044. Home (The X Files)

"I can tell you don't have no children. Maybe one day you'll learn the pride...the love...when you know your boy will do anything for his mother"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 11th October 1996
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 4, Episode 2
WRITTEN BY: Glen Morgan & James Wong

Loosely based on a story from Charlie Chaplin's autobiography, Home is an episode that takes The X-Files to extremes it's never been to before. Every taboo is shattered - incest, disfigurement, dead children. It's certainly not light viewing.

The villains of the story are the Peacock family, a group of hillbillys who go on a murder rampage after being suspected of kidnapping. What's great is that the kids may look (and even act) like monsters, but they're still very much human. When you see it from their perspective, they're just a family that want to be left alone and allowed to do things their way.

The scenes where Mulder and Scully investigate the house are gold. The Sheriff bites it in a gruesome manner, and it becomes a difficult obstacle for Mulder and Scully to safely navigate the deathtrap that is the Peacock house. There's a lot of tension when they enter the creepy-looking house, and find inside various unsettling sights.

Shocking, provocative and brutal, Home gets under your skin and still manages to be incredibly entertaining. Morgan and Wong deliver a story that's the closest to a horror movie The X Files has ever been.

028. Ice (The X Files)

"I just want to make sure we are who we say we are"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 5th November 1995
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 8
WRITTEN BY: Glen Morgan & James Wong

The story may be familiar to anyone who has seen The Thing. Mulder, Scully, a group of scientists and their pilot go up to an Arctic base and get isolated in close quarters with a deadly parasite. Paranoia and suspicion sets in as the group know that any one of the could really be infected.

Ice is perfect in its simplicity. It tells a focused story and creates a tone that sets the intensity for the episode. The monster of the week is not the worm, but the people - how they turn on eachother and the lengths they go to to stay alive when put in extreme circumstances.

Mulder and Scully's final stand-off where Mulder has to talk Scully out of shooting him is the best scene. Of course, the audience knows deep down that Mulder was never really a suspect, but that's not the point. This is the episode where Scully learned to trust Mulder implicitly.

008. Beyond The Sea (The X Files)

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid to believe"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 7th January 1994
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 13
WRITTEN BY: Gleo Morgan & James Wong

At first glance, Beyond The Sea doesn't seem like a particularly unique episode of the show. The monster-of-the-week format is still present and notable, although the monster is less literal in this case, taking the form of a Death Row convict with psychic abilities, who claims he can help with a current case in exchange for release. But one of the things it's notable for is that it takes the usual X Files formula, and subverts it, with Scully ending up in the role of believer and Mulder as the skeptic.

Why the reason for this role reversal? The case comes at a particularly vulnerable time for Scully, who has just lost her father. The idea that the serial killer might be able to contact the deceased gives her hope. On the other hand, Mulder is too blinded by his disgust of the man to believe anything he says.

Brad Dourif is amazing as Boggs, exerting an unnerving creepiness, even without the aspect of his "gift". Boggs' rendition of the titular tune really stays with you. His relationship with Scully mirrors Clarice and Hannibal's. As with many of the best X Files episodes, the mystery is inconclusive, and there's evidence for multiple interpretations. The line between coincidence and paranormal blurs, leaving the audience and Scully at a crossroads, not knowing what to believe.

An important episode for Scully's character, and one of the most memorable of the series.