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Underrated X-Files Episodes

flagg99

By flagg99
in The X-Files [V]

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Bastet

Bastet

I either never saw (anything from S8 and S9), don't remember (Drive), or don't like (3) most of the episodes on that list.  For the rest, Young at Heart isn't bad, but I certainly wouldn't credit it with anything that would make it underrated (nevermind "criminally" underrated), since I think it's generally regarded as one of those "eh, it's fine but not something I'll re-watch much" episodes.  Same with The Walk.

 

Off the top of my head, I can't think of an episode widely decried or ignored that I consider much better than that reputation would suggest, but I'll ponder.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

(edited)

"Casual sex was not out of the ordinary for either [Mulder or Scully]..."

 

Was he watching the same show I was?  >.<

 

I would agree with a few of them (Redrum, Drive, Audrey Pauley, Vienen) but others, I'm wondering if this guy just went thru a list of unpopular eps and selected titles at random.

 

Improbable (s9). It's a strange one, but it's one that really made me think and I enjoyed Burt Reynolds in it.

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with Improbable.  On paper, I love it.  And I do enjoy Burt Reynolds, I thought he brought a good combination of goofy/serious, whichever was appropriate at the time.  But for some reason it just doesn't click for me.  Maybe it's the bizarre music/dance scenes that just leave me saying WTF??  Even though I "get it" (the patterns in life) it just takes me out of it too much.

 

I think for me, there's a lot of REALLY underrated eps in Season 7, eps that to me are a gold mine for the subtle shifts and changes in M/S's relationship and interactions with each other.

Edited by Taryn74
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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

"Casual sex was not out of the ordinary for either [Mulder or Scully]..."

 

Was he watching the same show I was?  >.<

 

I would agree with a few of them (Redrum, Drive, Audrey Pauley, Vienen) but others, I'm wondering if this guy just went thru a list of unpopular eps and selected titles at random.

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with Improbable.  On paper, I love it.  And I do enjoy Burt Reynolds, I thought he brought a good combination of goofy/serious, whichever was appropriate at the time.  But for some reason it just doesn't click for me.  Maybe it's the bizarre music/dance scenes that just leave me saying WTF??  Even though I "get it" (the patterns in life) it just takes me out of it too much.

 

I think for me, there's a lot of REALLY underrated eps in Season 7, eps that to me are a gold mine for the subtle shifts and changes in M/S's relationship and interactions with each other.

 

Word. >_< That made me chuckle tbh. They weren't given that much of one, and it (for the most part) was only hinted at.

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Hidebehind

Hidebehind

(edited)

I've never seen anyone say anything positive about Travelers, but I like it. The monster was kinda cool and actually scary enough that I was a bit unnerved while watching it the other day (and I haven't been scared by an episode in many, many years). I also appreciate the attempt to flesh out the X-Files universe. The explanation for the "X" Files was a nice touch, and I liked that they explored William Mulder's backstory.

I like Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man and Unusual Suspects for much the same reason. These are also not very popular with most fans, correct?

Chinga gets a lot of vitriol, and it's actually one of my favorite episodes from season 5. Same for Kill Switch, All Souls, and Mind's Eye. Scratch that; I think season 5 is underrated in general.

I think The Goldberg Variation is excellent, but it often goes unmentioned.

I like Badlaa (I'm not even going to try to defend myself here).

I think IWTB gets more flack than it deserves.

Hmm... maybe I just have bad taste? :p

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SparedTurkey

SparedTurkey

 

I think IWTB gets more flack than it deserves.

Me too. I don't think it was the best ever but not bad. And I think a product of issues - I think this happened with the writer's strike so no rewrites could happen. Plus, Mulder/Scully together. I've seen worse movies.

 

I also like Chinga - maybe for the Mulder phone calls. I could see Stephen Kings influence but yeah - it was slightly ridiculous.

 

I like X-Cops. It just makes me laugh - particularly Edy and Steven. I like a lot of season 7 though.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

I've never seen anyone say anything positive about Travelers, but I like it. The monster was kinda cool and actually scary enough that I was a bit unnerved while watching it the other day (and I haven't been scared by an episode in many, many years). I also appreciate the attempt to flesh out the X-Files universe. The explanation for the "X" Files was a nice touch, and I liked that they explored William Mulder's backstory.

I like Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man and Unusual Suspects for much the same reason. These are also not very popular with most fans, correct?

Chinga gets a lot of vitriol, and it's actually one of my favorite episodes from season 5. Same for Kill Switch, All Souls, and Mind's Eye. Scratch that; I think season 5 is underrated in general.

I think The Goldberg Variation is excellent, but it often goes unmentioned.

I like Badlaa (I'm not even going to try to defend myself here).

I think IWTB gets more flack than it deserves.

Hmm... maybe I just have bad taste? :p

 

I didn't mind Musings either tbh. Kind of felt sorry for CSM in it.

 

Chinga, I liked it for the banter. A pretty good ep in that regard.

 

I liked the Goldberg Variation too!

 

Word. IWTB isn't perfect, but it's still ok and M & S are together.

Me too. I don't think it was the best ever but not bad. And I think a product of issues - I think this happened with the writer's strike so no rewrites could happen. Plus, Mulder/Scully together. I've seen worse movies.

 

I also like Chinga - maybe for the Mulder phone calls. I could see Stephen Kings influence but yeah - it was slightly ridiculous.

 

I like X-Cops. It just makes me laugh - particularly Edy and Steven. I like a lot of season 7 though.

 

Seconded. It was just partially bad timing in that regard.

 

Exactly. Those two really made that ep shine. Same here!

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joelene

joelene

Drive is only on that list because of Cranston/Breaking Bad. It's an alright episode, but come on.

I think All Souls and Mind's Eye are pretty underrated. I think they're great. 2Shy as well. And Sanguinarium, which I find endlessly rewatchable. I little harder to defend than the others, I'll admit. Rewatchable and underrated doesn't have to mean the same thing, but I do think it's a little bit underrated. Or maybe I just like it because it's so gross.

I used to think Young at Heart was very underrated but I've fallen less and less in love with it over the years. Still think it's a decent episode, though.

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HalcyonDays

HalcyonDays

Chinga was creepy as hell, TBH. Totally Stephen King all over it too.

 

Just watched one that I haven't seen in ages - Theef - and actually really liked it. It was good. 2Shy is one of my favourites, as is another one called Hungry.

 

Season 5 and 7 really are underrated, especially 5. I tend to choose rewatches a lot from season 4 and 5, for some reason. Just consistantly good episodes.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

If Badlaa was about anything else, ANYTHING, I would enjoy the ep.  It was a great study into Scully trying to "be" Mulder but she just could not see what he would see, and her frustration with that.  But a guy who crawls up people's ass to travel?  I just CAN'T.

 

I should give Travelers another try.  I just wasn't in the mood for a M/S-free episode at the time.

 

I pretty much agree with everything else mentioned.  Except Sanguinarium.  I hate it with a passion.

 

The more I watch X-Cops, the more I think it may be one of my favorite episodes ever.  I. LOVE. IT.

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supposebly

supposebly

I'm in the middle of season 4: so here are the ones l found underrated:

 

I absolutely adore Musings...it fleshes out Old Smokey, makes his life look incredibly sad and pathetic, possibly beginning with thinking to serve his country with an assassination. And his attempts at writing.....he should have written about his actual life, but he couldn't, since it's all "classified". Overall, I think it achieves what it set out to do.

 

I like Sanguinarium  because it rates up with Home on the ickiness factor for me. Stil, it makes very little sense but that isn't really a criterion for X-files episodes, is it?

 

2shy works for me if I assume that these women have grown up very sheltered and have never encountered a creep before. I really have to turn off my brain in order to follow through. I did wonder if he died in prison. I like that it makes romatic vampires look like the creeps they are.

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janestclair

janestclair

2shy works for me if I assume that these women have grown up very sheltered and have never encountered a creep before. I really have to turn off my brain in order to follow through. I did wonder if he died in prison. I like that it makes romatic vampires look like the creeps they are.

 

2Shy is also a pretty scary concept for the time period it originally aired in.  Online interaction was a relatively new thing, and people were leery of meeting strangers on the internet. So it works for that reason. 

 

Meanwhile, I frankly hate that list.  Drive is a really good episode, and I do like Vienen and Redrum, but the rest of it is garbage.  3?  Seriously?  Nothing good about 3. The Walk and Young at Heart are average at best. Not bad, but nothing I would randomly choose to rewatch.  And while I do not hate season 8 and 9, and I like Doggett, John Doe is still deadly boring to me.

 

X-Cops has seriously grown on me over the years and now I love it. That should absolutely  be on the list. Die Hand Die Verletzt was one I always thought was underrated, until I started posting here, and found a lot of people like it as much as I do.  I would also add Field Trip, Folie a Deux, Our Town, The Pine Bluff Variant, and Via Negativa.If we're going for sheer gross out factor, F. Emasculata. 

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Taryn74

Taryn74

I would also add Field Trip, Folie a Deux, Our Town, The Pine Bluff Variant, and Via Negativa.

 

Agree with these as well.  I'm never really sure why TPBV, for one, isn't better received.  I think it's a very solid ep, very suspenseful.

 

Robert Patrick acts the SH!T out of Via Negativa.  The scene where he's dreaming that he's about to kill Scully, and then himself?  Chilling.

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smrou

smrou

Drive is only on that list because of Cranston/Breaking Bad. It's an alright episode, but come on.

I guess I disagree because I've always been a big fan of "Drive". It's not a top tier episode, but I'd put it on the second tier down. I thought that was a popular opinion, though, so I wouldn't have named it as an underrated episode. But maybe it is. 

 

Apart from that I thought the list was pretty much garbage from my perspective. All of the episodes were blah/forgettable or seasons 8/9 (so I just don't care). 

 

The Pine Bluff Variant

I agree with that one. I've always liked it a lot and was surprised when we were choosing best/worst by seasons or maybe when we were doing the elimination game that it's apparently not liked by many. 

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wanderingstar

wanderingstar

Robert Patrick acts the SH!T out of Via Negativa.  The scene where he's dreaming that he's about to kill Scully, and then himself?  Chilling.

 

He really, really does. 

 

Agree w/some of the others mentioned here, especially Field Trip and Folie a Deux. I've also always liked Monday, Trevor and Milagro - though not sure how underrated that last one is.

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