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| The Be(x)t-Files
in honour of a great show coming to its third or fourth Extremely Final End. until the next ending, folks, a top 25 | 1 | | Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness
CLYDE BRUCKMAN'S FINAL REPOSE, 3x3. Existentialism, loneliness, razor-sharp humour and pathos. One of the greatest episodes of any show to ever air. | 2 | | The Antlers Hospice
ONE BREATH, 2x8. The finest character show you could ever hope for. Restrained, beautiful and heartfelt. | 3 | | Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak
PAPER HEARTS, 4x10. One of the greatest serial killer portrayals in any medium in Vince Gilligan's finest script. Tense, underplayed and deeply powerful. | 4 | | OutKast ATLiens
THE UNNATURAL, 6x19. The show reveals its deeply human heart despite the KKK, baseball and alien conspiracies. One of the last times the show remembered it could be about love. | 5 | | Mount Eerie Ocean Roar
BEYOND THE SEA, 1x13. The show discovers its heart for the first time, with the help of Wormtongue and Major Briggs. A masterclass in acting which made our main characters real people for the first time. | 6 | | Blaspherian Upon the Throne...of Eternal Blasphemous Death
DIE HAND DIE VERLETZT, 2x14. The decision is finally made to combine the black comedy and horror of the show together. It gave us one of the scariest, funniest hours of the entire show, with an ending for the ages. | 7 | | Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
JOSE CHUNG'S FROM OUTER SPACE, 3x20. I can never tell whether Darin loved the show or was actively trying to destroy it. Most probably both. | 8 | | The Wonder Years Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
ARCADIA, 6x15. The best straight humour episode, with a married couple premise so inherently fantastic that any other flaws are negligible. Duchovny in particular at his absolute peak. | 9 | | The Velvet Underground Squeeze
SQUEEZE, 1x3. Glen Morgan and James Wong single-handedly transform a Chris Carter show about aliens into a show that can be about almost anything by anyone. They do it all in forty-five minutes with a really creepy fucking mutant guy and some killer dialogue. | 10 | | The Cure Wish
JE SOUHAITE, 7x21. A late highlight combines cautionary tale, black comedy and some very thorough character work by Gilligan, the only writer still even trying to show more sides to Mulder's character at this point. Perhaps the most emotionally diverse hour of the show. | 11 | | Tool Ænima
VIA NEGATIVA, 8x7. The best of the post-Mulder era takes the somewhat dry Doggett and puts him through a Lynchian nightmare wringer. Surreal imagery the show never really approached coupled with one of the finest deliveries in the entire show - "I'm not sure I'm awake" - effortlessly revives horror X-Files long after it should have been dead. | 12 | | dredg El Cielo
TRIANGLE, 6x3. Carter shows off his fancy directorial prowess but fuck it's a lot of fun. Plus Nazis. | 13 | | Ennio Morricone The Thing
ICE, 1x8. Maybe the best pure horror episode, and absolutely the tensest. Morgan and Wong continue to do all the work, defining Mulder and Scully's future personalities with every entry they make. | 14 | | Gotye Like Drawing Blood
BAD BLOOD, 5x12. Someone should have given Gilligan a full comedy series. The combination of terrific jokes and character scrutiny is impeccable here, and it might be Anderson's finest episode overall. | 15 | | Cher Cher
THE POST-MODERN PROMETHEUS, 5x5. Perennially known in my house as the "Frankenstein one", but it's so much more. | 16 | | Converge Jane Doe
JOHN DOE, 9x7. Gilligan's last great entry essentially creates his entire Breaking Bad aesthetic, down to Michelle MacLaren debuting as a director with oversaturated, harshly lit Mexico streets. A deeply sad, filthy, utterly nihilistic episode unlike anything else in the show, which makes a strong case for Robert Patrick as the perfect lead had he been given more material on this level. | 17 | | The Butterfly Effect Begins Here
PILOT, 1x1. Just one of TV's finest and most confident pilots - speaks for itself, really. | 18 | | Danny Brown Atrocity Exhibition
GROTESQUE, 3x14. Literally the darkest X-Files episode in terms of lighting and colour; possibly the darkest metaphorically too. Our dashing leads go through the absolute wringer on this one. | 19 | | MF DOOM MM.. Food
HUNGRY, 7x3. Having tried basically every variation of the tense hero vs. villain confrontation over the years, Gilligan finally gives over to the antagonist's point of view completely. It's deeply moving, and fucking hilarious. | 20 | | Glass Animals How To Be A Human Being
MULDER AND SCULLY MEET THE WERE-MONSTER, 10x3. Darin holds up a big ol' mirror. | 21 | | MF Grimm American Hunger
PAPER CLIP, 3x2. The best mythology episode drowns every frame in paranoia, uncertainty and complete tension. There's a bunch of revelations but it never loses sight of the characters. Skinman becomes the greatest character of all time in any show. | 22 | | Matchbox Twenty Yourself or Someone Like You
PUSHER, 3x17. Gilligan comes in in style with one of the show's finest monsters. You won't ever forget the Russian Roulette scene of this one. | 23 | | Earl Sweatshirt I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
NEVER AGAIN, 4x13. Morgan and Wong kiss-off to the show they helped define and its best character (Scully) with one of the grimiest episodes. Anderson is amazing as she internalises her trauma and projects it as impulsive, out-of-character decisions. | 24 | | Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar
MUSINGS OF A CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, 4x7. Pure fan service but written to a T and directed absolutely gorgeously. CSM becomes a near-legendary evil and a pathetic, frail human failure in forty-five minutes of TV, and William B. Davis was never better. | 25 | | Ayreon Actual Fantasy
FOLLOWERS/Rm9sbG93ZXJz, 11x7. Beautiful, clever and justifies the entire revival's existence. Writer diversity paying off in the most extreme way. | 26 | | George Harrison All Things Must Pass
HONOURABLES: The Field Where I Died (4x5), Folie a Deux (5x19), Monday (6x14), Release (9x17), Wetwired (3x23), Milagro (6x18), Field Trip (6x21), Improbable (9x13), Drive (6x2), all things (7x17) | |
Rowan5215
03.22.18 | basically s6 > | TheGreatQ
03.22.18 | 25 was pure shit after the opening scene sorry | Source
03.22.18 | Field Trip is probably my favorite X-Files episode ever. That or the one with the invisible people in the woods. Can't remember the name of that one | butcherboy
03.22.18 | fantastic list, Row.. haven't watched the show in years, need to go on a marathon | dbizzles
03.22.18 | Great list. You know how I feel about, like, all of these :)
Jose Chung's From Outer Space or Musings of A Cigarette Smoking Man are probably my favorite but, maaaaaaaaan, there are soooooo many great episodes. | Rowan5215
03.22.18 | @Source Detour! that's an underrated one I love it a a lot. and Field Trip is a piece of beauty too ofc | Source
03.23.18 | You should make a list of worst episodes too because holy crap this show had some bad ones. | Rowan5215
03.23.18 | lmao it's a lot easier than a best of list for sure
Fight Club is the worst, easily. Teso Dos Bichos, every My Struggle ep, First Person Shooter are strong contenders | YoYoMancuso
04.01.18 | you know i'm a sucker for S6 so this list is great! Was hoping for more mythology and that Field Trip could make the top 25 but you got all the classics for sure | Rowan5215
04.01.18 | Ah cheers lad, yeah s6 is the best season agreed
Mythology episodes have largely aged poorly for me but there's some slappers in there | Sinternet
04.01.18 | haven't seen it in years but I remember Fire being a great episode | Source
04.01.18 | I think 6 might actually be my second least favorite after 9, although I never watched the revival seasons. To me season 5 was the peak of this show. | Rowan5215
04.02.18 | 7 and 8 above 6 is insaaaane lad
for the Unnatural and Triangle alone | Source
04.02.18 | Idk 8 actually had some really good episodes. Like the one where the villain had three eyes or the one where Scully had a giant slug thing in her back. I can't remember the names of those episodes unfortunately. | dbizzles
04.02.18 | I’m hitting the second half of S8 right now and it’s all mythos. Hoping to will bail out the rest of the season. I can count the good episodes so far on one hand... twice.
Okay there have been 3 great episodes, I just really wanted to say that ^ | Source
04.02.18 | It's a masterpiece compared to season 9 | Rowan5215
04.02.18 | don't get me wrong, I like S8. it's the most horror-filled season since 1 and it has the only good mythos episodes after, like, 5. Via Negativa and Roadrunners are the two you mentioned and they're both great (VN is in my top 15 on the list)
but yeah, it doesn't touch S6 for me, which is the show's best season. so much humour and pathos in that one, plus Mulder. 8 is underrated, whereas most of 7 and 9 are straight trash | hal1ax
04.02.18 | sickkk
i need to re-watch this series . i remember liking seasons 3 & 6 a lot tho |
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