Top 10 X-Files Episodes

Here are my top 10 favorite episodes of the X-Files.

1. Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (1996): A lighthearted episode in which author Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Riley) investigates a UFO abduction. The case involves government deception, phony aliens, Lord Kinbote, and a pair of men in black that look like Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek. Confusing things further, witnesses all have differing accounts of events.

2. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (1995): A serial killer targets psychics and fortune tellers. Mulder and Scully are aided in hunting the killer by a real clairvoyant. Clyde Bruckman (Peter Boyle) can foresee people's deaths after obsessing over the random nature of the Big Bopper's death. In the end, Mulder is saved by random events as Scully accidentally arrived to save him.

3. Duane Barry/Ascension (1994): In part one, Mulder meets Duane Berry (Steve Railsback) in a hostage standoff. Barry claims he was abducted by aliens and Mulder believes him. In the second part, Berry kidnaps Scully and surrenders her to the aliens. Meanwhile, Mulder's new partner, Alex Krycek turns out to be a member of the conspiracy. Scully's abduction was a seminal moment in 1990s pop culture.

4. Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995): A Satanic cult loses it's faith and Satan appears to punish them. One is eaten by a snake while the surviving members kidnap Mulder and Scully for a sacrifice. Satan intervenes and they are forced to shoot themselves instead. 

5. Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip (1995): A three part arch featuring Mulder's fall into madness as a result of poisoning and his recovery with the help of Navajo Indians. The conspiracy executes Mulder's father, a tape emerges with information about government UFO information, and buried train cars with alien bodies are discovered. The Cigarette Smoking Man tries to kill Mulder in the car, but he escapes and his aided by Navajos. While recovering, Mulder's dead friends and family visit him from the spirit realm. The arch also reveals which side Skinner is on.

6. Beyond the Sea (1994): A death row inmate, Luther Lee Boggs (Brad Dourff), claims psychic visions and offers to help find a kidnapper. Scully's beliefs are called into question as she is skeptical of Boggs. At the same time, she is in mourning for her father who passed. Boggs hoped for a deal, but is refused. He helps the agents anyway and even tells Scully how to save Mulder. He tells her to not follow the criminal to the blue devil. She is shocked to see a blue devil painted on rotted floorboards. The kidnapper falls through the boards to his death.

7. Pilot (1993): Most series pilots are weak. The X-Files is an exception. Scully and Mulder are assigned to the X-Files project. He believes in the paranormal while she is a skeptic sent to debunk Mulder's work. Their first case takes them to Oregon where they investigate alien abductions.

8. Biogenesis/The Sixth Extinction/The Sixth Extinction II (1999): A metal artifact is discovered in Africa. The artifact turns Mulder into a raving lunatic. Scully travels to Africa to try and uncover the truth. Mulder hovers near death before Scully rescues him with Diana Fowley's assistance. Fowley is murdered for her actions. This is the last great X-Files episode and story arc.

9. Squeeze (1993): Mulder and Scully investigate a serial killer that strikes every thirty years. Eugene Tooms (Doug Hutchinson) needs human livers to survive. He awakes every thirty years, hunts, and then returns to hibernate in a nest. Tooms has the ability to elongate his body to sneak through small, confined places. The agents find Tooms apartment which resembles an animal's nest. Eventually, Tooms is captured, but returns in 1994.

10. The Erlenmeyer Flask (1994): The X-Files set up several storylines with this episode. The agents discover evidence of alien abductions and human experimentation. At the end, Mulder's mentor and source "Deep Throat" (Jerry Hardin) is murdered in front of Scully leading many to question whether the series could continue. As he lay dying, he warned Scully to "trust no one." For me, this is a seminal moment in the series and in 90's pop culture.