Browse episode ratings trends for The X-Files. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of The X-Files's 218 episodes.
Best Episodes of The X-Files
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The best episodes of The X-Files typically feature the following elements:
A compelling mystery or paranormal phenomenon that engages the audience's curiosity and imagination.
Strong character development, particularly between the two main characters, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, as they investigate the case and confront their personal demons.
A sense of tension and suspense, with unexpected twists and turns that keep the audience guessing.
Effective use of visual and sound effects to create a creepy or unsettling atmosphere that enhances the storytelling.
Thought-provoking themes that explore topics such as government conspiracy, alien abduction, and the nature of belief and skepticism.
A satisfying resolution that ties up the loose ends of the story while still leaving room for further exploration and speculation.
Overall, the best episodes of The X-Files combine strong writing, compelling performances, and a unique blend of horror, science fiction, and drama that captivates audiences and keeps them coming back for more.
Worst Episodes of The X-Files
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The X-Files Episode Guide
Pilot
S1 Ep1
10th Sep 1993
Agent Dana Scully is assigned to work with Agent Fox Mulder on the X-Files in an attempt to debunk his work on the paranormal. Their first case takes them to Oregon to investigate the unsolved murders of several high-school classmates.
Deep Throat
S1 Ep2
17th Sep 1993
Mulder and Scully investigate the mysterious case of a military test pilot who disappeared after experiencing strange psychotic behavior. While on the case, Mulder meets a mysterious man who claims to have classified information about investigations into the paranormal.
Squeeze
S1 Ep3
24th Sep 1993
Mulder and Scully search for a killer whose savage murder spree reoccurs every thirty years, where there appears to be no tangible method for the murderer's entrance and escape.
Conduit
S1 Ep4
1st Oct 1993
As Section Chief Blevins expresses his concern with the direction of the X-Files, Mulder becomes obsessed with solving a case that closely parallels an encounter he experienced as a child: the abduction of his kid sister, Samantha.
The Jersey Devil
S1 Ep5
8th Oct 1993
Mulder and Scully track a legendary creature that has roamed the New Jersey countryside for over forty years..
Shadows
S1 Ep6
22nd Oct 1993
Mulder and Scully investigate the deaths of two men believed to have been killed by a powerful psychokinetic force.
Ghost in the Machine
S1 Ep7
29th Oct 1993
It's Halloween, and Mulder and Scully are investigating the strange death of a corporate executive in a sophisticated high-tech building.
Ice
S1 Ep8
5th Nov 1993
In the claustrophobic isolation of a remote outpost in Alaska, Mulder and Scully investigate the horrifying deaths of scientists.
Space
S1 Ep9
12th Nov 1993
Mulder and Scully are contacted by a communications specialist from NASA who shows them evidence of sabotage in the space programme.
Fallen Angel
S1 Ep10
19th Nov 1993
Mulder puts the future of the X-Files in jeopardy when he heads to a UFO crash site being rapidly covered up by the military. He is arrested, and while in jail he meets Max Fenig, a UFO nut whose NICAP group has followed Mulder's work on the X-Files. When Mulder is released, Scully urges him to return to Washington to face his superiors and try to save his job, but Mulder finds out that Max is more than meets the eye and ignores Scully to try and save him instead.
Eve
S1 Ep11
10th Dec 1993
When two fathers on opposite sides of the country are inexplicably murdered at the exact same time in the exact same way, Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate. When they discover that the two fathers' eight-year-old daughters are identical twins, they realize that something even stranger is going on.
Fire
S1 Ep12
17th Dec 1993
An old Oxford girlfriend of Mulder's asks for his help on an international case concerning the unexplainable execution of several British dignitaries, and they encounter an assassin who can produce fire from his bare hands.
Beyond the Sea
S1 Ep13
7th Jan 1994
When death row inmate Luther Lee Boggs claims to be psychic and can lead Mulder to a serial killer in return for a lesser sentence of life in prison, Scully becomes an unwilling believer when Boggs tells her that she can communicate through him with her recently deceased father.
Gender Bender
S1 Ep14
21st Jan 1994
A series of sexually-oriented murders, which are identical except that the killer appears to be both male and female, draws Scully and Mulder to an Amish-type community of people called the Kindred.
Lazarus
S1 Ep15
4th Feb 1994
When FBI Agent Jack Willis and bank robber Warren Dupre are both shot at the same time during a robbery attempt, Dupre dies when Willis is brought back to life. When Willis rushes out of the hospital and begins acting strangely, Mulder concludes that Dupre has come back to life in Willis' body.
Young at Heart
S1 Ep16
11th Feb 1994
Mulder becomes the target of someone from his past named John Barnett. He was a jewelry store robber with an itchy trigger finger that Mulder sent to prison when he first joined the Bureau. The only problem is that Barnett died four years ago.
E.B.E.
S1 Ep17
18th Feb 1994
Mulder and Scully receive information from Deep Throat about a UFO that was shot down over Iraq and has been secretly transported to the US. However, Deep Throat then intentionally misleads the agents to prevent them from discovering the truth.
Miracle Man
S1 Ep18
18th Mar 1994
A young man who has the power to heal people with his touch begins to question his gift when people start dying after he has supposedly healed them.
Shapes
S1 Ep19
1st Apr 1994
Mulder and Scully travel to a Native American reservation to investigate the death of a man who was mistaken for a wild animal and may have been the legendary Manitou, a man who can shape-shift into a beast.
Darkness Falls
S1 Ep20
15th Apr 1994
When a group of loggers in the Washington State National Forest disappear in the same way that another group disappeared 50 years ago, Mulder and Scully go along to investigate and find themselves trapped in a cabin surrounded by flesh eating insects that only attack at night.
Tooms
S1 Ep21
22nd Apr 1994
Eugene Tooms is released from the sanitarium, and Mulder becomes personally involved to ensure that he is caught in the act of getting the last human liver he needs to go into hibernation for another 30 years.
Born Again
S1 Ep22
29th Apr 1994
After a detective and his former partner die in unexplained circumstances, the accidents are linked to a little girl who witnessed both deaths. Mulder believes that she may be the reincarnation of a policeman murdered by his colleagues.
Roland
S1 Ep23
6th May 1994
Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a scientist working on advanced propulsion technology. The mentally challenged janitor Roland, who has secretly been completing the scientist's work, is the prime suspect.
The Erlenmeyer Flask
S1 Ep24
13th May 1994
When Deep Throat points out a news story about a fugitive who apparently drowned, Mulder and Scully cannot see what makes the case special but follow it up anyway. With Deep Throat's insistence, they discover evidence of a secret government project code-named Purity Control, which uses human test subjects and infects them with extraterrestrial DNA. However, the evidence and everyone who has seen it is quickly being eliminated.
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The first episode of The X-Files aired on September 10, 1993.
The last episode of The X-Files aired on March 21, 2018.