identical fashion.

Director: Fred Gerber | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Harriet Sansom Harris, Erika Krievins

Votes: 6,566

17. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Syzygy (1996)

TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A rare alignment of the planets gives two homicidal teenage girls dangerous telekinetic powers while simultaneously driving their small town insane with satanic panic. Mulder's interest in the local female detective makes Scully jealous.

Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Wendy Benson-Landes

Votes: 4,906

18. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: The Goldberg Variation (1999)

TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A man is tossed off the top of a 29 story building by gangsters. Amazingly, he gets up and walks away unscathed. Mulder and Scully investigate when Mulder suspects this man may have ... See full summary »

Director: Thomas J. Wright | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Willie Garson, Alyson Reed

Votes: 3,644

19. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Field Trip (1999)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The skeletal remains of a young couple are found after they have been missing for only three days in an area known for UFO activity. Mulder and Scully have different experiences in the investigation but nothing is quite as it seems.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Robyn Lively

Votes: 3,946

20. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: The Amazing Maleeni (2000)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Mulder and Scully investigate the apparent murder of a magician who was decapitated just minutes after he was able to perform the trick of turning his head around 360 degrees. The agents ... See full summary »

Director: Thomas J. Wright | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Ricky Jay, Jonathan Levit

Votes: 3,550

21. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The agents investigate a murder in a small town populated by devil worshippers.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Dan Butler, Susan Blommaert

Votes: 5,328

22. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Small Potatoes (1997)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Five unrelated women in a small town give birth to babies with small tails. The prime suspect is a man who can shape shift into whomever he wants.

Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Darin Morgan

Votes: 5,203

23. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Terms of Endearment (1999)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A pregnant woman's baby is snatched away from her belly by a devil. Agent Spender believes the case is a joke, but Mulder decides to look into it on his own anyway. His investigation focuses on the woman's husband.

Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Owens, Bruce Campbell

Votes: 3,708

24. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Folie a Deux (1998)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Paranoid telemarketer takes his coworkers and Mulder hostage claiming that their boss is a disguised insectoid monster that's literally turning the workers one by one into his zombie drones.

Director: Kim Manners | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Brian Markinson

Votes: 4,117

25. The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode: Sunshine Days (2002)

TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Reyes and Doggett investigate two murders revolving around a house that is, at some points in time, identical to the Brady Bunch house.

Director: Vince Gilligan | Stars: Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, Annabeth Gish, Mitch Pileggi

Votes: 2,557



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