Copyright Polygon
The twisty science fiction show Pluribus might feel like a departure for Vince Gilligan, but the Apple TV series is actually sort of a homecoming. Before Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul made Gilligan one of the most celebrated showrunners in Hollywood, he got his start writing about aliens, psychics, and mutants for The X-Files. He even worked with Bryan Cranston for the first time on the show. Gilligan wrote or co-wrote dozens of The X-Files episodes and co-created the short-lived spin-off The Lone Gunmen. Like Apple TV’s high-concept sci-fi hit Severance, the mystery of Pluribus is unraveling with week-to-week releases. If you’re living in suspense, you can fill the void by watching Gilligan’s best episodes of The X-Files. While he penned some great entries in the show’s larger mythology, like season 4’s “Memento Mori,” we’re limiting this list to standalones you can watch in any order, without previous knowledge of the long-running series. The whole show is available to stream on Hulu. 5 “Small Potatoes” (season 4, episode 20) The X-Files was often at its best when it prioritized laughs over suspense and horror, and “Small Potatoes” is one of the series’ funniest episodes. FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the mystery of a group of babies born with tails, which leads them to a fertility clinic with a remarkable success rate. The culprit turns out to have an extraordinary ability he uses to try to seduce Scully while looking like Mulder — absolute catnip to fans hoping for romance between the partners. 4 “Bad Blood” (season 5, episode 12) Another hilarious episode, “Bad Blood” is framed by Mulder and Scully giving conflicting reports to their boss, FBI assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). Mulder is convinced that he’s staked a vampire in a small town in Texas, and that Scully would acknowledge the supernatural happenings if she hadn’t been distracted by a sexy cowboy sheriff. Scully thinks nothing paranormal was happening, and that she did all the real work cracking the case. It’s a very silly look at the show’s key dynamic and the allure of vampires. 3 “Dreamland” and “Dreamland 2” (season 6, episodes 1-2) Gilligan really liked teasing fans by having people pretending to be Mulder hit on Scully. The rare two-parter that wasn’t a mythology episode, “Dreamland” follows a mishap at Area 51 that leads to Mulder swapping bodies with Morris Fletcher (frequent Christopher Guest collaborator Michael McKean), one of the base’s leaders. Fletcher seems pretty happy with the situation, while Mulder has to deal with Fletcher’s awful home life, and desperately tries to find a way to swap back. McKean and Gilligan reunited on Better Call Saul. 2 “Monday” (season 6, episode 14) Every genre show that goes on long enough winds up doing a time-loop episode, and The X-Files was no exception. Gilligan and John Shiban co-wrote “Monday,” where Mulder and Scully repeatedly die in a bank robbery gone wrong. While most time-loop stories make their protagonists unravel the mystery of how to restart normal time, in “Monday,” the robber’s girlfriend Pam (Carrie Hamilton) has to try to break the cycle. Gilligan slipped in a reference to “Dreamland,” with the repeating day starting with a leak in the waterbed Fletcher bought while in Mulder’s body. 1 Season 7, Episode 3: “Hungry” The X-Files goes Columbo in “Hungry,” which follows the monster of the week’s perspective instead of Mulder and Scully. Rob Roberts (Chad Donella) is a fast-food worker who craves human brains, trying to ward off his hunger by taking diet pills and going to Overeaters Anonymous meetings. Mulder always comes off as a little crazy, but never more so than when he’s doggedly pursuing Rob. All episodes of The X-Files are streaming on Hulu. Individual episodes and seasons are available to buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms.
