The X-Files In 97 Episodes Worth Watching, 2: Trust No One

I was a Big Brother in high school. A group of us signed up to be mentors, and spent our late Friday afternoons/early evenings playing sports, board games, pinball, and having dinner. It was as much a bonding between the Bigs as it was between the Bigs and the Littles. And when the Littles went home, a bunch of us would go to the nearest dorm basement and, along with some of our non-mentoring friends, check out the weirdness that was "X-Files".

The first college I went to only really got together to watch "Friends", which isn't at all why I left but does say something about the people at that school. After one semester, I transferred to a school where a bunch of us would get together and watch things like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", and, of course, "X-Files".

I've watched many TV series over the years, and when I'm watching things on my own, I tend to enjoy it but not absorb it as much. I haven't watched X-Files (except some of the new stuff) in decades. Yet, even reading the first sentence of an episode description, I'll go "Oh yea! That one! I loved that one." or "Ugh. Doggett." I remember laughing at a bunch of "Friends" episodes, but I can read the complete plot of an episode and have no idea whether or not I'd seen it. I guess I never caught "The One That Was Memorable."

Below is Season Two of an X-Files watchlist.

Season 2:
Trust No One

Episode 11: The Erlenmeyer Flask
(Mulder, Scully, Deep Throat, Smoking Man, Crew Cut Man)

Technically, the final episode of Season 1, I like this much better as the beginning of a season. All of the major characters that have been in play so far have their stories evolved drastically, both the government mystique storylines and the sci-fi premise amped up to eleven. And we get a character death, along with the three words that changed the franchise, and are the title of this reimagined season.


​Episode 12: Little Green Men
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, Richard Matheson)

The X-Files get shut down on a fairly regular basis over the course of the series, but it's surprising that their first closure is this early. This episode has Mulder doubting his beliefs from the previous season only to be flung into a new extraterrestrial adjacent adventure. Scully, no longer his partner, tries to track him down. Also, we meet Skinner for the first time!


Episode 13: The Host
(Mulder,  Scully, Skinner, X)
​A creepy Monster Of The Week story involving flukeworms that unfolds as Mulder considers leaving the FBI.


Episode 14: Duane Barry
(Mulder, Scully, Krycek, Duane Barry)

Meet Alex Krycek, he's Mulder's new FBI partner, and he absolutely sucks. He tags along when Mulder investigates a former FBI agent who claims to be a multiple-time alien abductee. Eventually, Scully joins in, and all goes higgledy-piggledy.


Episode 15: Ascension
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, Krycek, X, Duane Barry)

Continuing from the previous episode, Mulder and Krycek must find Scully, who has been kidnapped! Why? Well, it is super complicated, but in a fun adventury way. Also, oooh, the X-Files are already reopened.


Episode 16: One Breath
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, X)

Scully is back but something is ... different. Something that will be important to the rest of the series.


Episode 17: Irresistable
(Mulder, Scully)

A Monster Of The Week Story where maybe the monster is just human? Because, like, there are some real monsters out there.


Episode 18: Die Hand Die Verletzt
(Mulder, Scully)

A Monster Of The Week Story where the monster is modern religion, which, like creates some real monsters.


Episode 19: Colony
(Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Alien Bounty Huter)

Aliens! Aliens! This whole series has been about dealing with aliens, so let's get some aliens back. This episode ties the greater mythology to Mulder's childhood. This episode is a blast, but where is it leading?

​
Episode 20: Endgame
(Mulder, Scully, Skinner, X, Alien Bounty Hunter)

Aliens? Or clones? Or alien clones? A very action-oriented follow-up to the previous episode is a very satisfying stopping point to our second season, as Mulder and Scully are now both totally invested in figuring out what the X is going on.