Top Five Standout Episodes of The X-Files

Early in the 1990’s Chris Carter created The X-Files, the weekly adventures of two FBI agents investigating cases that could not be classified due to their unique characteristics. Much of the show dealt with government cover ups and conspiracies, all wrapped around the questions of the existence of extraterrestrials or aliens. However, it wasn’t all two face governments and UFO sightings.

The X-Files also had many stand alone episodes that provided some incredibly horrific, creepy, humorous and tense moments. So in no particular order, let the top five begin…

Season 1, Episode 3: Squeeze & Season 1, Episode 21: Tooms

It didn’t take long for the X-Files to get their creep on, so to speak, with the episode ‘Squeeze’. It’s the wonderful story of a mutant who every thirty years needs to feed on human livers to survive. Not only that, but he was able to contort his body into very tight spaces which allows him to enter and exit homes without being noticed. It’s a disturbing episode and the character of Eugene Tooms is creepy and believable thanks in larger part to the excellent job done by actor Doug Hutchison.

Later in season one, we return to the liver extracting mutant in a sort of part two episode simply called ‘Tooms’. We find Eugene getting paroled, and the pleas and warnings by Fox Mulder to keep him incarcerated being ignored completely.

There are some truly creepy and scary moments in these two episodes, making fans like myself very happy about the prospects of the coming seasons.

Season 3 Episode 15: Piper Maru

This episode proved to be very important not only to the mythology of the X-Files but in playing a key role in future seasons, as well as the 1998 movie.

We are introduced to the black ooze or oil, a substance that seems alien in origin and can completely take over those who are infected. You know this is important when two faced and double dealing Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) becomes tangled up in the race to discover the secret of the mysterious black substance.

Everyone seems involved in this episode, from FBI Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) to the Gray Haired Man (a member of the powerful behind the scenes men in suits) and nobody leaves this episode without it having an effect on them. Well written and thought out, this story was the X-Files at the height of its strengths and good ole conspiracy fun.

Season 3, Episode 4: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose

Peter Boyle, who passed away in 2006, will probably be remembered most for his work on Everybody Loves Raymond. However, his performance in this episode was so good that both he and writer Darin Morgan won Emmy’s for it.

Boyle’s character Clyde Bruckman is initially a suspect in a violent and vicious case Mulder and Scully are working on but he soon becomes an important asset in hunting down the killer. Bruckman is psychic and his particular talent in this field is being able to predict how someone is going to die.

This episode was a great example of how you could combine humor and gore and still have a damn good story.

Season 4, Episode 2: Home

You know you’ve hit a nerve when the episode first comes with a ‘Viewer Discretion is Advised’ warning and then is banned from network TV anyways.

It starts out with a bang, showing a baby being born then dying and buried in a rainstorm by three strangely deformed men. When the local police call in Mulder and Scully, things get worse very fast.

The investigation soon leads to the Peacock family. Parents died in a car crash, don’t believe in running water and oh yeah, rumors of inbreeding. Hmm, this sounds suspicious. Their interest in the house and occupants is overheard by… something. Something with big eyes hiding in the shadows.

The Peacock boys then show how serious they are in protecting their family by showing up at the sheriff’s house and beating him and his wife to death.

Mulder, Scully and the local police enter the house and find, to their surprise, Mrs. Peacock. She is strapped to a board, arms and legs lost in the accident, and kept under the bed until needed for another shot at procreation via inbreeding. Without a doubt, one of the X-Files stronger episodes in the category of making your stomach turn.

Season 4 Episode 10: Paper Hearts

Guest star Tom Noonan is phenomenal in yet another wonderfully written story by Vince Gilligan. Noonan plays John Lee Roche, a child killer that would cut a heart out of the clothing of his victims and keep it as a souvenir. Now in jail thanks to being caught by Mulder years earlier, Roche is visited by the two FBI agents about some new evidence which shows there may be more victims still out there.

Roche begins to play with Mulder and his obsession with his abducted sister, getting him to think that maybe one of the still missing girls is her.

Noonan simple way of speaking and even gesturing while talking made him a very creepy and formidable foe. The episode concludes in a way that may not be a big ray of sunshine but makes for a great conclusion to a very tense and eerie story.

The X-Files was an important show with huge story arcs and wonderful writing, acting and directing. Sometimes lost in the shuffle is how good some of the stand alone horror and human monster episodes were and they shouldn’t be forgotten.

Even though most will agree the quality of the episodes began to dip near the end, there can be no denying that this show captured our imagination and fears of all things hiding in the shadows and in plain sight.