7 Best Monster-of-the-Week Episodes of The X-Files

The X-Files is one of the defining TV shows of the 1990s. From the moment it premiered in 1993, viewers instantly flocked to the series following Special FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they took on assignments that involved the unexplainable, the unsolvable, and the just plain weird. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were born for their roles: Duchovny gave his Mulder an eagerness to believe in the otherworldly that wonderfully contradicts the uptight cynicism that Anderson brought to her portrayal of Scully. Together, their odd-couple relationship served as the heart of the series among the aliens, supernatural entities, and kooky characters that populated its world.

While The X-Files had an overarching mythology that extended across 11 seasons and two feature-length films, the series often deviated from the larger narrative for one-and-done episodes, more typically known as “monster of the week” episodes. Some of these episodes seemed like mere filler as if the show’s creators were just looking for a way to pad out a season. However, some of these standalone episodes serve as highlights of the series, giving the show’s creators a chance to deviate from the growing intensity of the expansive mythology to experiment with different ideas and genres. Let’s take a look at a few examples of those episodes here.

“Grotesque” (Season 3, Episode 14)

Someone has been slaughtering men and mutilating their faces, and Mulder and Scully are on the trail of this disturbed individual. The main culprit is John Mostow, an artist with the bizarre habit of drawing gargoyles. However, he claims that he’s not the one responsible for the disgusting crimes, but rather the demonic entity that he depicts in his artworks that possesses him and forces him to kill. It’s a wild story, but the murders continue even after he’s in custody, and now Mulder has taken up drawing gargoyles.

Despite the gruesome subject matter, “Grotesque” is psychological horror at its best, always keeping the viewer guessing and delivering plenty of twists. The episode uses ambiguity perfectly by constantly blurring the line between realism and the supernatural, letting the audience come to their own conclusions.

“X-Cops” (Season 7, Episode 12)

A camera crew for the reality TV show Cops follows a squad of police officers following up on a report of a monster in a Los Angeles neighborhood. Also looking into this weird case are Agents Mulder and Scully; Scully is reluctant to work with a film crew while Mulder is delighted at the prospect of giving their investigations wider exposure. Together, they must uncover who – or what – is behind a series of murders in this neighborhood as all signs point to an entity that can turn into your worst fear.

Combining Cops with The X-Files could have been a real “jump the shark” moment for both popular TV series. However, there’s so much clever humor and suspense in equal measure that this episode completely sidesteps turning into a cheap gimmick.

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“Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” (Season 10, Episode 3)

After years and years of wanting to believe, Mulder is finally starting to doubt the existence of paranormal and supernatural forces in the world. Even when he and Scully are assigned to a case involving reports of a reptilian creature attacking people, Mulder initially brushes it off as an elaborate prank. However, when the pair meet someone named Guy Mann who claims to have been bitten by an otherworldly creature, thus giving him the ability to turn into a lizard-like monster, Mulder starts to believe again.

As you can tell by the title, “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” is a delightful meta episode that plays with the “monster of the week” concept, delivering some clever new twists on a classic premise. Among the humorous commentary, however, is a pretty thoughtful meditation on the meaning and absurdity of the human condition.

“Bad Blood” (Season 5, Episode 12)

Yet another small town is besieged by strange killings – this time in Texas – and yet again Agents Mulder and Scully are on the case. Believing that the culprit is a vampire due to the bite marks on the victims’ necks, Mulder tracks down the suspected bloodsucker before planting a stake in its heart. However, when it’s revealed that the “vampire” in question is just a young man with fake fangs, Mulder and Scully must now explain how a potentially innocent person was killed during their investigation.

This episode takes a familiar premise and a recognizable monster and spices it up with a wonderful twist, that of showing the audience both Mulder and Scully’s version of the events, Rashomon-style. Seeing the same story told from different perspectives hilariously reveals how much Mulder and Scully annoy one another, each presenting the other in a negative light.

“The Post-Modern Prometheus” (Season 5, Episode 5)

A woman from Albion, Indiana, named Shaineh Berkowitz reaches out to Agents Mulder and Scully with a wild tale about having been impregnated by a bizarre creature. When they interrogate her for more information, she relates an even wilder tale about a supposed mad scientist who lives in the area that is conducting abominable experiments on human subjects. “The Great Mutato” is the latest result of his experiments, and it is this horrid yet kindhearted creature who Berkowitz claims is the father of her unborn baby.

Fans of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and horror/sci-fi comic books of the 1950s will dig “The Post-Modern Prometheus.” The black-and-white cinematography gives the episode a classic monster-movie look, the whimsical tone is a nice change of pace from the show’s typically suspenseful atmosphere, and Jerry Springer makes a terrific cameo as himself for some welcome meta humor.

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz” (Season 11, Episode 7)

This episode opens up with a narrated montage recounting how the creators of a machine-learning chatbot had to pull its plug within a day of releasing it to the public after it developed a hateful personality of its own. Mulder and Scully soon find themselves in a world where all of the technology in their daily lives begins to rebel against them after Mulder refuses to leave a tip at an automated sushi restaurant.

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz” was released in 2018 but only continues to become more relevant in this increasingly A.I. world. It’s a darkly humorous episode that cleverly points out how often we interact with digital technology without even realizing it, highlighting the potential dangers if these devices grow minds of their own and realize how much we take them for granted.

“Squeeze” (Season 1, Episode 3)

Agents Mulder and Scully are sent to Baltimore to investigate a most unusual series of crimes in which the murder victims have had their livers removed but display no entry points. Mulder recognizes the similarity between these crimes and those committed 30 years earlier – and 30 years before that, and 30 years before that. Could the culprit be Eugene Victor Tooms, a man who can manipulate his body to fit into incredibly small spaces, and awakens once every 30 years to feast on human livers?

This may be one of the series’ earliest episodes, but it’s also one of its most gruesome. Doug Hutchison shines as the chilling Tooms, who contrasts his cannibalistic urges with a soft-spoken demeanor. The episode also further fleshes out Mulder and Scully’s odd-couple relationship, with Mulder’s enthusiasm for the unexplained complements Scully’s persistent skepticism.