My Top 10 X-Files Episodes
I have another blog that is supposed to be my place to post reviews/commentaries/rants/gushings about things of the past (i.e., stuff that are no longer considered “fresh” in the news), but I’m thinking about discontinuing that site now that the new billing cycle for my hosting services has come. It’s hard enough to maintain two blogs and if the bill alone won’t stop me from making a renewal, which isn’t necessarily expensive enough to require a cash advance, the lack of time to update sure will.
Anyway, here’s something from the said site. I’ll be transferring posts between here and the other other blog.
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First, I love almost all of the X-Files. Everything with both Scully and Mulder on it. But here’s my top 10, shamelessly relationship-centric, episodes . At least for now, until I’m able to do another round of rewatching the series from the Pilot. [Episode summaries are taken from http://www.xfroadrunners.com/].
10. Trust No 1 (season 9, episode 8). Scully lets her guard down and invites a mysterious stranger into her confidence after she, Reyes and Doggett become divided by information about Mulder and the super soldiers.
Be still my shipper heart. Mulder’s “Dearest Dana” and Scully’s “I remain forever yours” are the only reasons I included this. Ok, so it was only through letters, and those lines are actually so cheesy to be cringe-worthy. But it was something tangible and definite - out of character for both, but at least the show acknowledged for once what those two are to each other.
9. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (season 3, episode 4). Skeptical of a famous psychic’s predictions regarding the murder of several prognosticators, Mulder instead finds someone who he believes truly can predict the future. Though catching the killer could prove difficult, particularly if the murderer can also see into his future.
Would you want to know how you’re going to die? Scully won’t (in the Thitonus episode, she escaped death by not looking at its “face”). Mulder, however, is a perv (autoerotic asphyxiation, geez).
8. Anasazi (season 2, episode 25). Mulder and Scully’s lives, sanity, and mutual trust become in jeopardy after a hacker gains access to secret government files.
Mulder goes crazy, Scully shoots Mulder. Intense stuff.
7. The End (season 5 finale). An attempted assassination draws Mulder and Scully into an investigation that strikes at the heart of the X-Files, bringing an important person from Mulder’s past into direct conflict with Scully.
Scully jealousy. Scully saw Mulder and Fowley holding hands. Scully skulked inside her car. The mythology stuff is pretty awesome, too.
6. Pusher (season 3, episode 17). A man is apprehended yet escapes after he claims to be the hired killer of 14 people whose deaths had previously been ruled as suicides. The man, who seems to have the ability to control others, desires a challenge, leaving clues for Mulder and Scully to follow as he sets up his contest of wills.
Mulder finds an (criminal) intellectual equal. Tension-filled episode as Mulder fights a hypnotic trance that forces him to shoot Scully.
5. Dreamland I and II (season 6, episodes 4 and 5). An anonymous tip finally brings Mulder and Scully to the Mecca of all UFO lore – Area 51. But when the agents witness the flight of a mysterious craft, their lives are profoundly – and perhaps irrevocably – altered.
Mulder switches bodies with an unhappily married government man. Hilarity ensued.
4. Triangle (season 6, episode 3). Mulder goes in search of a ship that has disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1939. But when he gets on board, Mulder finds that he – and all the passengers and crew – are still stuck in the past.
The (faux) kiss. The “I love yah.” Awwww.
3. How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (season 6, episode 8). Mulder convinces Scully to put aside her gift wrapping on the night before Christmas to help him stake out a reputed haunted house. But they discover a married couple living there who are keeping a secret the agents never expected.
Pop psychology all around. An episode that managed to be truly creepy and funny at the same time. Conclusion: Mulder and Scully are two very lonely people. They belong together.
2. The Unnatural (season 6, episode 20). Mulder and Scully delve into an old case involving a mysterious player in the Negro Baseball League with an astonishing batting average.
The best end scene ever. Period.
1. Bad Blood (season 5, episode 12). Agents Mulder and Scully are at odds over how to explain their part in a bizarre death that occurred while investigating an X-file case in Texas.
He said, she said. The show making fun of itself. A nice insight on how our two agents see each other and themselves with each other. A fan favorite. Gillian Anderson’s favorite episode.
another episode that deserves attention, i think, was “Ice” (ssn 1) because it had something to do with trust issues while scully & mulder were still learning to trust each other. since this happened quite early, the brittle and shaky quality of their partnership was rather believable. it also didn’t help that everyone was quite tense and suspicious of each other as they were marooned in an arctic research station
Yes! That’s actually one of David Duchovny’s favorites (if I remember an interview of his right). That episode also has Felicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives fame (the blonde scientist).
And Small Potatoes! I can’t believe I left that one out