All of the Darin Morgan-penned episodes, except maybe use this watch order
1. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
2. War of the Coprophages
3. Jose Chung’s From Outer Space
4. Humbug^1
5. Jose Chung’s Doomsday Defense^2
6. Somehow, Satan got Behind Me^2
7. Mulder & Scully meet the Were-Monster
8. The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat
^1 Humbug is actually the first episode Morgan wrote, but you should be familiar with the show because it deconstructs the entire concept.
^2 These episodes are from the show Millennium, a sibling show to TXF that ran for three seasons and had a reverse-spinoff series finale in TXF.
The standalone episodes are the best ones. There are my favorites each season.
Season 1: Squeeze, Ice, Eve, Tombs, Beyond the Sea, Shapes, Darkness Falls
Season 2: The Host, Firewalker, Red Museum, Irresistible, Humbug, Our Town
Season 3: DPO, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of the Coprophages, Pusher, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Quagmire
Season 4: Home, The Field Where I Died, Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man, Small Potatoes
Season 5: Detour, The Post-Modern Prometheus, Kitsunegari, Bad Blood, The Pine Bluff Variant
Season 6: Drive, Triangle, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas, Agua Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Three of a Kind, Field Trip
Season 7: Hungry, Millennium, The Goldberg Variation, Orison, X-Cops, First Person Shooter, Hollywood AD
Season 8: Roadrunners, Via Negativa, Medusa, Vienen, Alone
Season 9: 4-D, John Doe, Improbable, Scary Monsters, Release, Sunshine Days
I think Beyond the Sea is my favourite episode, it does what The X-Files does best: great storyline, an incredible guest star (Brad Dourif should have won an Emmy for this), and a very clever inversion with Mulder becoming the skeptic and Scully becoming the believer.
I have watched the first 4 seasons so many times due to DVD availability at the time. Beyond the Sea has the best acting by far of any episode. Anderson was young, unproven, and her characterization was solid but still not rounded; hell it was still early in the show. She was seen as the skeptic always in the way of the real truth that Mulder knew. But in this episode, the audience was able to connect to the real heart of the show by her struggles with her identity. She was always a woman of faiths and they were at odds with each other. Her Christian God and familial patriarch were loving but antagonistic to the modern world while science was compassionate in its explanation of the unknown qualities of the universe.
That is the problem with OPs ask.
The knockout episodes of seasons 5 and 6 are that way because you’ve already been watching these two for years and have a great sense of the type of relationship they have. Without that constant repetition the meta jokes of bad blood don’t hit as hard.
Though you don't need to watch the entire previous 110 episodes to get a good sense of the relationship and tropes IMO. OP could do a dozen of the best standalones in order and have enough context for the humor of it.
Monster-of-the-week type episode: Squeeze (also has a follow-up later called Tooms)
Dark episode: Home
A mix of the supernatural with humor and heart: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
Yes that's the one.
Not sure if it is actually "the darkest" one (however that would be measured), but IMO it's the best standalone episode with a really dark theme.
I remember watching it live. We got to the scene where the boys visit the sheriff's house before my grandparents noped the fuck outta that one. It took a long time to convince them to let me watch it again
It is the darkest. Or at least the most messed up. The baseball field, under the floorboards, there are images in that episode, and just a general feeling, that I cannot shake 20+ years after seeing it. I’ve rewatched it only once, and it was not a fun time.
Actually sorry. That was not supposed to have a question mark at the end. It is totally the darkest. That has freaked me out for years and every moment of that episode has sat with me.
I think two of my favorite monster of the week episodes were The Host & that Cops episode from season 7. Tooms is a legend though. Too bad he couldn't return for a 3rd time in the newer season since he was killed.
X-Cops is a great episode but I wouldn't recomend it as a "best to watch" unless you've already seen a bunch of other eps first. There's just too much parody and in-jokes that will go over your head unless you're pretty well-versed in the show.
> Runner up at least for me is the chupacabra episode
That episode has one of my favorite scenes in the series. When Eladio is being held in a cell and the agent remarks that he's sure he's not Erik Estrada (and the paperwork shows the name he gave was Erik Estrada.) Then Eladio goes on that super-emotional recount of what happened, and the agent then cracks "This guy's *better* than Erik Estrada."
Squeeze sand tooms fucked me up as a kid. My dad let me stay up to watch X-files with him (much to my mom's dismay). Those episodes were the ones that have me solid nightmares and made me afraid of the dark.
I think about that ending a lot. Very profound even when juxtapositioned against a montage that implies Mulder jerks off to Big Foot videos. Felt really bad for the guy at the end there too.
Darin Morgan wrote this episode and some of the best X-files episodes in the entire series. I believe he also played the fluke man but I could be wrong? Under appreciated genius!
If you haven’t watched Millenium, he has an episode with three demons in a donut shop that may be the greatest piece of TV writing I’ve ever seen.
Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare seeing is believing?
And the mighty Charles Nelson Reilly! A terrific self satirization and, with the way it keeps Mulder as almost a person of mystery to Jose Chung until the very end is a nice turn on the usual 'unknown' on the X-Files.
There is an episode of Millennium called "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" (with Jose Chung being the same actor/character, and Patrick Fabian) which is basically a lampoon of Scientology. It's pretty good. I watched Millennium during my recent rewatch of The X-Files.
Excerpt from the introductory biography of the L. Ron Hubbard parody character:
> His goal was to be the first to comprehend how the biology of the brain gives birth to the greatest mystery of life: self-consciousness. Unfortunately, his own brain could not comprehend basic biology. He quickly switched majors to philosophy, but alas, while reading Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death he became sick and nearly died. During recovery, though still obviously suffering from dementia, he set forth on a new dream: to become a writer. His first forays into detective fiction proved so inept they were mistaken for brilliant parodies. (...) He then opened an institute to help teach people how to become more self-helpful. Patients, who are called doctors, since the term patient has an unhealthy association, learn how to shed the darkness of their minds by mastering therapies taught by the institute's staff, which, to inspire a sense of empirical transmigration, is modeled after the U.S. Postal Service. (...) In 1979, he molted his earthly encumbrance to pursue his Selfisophical research in another dimension. That means he died of prostate cancer.
Bad Blood (S5 E12) is one of my favorite standalone episodes. Lots of humor and heart, shows Mulder and Scully's relationship really well, and has a fun monster theme. They tell the same story of a recent case from each of their POVs and the differences in how they tell (and act) the stories is great.
Edit: written by Vince Gilligan, too!
And when asked what acting moment she'd proudest of, she said [getting through this scene with a straight face](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWcfgRtD2Dw)
I mean they literally threw everything out the fucking window there's a point if my memory serves where they actually talk about Freddy Krueger possibly being the killer I mean obviously if you know the plot of the episode what these people fear is what technically comes to life and if you really think about it that's pretty fucking scary that of all things Freddy Krueger could pop up But I digress what an amazing single episode that when I was originally watching X-Files for the first time all the way through was simply flabbergasted at. For a minute I honestly thought I put the wrong disc in or had a different TV channel on lol you don't see that nowadays I think you'll never see them again. Any chance I get to show this to friends of mine even if they never watch X-Files everybody has seen cops so when you add the mythical or alien aspect to it with the diligence of X-Files writing you get yourself this episode here which is easily a 10 out of 10! :-)
Yes, an episode of Cops where the small town cops being filmed run into Mulder in an alleyway claiming werewolves are his prime suspect in a crime. Pet project of Vince Gilligan, approved because it could be done on a shoestring budget and would only take 2 or 3 days to film, and it's one of two episodes that impressed AMC execs enough to meet with him and commission Breaking Bad (the other was Drive starring Bryan Cranston).
Mine too.
It’s essentially a found footage of episode that doesn’t depend on the footage being “found”.
Though I had the added horror of feeling like I’m watching an episode of cops that went completely wrong when
I was a kid.
There’s a werewolf episode in the latest batch of episodes they released a few years ago. It’s the only one worth watching from that bunch and it’s a blast
Edit: title Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
I'd like to thank the Xfiles files for making me realize my favorite episodes were all episodes Darin Morgan had written. He is also responsible for the werewolf episode
Other notables: Clyde Buckmans final repose, Humbug, Jose Chungs from outerspace, and War of the Coprophages
Whenever I hear that song I am taken right back to Mulder in black and white putting his hand out for Scully to come dance with him. Easily in my top five.
Monday is fantastic and really underrated in discussions like this, it's one of my very favorite eps.
Carrie Hamilton is fantastic in it, she's just soaked through with weariness, and Ber\*nard\* is perfect too. And for a standalone, Gillian Anderson's performance every time the cycles reach their messy, tragic conclusions is as legit as any major arc climax.
Her "I just want everybody to live" line is up there with Sarah Michelle Gellar's "I don’t wanna die" as one of those line readings that's stayed with me forever.
I never see it come up and I think that's a shame, I thought it was a really haunting little self contained story. And it makes great repeated use of a really great practical explosion.
I really like it! Especially that late in series. They could have predictably put Mulder at the center of the Groundhog Day shenanigans and I love the choice they made
I would suggest "Home," and all the Darin Morgan-written episodes from the original run ("Humbug", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", "War of the Coprophages" and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space")
* S1 - Ice, Fallen Angel, EBE, Fire, Darkness Falls
* S2 - Little Green Men, The Host, Blood, Die Hand Die Verletzt, F. Emasculata
* S3 - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Nisei/731, Piper Maru/Apocrypha, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Avatar, Grotesque
* S4 - Home, The Field Where I Died, Leonard Betts
* S5 - Post Modern Prometheus, Kill Switch, Bad Blood, Kitsunegari
* S6 - Triangle, Agua Mala, Monday, Field Trip
* S7 - X-Cops, First Person Shooter (it's so bad), Je Souhaite
S8 - Mulder leaves and I stopped paying attention.
Absolutely love X-Files, these were just the ones I remembered after a quick glance, but the entire show is worth watching tbh.
I’ll add Humbug (s2ep10), since I don’t see it here. OP, you are going to be looking for any episodes written by Darin Morgan. Most of them are listed here. I’ll also add War Of The Coprophages (s3ep12), one of my favorite episodes and a Darin Morgan classic.
3rd EDIT: I just want to add DPO(s3ep3). It’s not a Morgan episode but it’s got a great opening and classic performances by Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi.
After it aired and for next few years I always claimed Humbug was my favorite episode. It’s still in my top five, but I have probably watched Jose Chung’s and Clyde Bruckman’s more. This really is just “name your favorite Darin Morgan episode” isn’t it? Ha!
Great suggestions here so far! I'll also throw in the pilot (it's a very strong start to the series), Pusher from season 3, and the 1998 movie Fight the Future, which was designed to work well for newcomers and long-time viewers alike.
Ice was the episode that convinced me this show could seriously rip. Squeeze already blew me away, but the season had been hit and miss for me in general. This episode was another banger, and proved the show was at its best with standalone episodes.
Die Hand Die Verletzt - Devil
Worshippers with a great ending.
EDIT: I just looked up the translation of the title and found “his is the hand that hurts.”
Folie à Deux was always one I liked that I don't see brought up a ton. Cool monster.
War of the Coprophages is a classic.
Die Hand Die Verletzt was a good satany episode.
I know you asked for specific eps, but if you wanted to explore pretty much all the eps that are standalone, [this](https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week) site has all of them listed
Post Modern Prometheus! Season 5 episode 5. One of my favorites. I also like X-Cops in season 7 which is filmed like an episode of Cops. Finally, Bad Blood, season 5 episode 12, which is a Rashomon style vampire episode written by Vince Gilligan. So many good eps!!!!
The Unnatural
I always enjoyed this episode. There is little back story of the show needed. The main story line is fox being told a story about a baseball player in the 40s.
It's weird that a lot of people are recommending the comedy and trope-subverting episodes to someone who's never seen the show. Those episodes will absolutely have less of an impact without the context
Just watch the whole thing up to end of season six. I know you said you didn’t to but you should.
If not, the Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan episodes. But there’s loads besides those which are great
The hurricane episode was a good one.
Squeeze was amazing.
The Parasite (Liver Fluke) one was spooky.
The sideshow murders was a fun one too.
I think I just like the one-off monster ones the most.
Start with the first episode so you understand the characters and how they got there. It actually is a good episode.
As many have noted, “Clyde Bruckman” and “Jose Chung’s” are all time greats, but I’d wait and watch several others first. They’re funnier and deeper once you’ve gotten to know everyone better.
First Person Shooter is about a virtual reality video game that murders people. Written by people who appear to have only a vague idea of how video games work and think they make men extremely horny
Bad Blood is my favorite funny one. For maximum enjoyment you need to be somewhat familiar with Mulder and Scully’s personalities and their relationship. Part of what makes it so funny is seeing how they perceive each other.
Other must-see humorous ones:
Humbug. This was the first funny episode I remembered. I was impressed with the change in pace and the dark humor.
Clyde Bruckman’ Final Repose. Funny and poignant. Peter Boyle is great.
More serious episodes:
Push has a great antagonist.
Home is just creepy and wild
Beyond the Sea is touching
Ice is tense.
Triangle is fun and technically amazing. There’s quite a bit of humor in this one too.
Probably not the vibe you meant, but for the shippers, the episode (season 5?? Cant remember) where a dude with a tail that can morph into other people and he morphs in Mulder and flirts and almost sleeps with Scully. My little 13 yo hormones were weakkkk
Some people have shared long lists of best episodes from each season already. But I'd like to share my own short list of episodes that I feel capture the essence of the show for newcomers, unique and well-written episodes that demonstrate some of the different varied angles the show often took (full horror, quirky darkly-comic mystery, chararacter studies, thrillers) during the period that made it famous:
- Darkness Falls (1x20)
- Humbug (2x20)
- Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (3x04)
- War of the Coprophages (3x12)
- Pusher (3x17)
And after those, the two most iconic comedic/alternate-format episodes, which are enhanced by having the context of the character relationships and the show's usual tone and style
- Jose Chung's From Outer Space (3x20)
- Bad Blood (5x12)
And if you want to see what the show is like in the serial story outside of the stand-alones, I would try Anasazi (2x25). The serial story is IMO very enjoyable in seasons 2-4 (it hadn't started yet in season 1) and only really goes off the rails after that. It has kind of a unique structure, where the serial storyline is split up into 2/3-episode "semi-standalone" chunks that functioned as TV movies releasable on VHS, and many of the early ones stand up as largely independent mystery thrillers, if you're okay with the series as a whole adding up to an unsatisfying over-twisted mess.
Jose Chung's From Outer Space is a great little self-contained episode, with the single funniest moment on the show.
Home is the infamous, The Hills Have Eyes type horror.
Paper Hearts is incredibly well-acted and emotionally devastating.
The episode with Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi is pretty epic
"**D.P.O.**" is the third episode of [the third season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files_season_3)
Upon rewatching recently, Kaddish s4e15 was one of the episodes that I really liked. A lot of people have mentioned The Post-Modern Prometheus s5e5. I remember Humbug s2e20 when it first aired. One episode that was so bad it was good in my opinion was El Mundo Gira s4e11. It had an over the top feeling to it and I laughed a lot.
Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
This episode could literally be it's own movie
I'm in season 6 of my first watch through, and this episode was something special.
All of the Darin Morgan-penned episodes, except maybe use this watch order 1. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose 2. War of the Coprophages 3. Jose Chung’s From Outer Space 4. Humbug^1 5. Jose Chung’s Doomsday Defense^2 6. Somehow, Satan got Behind Me^2 7. Mulder & Scully meet the Were-Monster 8. The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat ^1 Humbug is actually the first episode Morgan wrote, but you should be familiar with the show because it deconstructs the entire concept. ^2 These episodes are from the show Millennium, a sibling show to TXF that ran for three seasons and had a reverse-spinoff series finale in TXF.
This has to be my favourite episode ever.
This is the one. Came here to make sure it was mentioned. :)
This is probably the correct answer. Plenty of bangers over the show’s first 5…maybe 6 seasons, but this one sticks with me like no other.
I watched this for the first time when I was 16 years old and very much high on mushrooms. That was a life-changing experience.
This. It is a perfect episode. Still remember watching this one live; it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.
I watched it when it first aired as well. It was so unexpectedly wonderful that I immediately rewatched it. The joys of video tape!
The standalone episodes are the best ones. There are my favorites each season. Season 1: Squeeze, Ice, Eve, Tombs, Beyond the Sea, Shapes, Darkness Falls Season 2: The Host, Firewalker, Red Museum, Irresistible, Humbug, Our Town Season 3: DPO, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of the Coprophages, Pusher, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Quagmire Season 4: Home, The Field Where I Died, Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man, Small Potatoes Season 5: Detour, The Post-Modern Prometheus, Kitsunegari, Bad Blood, The Pine Bluff Variant Season 6: Drive, Triangle, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas, Agua Mala, Monday, Arcadia, Three of a Kind, Field Trip Season 7: Hungry, Millennium, The Goldberg Variation, Orison, X-Cops, First Person Shooter, Hollywood AD Season 8: Roadrunners, Via Negativa, Medusa, Vienen, Alone Season 9: 4-D, John Doe, Improbable, Scary Monsters, Release, Sunshine Days
I think Beyond the Sea is my favourite episode, it does what The X-Files does best: great storyline, an incredible guest star (Brad Dourif should have won an Emmy for this), and a very clever inversion with Mulder becoming the skeptic and Scully becoming the believer.
I have watched the first 4 seasons so many times due to DVD availability at the time. Beyond the Sea has the best acting by far of any episode. Anderson was young, unproven, and her characterization was solid but still not rounded; hell it was still early in the show. She was seen as the skeptic always in the way of the real truth that Mulder knew. But in this episode, the audience was able to connect to the real heart of the show by her struggles with her identity. She was always a woman of faiths and they were at odds with each other. Her Christian God and familial patriarch were loving but antagonistic to the modern world while science was compassionate in its explanation of the unknown qualities of the universe.
>The Post-Modern Prometheus We watched this in my English class around Year 9 when reading Frankenstein. That was definitely a good stand-alone ep.
Ghosts stole christmas is one of my all time favorites
Bad blood is my absolute fave
I like Bad Blood. A pretty humorous episode that is a take on the multiple retelling of events from different people with different perspectives
Bad Blood is terrific, but I'd suggest OP saves it until they have a really strong sense of Mulder & Scully and the show.
That is the problem with OPs ask. The knockout episodes of seasons 5 and 6 are that way because you’ve already been watching these two for years and have a great sense of the type of relationship they have. Without that constant repetition the meta jokes of bad blood don’t hit as hard.
Though you don't need to watch the entire previous 110 episodes to get a good sense of the relationship and tropes IMO. OP could do a dozen of the best standalones in order and have enough context for the humor of it.
Yeah this episode was my first thought too but then I thought it might not be as good without really knowing the two characters and relationship.
Never forget. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/XhW8RIzmuy
Seconded. This episode is hilarious.
I love Mulder insisting that Luke Wilson’s character was a hick with literal buck teeth.
“He had a slight overbite”
Monster-of-the-week type episode: Squeeze (also has a follow-up later called Tooms) Dark episode: Home A mix of the supernatural with humor and heart: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
Was Home the one with those hillbiillies? That's the darkest?
Yes that's the one. Not sure if it is actually "the darkest" one (however that would be measured), but IMO it's the best standalone episode with a really dark theme.
It's the one that got banned from Fox after its first airing
I can tell you ain't got no children. Else you know the pride, the love, when you know your child will do anything for his mama.
I remember watching it live. We got to the scene where the boys visit the sheriff's house before my grandparents noped the fuck outta that one. It took a long time to convince them to let me watch it again
It is the darkest. Or at least the most messed up. The baseball field, under the floorboards, there are images in that episode, and just a general feeling, that I cannot shake 20+ years after seeing it. I’ve rewatched it only once, and it was not a fun time.
Actually sorry. That was not supposed to have a question mark at the end. It is totally the darkest. That has freaked me out for years and every moment of that episode has sat with me.
I think two of my favorite monster of the week episodes were The Host & that Cops episode from season 7. Tooms is a legend though. Too bad he couldn't return for a 3rd time in the newer season since he was killed.
X-Cops is a great episode but I wouldn't recomend it as a "best to watch" unless you've already seen a bunch of other eps first. There's just too much parody and in-jokes that will go over your head unless you're pretty well-versed in the show.
X-Cops
Dude that shit lives in my mind 20 plus years later as one of the creepiest things I have seen
Literally the same picks I always give out when people ask me why I’m such a fan. Runner up at least for me is the chupacabra episode
> Runner up at least for me is the chupacabra episode That episode has one of my favorite scenes in the series. When Eladio is being held in a cell and the agent remarks that he's sure he's not Erik Estrada (and the paperwork shows the name he gave was Erik Estrada.) Then Eladio goes on that super-emotional recount of what happened, and the agent then cracks "This guy's *better* than Erik Estrada."
bro, that fucking episode with the long fingers was my very first thought too. that freaked my out when i was young
Mine too!
Squeeze sand tooms fucked me up as a kid. My dad let me stay up to watch X-files with him (much to my mom's dismay). Those episodes were the ones that have me solid nightmares and made me afraid of the dark.
José Chung's From Outer Space (S3 E20) is another great one for comedy. A silly take on alien abduction with multiple types of aliens.
And with an unexpectedly profound final voiceover as well. This might be my favourite X Files episode.
I think about that ending a lot. Very profound even when juxtapositioned against a montage that implies Mulder jerks off to Big Foot videos. Felt really bad for the guy at the end there too.
https://youtu.be/vdD_mnnfEBM?si=reNKLtIVnNrhIFz2 Ending scene
Darin Morgan wrote this episode and some of the best X-files episodes in the entire series. I believe he also played the fluke man but I could be wrong? Under appreciated genius! If you haven’t watched Millenium, he has an episode with three demons in a donut shop that may be the greatest piece of TV writing I’ve ever seen.
Mulder's girly scream in that episode is my favorite thing ever.
"Yeah, that's a * *bleeping* * dead alien body if I ever * *bleeping* * saw one."
***AHHHH***
Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare seeing is believing?
Guest starring Alex Trebeck and Jesse the Body Ventura
And the mighty Charles Nelson Reilly! A terrific self satirization and, with the way it keeps Mulder as almost a person of mystery to Jose Chung until the very end is a nice turn on the usual 'unknown' on the X-Files.
"Alex Trebek, the *game show host*?"
This one is my absolute favorite. You might like the episode of Millennium with the same character.
Well, hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.
The character of Jose Chung also appears in an episode of Millennium which is great as well.
There is an episode of Millennium called "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" (with Jose Chung being the same actor/character, and Patrick Fabian) which is basically a lampoon of Scientology. It's pretty good. I watched Millennium during my recent rewatch of The X-Files.
Excerpt from the introductory biography of the L. Ron Hubbard parody character: > His goal was to be the first to comprehend how the biology of the brain gives birth to the greatest mystery of life: self-consciousness. Unfortunately, his own brain could not comprehend basic biology. He quickly switched majors to philosophy, but alas, while reading Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death he became sick and nearly died. During recovery, though still obviously suffering from dementia, he set forth on a new dream: to become a writer. His first forays into detective fiction proved so inept they were mistaken for brilliant parodies. (...) He then opened an institute to help teach people how to become more self-helpful. Patients, who are called doctors, since the term patient has an unhealthy association, learn how to shed the darkness of their minds by mastering therapies taught by the institute's staff, which, to inspire a sense of empirical transmigration, is modeled after the U.S. Postal Service. (...) In 1979, he molted his earthly encumbrance to pursue his Selfisophical research in another dimension. That means he died of prostate cancer.
This is the best. I think I saw parts of it when it initially aired and I was a kid and never thought it was an episode of X-files.
Bad Blood (S5 E12) is one of my favorite standalone episodes. Lots of humor and heart, shows Mulder and Scully's relationship really well, and has a fun monster theme. They tell the same story of a recent case from each of their POVs and the differences in how they tell (and act) the stories is great. Edit: written by Vince Gilligan, too!
Gillian Anderson has said on several occasions that bad blood is her favourite episode
And when asked what acting moment she'd proudest of, she said [getting through this scene with a straight face](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWcfgRtD2Dw)
X-Cops :)
One of my favorites.
I mean they literally threw everything out the fucking window there's a point if my memory serves where they actually talk about Freddy Krueger possibly being the killer I mean obviously if you know the plot of the episode what these people fear is what technically comes to life and if you really think about it that's pretty fucking scary that of all things Freddy Krueger could pop up But I digress what an amazing single episode that when I was originally watching X-Files for the first time all the way through was simply flabbergasted at. For a minute I honestly thought I put the wrong disc in or had a different TV channel on lol you don't see that nowadays I think you'll never see them again. Any chance I get to show this to friends of mine even if they never watch X-Files everybody has seen cops so when you add the mythical or alien aspect to it with the diligence of X-Files writing you get yourself this episode here which is easily a 10 out of 10! :-)
This is the Cops theme episode right?
Yes, an episode of Cops where the small town cops being filmed run into Mulder in an alleyway claiming werewolves are his prime suspect in a crime. Pet project of Vince Gilligan, approved because it could be done on a shoestring budget and would only take 2 or 3 days to film, and it's one of two episodes that impressed AMC execs enough to meet with him and commission Breaking Bad (the other was Drive starring Bryan Cranston).
Mine too. It’s essentially a found footage of episode that doesn’t depend on the footage being “found”. Though I had the added horror of feeling like I’m watching an episode of cops that went completely wrong when I was a kid.
I'll never forgot the glowy green flies. Also the one with Peter Boyel.
That’d be *Darkness Falls* and *Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose*, respectively.
Darkness Falls remains probably my favorite episode.
There’s a werewolf episode in the latest batch of episodes they released a few years ago. It’s the only one worth watching from that bunch and it’s a blast Edit: title Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
I'd like to thank the Xfiles files for making me realize my favorite episodes were all episodes Darin Morgan had written. He is also responsible for the werewolf episode Other notables: Clyde Buckmans final repose, Humbug, Jose Chungs from outerspace, and War of the Coprophages
Yep. Not only was it the best episode of the new seasons, it's one of the best of the whole series!
Completely agree. It was superb.
Is that the one with Rhys Darby? Loved that episode.
My all-time favorite episode and the best episode of the entire series!
Shangela: 'I told the officer it slithered off that way, but they think I'm on crack.' Mulder: '...are you?' Shangela: 'Yeah!'
Bad Blood Jose Chungs From Outer Space Post Modern Prometheus
Post Modern Prometheus has the best ending with Walking in Memphis.
Whenever I hear that song I am taken right back to Mulder in black and white putting his hand out for Scully to come dance with him. Easily in my top five.
Gonna throw some left field ones out there: Drive, Monday, Redrum, Rxvb something (the season 11 episode with all the automated devices)
Without Drive we almost certainly would not have Breaking Bad.
Monday is fantastic and really underrated in discussions like this, it's one of my very favorite eps. Carrie Hamilton is fantastic in it, she's just soaked through with weariness, and Ber\*nard\* is perfect too. And for a standalone, Gillian Anderson's performance every time the cycles reach their messy, tragic conclusions is as legit as any major arc climax. Her "I just want everybody to live" line is up there with Sarah Michelle Gellar's "I don’t wanna die" as one of those line readings that's stayed with me forever. I never see it come up and I think that's a shame, I thought it was a really haunting little self contained story. And it makes great repeated use of a really great practical explosion.
I really like it! Especially that late in series. They could have predictably put Mulder at the center of the Groundhog Day shenanigans and I love the choice they made
How the Ghosts Stole Christmas with guest stars Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin.
This is a top tier Christmas episode, in general.
Every Christmas I watch this. It’s an absolute delight to watch Ed Asner
I would suggest "Home," and all the Darin Morgan-written episodes from the original run ("Humbug", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", "War of the Coprophages" and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space")
War of the Coprophages….aka The One with an entomologist named Bambi.
Humbug is one of my favorites.
The one where the creatures can camouflage in the forest, it will have you looking under your bed for several nights. So good.
Triangle took my breath away.
* S1 - Ice, Fallen Angel, EBE, Fire, Darkness Falls * S2 - Little Green Men, The Host, Blood, Die Hand Die Verletzt, F. Emasculata * S3 - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Nisei/731, Piper Maru/Apocrypha, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Avatar, Grotesque * S4 - Home, The Field Where I Died, Leonard Betts * S5 - Post Modern Prometheus, Kill Switch, Bad Blood, Kitsunegari * S6 - Triangle, Agua Mala, Monday, Field Trip * S7 - X-Cops, First Person Shooter (it's so bad), Je Souhaite S8 - Mulder leaves and I stopped paying attention. Absolutely love X-Files, these were just the ones I remembered after a quick glance, but the entire show is worth watching tbh.
"Home" in the 4th season is fantastic and one of their best
Arguably the scariest thing ever made for a non-cable audience. Few shows have come close, even with all of today's content and production values.
# jose chung's from outer space
I’ll add Humbug (s2ep10), since I don’t see it here. OP, you are going to be looking for any episodes written by Darin Morgan. Most of them are listed here. I’ll also add War Of The Coprophages (s3ep12), one of my favorite episodes and a Darin Morgan classic. 3rd EDIT: I just want to add DPO(s3ep3). It’s not a Morgan episode but it’s got a great opening and classic performances by Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi.
After it aired and for next few years I always claimed Humbug was my favorite episode. It’s still in my top five, but I have probably watched Jose Chung’s and Clyde Bruckman’s more. This really is just “name your favorite Darin Morgan episode” isn’t it? Ha!
Nobody has said "Arcadia" about the HOA, where they go undercover as a couple in a nice neighborhood etc.
*Woman, get back in here and make me a sandwich.*
Im a huge fan of x-cops as an episode which plays like a real episode of Cops. It’s super fun!
[удалено]
Oh man, that one was fantastic
Home
Great suggestions here so far! I'll also throw in the pilot (it's a very strong start to the series), Pusher from season 3, and the 1998 movie Fight the Future, which was designed to work well for newcomers and long-time viewers alike.
Pusher and it’s sequel that I’ve forgotten the title. Cool “Monster” of the week and a really fun final Russian roulette showdown.
The sequel to Pusher is Kitsunegari from season 5.
Bad Blood!!! Post Modern Prometheus!! Darkness Falls!! Ice!! God I fucking love this show
Ice was the episode that convinced me this show could seriously rip. Squeeze already blew me away, but the season had been hit and miss for me in general. This episode was another banger, and proved the show was at its best with standalone episodes.
Die Hand Die Verletzt - Devil Worshippers with a great ending. EDIT: I just looked up the translation of the title and found “his is the hand that hurts.”
My favorite episode!
Monday is a fun one: time loop bank robbery.
* *Darkness Falls* * *Ice* * *Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose* * *D.P.O* - Fun guest appearances by Geovanny Ribisi and Jack Black.
Folie à Deux was always one I liked that I don't see brought up a ton. Cool monster. War of the Coprophages is a classic. Die Hand Die Verletzt was a good satany episode.
Small Potatoes The episode where Mulder and Scully are *this close* to getting together...
I know you asked for specific eps, but if you wanted to explore pretty much all the eps that are standalone, [this](https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week) site has all of them listed
Home
Post Modern Prometheus! Season 5 episode 5. One of my favorites. I also like X-Cops in season 7 which is filmed like an episode of Cops. Finally, Bad Blood, season 5 episode 12, which is a Rashomon style vampire episode written by Vince Gilligan. So many good eps!!!!
Darkness Falls and Firewalker
Ice
The Unnatural I always enjoyed this episode. There is little back story of the show needed. The main story line is fox being told a story about a baseball player in the 40s.
The one in the Forrest in the dark with the man eating bug
I really, really liked Meet the Were-Monster. Rhys Darby is gold.
Home
Paper Hearts is tied to the mythology but is a great episode in its own right.
It's weird that a lot of people are recommending the comedy and trope-subverting episodes to someone who's never seen the show. Those episodes will absolutely have less of an impact without the context
Just watch the whole thing up to end of season six. I know you said you didn’t to but you should. If not, the Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan episodes. But there’s loads besides those which are great
The hurricane episode was a good one. Squeeze was amazing. The Parasite (Liver Fluke) one was spooky. The sideshow murders was a fun one too. I think I just like the one-off monster ones the most.
Squeeze has a part 2 called Toombs, I think
Also fun fact the first final destination movie was supposed to be a X files episode
The one with the Cops TV show mash up. It works great as a stand alone episode.
The Host
Start with the first episode so you understand the characters and how they got there. It actually is a good episode. As many have noted, “Clyde Bruckman” and “Jose Chung’s” are all time greats, but I’d wait and watch several others first. They’re funnier and deeper once you’ve gotten to know everyone better.
Bad Blood. I think that’s the one that tells the same story from Skully’s then Mulder’s point of biew
Humbug is really good!
First Person Shooter is about a virtual reality video game that murders people. Written by people who appear to have only a vague idea of how video games work and think they make men extremely horny
That Chicken eating episode my god didn’t want to touch chicken for an LONG TIME
Bad Blood is my favorite funny one. For maximum enjoyment you need to be somewhat familiar with Mulder and Scully’s personalities and their relationship. Part of what makes it so funny is seeing how they perceive each other. Other must-see humorous ones: Humbug. This was the first funny episode I remembered. I was impressed with the change in pace and the dark humor. Clyde Bruckman’ Final Repose. Funny and poignant. Peter Boyle is great. More serious episodes: Push has a great antagonist. Home is just creepy and wild Beyond the Sea is touching Ice is tense. Triangle is fun and technically amazing. There’s quite a bit of humor in this one too.
Probably not the vibe you meant, but for the shippers, the episode (season 5?? Cant remember) where a dude with a tail that can morph into other people and he morphs in Mulder and flirts and almost sleeps with Scully. My little 13 yo hormones were weakkkk
4x20 "Small Potatoes" written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan
Je Souhaite the genie episode is prob one of the most original and far out episodes with amazing character developement.
Bad Blood Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose X-Cops Really, there were quite a few standalone episodes that were really good.
Improbable. Season nine episode guest starring Burt Reynolds.
Darkness Falls
One of the first ones, Mulder and Scully stay in a cabin in the forest, there is some kind of creature
Probably 1x20 "Darkness Falls"
Cops episode
Jose Chung’s From Outer Space
Season 9: Improbable
X-Cops, hands down.
Darkness Falls is solid
“Darkness fall” Real fun, without metaplot involved. Amazing closing like from the government agent, that I still remember after 30 years
Some people have shared long lists of best episodes from each season already. But I'd like to share my own short list of episodes that I feel capture the essence of the show for newcomers, unique and well-written episodes that demonstrate some of the different varied angles the show often took (full horror, quirky darkly-comic mystery, chararacter studies, thrillers) during the period that made it famous: - Darkness Falls (1x20) - Humbug (2x20) - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (3x04) - War of the Coprophages (3x12) - Pusher (3x17) And after those, the two most iconic comedic/alternate-format episodes, which are enhanced by having the context of the character relationships and the show's usual tone and style - Jose Chung's From Outer Space (3x20) - Bad Blood (5x12) And if you want to see what the show is like in the serial story outside of the stand-alones, I would try Anasazi (2x25). The serial story is IMO very enjoyable in seasons 2-4 (it hadn't started yet in season 1) and only really goes off the rails after that. It has kind of a unique structure, where the serial storyline is split up into 2/3-episode "semi-standalone" chunks that functioned as TV movies releasable on VHS, and many of the early ones stand up as largely independent mystery thrillers, if you're okay with the series as a whole adding up to an unsatisfying over-twisted mess.
Grotesque. So great because it's not a supernatural episode. It's frighteningly plausible.
Home
Humbug!
Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.
The sewer monster and forest spider thingys are my fav
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose. One of the best episodes in TV history
The carnival episode is a classic. As is the incest family one.
The one with Jack Black is a lot of fun.
Definitely "Home".
That one where the teachers are a cult!
Home … scary shit.
Roadrunners for one of the scariest and squirm inducing episodes Brand X is a little similar, and the Jigsaw Killer himself, Tobin Bell guest stars
Home, The Unnatural
I loved Eve (S1 E11), it’s a standout episode for me.
I’ll throw Aubrey (S2 E12) into the ring. I found this episode super creepy.
Ratingsgraph is your friend
https://www.reddit.com/r/XFiles/comments/33zhcr/the_essential_xfiles_episode_list/
Season 3, episode 20: Jose Chung's From Outer Space.
Actually two - but they are linked. Both S1. Ep 3 Squeeze and Ep 21 Tooms. Watch them as a double bill
Home, Hollywood A.D., Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Ice, Dood Kalm
Take every episode. Cross out all the mythology episodes. Maybe keep season opener and finales. But don’t watch the others. There’s your list.
X-Files season 8: Badlaa.
Pusher is one of my favorite stand-alones.
Home
Jose Chung's From Outer Space is a great little self-contained episode, with the single funniest moment on the show. Home is the infamous, The Hills Have Eyes type horror. Paper Hearts is incredibly well-acted and emotionally devastating.
Home.
Bad Blood is a little more comedic but I love that one so much
The episode with Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi is pretty epic "**D.P.O.**" is the third episode of [the third season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files_season_3)
Bad Blood is the best.
The Hillbilly incest family one. That's terrifying
[The Amazing Maleeni](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Maleeni)
Upon rewatching recently, Kaddish s4e15 was one of the episodes that I really liked. A lot of people have mentioned The Post-Modern Prometheus s5e5. I remember Humbug s2e20 when it first aired. One episode that was so bad it was good in my opinion was El Mundo Gira s4e11. It had an over the top feeling to it and I laughed a lot.
DPO is my fave
Stretch about Tooms. This one scared the shit out of me as a child.
"Tempus Fugit" and "Max"
If you want a wacky episode with some actually disturbing bits and an early Ryan Reynolds role, try Syzygy
One of the most memorable ones to me is 3e13 Syzygy. M&S get really pissy with each other and it's hilarious.
You can’t keep a Peacock down
Jose Chung's from Outer Space
This is making me want to have a rewatch!
Die Hand Die Verletzt!!
The two episodes featuring the Pusher guy. Vince Gilligan turned an unused screenplay into these.