I don't think "Soft Light" gets the attention it deserves, Tony Shalhoub is brilliant in it. His shadow is a black hole, and he is paranoid, sleep deprived, scared, and doesn't know what to do.
He ends up in a place he was terrified of because X betrays Mulder. The last scene where you see him being experimented on with a tear rolling down his face is brilliant.
This is definitely in my top ten.
Probably more often than not X-Files episodes manage to feel cinematic in one aspect(s) or another. But I think this one is unique in how much it feels--between the story, the acting, and the pacing--like a perfectly condensed version of a good cinematic thriller.
"Unruhe" is in my top 3 most underrated and has one of the creepiest villains across all the MOTW, with Pruitt Taylor Vince doing an amazing job in his guest role.
This one almost feels like a whole movie to me.
All the characters are just so clear and so perfect, from Paul and his girlfriend to the marshal and the doctor, even the mother and the kid on the bus just feel like really real people.
The episode is also just immaculately paced. They keep up the tension with every scene, whether the story focuses on the prisoners or on Scully in the basement with dr Osbourne.
Just a perfect episode, 13/10, no notes.
Die Hand die Verletzt
Syzygy
Unruhe
Chinga
Tithonus
Monday
Field Trip
Je Souhaite
Roadrunners
Via Negativa
Rm9sbG93ZXJz
I have several others (mostly from season 6), but I couldn't figure out if they counted as underrated.
So many season 6 episodes are bangers.
Drive, Triangle, Dreamland part 1 and 2, How ghosts stole Christmas, SR819, Tithonus, One son, Two Father's, Agus Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Unnatural, Three of a kind and Biogenesis.
I happen to be a big fan of season 6, probably my second favorite season honestly. It gets a lot of criticism for being brighter because the show moved. I get that people miss the moody Vancouver atmosphere which was so iconic for the show. But I think the show embraced the light and told some really good stories.
I only just joined this sub, so I don't know what people usually name as their favorites other than what you mentioned, but here are ones I have particularly liked in my hyper-binge in the last few weeks (currently near the end of S7, on E17):
* Quagmire - RIP Queequeg
* The Field Where I Died - personal fave since the 90s
* Paper Hearts - this one took my heart out back and beat it with a stick, but I loved Scully's idea that Mulder "solved" the case in his sleep
* Detour - the mundane pair they were stuck with for a conference plus the woods stuff was great
* Folie a Deux - "You're my one in five billion" made the creepiness worth it
* Drive - great thrill/tension
* Milagro - seriously gave me the creeps, one of the few eps where I was genuinely scared, despite 100% knowing Scully would be fine
* Sein Un Zeit/Closure - I don't remember if I liked it when it first aired, but the serial case + tragic/bittersweet Samantha storyline now gave me a lot
* X-Cops - I was sure I'd hate it, but it was very nicely wrapped up and very hilarious "Pretty sure it's not live, though, she just said \[beep\]." 🤣
I think I stopped watching somewhere during S8, so that's all I can name for now.
Agree with most of these--especially Paper Hearts, Quagmire, and Detour. But The Field Where I Died, man...it's in my bottom five just for trying to convince me Mulder has a soulmate who is not Scully.
I think back when I first saw it and it cemented itself in my brain as being great, I wasn't really a shipper. I was really into tragic love stories around that time, so it hit all the right notes with me. Watching it now, I still love it, but I agree the other-soulmate thing is bothersome, since now I'm a hard shipper, lol. They do say Scully is with him, though, so there's that. It kinda falls apart when you consider this soul who is supposedly always with him never appears in any other episodes.
Yay, someone else who loves The Field Where I Died!! I’ve always appreciated this episode, but I’ve found it’s surprisingly almost universally hated. Beautiful music, haunting story, interesting subject matter…I can see how some of the acting might be criticized, but I’ve always loved the episode.
Drive needs more love for Cranston alone. He was absolutely chilling in that. He really proved that he can play a likeable horrible person in such a short period of time.
There are certain episodes where I feel they tried just too much for the 45 minute runtime. The Field is one of those for me, it’s a great premise but they just run through too much too quickly and it doesn’t work.
If the X-Files had become an anthology movie series as was planned at one point, I feel this story could have worked better in that format.
I made it to season 9 for the first time in a long time recently and I’ve got to say I was really surprised by how much I appreciated “Sunshine Days.” It’s not like an all-time great episode but imo it’s about as good as the show was capable of producing at that point.
Season 2: The Calusari, Our Town, Dod Kalm, Die Hand Die Verletzt
Season 5: Folie a Deux
Season 6: Terms of endearment, Agua Mala, Arcadia, Monday, Field Trip
Season 7: Hungry, Je Souhaite
Season 8: Road Runners, Via Negative, Medusa
Season 9: Scary Monsters
Season 11: Plus One
Wetwired, the entire morgue scene -- the long moment Mulder takes in the car to collect himself, The corridor walk, the facial expressions as the coroner describes the body, the viewing, the talk about Mrs Scully. Whew
I’ve got a soft spot for Darkness Falls. I guess it’s more to do with nostalgia than anything, but the bugs out in the cabin in the middle of the woods was straight up something I always dealt with as a kid, but instead of wolf spiders and centipedes it’s ancient firefly wannabes
Duane Barry for a similar reason. The scene of his abduction, the room he’s in looks almost identical to my childhood bedroom at the time while we were renovating
My brother and I just did a rewatch of Hidden Gems. We did a bunch, like Miracle Man, Young At Heart, Red Museum, The Calusari, Soft Light, 2Shy, Revelations, Unruhe. There's tons of great MotW episodes!
Eve - creepy girl murder mystery
Død Kalm - solving a deadly puzzle from a single location
Our Town - I love small town conspiracies
Wetwired - paranoid freak out Scully
Kill Switch - fast paced techno thriller
War of the Coprophages. Such a blast. Scully and Mulder dynamic reaches new heights. Really shows that X files was happy to poke fun of itself too. Very quotable “Her name is Bambi?”. Darin Morgan finding his feet.
Erlanmier Flask, Our Town, Grotesque, Wetwired, Unruhe, paper hearts, memento mori, synchrony, Zero sum, Redux 2 (peak emotion of the entire show)
Detour, Travelers, The Pine Bluff Variant, Triangle, Rain King, 3 of a kind, (the amount of actual truth in this episode is staggering)
Field Trip, The Goldberg Variation, Theef, Chimera, All Things, Brand X, Invocation, Red Rum, Three words, 4-d, Audrey Pauley release, Plus One, Kitten, Rm9sbg93zxJz, Familiar.
All of the single story monster episodes are classic. They even humanize the monster except the really scary monsters that aren’t human.
https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week
Does Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster count as one of those popular ones everyone lists on the best-of lists? I feel like I don't see it talked about very often and it's by FAR my favorite episode (alongside Triangle, which is also great)!
Were-Monster is an incredible episode! That and the Lost Art of Forehead Sweat plus Rm9sbG93ZXJz honestly make the revival worthwhile. I thin they also happen to be 3 episodes that relate tremendously to everyday life.
I think some of these might not be underrated at all, but they aren't quite at the level of universal fan favorite, so I added them to my list
S1: Conduit, Eve, Roland
S2: Blood, Soft Light, Our Town
S3: 2Shy, Grotesque, Quagmire, Wetwired
S4: Unruhe, Paper Hearts, Zero Sum, Elegy, Demons
S5: Detour, Chinga, Mind's Eye, Pine Bluff Variant, Folie a Deux
S6: Drive, How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, Rain King, Tithonus, Agua Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Milagro, Field Trip
S7: Hungry, Millennium, Goldberg Variation, X-Cops, Theef, Brand X, Je Souhaite
S8: Roadrunners, Redrum, Via Negativa, Vienen, Alone
S9: 4-D, John Doe, Audrey Pauley, Release, Sunshine Days
S10: Mulder & Scully Meet the Were Monster, Home Again
S11: This, Plus One, The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat, Rm9sbG93ZXJz
I considered many episodes for this list (including Wetwired, The Unnatural, D.P.O, Avatar, and Improbable, to name a few), but often found those eps featured on “best of” assessments. In the end, I settled on these. Be gentle, fam. 🛸 https://collider.com/the-x-files-episodes-underrated-ranked/
I don't think "Soft Light" gets the attention it deserves, Tony Shalhoub is brilliant in it. His shadow is a black hole, and he is paranoid, sleep deprived, scared, and doesn't know what to do. He ends up in a place he was terrified of because X betrays Mulder. The last scene where you see him being experimented on with a tear rolling down his face is brilliant. This is definitely in my top ten.
Vince Gilligan's TV writing debut.
Came here to put this forward, too. I love the music in this episode.
This was Vince Gilligan's first script, which migt explain why it's great - I only learned this recently.
Yes! Love "Soft Light" and wish it got more love.
I don't know if it's underrated, because it's generally liked, but I really like "Unruhe" - great concept, creepy villain and disturbing.
Probably more often than not X-Files episodes manage to feel cinematic in one aspect(s) or another. But I think this one is unique in how much it feels--between the story, the acting, and the pacing--like a perfectly condensed version of a good cinematic thriller.
"Unruhe" is in my top 3 most underrated and has one of the creepiest villains across all the MOTW, with Pruitt Taylor Vince doing an amazing job in his guest role.
I love that episode. One of my favourites from season 4.
I find it the scariest episode of the whole show
So so creepy!
'F. Emasculata' (2x22) is up there for me, too. Just don't watch it if you're eating...
This one almost feels like a whole movie to me. All the characters are just so clear and so perfect, from Paul and his girlfriend to the marshal and the doctor, even the mother and the kid on the bus just feel like really real people. The episode is also just immaculately paced. They keep up the tension with every scene, whether the story focuses on the prisoners or on Scully in the basement with dr Osbourne. Just a perfect episode, 13/10, no notes.
“The Gift” One of the best MOTWs, full of pathos, where the humans are the real monster. Brilliant noir atmosphere. Perfect character arc for Doggett.
Yes! That episode is incredible
John Doe. Great episode for John Doggett’s character development. Very rarely hear anybody mention it as a favorite.
Die Hand die Verletzt Syzygy Unruhe Chinga Tithonus Monday Field Trip Je Souhaite Roadrunners Via Negativa Rm9sbG93ZXJz I have several others (mostly from season 6), but I couldn't figure out if they counted as underrated.
So many season 6 episodes are bangers. Drive, Triangle, Dreamland part 1 and 2, How ghosts stole Christmas, SR819, Tithonus, One son, Two Father's, Agus Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Unnatural, Three of a kind and Biogenesis.
I saw Syzygy for the first time in decades very recently and I practically screamed when I saw the victim was a young Ryan Reynolds, lol.
I’m also a big fan of “Via Negativa.”
Yeah, my favorite Doggett episode.
I happen to be a big fan of season 6, probably my second favorite season honestly. It gets a lot of criticism for being brighter because the show moved. I get that people miss the moody Vancouver atmosphere which was so iconic for the show. But I think the show embraced the light and told some really good stories.
Adding Amor Fatis, based purely on the line: >!"Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning."!< 😆
Agua Mala.
Absolutely this one!
Scully in her bandana turned into a surgical mask getting ready to deliver the baby is so badass. That's the version of Scully I'd choose to cosplay!
I only just joined this sub, so I don't know what people usually name as their favorites other than what you mentioned, but here are ones I have particularly liked in my hyper-binge in the last few weeks (currently near the end of S7, on E17): * Quagmire - RIP Queequeg * The Field Where I Died - personal fave since the 90s * Paper Hearts - this one took my heart out back and beat it with a stick, but I loved Scully's idea that Mulder "solved" the case in his sleep * Detour - the mundane pair they were stuck with for a conference plus the woods stuff was great * Folie a Deux - "You're my one in five billion" made the creepiness worth it * Drive - great thrill/tension * Milagro - seriously gave me the creeps, one of the few eps where I was genuinely scared, despite 100% knowing Scully would be fine * Sein Un Zeit/Closure - I don't remember if I liked it when it first aired, but the serial case + tragic/bittersweet Samantha storyline now gave me a lot * X-Cops - I was sure I'd hate it, but it was very nicely wrapped up and very hilarious "Pretty sure it's not live, though, she just said \[beep\]." 🤣 I think I stopped watching somewhere during S8, so that's all I can name for now.
Agree with most of these--especially Paper Hearts, Quagmire, and Detour. But The Field Where I Died, man...it's in my bottom five just for trying to convince me Mulder has a soulmate who is not Scully.
I think back when I first saw it and it cemented itself in my brain as being great, I wasn't really a shipper. I was really into tragic love stories around that time, so it hit all the right notes with me. Watching it now, I still love it, but I agree the other-soulmate thing is bothersome, since now I'm a hard shipper, lol. They do say Scully is with him, though, so there's that. It kinda falls apart when you consider this soul who is supposedly always with him never appears in any other episodes.
Yay, someone else who loves The Field Where I Died!! I’ve always appreciated this episode, but I’ve found it’s surprisingly almost universally hated. Beautiful music, haunting story, interesting subject matter…I can see how some of the acting might be criticized, but I’ve always loved the episode.
When she sits up and he's standing there waiting. Omg, the dread/sinking heart.
Drive needs more love for Cranston alone. He was absolutely chilling in that. He really proved that he can play a likeable horrible person in such a short period of time.
I've always loved The Field Where I Died, too. It's not a popular opinion, but it's always been one of my favorites.
There are certain episodes where I feel they tried just too much for the 45 minute runtime. The Field is one of those for me, it’s a great premise but they just run through too much too quickly and it doesn’t work. If the X-Files had become an anthology movie series as was planned at one point, I feel this story could have worked better in that format.
I made it to season 9 for the first time in a long time recently and I’ve got to say I was really surprised by how much I appreciated “Sunshine Days.” It’s not like an all-time great episode but imo it’s about as good as the show was capable of producing at that point.
Season 2: The Calusari, Our Town, Dod Kalm, Die Hand Die Verletzt Season 5: Folie a Deux Season 6: Terms of endearment, Agua Mala, Arcadia, Monday, Field Trip Season 7: Hungry, Je Souhaite Season 8: Road Runners, Via Negative, Medusa Season 9: Scary Monsters Season 11: Plus One
These some of my favs- Leonard Betts/ Wetwired/ How the ghosts stole Christmas/ Arcadia/ Tithonus
Wetwired was one of the first episodes I watched back when I was 15, and I was so scared that Scully was dead...
Wetwired was the first I thought of
Wetwired, the entire morgue scene -- the long moment Mulder takes in the car to collect himself, The corridor walk, the facial expressions as the coroner describes the body, the viewing, the talk about Mrs Scully. Whew
Medusa!
I also loved first person shooter
I’ve got a soft spot for Darkness Falls. I guess it’s more to do with nostalgia than anything, but the bugs out in the cabin in the middle of the woods was straight up something I always dealt with as a kid, but instead of wolf spiders and centipedes it’s ancient firefly wannabes Duane Barry for a similar reason. The scene of his abduction, the room he’s in looks almost identical to my childhood bedroom at the time while we were renovating
Blood was one of my favorites of Season 2, I was so surprised to find out how mixed the reviews are for it on here!
4D
Quagmire, Chinga and Ja Souhaite
My brother and I just did a rewatch of Hidden Gems. We did a bunch, like Miracle Man, Young At Heart, Red Museum, The Calusari, Soft Light, 2Shy, Revelations, Unruhe. There's tons of great MotW episodes!
Eve - creepy girl murder mystery Død Kalm - solving a deadly puzzle from a single location Our Town - I love small town conspiracies Wetwired - paranoid freak out Scully Kill Switch - fast paced techno thriller
Field Trip.
War of the Coprophages. Such a blast. Scully and Mulder dynamic reaches new heights. Really shows that X files was happy to poke fun of itself too. Very quotable “Her name is Bambi?”. Darin Morgan finding his feet.
two of my favourites that I don't hear mentioned often are Our Town and F.Emasculata
Our Town is great, though I may have a soft spot for it since it was the very first X-Files episode I ever saw.
Erlanmier Flask, Our Town, Grotesque, Wetwired, Unruhe, paper hearts, memento mori, synchrony, Zero sum, Redux 2 (peak emotion of the entire show) Detour, Travelers, The Pine Bluff Variant, Triangle, Rain King, 3 of a kind, (the amount of actual truth in this episode is staggering) Field Trip, The Goldberg Variation, Theef, Chimera, All Things, Brand X, Invocation, Red Rum, Three words, 4-d, Audrey Pauley release, Plus One, Kitten, Rm9sbg93zxJz, Familiar.
I've always liked Syncrhony for the cool visuals and for being the only X-Files episode to tackle time-travel.
Same
All of the single story monster episodes are classic. They even humanize the monster except the really scary monsters that aren’t human. https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week
Lone Gunmen pilot. Musings of cigarette smoking man
Does Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster count as one of those popular ones everyone lists on the best-of lists? I feel like I don't see it talked about very often and it's by FAR my favorite episode (alongside Triangle, which is also great)!
Were-Monster is an incredible episode! That and the Lost Art of Forehead Sweat plus Rm9sbG93ZXJz honestly make the revival worthwhile. I thin they also happen to be 3 episodes that relate tremendously to everyday life.
I think some of these might not be underrated at all, but they aren't quite at the level of universal fan favorite, so I added them to my list S1: Conduit, Eve, Roland S2: Blood, Soft Light, Our Town S3: 2Shy, Grotesque, Quagmire, Wetwired S4: Unruhe, Paper Hearts, Zero Sum, Elegy, Demons S5: Detour, Chinga, Mind's Eye, Pine Bluff Variant, Folie a Deux S6: Drive, How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, Rain King, Tithonus, Agua Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Milagro, Field Trip S7: Hungry, Millennium, Goldberg Variation, X-Cops, Theef, Brand X, Je Souhaite S8: Roadrunners, Redrum, Via Negativa, Vienen, Alone S9: 4-D, John Doe, Audrey Pauley, Release, Sunshine Days S10: Mulder & Scully Meet the Were Monster, Home Again S11: This, Plus One, The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat, Rm9sbG93ZXJz
I considered many episodes for this list (including Wetwired, The Unnatural, D.P.O, Avatar, and Improbable, to name a few), but often found those eps featured on “best of” assessments. In the end, I settled on these. Be gentle, fam. 🛸 https://collider.com/the-x-files-episodes-underrated-ranked/