The X-Files: Gethsemane (4.24)

There's been a clear divide between Mulder and Scully over the last couple of episodes, made even clearer by the hovering specter that is Scully's cancer. This woman is dying of a fatal disease, and Mulder is too busy chasing theories and digging up alien corpses to really care. It's pretty sad. There was a wonderful moment here with Scully's brother attacking Mulder for not being there for her. Scully realizes that she's all alone, and hasn't got an answer to her question. Her behavior throughout the finale is intriguing. She allows herself to be dragged away from a family get-together; she's happy pursuing bad guys and getting injured, despite her illness. Is it a way to try and overcome it? To prove that it's not affecting her? Or is it because she's so isolated that she hasn't really got any other choice?

The X-Files: Demons (4.23)

This feels a lot like treading water before the finale, since it doesn't reveal anything of note. While the idea isn't developed, the possibility that the Cigarette-Smoking Man could be Mulder's real father is at least raised again. At this point, we're clearly all aware that something in the milk ain't clean for the Mulder family. His father was pretty distant and mysterious, while Mulder's mother is a suspicious nightmare, all ambiguity and a clear involvement with the conspiracy hoodoo. And notice how Mulder couldn't even look at her during their confrontation? It was a pretty uncomfortable moment.

The X-Files: Elegy (4.22)

Scully's skepticism has become more contrived over the years, eventually settling in the position of pure denial. Here, Scully witnesses events that go beyond rational explanation yet continues to refuse to acknowledge it. But while in past episodes her denial reads as crazily annoying, the strength of John Shiban's script forces us to only see sadness. She's so terrified of her own mortality, and can't even consider another life-changing occurrence right now, where she accepts that supernatural phenomena actually exists. Gillian Anderson is stunning here, pushing Scully's denial so far that it is released through anger towards Mulder. Their final scene together is heartbreaking. They're both so terrified of her cancer that they're at each other's throats. It's a horrible, but both inevitable and truthful evolution of the story.

The X-Files: Zero Sum (4.21)

Skinner continues to prove he's one of the strongest characters on the show with this Mitch Pileggi-heavy episode. Skinner is a stoolie for a reprehensible monster, trying to do the right thing but forced to orchestrate an awful chain of events in the hopes of achieving his end goal (to save Scully). There was a lot of fun to be had here, with the atmospheric and almost dialogue-free early sequences with Skinner disposing of Jane Brody's body, while Mulder seeking help and advice from the very man he's unknowingly pursuing was equally entertaining. The conspiracy episodes only truly work at this point when it doesn't feel like the writers are simply tossing a series of elements into a pot, and Zero Sum thankfully only explores one of them.

The X-Files: Small Potatoes (4.20)

Comedy works at its finest when there is an undercurrent of tragedy. Eddie Van Blundht, the shapeshifting, once-tailed gentleman at the center of Small Potatoes, is a schlubby loser who uses his abilities to become what he never has been as Eddie. With his powers, he doesn't have to be the ignored fertility clinic janitor, he can be the businessman or the lovable husband or the gun-toting FBI agent. What he's responsible for is genetic rape, but in Eddie's mind it's merely an escape from an unfulfilling existence. And then there's Mulder. Now, Mulder appears perfectly happy leading the life he leads, but somebody like Eddie automatically thinks different. Mulder is a handsome, charming government employee with a hot work partner. And yet he associates with nerds, calls up phone sex lines and keeps to himself. Why should a life that great be wasted? These are the themes raised throughout the hour, one of the show's finest comedy episodes.

The X-Files: Synchrony (4.19)

While entertaining, Synchrony works better as a series of ideas than as a logical slice of science-fiction. I'm a huge fan of time-travel episodes in general, and the allusions to Back to the Future in the teaser were pretty great. Equally effective were the guest characters, from the sadness of the older Jason to the icy resourcefulness of Lisa. But there was a real feel here of a missed opportunity, and a significant lack of emotion when it came to its time-bending conclusion. Here we have two versions of the same person, the older version killing his younger self to prevent chaos, and it doesn't deliver the sucker punch it probably should have.

The X-Files: Max (4.18)

Strangely for an episode in which he barely appeared, and even stranger considering he's not even what you would call a recurring character, I found Max Fenig curiously affecting here. I don't know if it was the prolonged fear he conveyed in the abduction scene, or just how driven and aware of his likely demise he was in the video he left for Mulder and Scully, but he was a tragic character, and I just felt terrible for everything he'd experienced in his life. The repeated abductions, the determination to get the truth out there. He's like an unluckier version of Mulder.

The X-Files: Tempus Fugit (4.17)

Even without the inclusion of Max Fenig, this episode is a total throwback to the first season, where the conspiracy episodes weren't awash in a sea of vagueness, ambiguous characters like The Cigarette-Smoking Man hadn't been run into the ground, and there was an attractive simplicity to the mysteries of UFOs and cover-ups. The idea of losing nine minutes of time is one of my favorite X-Files motifs, and while it isn't explained or evolved upon here, it's nice to see to it resurfacing.

The X-Files: Unrequited (4.16)

My appreciation for this episode stems from the fact that it's a conspiracy episode rooted in a standalone mystery. It's also welcome to see the conspiracy involved in incidents and events far removed from the usual UFO-related hoodoo. I understand that that is actually one of the biggest complaints about the episode, that the details of what the powers that be actually wanted in the long term didn't make a whole lot of sense. They set a series of events so an invisible assassin would want to kill generals who themselves wanted to expose POW secrets. I guess it's a little long-winded, but I don't really have a problem with the logistics here. At least it's something a little different.

The X-Files: Kaddish (4.15)

Kaddish is a slow-burner episode, one which takes a while to get going but once it does proves to be a surprising improvement on similarly plotted X-Files hours. We're pretty used to both minority group exploration and revenge tales on this show, and both types have been done with varying success in the past. Kaddish goes a little deeper than similar hours, with an interesting script that is by turns horror movie, cultural expose and love story.

The X-Files: Memento Mori (4.14)

The conspiracy episodes are now at a point where they're not merely creating even more problems and conspiracies within existing conspiracies, but are just revisiting past events. Several of the reveals here (the clones, CSM once again holding power over something or someone) are mere remakes of old episodes, and it's disappointing to see a story that could be pretty huge get reduced to the same ol', same ol'. Memento Mori is all over the place, but the conviction of Gillian Anderson's performance undoubtedly saves it from disaster.

The X-Files: Never Again (4.13)

Cancer equals a death sentence. That's what we all presume, anyway. There's the fighting, the therapy, the potential overcoming of such a hideous ailment, but at the end of everything it still in all our heads equals death. Scully, here, is lost in that place. Her cancer hasn't been confirmed, but it is all she can think about. Cancer is the elephant in the room. It's never uttered, but it's all over this episode, as Scully abandons her duties and embarks on a voyage of self-discovery, utilizing her sexuality and experiencing both pleasure and pain.

The X-Files: Leonard Betts (4.12)

One of the issues that is stopping me from completely loving The X-Files is the way the show's two protagonists are written. They're great characters and performed impeccably, but they're written so relentlessly dour and miserable all the time that they frequently lose their humanity. They may as well be two sharp-suited cyborgs most of the time; they're so unemotional and bleak. I mention this because Leonard Betts feels like the first episode in a long while where they're written as human. They exhibit human characteristics and emotions, and it helps that the rest of the hour is equally as awesome.

The X-Files: El Mundo Gira (4.11)

I'm always a little ambivalent about X-Files episodes centered on minority groups, since so often the show bathes in stereotypes and cultural clichés instead of exploring actual issues. El Mundo Gira doesn't necessarily avoid these trappings (it makes a decent attempt at reflecting cultural 'issues', I'll give the show that), but it is still pretty awful. I'm informed that the title translates to 'as the world turns' in Spanish, implying spoofery on Mexican telenovelas and their melodramatic ridiculousness. However, in the hands of the show's worst writer, any self-conscious awfulness instead only reads as completely unintentional.

The X-Files: Paper Hearts (4.10)

731, one of season three's various mythology episodes, played around with the idea of the fantastical elements of the series being a vast, unbelievable lie engineered to cover up real evil perpetrated by humans. Paper Hearts, one of the series' greatest episodes so far, covers similar ground to far greater effect, combining the best elements of traditional standalone episodes with the one over-arching mystery this show hasn't systematically destroyed yet (though they've definitely tried)...

The X-Files: Terma (4.9)

It's disappointing that so much of Terma is annoyingly complex and ridiculous, since the whole "alien rock from Mars" idea is pretty fun. And no matter how illogical the writers appear to be making it, the black oil (or, now, 'the black cancer' - way cooler) is still a great plot device. And while I wouldn't say Terma is any more annoying than a lot of the other more recent conspiracy episodes, more than ever it seems to be more convoluted junk folded in on itself.

The X-Files: Tunguska (4.8)

I admit that I've reached the point where I'm not ecstatic whenever I realize another conspiracy episode is right around the corner. This is especially true of the Tunguska/Terma two-parter, which I had only heard bad things about. At the center of this episode at least is the resurfacing of Alex Krycek, a character whose purpose eludes me. He's always seemed like somebody written in to the show purely for fan service, being largely vague and angry all of the time. I guess the homoerotic banter and physicality between him and Mulder is fun, but it's clearly the show grasping at straws here.

The X-Files: Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man (4.7)

This is undoubtedly a strong episode. It's also one that works on a variety of different levels, subverting expectations at repeated junctures, advancing the scope of the show's tone and of the history of the world our protagonists occupy, as well as raising some fun questions about the show as a whole: conspiracies within conspiracies, and the elusive truth that hides somewhere between fact and fiction. The Cigarette-Smoking Man's elaborate history, detailed here, is by turns shocking and pretty ridiculous, creating an episode that is pretty darn spectacular in what it wants to achieve.

The X-Files: Sanguinarium (4.6)

Plastic surgery is intrinsically horrifying. Just the names of the procedures represented here (liposuction, face peel) sound pretty gross. Pair this with the at-the-time growing popularity of such procedures, and it's unsurprising that the show would explore this area of medical science, if only to exploit it for all of its grotesque qualities. So, we're audience to face meltings, face suckage, explosions of blood, and pentagram leeches. The latter is clearly a band-name in the making. It's a little disappointing, however, that Sanguinarium is lacking in the substance department. Sure, it's insanely gross, but pretty light everywhere else.

The X-Files: The Field Where I Died (4.5)

I have always struggled with this episode. I remember watching it years ago and coming away from it tired, unmoved and a little frustrated that I had just spent an hour watching something so boring. Before watching it again, I assumed that it must have been something wrong with me, and not the episode. It's Morgan & Wong, surely it's gotta be pretty great. In the end, while this episode isn't as bad as I remembered, I'm still not sure it's executed well at all.