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The Best Episodes of FX: The Series Season 1

Every episode of FX: The Series Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of FX: The Series Season 1!

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Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 1 - The Illusion (1)
    7.6/10(30 votes)

    #1 - The Illusion (1)

    S1:E1

    When a beautiful actress helps frame movie special effects master Rollie Tyler for a vicious crime, he finds himself on the run from the law. Rollie turns to his pal, NYPD Detective Leo McCarthy, to help catch the real culprits. They uncover, and bring down a secret auction being held in New York, where the world's richest collectors are bidding for millions of dollars in smuggled gems.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 2 - The Illusion (2)
    7.7/10(18 votes)

    #2 - The Illusion (2)

    S1:E2

    When a beautiful actress helps frame movie special effects master Rollie Tyler for a vicious crime, he finds himself on the run from the law. Rollie turns to his pal, NYPD Detective Leo McCarthy, to help catch the real culprits. They uncover, and bring down a secret auction being held in New York, where the world's richest collectors are bidding for millions of dollars in smuggled gems.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 3 - Zero Hour
    7.9/10(17 votes)

    #3 - Zero Hour

    S1:E3

    While a huge bomb ticks away somewhere in the city of New York, the right-wing terrorist leader, who is in police custody, refuses to divulge it's location. Leo turns to Rollie to trick the terrorist into talking by making it appear that the bomb has already gone off. Things go awry when the terrorist discovers their plan and escapes, taking Rollie hostage and ordering a second bomb to be detonated.

    Director:Eric Till
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 4 - High Risk
    7.4/10(14 votes)

    #4 - High Risk

    S1:E4

    A group of desperate ex-cons attempt to rob a gold exchange on the top floor of a downtown high rise. The robbery goes sour and the crooks take a group of hostages, including Leo's friend, Coleen O'Malley. Leo calls on movie Rollie, to help launch a rescue attempt by staging a phony helicopter crash on the building's roof.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 5 - Payback
    8.4/10(15 votes)

    #5 - Payback

    S1:E5

    Tensions are high when Rollie decides to work on a gangster flick being directed by a director whom Angie believes was responsible for the on-set accident that killed her father years earlier. When the director himself is killed in a suspicious accident, all evidence points to Angie. Leo joins Rollie to unmask the real killer... a mobster who is attempting to take over one of the largest criminal families in New York.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 6 - The Ring
    7.1/10(14 votes)

    #6 - The Ring

    S1:E6

    A murderous boss of a stolen car ring slips through Leo's fingers yet again. With the help of Angie and Lucinda they get into the ""hot"" car business and stage an elaborate ruse to find the kingpin's secret ""chop shop"" and shut down the operation for good.

    Director:Mario Philip Azzopardi
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 7 - Dingo
    8.1/10(16 votes)

    #7 - Dingo

    S1:E7

    A family reunion between Rollie and his charming con-man father, Dingo, could be their last when a ruthless bookie leans on dad to pay off a huge gambling debt. Leo joins them in a complex con game of shutting down the biggest illegal gambling operation on the east coast.

    Director:Allan Eastman
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 8 - White Light
    7.6/10(17 votes)

    #8 - White Light

    S1:E8

    When her friend, a UFO buff, is murdered, Angie gets Rollie to enlist Leo to find the killer. With the help of Lucinda, their search leads them to a top-secret military base rumored to contain a crashed UFO and alien bodies. The danger becomes more down-to-earth when they uncover a plot by crooked officers to smuggle deadly plutonium and sell it to the highest bidder.

    Director:Mario Philip Azzopardi
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 9 - The Brotherhood
    7.8/10(17 votes)

    #9 - The Brotherhood

    S1:E9

    Rollie and Leo discover a deadly group of Irish Terrorists hatching a plot to steal the Crown Jewels of England from a New York museum where they are on display. Rollie and Leo stage a break-in at the museum to replace the real jewels with fake ones, but are betrayed and forced to steal the genuine article!

    Director:Jim Charleston
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 10 - French Kiss
    9.0/10(44 votes)

    #10 - French Kiss

    S1:E10

    A powerful bomb kills an investment banker scheduled to testify against a Colombian drug-money laundering operation, and Rollie's good friend, and stuntman, Rick Forsythe. Leo discovers the bombing is part of an inside plot to steal $16 million from the drug cartel. With the help of Lucinda and Angie, they use movie magic to apprehend the murderers.

    Director:Allan Eastman
    Writer:Robert Hopkins

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  11. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 11 - Eye of the Dragon
    8.2/10(14 votes)

    #11 - Eye of the Dragon

    S1:E11

    Romantic sparks fly when Rollie is reunited with a beautiful Hong Kong woman while working on a martial arts action movie. But Leo suspects she's really working with foreign assassins hired by Red China to kill the movie's popular star. Leo tries to warn the lovestruck Rollie of the danger, but Rollie has ideas of his own and works with the woman to foil the assassin.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Robert Hopkins

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  12. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 12 - Target
    7.8/10(12 votes)

    #12 - Target

    S1:E12

    After a protected witness is murdered, Leo enlists Rollie to help him trap a mysterious sniper who can hit a target from more than a mile away. But the plan fails and the sniper embarks on a campaign of revenge against Leo and his friends.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 13 - Supernote
    7.4/10(17 votes)

    #13 - Supernote

    S1:E13

    When a fellow cop is killed in a drug bust by a mid-eastern dignitary who claims diplomatic immunity, Leo gets Rollie to help expose the diplomat's ties to a Russian gangster before they can launch a diabolical counterfeiting operation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 14 - Medea
    8.2/10(15 votes)

    #14 - Medea

    S1:E14

    Rollie works on a major Broadway show that is plagued by suspicious accidents, and it looks like the star, a fading Hollywood actress attempting a comeback on stage, is the target of an obsessed fan who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get to her. Leo is called in to investigate and uncovers a dark secret in the star's past. But when Lucinda takes the woman's place on stage, Rollie must use his skills with F/X magic to save his friend's life.

    Director:Jon Cassar
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 15 - Shivaree
    8.0/10(12 votes)

    #15 - Shivaree

    S1:E15

    Five years ago, three men staged a daring armored car robbery in which a young man was crippled for life. They then hid the money in a place that requires all three men to find. Now, the statute of limitations is almost up, and Leo is determined to see that justice is done before it's too late. After one of the men is arrested, Rollie , Angie, and Leo stage a ruse to make it appear as if he is dead. Rollie then poses as a friend and confidante of the captured man and joins the other two thieves in their hunt for the money. But a double cross by one of the men puts the lives of both Rollie and Angie on the line.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 16 - Gemini
    8.2/10(12 votes)

    #16 - Gemini

    S1:E16

    When Leo sees disturbing similarities between the science fiction movie for which Rollie is providing the special effects, he begins to suspect the movie's director is a serial killer who terrorized Central Park four years ago and was never caught. He talks Rollie into using FX to get him to confess, but they soon discover the director has a dual personality and his murderous ""other"" is now taking over, ready to kill again.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 17 - Double Image
    8.4/10(15 votes)

    #17 - Double Image

    S1:E17

    Learning that a wealthy computer magnate is going to be hit, Leo calls on Rollie so he can masquerade as the intended target and thwart the assassination. The trick works so well, however, that Rollie and Angie are kidnapped by the magnate's jealous brother and a ruthless arms smuggler who plan to stage an even more dangerous masquerade.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Robert Hopkins

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  18. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 18 - Quicksilver
    8.2/10(12 votes)

    #18 - Quicksilver

    S1:E18

    When Rollie discovers a sinister international arms smuggler named Victor Loubar has stolen his identity, he teams up with FBI agent Elena Serrano to hunt for the impostor. Together they enter the dark, sinister world of Loubar, where nothing is what it seems, and no one can be trusted, racing to stop the mysterious criminal mastermind from stealing a top secret experimental ""smart grenade"" from a military contractor.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 19 - Get Fast
    7.4/10(11 votes)

    #19 - Get Fast

    S1:E19

    When a drug dealer and hopped-up movie star get Rollie fired from his movie job, he teams up with Detective Francis Gatti and an embittered Narcotics Detective in a personal war against two of the city's biggest drug gangs. Using F/X illusions, they engineer a war between the two gangs to stop tons of heroin from hitting the streets.

    Director:Allan Eastman
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 20 - Bad Influence
    7.8/10(11 votes)

    #20 - Bad Influence

    S1:E20

    Rollie is helping students make a video for a class project when a band of armed men invades the high school and takes over. Trapped and badly wounded, Rollie joins forces with a juvenile delinquent-in-the-making as they discover the crooks are using the school to stage a multi-million dollar armored van robbery. Using materials from around the school, Rollie and the student fashion makeshift movie F/X illusions to defeat the invaders and rescue the student's girlfriend who is being held captive by the thieves.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 21 - Reunion
    7.9/10(18 votes)

    #21 - Reunion

    S1:E21

    An innocent meeting with an old school chum becomes a race against death for Angie when she is mistaken for a woman who possesses proof of a prominent law firm's connections to organized crime. When the kidnappers realize their mistake, Angie escapes and is on the run. Rollie comes to her aid and they use their F/X skills to defeat the pursuing killers.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. FX: The Series Season 1 Episode 22 - Script Doctor
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Script Doctor

    S1:E22

    Weary of having his work ruined by others, Rollie jumps at the chance to direct a low-budget ""heist"" movie. But he and Leo discover the film's ""producers"" are actually crooks who are planning to pull-off the fictional robbery for real and steal gold bullion from a United Nation's vault.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Illusion (1)" is the best rated episode of "FX: The Series" season 1. It scored 7.6/10 based on 30 votes. Directed by Paul Lynch and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/9/1996. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Illusion (2)".