The X-Files (Season 3)

While I'd put Season 2 around the same level of quality as the first, The X-Files's third season is not only a massive improvement for the series, but it reaches some of the highest heights out of any of the show's seasons.

Myth Arc: Similarly to last season starting the trend of the finales being just the first part of a larger arc, Season 3 starts the trend of X-Files seasons starting on a fantastic note, with The Blessing Way and Paper Clip serving as fantastic followups to the events of Anasazi. I think what makes many of the Myth Arc episodes this season so great is that Carter and the writers are willing to really raise the stakes for a lot of them. Aside from the incredibly dramatic Paper Clip, Nisei/731 feels like a full-on action movie. It's a fast-paced and tense two-parter that takes place nearly entirely on a train car. Meanwhile, Piper Maru/Apocrypha is personal and drama-driven, while still introducing the pretty terrifying black oil. In the grand scheme of things, this season doesn't quite give us any answers to anything, but you're still going to have a good time with most of the Myth Arc episodes. However, the season finale Talitha Cumi is a bit of a let-down, as it ends right when things are starting to really get good.

Monster Of The Week: The Monster Of The Week episodes are pretty solid too. After the end of Season 2, Darin Morgan got to direct a whopping three episodes, and all of them are just amazing. Gilligan only wrote one, but it's also one of the best in the series. Outside of those strong four episodes, the rest of the MoTWs are predictably hit or miss, with the infamously bad Teso Dos Bichos being a particularly weak point (which was so bad the whole cast and crew got shirts reading "I survived Teso Dos Bichos"). However, there are some other notable points, like the fantastic early casting of Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black for DPO, the solemn Skinner-focused Avatar, and the comedic Syzygy. As fun as the Myth Arc episodes were this season, they were definitely continuing to get more and more convoluted, so the sheer variety on offer in terms of the MoTW episodes was always a breath of fresh air, even if not every episode ended up being a hit.

Between the Myth Arc and MoTW episodes, there were much more highlights than the previous two seasons:

Paper Clip: A fantastic resolution to the Anasazi arc, Paper Clip is incredibly jam-packed with big moments. Skinner is probably the highlight here, not only did he join Mulder and Scully to help them expose the conspiracy but he delivers a pretty massive blow to the Smoking Man this episode. But there's also Mulder stumbling upon a UFO, Melissa's death, the backstory of Mulder's father, Krycek's assassination attempt, and the X-Files being saved.

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose: The second best Darin Morgan episode, Cylde Bruckman's Final Repose manages to juggle tones shockingly well. The script and dialogue are incredibly funny, but Bruckman's story is tragic and deals with some really heavy themes. The pacing, the writing, the acting, the effects, everything just works so perfectly here, and it's not even my favorite episode in the series.

731: 731 is an action-packed episode that has Mulder stuck on a train with the dangerous Red-Haired Man and a bomb attached to the front car. The scramble to prevent people from being killed, stop the bomb, and save the train's alien-human hybrid patient is really tense and leads to some great character development for X.

Apocrypha: While not as good as 731 or Paper Clip, I was really glad that the show actually resolved who killed Melissa rather than dragged it out. Scully was easily the highlight of the episode, as she had to try and save Skinner while stopping his and Melissa's shooter, while also dealing with the grief over her sister's death.

Pusher: Another fantastic Gilligan episode, Pusher is a tense cat and mouse game between Mulder and titular villain. Pusher is another great X-Files villain, charismatic and terrifying, with the intriguing ability to bend people to his will. It all culminates in that fourth act, one of the best and most intense scenes in the series where Mulder is forced to play a game of Russian Roulette with Pusher and Scully. The acting is phenomenal across the board, and it really showcases how good Gilligan is at writing Mulder and Scully's relationship.

Jose Chung's From Outer Space: I actually really like it when TV shows poke fun at their own premises (ex. Buffy's The Zeppo), but The X-Files did it the best. Jose Chung's From Outer Space is about a standard X-Files case being told by multiple witnesses including Mulder and Scully, but all of their descriptions are fairly unreliable. Not only is it uproariously funny (Mulder's scream), but it also feels like a perfect encapsulation of the series, from the bizarre happenings, to the tension between Mulder and Scully. It's an entirely about the differing beliefs that people can have, making one of the funniest episodes in TV history also one of the most thought-provoking. As a result, I can easily call Jose Chung's From Outer Space my favorite X-Files episode, and even one of my favorite episodes of all time.

Overall, Season 3 is a really strong X-Files season. The Myth Arc episodes are complex but incredibly action-packed and tense, and the best Monster Of The Week episodes rank among my favorite episodes in the show.

4/5 Stars