The X-Files In 97 Episodes Worth Watching, 3: The Truth Is out There, Like Way Out There

One of the biggest problems with "Lost", and there were many, was that there were hardly ever payoffs to the questions posed in episodes. Eventually they would get sort of haphazardly answered, generally inducing a shrug in the viewer. "The X-Files" was definitely on that trajectory in the first two seasons (and would come back to that problem later) but in this season, they do a great job of answering big questions but then revealing that those answers are tiny compared to the bigger questions. Its shifting of focus somehow worked for a while, and this might have been the peak of that technique.

​I have peppered this season with three of the funniest episodes of the series, and also included the first episode of a TV show written by the guy who wrote "Breaking Bad". I think this season is really solid.

Season 3:
​The Truth Is Out There

Episode 21: Humbug
(Mulder, Scully)

I know what you're thinking, you're starting a season with a Christmas episode? No. "Humbug" is the first comedic episode of the X-Files and the shift in tone is so drastic that it led David Duchovny to say, of the writer, "What I love about his scripts is that he's trying to destroy the show." It's a weird, wonderful Monster Of The Week storyline with no connection to the larger X-Files universe, and it's a total blast.


Episode 22: Soft Light
(Mulder, Scully, X)

On the opposite end of the episode spectrum, "Soft Light" is a conspiracy-centric bummer with killer shadows, the guy who played Monk being convinced the government is out to get him, and a government that is totally out to get him.


Episode 23: Anasazi
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, Krycek, The Lone Gunmen)

The beginning of a 3-part story about Mulder's descent into madness after he and Scully receive a tape seeming to confirm several of Mulder's theories about aliens.


Episode 24: The Blessing Way
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, Krycek, The Well-Manicured Man, Deep Throat, First Elder)

A major death rocks Mulder during his investigation from the last episode, and once again, the X-Files are closed.


Episode 25: Paper Clip
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, Skinner, Krycek, The Well-Manicured Man, The Lone Gunmen, First Elder)

Wrapping up this three-parter we get more revelations than we probably planned on, given the nature of the show.


Episode 26: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
(Mulder, Scully)

A break is needed after that intense storyarc, and we find it in this amazing and hilarious episode where the dad from "Everybody Loves Raymond" (or Frankenstein's Monster in Young Frankenstein, if you're older than I am) can see how people die, and he assists Mulder and Scully in tracking down a serial killer who targets fortune killers.


Episode 27: Nisei
(Mulder, Scully, Skinner, X, The Lone Gunmen, Red Haired Man)

The first part of a two-episode arc based on the atrocities done to Japanese prisoners of war in WWII, Mulder and Scully come into possession of an "authentic" videotape of an alien autopsy and Scully begins to suspect her abduction last season may have complications.


Episode 28: 731
(Mulder, Scully, Smoking Man, X, Red Haired Man)

More alien conspiracy shenanigans and government conspiracies!


Episode 29: War Of The Copraphages
(Mulder, Scully)

Another great one-off comic episode by the writer of "Humbug" and "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." Katsaridaphobes are going to want to skip this one.


Episode 30: Piper Maru
(Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Krycek)

We end the season on a conspiracy episode spinning out of the 3-parter from earlier in the season. An investigation into a family member's death leads back to Krycek and that pesky tape.