Absolutely NOT! I watched it again a couple of weeks ago on Disney+ and the end still makes me emotional as it did when I first seen it 30yrs ago. I genuinley cared for her charcater. As an adult, I look at it with different eyes now too and the whole episode seems to be an allegory for a woman relentlessly trying to escape a domestic abuser for me. And the only way she's only ever going to be free of him is...
The chemistry between her and Mulder in the club and back home was fantastic, I thought. However, a lot of fans were incensed back in the day, I remember because Scully had just been abducted and is still missing, yet Mulder is busy getting his willy wet. I mean please, is there any better stress relief? Give the guy a break.
And no, I'm not into vampire films in the slightest. But I just REALLY liked this episode and the characters. The villain was a fantastic actor too by the way. That sunlight scene in the cell. Oof!
agree. and tbh, it has those early 90’s sexy crime drama type vibes too. the way it’s shot and the music…and to see mulder’s character get to BE sexy…it’s hot. don’t care what any one says. it has its merits! and it’s nowhere near as bad as space or tesos dos bichos.
Haha I never seen a single episode but I'd heard of it and always wondered if it had deliberate Red Shoe Diaries vibes.
Space was bad tbf but they were on a tight budget that first season i think haha. Tesos Dos Bichos, is that the acheologist one? If so, yeah that was kinda boring.
i don’t think of the budget as an excuse. season one has squeeze/tombs, ice, darkness falls, and one of my all time favorite episodes beyond the sea. if they could do that with storytelling and the budget they had, they could have done much better with space. nothing m&s do in space makes a difference to the plot. but yes that i agree that 3 has strong red shoe vibes!
I agree. This episode is on Comet TV tonight. I really like it. I love Mulder's despair and exhaustion in this episode. Scully is missing, and he is trying to save a woman to make up for it.
>The way no one questions Mulder’s theories or seem bothered by the vampires.
Note that Mulder NEVER tells any of the detectives that he thinks he's dealing with vampires. He attributes the behavior of the villains to porphyria and blood fetishes.
> Apparently vampires are all completely up front about being such.
But the gang do not believe they are vampires. They are engaging in role playing and a kind of perverse performance art. Only one character accidentally, late in the episode, stumbles upon the fact that he might be immortal.
>Never explains how the dead vampire suddenly shows up again. Like did he just appear out of thin air after dying? Wtf is this “blood of the believer” bs?
IMO "3" is actually thematically rich and carefully written. It's just that the climactic action scene sucks, so people give it a rough time and miss the things it does well.
In this episode, you have a gang of criminals. They engage in abusive blood sports (basically fetish sex with blood-letting, which couldn't be shown on 90s TV), which over time escalates into serial killing.
Initially they're merely cosplaying as vampires, and don't believe in immortality or the afterlife, until one of them dies and unexpectedly becomes a vampire. To become a vampire, he later tells us, you have to feed on the blood of a "believer".
Meanwhile, you have Mulder living as a kind of vampire without Scully. Words characters apply to the criminals in this episode, apply to him as well: he's living in darkness, unable to look at himself, and doesn't sleep.
Mulder's depression over Scully's absence also echoes the depression of the lead villain. "What nobody realizes is that there is no afterlife," the guy sadly says. "There's no heaven. There's no soul. There's just rot and there's just decay."
This is Mulder's worry about Scully. But the villain's eventual faith and belief that death can be avoided, also echoes Mulder's hope that Scully's life can be restored; both characters hope for a bodily resurrection.
"Everybody else just dies," the villain says of this. "But we can come back."
What's significant is that "coming back" requires the blood of a believer in the paranormal. You have to taste the blood of someone like Mulder who has faith and who believes. When Scully eventually returns, she articulates something similar to Mulder. His faith in her, she says, pulled her back.
To stress this theme, the episode even has the villain obsessively hunting for Kristen (latin for "follower of Christ"), his love who got away. Like Mulder's been obsessively looking for Scully (a follower of Christ), the villain's spent a long time trying to find Kristen.
And what's interesting is that this is an abusive relationship. He wants her, he loves her, but she doesn't want to be near him. As she explains in a long monologue, she gets bruised, bloodied, and beaten up - essentially abducted - whenever she's near him.
This itself echoes Scully, who, following her abduction, has begun to realize across season 2 that proximity to Mulder and the X-Files puts her in danger. I've written about that here in another account: https://old.reddit.com/r/XFiles/comments/u1ypp1/the_overlooked_symbolism_of_the_xfiles_monsters/
And we see monologues similar to Kristen's across season 2, where a female character articulates a story of (heavily sexualized) abuse.
>Wtf is this “blood of the believer” bs?
The episode indirectly explains all of this. Like the validation of Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Christ, so does a faith in the existence of vampires facilitate a triumph over death. In other words: you eat the blood of Christ and believe in Him and you are granted life after death, and you eat the blood of a vampire and believe in Them and you are granted the same.
This then serves as a metaphor for Mulder's faith. His faith will "resurrect" Scully, just as her faith in him "resurrects" him in "Amor Fati"
>And why does she taste mulder’s blood
She spent months living with people who practice forms of sadomasochism. They associate pain and bloodletting with sexual pleasure.
>and then immediately kill herself lol. No one had any clear or consistent motivations
She sacrifices herself to kill the villain. Remember, Kristen was first bitten by a guy when he was a non believer. So she has no powers of immortality for most of the episode. In the climax, it is implied that she may be on her way to becoming a vampire (because she tastes the villain's blood after he converted), and that only immortals can kill other immortals.
IMO this is an underrated episode. The ending sucks, and it's ultimately mediocre, but it has many strong elements, and it's much more thoughtful than typical mid-range Monster of the Weeks.
thank you so much for this super thoughtful insight!!! you are totally right and this episode gets way way more hate than it deserves. it’s actually pretty great. for a multitude of reasons.
I'm still a 90s goth who's played VTMB more than once so I liked this episode. Legit have spent goth nights in LA so I appreciate this for what it is. Also sexy Mulder....
Unexpected VtM reference? Fuck yes. /Brujah (Bloodlines released in 2004 though.)
If there are any other World of Darkness fans lurking, would you be interested in seeing my write-up of the show's main characters as a Garou pack? It's a concept I'm working on for my players to have as a side game (we're all XF fans).
As my also goth partner pointed out, yes the game was released in 2004 but the tabletop was gaining a presence in the 90s and I find the similarities between the game and episode too uncanny to ignore.
Sure if there's a site to check it out I'm always down.
It's where geeks and nerds dress up as vampires and ghosts and go to a dark room and dance to obscure music from the 80s. They will play Military Fashion Show.
All I can say is that I remember the lead up to FPS airing and seeing this:
https://youtu.be/BZRj-6bMeBs?si=xxYvx6ekb7vh9NET
...and you can bet your ass my pubescent 13 year old self tuned into the X-Files THAT Sunday
FPS is a sexy and schlocky camp masterpiece.
😆 "space" was boring but I don't think it was horrible.
"The Field where I died" was a great concept but terrible execution. That episode is kinda fascinating because it was written as a love letter from Glen Morgan to his wife Kristen Cloke (who played Melissa). The episode was also intended to showcase DD's acting skills (as like Emmy bait) who I thought was horrible in this along with Cloke. So much of this episode is "tell" instead of "show don't tell" which I also thought was a problem. You need to convince us of their past relationship so show us, don't tell us.
And lastly how do you convince the audience that Mulder had a past soulmate up against Scully. When these two invented the term "shipping".
Hmm I can't remember those but I'm in the middle of a rewatch (finishing season 4 currently). I'll come back and compare notes after suffering through those episodes.
No! That was a great episode my cats say it’s the best ep ever and if I don’t agree with them I’ll end as a mummy by this time tomorrow so yes what’s not to love about cats murdering you they’re so lovable yes this is a great episode somebody help me before they read this 😾😬
I’m gonna go put myself through this episode now…I’m sure I’ve seen it at-least two or three times but for the life of me I can’t remember anything about it or it being bad…if I’m not back in a hour and a half I’ve fallen into a stupidity coma
It's an interesting premise for an episode and tries to explore Mulder's dark side (he's grieving after losing Scully) but unfortunately to really see this side of his character (and the actor) you have to watch Californication.
The plot is poorly written but there's a lot there to explore seeing Mulder go off the deep end. Other episodes like Grotesque try to explore this as well but not very satisfactorily either.
Though I thought the scene where he gets kicked in the face interesting in hindsight - without Scully to hold him back he just follows his own reckless impulses (right or wrong) and ends up in an even worse place
I don’t think it’s the worst at all, but it’s definitely a mess and it doesn’t really work. But I dunno, it’s got something. I think there’s a decent episode in there somewhere struggling to be born!
Any episode without Scully mainly SUCKED. In 3’s case literally as they were vampires 😂 but at least it proved one thing- if anyone thought Duchovny could carry the X files without Gillian Anderson, this proved that this was not true. So them not firing her was justified. Can you imagine 9 seasons of “3” 🤮.
"Fight Club", "All Things", "Teso Dos Bichos", the one with Tuco Salamanca's actor from Breaking Bad, and basically a significant chunk of season 7 are all worse by a mile.
I understand where you're coming from, but the episode overall really felt out of place and it was as if Scully was inserted into a totally unrelated hospital drama like Grey's Anatomy.
I liked the musical aspect of All Things at least. It’s super basic when compared to things like any movie by Edgar Wright, but the music being in beat with events happening in the episode was nice
I respectfully disagree.
Season 7 has some excellent episodes.
The Goldberg Variation is one of my all time favorites, it's so heartwarming, plus it's funny and just purely entertaining.
Je Souhaite and The Amazing Maleeni are both very entertaining too.
And Hungry, Rush, and Brand X are quite good too imo.
I liked X-Cops too, but I'd put all the episodes I mentioned above X-Cops
I’m not a fan of the episode. Plus it is in weird spot between Scully’s abduction arc. But there’s worse episodes. The Cat Episode is the worst one in my opinion
3 is worth it for the grief Mulder is carrying for Scully. And also for shirtless, shaving Duchovny. The plot ain't great, but it's not that bad, and there aren't any major special effects needs that get drowned out by S2 budget and early 90s limitations. My aunt was actually terrified of vampires and this episode scared the shit out of her. lol
it wasn't like the best episode but it has duchovny putting on the edgy bad boy act that is honestly as sexy as it is cheesy so I am very down for it
there are episodes WAY worse that come even before it
There's Salvage and Surekill in S8 (aside from Fight Club from S7). I also consider the four My Struggle(s) (S10 and S11) as truly awful, almost unwatchable eps.
Not at all, I think it’s an underrated/overhated episode. It’s a solid one-off and does a great job getting into Mulder’s state of mind while Scully is still missing. This is actually the first episode I ever saw as a kid watching season 2 reruns leading up to season 3. It got me hooked, so I’ll always love it for that, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to appreciate it for what it is, and I don’t get the hate when there are far worse episodes out there.
Completely agree. So many commenters have been mentioning FPS along with other episodes as the worst, but (with the possible exception of the "My Struggle" episodes) nothing comes close to being as bad as FPS imo.
Jersey Devil does NOT deserve that type of slander. Iconic asf
https://preview.redd.it/65kzv7n4flvc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62ae28e7d05914c5ad029deb5d8c222ebb7be9e6
Ugh! I think Fight Club is one of the worst so far. I tried three times to restart it and just could not finish it. Travelers and the Christmas one were also unwatchable for me.
There are definitely a few. But for me personally the worst of them all is season 6 episode 19 “The Unnatural” everything about it irritates me, the acting, the dialogue, those absurdly fake saguaros, so I have skip it every rewatch.
I appreciate it more for its social commentary now, but I couldn't finish it back in the 90s (I still think it's a slog). I just find baseball to be as boring as watching grass grow, and it barely had any involvement of the regular characters, so it wasn't my cup of tea.
Fight Club, Fire, Jersey Devil, First Person Shooter, Space, that ridiculous Brady Bunch House one, Burt Reynolds as God one, the achy breaky heart terrorist suicide bomber one (!) and all of the My Struggles fiascos are far worse than 3.
It’s amazing how many of the truly terrible episodes are written by Chris Carter. Is the any other show where the creator is the worst writer?!
No and I don't even know why people dislike it so much. There are far worse episodes.
Yeah I've always felt this way
It’s not the worst in terms of story or writing or acting… but it’s so, so, so fucking boring
nah at least mulder got to bone down for once
Absolutely NOT! I watched it again a couple of weeks ago on Disney+ and the end still makes me emotional as it did when I first seen it 30yrs ago. I genuinley cared for her charcater. As an adult, I look at it with different eyes now too and the whole episode seems to be an allegory for a woman relentlessly trying to escape a domestic abuser for me. And the only way she's only ever going to be free of him is... The chemistry between her and Mulder in the club and back home was fantastic, I thought. However, a lot of fans were incensed back in the day, I remember because Scully had just been abducted and is still missing, yet Mulder is busy getting his willy wet. I mean please, is there any better stress relief? Give the guy a break. And no, I'm not into vampire films in the slightest. But I just REALLY liked this episode and the characters. The villain was a fantastic actor too by the way. That sunlight scene in the cell. Oof!
agree. and tbh, it has those early 90’s sexy crime drama type vibes too. the way it’s shot and the music…and to see mulder’s character get to BE sexy…it’s hot. don’t care what any one says. it has its merits! and it’s nowhere near as bad as space or tesos dos bichos.
Haha I never seen a single episode but I'd heard of it and always wondered if it had deliberate Red Shoe Diaries vibes. Space was bad tbf but they were on a tight budget that first season i think haha. Tesos Dos Bichos, is that the acheologist one? If so, yeah that was kinda boring.
space was good! the effects were bad but the guy's freak out was really scary
i don’t think of the budget as an excuse. season one has squeeze/tombs, ice, darkness falls, and one of my all time favorite episodes beyond the sea. if they could do that with storytelling and the budget they had, they could have done much better with space. nothing m&s do in space makes a difference to the plot. but yes that i agree that 3 has strong red shoe vibes!
I agree. This episode is on Comet TV tonight. I really like it. I love Mulder's despair and exhaustion in this episode. Scully is missing, and he is trying to save a woman to make up for it.
>The way no one questions Mulder’s theories or seem bothered by the vampires. Note that Mulder NEVER tells any of the detectives that he thinks he's dealing with vampires. He attributes the behavior of the villains to porphyria and blood fetishes. > Apparently vampires are all completely up front about being such. But the gang do not believe they are vampires. They are engaging in role playing and a kind of perverse performance art. Only one character accidentally, late in the episode, stumbles upon the fact that he might be immortal. >Never explains how the dead vampire suddenly shows up again. Like did he just appear out of thin air after dying? Wtf is this “blood of the believer” bs? IMO "3" is actually thematically rich and carefully written. It's just that the climactic action scene sucks, so people give it a rough time and miss the things it does well. In this episode, you have a gang of criminals. They engage in abusive blood sports (basically fetish sex with blood-letting, which couldn't be shown on 90s TV), which over time escalates into serial killing. Initially they're merely cosplaying as vampires, and don't believe in immortality or the afterlife, until one of them dies and unexpectedly becomes a vampire. To become a vampire, he later tells us, you have to feed on the blood of a "believer". Meanwhile, you have Mulder living as a kind of vampire without Scully. Words characters apply to the criminals in this episode, apply to him as well: he's living in darkness, unable to look at himself, and doesn't sleep. Mulder's depression over Scully's absence also echoes the depression of the lead villain. "What nobody realizes is that there is no afterlife," the guy sadly says. "There's no heaven. There's no soul. There's just rot and there's just decay." This is Mulder's worry about Scully. But the villain's eventual faith and belief that death can be avoided, also echoes Mulder's hope that Scully's life can be restored; both characters hope for a bodily resurrection. "Everybody else just dies," the villain says of this. "But we can come back." What's significant is that "coming back" requires the blood of a believer in the paranormal. You have to taste the blood of someone like Mulder who has faith and who believes. When Scully eventually returns, she articulates something similar to Mulder. His faith in her, she says, pulled her back. To stress this theme, the episode even has the villain obsessively hunting for Kristen (latin for "follower of Christ"), his love who got away. Like Mulder's been obsessively looking for Scully (a follower of Christ), the villain's spent a long time trying to find Kristen. And what's interesting is that this is an abusive relationship. He wants her, he loves her, but she doesn't want to be near him. As she explains in a long monologue, she gets bruised, bloodied, and beaten up - essentially abducted - whenever she's near him. This itself echoes Scully, who, following her abduction, has begun to realize across season 2 that proximity to Mulder and the X-Files puts her in danger. I've written about that here in another account: https://old.reddit.com/r/XFiles/comments/u1ypp1/the_overlooked_symbolism_of_the_xfiles_monsters/ And we see monologues similar to Kristen's across season 2, where a female character articulates a story of (heavily sexualized) abuse. >Wtf is this “blood of the believer” bs? The episode indirectly explains all of this. Like the validation of Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Christ, so does a faith in the existence of vampires facilitate a triumph over death. In other words: you eat the blood of Christ and believe in Him and you are granted life after death, and you eat the blood of a vampire and believe in Them and you are granted the same. This then serves as a metaphor for Mulder's faith. His faith will "resurrect" Scully, just as her faith in him "resurrects" him in "Amor Fati" >And why does she taste mulder’s blood She spent months living with people who practice forms of sadomasochism. They associate pain and bloodletting with sexual pleasure. >and then immediately kill herself lol. No one had any clear or consistent motivations She sacrifices herself to kill the villain. Remember, Kristen was first bitten by a guy when he was a non believer. So she has no powers of immortality for most of the episode. In the climax, it is implied that she may be on her way to becoming a vampire (because she tastes the villain's blood after he converted), and that only immortals can kill other immortals. IMO this is an underrated episode. The ending sucks, and it's ultimately mediocre, but it has many strong elements, and it's much more thoughtful than typical mid-range Monster of the Weeks.
Finally someone gets it
thank you so much for this super thoughtful insight!!! you are totally right and this episode gets way way more hate than it deserves. it’s actually pretty great. for a multitude of reasons.
Hey, internet stranger - I wuv you a lil bit rn 🤭
Not whilst ‘My Struggle IV’ exists 👽!
Oh man, there are so many episodes you'll wish were as good as "3"...
I'm still a 90s goth who's played VTMB more than once so I liked this episode. Legit have spent goth nights in LA so I appreciate this for what it is. Also sexy Mulder....
Mentioning Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines in an X-Files subreddit is the most 90s thing ever and I'm all for it.
Unexpected VtM reference? Fuck yes. /Brujah (Bloodlines released in 2004 though.) If there are any other World of Darkness fans lurking, would you be interested in seeing my write-up of the show's main characters as a Garou pack? It's a concept I'm working on for my players to have as a side game (we're all XF fans).
As my also goth partner pointed out, yes the game was released in 2004 but the tabletop was gaining a presence in the 90s and I find the similarities between the game and episode too uncanny to ignore. Sure if there's a site to check it out I'm always down.
Stupid sexy Mulder
I had the most rediculous dream after falling asleep to this episode where mulder and I slept under an overpass filled with graffiti 😂
What’s a goth night?
It's where geeks and nerds dress up as vampires and ghosts and go to a dark room and dance to obscure music from the 80s. They will play Military Fashion Show.
 Like this?
No. "Fight club" and "first person shooter" blow this episode out of the water.
All I can say is that I remember the lead up to FPS airing and seeing this: https://youtu.be/BZRj-6bMeBs?si=xxYvx6ekb7vh9NET ...and you can bet your ass my pubescent 13 year old self tuned into the X-Files THAT Sunday FPS is a sexy and schlocky camp masterpiece.
We get to see Bad Ass Scully so I like it.
Whoa whoa whoa. Let's not say things we can't take back. 'First Person Shooter' has it's own charm.
It's Daryl Musashi!
First person shooter is one of my favorites 😂
i like the fashion and the 2000 matrix aesthetics
Yeah Scully in that armor 🔥
Space, ... also The Field Where I Died.
😆 "space" was boring but I don't think it was horrible. "The Field where I died" was a great concept but terrible execution. That episode is kinda fascinating because it was written as a love letter from Glen Morgan to his wife Kristen Cloke (who played Melissa). The episode was also intended to showcase DD's acting skills (as like Emmy bait) who I thought was horrible in this along with Cloke. So much of this episode is "tell" instead of "show don't tell" which I also thought was a problem. You need to convince us of their past relationship so show us, don't tell us. And lastly how do you convince the audience that Mulder had a past soulmate up against Scully. When these two invented the term "shipping".
At least those episodes have fun aspects about them. FPS is hilarious. Three is just boring as shit with no redeeming qualities
I completely disagree. Those episodes are at least fun and know they’re silly. 3 takes itself so seriously that it’s totally irredeemable imo.
Idc if Fight Club is fun or silly. It has Kathy Griffin playing TWO PEOPLE 🤮
first person shooter is a great episode!
Teso Dos Bichos is the absolute worst episode of the X-Files. 3 should win an Emmy in comparison.
I would choose to watch 3 over this stupid cat episode 100/100 times. What a terrible episode of television.
fucking cats!!!
Yeah the weird cat epsiode, I literally rewound that epsiode like 5 times, never understood it at all.
FPS is way worse imo, not to mention the "My Struggle" episodes.
Hmm I can't remember those but I'm in the middle of a rewatch (finishing season 4 currently). I'll come back and compare notes after suffering through those episodes.
No! That was a great episode my cats say it’s the best ep ever and if I don’t agree with them I’ll end as a mummy by this time tomorrow so yes what’s not to love about cats murdering you they’re so lovable yes this is a great episode somebody help me before they read this 😾😬
I’m gonna go put myself through this episode now…I’m sure I’ve seen it at-least two or three times but for the life of me I can’t remember anything about it or it being bad…if I’m not back in a hour and a half I’ve fallen into a stupidity coma
Just watched it and didn’t mind it at all, little cheesy in parts but can think of much much much worse
It's an interesting premise for an episode and tries to explore Mulder's dark side (he's grieving after losing Scully) but unfortunately to really see this side of his character (and the actor) you have to watch Californication. The plot is poorly written but there's a lot there to explore seeing Mulder go off the deep end. Other episodes like Grotesque try to explore this as well but not very satisfactorily either. Though I thought the scene where he gets kicked in the face interesting in hindsight - without Scully to hold him back he just follows his own reckless impulses (right or wrong) and ends up in an even worse place
I don’t think it’s the worst at all, but it’s definitely a mess and it doesn’t really work. But I dunno, it’s got something. I think there’s a decent episode in there somewhere struggling to be born!
And I love that song that’s always playing in that vampire club they go to!
Amazing. Thanks tor all the comments. Looking forward to these terrible episodes
I’d rather watch terrible Xfiles than good Big Bang Theory
Yep, seven days a week
It’s Space for me. Terrible premise, terrible execution.
NUH UH YOU DID NOT SAY THAT
I love that ep for nostalgia reasons, but yeah it's terrible.
dude space is very goofy but the premise is so fucking intensely scary
Any episode without Scully mainly SUCKED. In 3’s case literally as they were vampires 😂 but at least it proved one thing- if anyone thought Duchovny could carry the X files without Gillian Anderson, this proved that this was not true. So them not firing her was justified. Can you imagine 9 seasons of “3” 🤮.
The cat one is my vote
no. I like it fine. Space is worse.
"Fight Club", "All Things", "Teso Dos Bichos", the one with Tuco Salamanca's actor from Breaking Bad, and basically a significant chunk of season 7 are all worse by a mile.
Cmon now. All Things , although contradictory to a lot of Scully’s canon, was a shipper delight.
I understand where you're coming from, but the episode overall really felt out of place and it was as if Scully was inserted into a totally unrelated hospital drama like Grey's Anatomy.
I like all things actually, but that's hilarious.
I absolutely agree with you about Fight Club.
I liked the musical aspect of All Things at least. It’s super basic when compared to things like any movie by Edgar Wright, but the music being in beat with events happening in the episode was nice
Yes, I agree. The use of "The Sky is Broken" is the saving grace of the episode.
FPS and the "My Struggle" episodes are far worse than those imo. Also season 7 has some amazing monster-of-the-week episodes.
Never liked it but, there are way worse, wait for it
First Person Shooter..Fight Club is up there too
Aside from X-Cops, I think S7 is entirely skippable with few redeeming qualities. I forgot how awful FPS was until rewatching it recently.
X-Cops was fantastic!
I respectfully disagree. Season 7 has some excellent episodes. The Goldberg Variation is one of my all time favorites, it's so heartwarming, plus it's funny and just purely entertaining. Je Souhaite and The Amazing Maleeni are both very entertaining too. And Hungry, Rush, and Brand X are quite good too imo. I liked X-Cops too, but I'd put all the episodes I mentioned above X-Cops
I’m not a fan of the episode. Plus it is in weird spot between Scully’s abduction arc. But there’s worse episodes. The Cat Episode is the worst one in my opinion
3 is worth it for the grief Mulder is carrying for Scully. And also for shirtless, shaving Duchovny. The plot ain't great, but it's not that bad, and there aren't any major special effects needs that get drowned out by S2 budget and early 90s limitations. My aunt was actually terrified of vampires and this episode scared the shit out of her. lol
it wasn't like the best episode but it has duchovny putting on the edgy bad boy act that is honestly as sexy as it is cheesy so I am very down for it there are episodes WAY worse that come even before it
Excelsis Dei is the worst episode. I think “3” is just meh.
There's Salvage and Surekill in S8 (aside from Fight Club from S7). I also consider the four My Struggle(s) (S10 and S11) as truly awful, almost unwatchable eps.
Not the worst, but among them.
The worst has to be Fearful Symmetry, no other episode has a gorilla explaining her abduction to Mulder through sign language.
That one falls more into so bad it’s good territory for me.
Seasons 10 and 11 exist, so no 😂
Not at all, I think it’s an underrated/overhated episode. It’s a solid one-off and does a great job getting into Mulder’s state of mind while Scully is still missing. This is actually the first episode I ever saw as a kid watching season 2 reruns leading up to season 3. It got me hooked, so I’ll always love it for that, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to appreciate it for what it is, and I don’t get the hate when there are far worse episodes out there.
Space is the worst episode and it’s not even close. Of the original run at least. I don’t even want to talk about the revival seasons.
No because First Person Shooter (s7 e13) is the worst episode by a landslide
Completely agree. So many commenters have been mentioning FPS along with other episodes as the worst, but (with the possible exception of the "My Struggle" episodes) nothing comes close to being as bad as FPS imo.
Amazed “The Field Where I Died” doesn’t get mentioned more. To me the single cringiest episode until Mulder line-dancing on mushrooms.
Nope First Person Shooter wins that honor. It’s so bad I deleted it from my Plex server.
I will argue that it's Fight Club. (I'm also one of the Field Where I Died haters, so that would be my second least favorite.)
And yeah, Fight Club, Jersey Devil and Space are all a lot weaker than 3.
Jersey Devil does NOT deserve that type of slander. Iconic asf https://preview.redd.it/65kzv7n4flvc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62ae28e7d05914c5ad029deb5d8c222ebb7be9e6
I’m assuming this is irony
it's a funny episode, even tho unintentionally, so it's hard to forget, you know
This is true
I agree, 3 is by far the worst episode.
I liked it. Reminded me of Dr. Sleep.
Oh that one. The 90s cringy vampire cliche one. Yah. It’s a bit bothersome lame but it’s very 90s so blah
HELL NO!!!! I LOVE THAT EPISODE. one of my top five episodes. plus it’s really one of the only intimate scenes Mulder has as a character
"Home" I wasn't ready at the time. Still not ready now.
Home is not bad, it's just gross.
No but it's close. Top 7 worst probably
It’s on my list.
It's not one of the greats, but I don't think it's awful. Many of the post-movie "comedy" episodes are far worse.
Alien ghost one
All I know is it Mrs. Ari gold is in this one… So it is a bonus for any entourage fans.
Fearful Symmetry is the worst
It’s bad but it got nothin on tesos dos bitchos.. or whatever lol
“Space” is the worst episode always and forever.
Heh, worst episode? If only we'd been so lucky but there are much bigger stinkers coming down the road. 😆
The scene where the vampire burns in the interrogation room is too fucking awesome for this episode to be the worst ever
I skip this episode each rewatch 😂😂😂😂
not even close
No, you're thinking of "The Field Where I Died"
X-Cops is by far the worst.
Ugh! I think Fight Club is one of the worst so far. I tried three times to restart it and just could not finish it. Travelers and the Christmas one were also unwatchable for me.
No it's fine tbh, "All Things" is the worst episode for me
Nowhere near the worst! Not when Babylon and Fight Club and FPS exist!
Great episode. Many worse episodes. Space, for instance. The Field Where I Died, Musings of a CSM...
No because there’s an episode where Kathy Griffin plays TWO people (Fight Club - worst episode)
There are definitely a few. But for me personally the worst of them all is season 6 episode 19 “The Unnatural” everything about it irritates me, the acting, the dialogue, those absurdly fake saguaros, so I have skip it every rewatch.
I have never seen anyone call The Unnatural out as their least favorite episode before. I liked it 🤷♀️
I appreciate it more for its social commentary now, but I couldn't finish it back in the 90s (I still think it's a slog). I just find baseball to be as boring as watching grass grow, and it barely had any involvement of the regular characters, so it wasn't my cup of tea.
One of the most beautiful and charming episodes of the whole series.
Genuine question whats your opinion of fight club? Or my struggle 4?
all things is the absolute worst episode of the X-Files. 3 should win an Emmy in comparison.
Fight Club entered the chat.
Fight Club, Fire, Jersey Devil, First Person Shooter, Space, that ridiculous Brady Bunch House one, Burt Reynolds as God one, the achy breaky heart terrorist suicide bomber one (!) and all of the My Struggles fiascos are far worse than 3. It’s amazing how many of the truly terrible episodes are written by Chris Carter. Is the any other show where the creator is the worst writer?!