X-Files Fans Have Spoken on the Best Episodes - and Two Are Tied at the Top
Thirty-plus years after its 1993 premiere, The X-Files still draws strong opinions from its fan base, and those opinions are quantified in real time on IMDB, where all 218 episodes carry user ratings. The data tells a clear story, and it's not always the alien mythology-heavy episodes that dominate.
Bad Blood (Season 5, Episode 12) - 9.2 Written by Vince Gilligan, this 1998 episode tops the list. Mulder and Scully give Skinner wildly conflicting accounts of a vampire investigation gone wrong in rural Texas. Gillian Anderson has called it her favorite episode of the series. It holds a 9.2 on IMDB.
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (Season 3, Episode 4) - 9.2 Also rated 9.2, this Darin Morgan-penned episode from 1995 features Peter Boyle as a reluctant psychic who can only foresee how people will die. It won two Emmy Awards, Outstanding Guest Actor for Boyle and Outstanding Writing for Morgan.
Those two episodes share the top spot. IMDB breaks the tie by vote count, giving Bad Blood the edge.
Paper Clip (Season 3, Episode 2) - 9.0The conclusion to the Anasazi trilogy, this mythology episode ties Mulder's father to Operation Paperclip, the post-WWII program that brought Nazi scientists to the United States, and to the alien conspiracy at the heart of the series.
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (Season 4, Episode 7) - 9.0 A rare episode that sidelines Mulder and Scully almost entirely, this one constructs an origin story for the series' central villain, implicating him in the assassinations of both JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., framed as a possibly unreliable account.
Redux II (Season 5, Episode 3) - 9.0 The resolution of the Gethsemane arc, centered on Scully's cancer diagnosis and Mulder's fracturing belief system. Three episodes tied at 9.0; IMDB's vote counts determine their order on the list.
Related: Does a Real-Life 'X-Files' Exist? 'The Public Has Been Lied To'
The Erlenmeyer Flask (Season 1, Episode 24) - 9.0 The Season 1 finale delivers actual evidence of government experimentation with alien DNA, then takes it away. It set the template for what the mythology episodes could accomplish.
Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' (Season 3, Episode 20) - 8.9 Another Darin Morgan episode, structured as a Rashomon-style UFO investigation filtered through an author writing a nonfiction novel. Among the most formally inventive hours the show produced.
Small Potatoes (Season 4, Episode 20) - 8.9 Vince Gilligan again. A shape-shifter impersonates Mulder and nearly gets away with it. Lighter in tone, but consistently ranked among the series' best.
Dreamland II (Season 6, Episode 5) - 8.8 The second half of a body-swap story set at Area 51. Michael McKean plays a Man in Black who has switched bodies with Mulder. Leans heavily comedic.
Home (Season 4, Episode 2) - 8.8The most tonally severe entry on this list. So disturbing it was banned from rebroadcast on Fox after its 1996 premiere. Its reputation has only grown since.
Seven of the top 10 come from Seasons 3 through 5, the period widely regarded as the show's creative peak. Three episodes were written by Vince Gilligan, two by Darin Morgan.
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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 11:43 AM.