The Best Episodes Written By Frank Spotnitz

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   8.3/10(48 votes)

   #1 - 731 (2)

   S3:E1012/1/1995

   Mulder is trapped inside a train car which contains a suspected alien-human hybrid and also a bomb, while Scully pursues the truth about her abduction and the mystery behind the implant in her neck.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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2. 

   8.3/10(52 votes)

   #2 - End Game (2)

   S2:E172/17/1995

   The alien bounty hunter kidnaps Scully and wants to trade her for Mulder's sister, who is revealed to be a clone herself. After the trade goes badly and Mulder discovers the truth about Samantha, he tracks the bounty hunter to his ship buried in the arctic ice and demands the whereabouts of his real sister.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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3. 

   8.2/10(43 votes)

   #3 - Dreamland (1)

   S6:E411/29/1998

   While being detained near the famed "Dreamland" Area 51, a strange craft flies overhead and Mulder swaps bodies with an Area 51 "Man-in-Black". While the other agent has fun in Mulder's body, Mulder himself finds it difficult to fit into someone else's life, especially a shadowy one. Mulder contacts Scully about the body swap and tries to get her the flight data recorder from the UFO test flight, but his alter ego uses Mulder's FBI persona to have him arrested.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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4. 

   8.2/10(42 votes)

   #4 - One Son (2)

   S6:E122/14/1999

   The Cigarette-Smoking Man reveals all the government secrets from the past 50 years in order for his son, Jeffery Spender, to join him in his work. Mulder learns that the final stage of the conspiracy will soon begin with the hybridization of the Syndicate members, and he must stop it from happening. Agent Spender deceives his father and arranges for Mulder and Scully to be reassigned to the X-Files, which doesn't sit too well with the Cigarette-Smoking Man.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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5. 

   8.2/10(43 votes)

   #5 - Dreamland II (2)

   S6:E512/6/1998

   Mulder is thrown in jail at the Area 51 compound but is released when it is discovered that the flight data recorder he stole was a fake. Scully comes to her senses and realizes that the Mulder she sees isn't who he really is and heads back to Nevada to help the real Mulder. Meanwhile, the mechanism that caused the body swap is rapidly snapping back, undoing everything in its wake, and Mulder and his alter ego must race to put themselves back where they belong.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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6. 

   8.2/10(46 votes)

   #6 - Field Trip

   S6:E215/9/1999

   When the bodies of a couple who have been missing for less than a week are discovered to have been reduced to bone, Mulder suggests that recent paranormal phenomena in the area may have caused the accelerated decomposition.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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7. 

   8.2/10(54 votes)

   #7 - Nisei (1)

   S3:E911/24/1995

   An investigation into a video of an alien autopsy puts Mulder and Scully in the middle of a conspiracy involving WWII Japanese scientists brought to America to continue their experiments which may shed light on Scully's abduction.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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8. 

   8.1/10(47 votes)

   #8 - Piper Maru (1)

   S3:E152/9/1996

   A French salvage ship searching for a lost WWII fighter plane unknowingly surfaces an alien which appears in the form of black oil and has the ability to jump hosts. Mulder heads to Hong Kong to investigate the salvage broker who sold the information to the French and he encounters Krycek, who has been selling information from the MJ documents. As Mulder prepares to take Krycek back to the US, the alien makes its way to Hong Kong and takes control of Krycek.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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9. 

   8.0/10(48 votes)

   #9 - Tempus Fugit (1)

   S4:E173/16/1997

   While celebrating Scully's 33rd birthday, a strange woman informs Mulder that NICAP member Max Fenig (see Fallen Angel) has recently died in a plane crash. After a visit to the crash site and finding Max's body with radiation burns on it, Mulder suggests that the plane was intercepted by a UFO and is rapidly being covered up by the military.

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   Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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10. 

    8.0/10(47 votes)

    #10 - Apocrypha (2)

    S3:E162/16/1996

    Mulder pursues Krycek (unaware of the alien that has taken over his body) to get back the DAT tape containing the MJ documents. Meanwhile, the shooting of A.D. Skinner uncovers evidence that could lead Scully to her sister's murderer.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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11. 

    8.0/10(46 votes)

    #11 - Tunguska (1)

    S4:E811/24/1996

    Mulder is given a tip about potentially dangerous paramilitary operations on the U.S. soil but during the sting operation is surprised to find out the identity of his mysterious informant - it turns out to be Alex Krycek. Suspicious about his true motives, Mulder reluctantly follows the information provided by Krycek. However, soon he discovers a much bigger conspiracy which takes him to a gulag in Tunguska, Russia where prisoners are being used for experiments involving a substance of alien origin.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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12. 

    8.0/10(44 votes)

    #12 - Two Fathers (1)

    S6:E112/7/1999

    While the Cigarette-Smoking Man recites to an unseen listener everything about the work of the Syndicate involving a global conspiracy in cooperation with an alien species, Cassandra Spender reappears and is pursued by the scientists who would rather kill her than keep her alive. Cassandra runs to Mulder's apartment and demands that he shoot her because she is the culmination of 50 years work - a living alien/human hybrid - and colonization will begin if the aliens find out about her.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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13. 

    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #13 - Inside the X-Files

    S0:E42/1/1998

    A short documentary about the first 5 seasons of the X-Files. Behind the scences and story ideas including interviews of the cast.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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14. 

    7.9/10(47 votes)

    #14 - The Red and the Black (2)

    S5:E143/8/1998

    After the gathering at the abduction site where everyone is killed by the rebel bounty hunters, Cassandra Spender disappears and Mulder is blamed by her son, Jeffrey, who is an up-and-coming FBI agent. Meanwhile, the Syndicate is continuing their tests to create a vaccine for the Black Cancer and Marita Covarrubias becomes an unwilling test subject.

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15. 

    7.9/10(45 votes)

    #15 - Zero Sum

    S4:E214/27/1997

    After a swarm of bees mysteriously kill a postal worker in an enclosed restroom, Assistant Director Skinner covers it up by destroying the evidence. In order to complete the task he poses as Agent Mulder, however his deception backfires. When Mulder finds out and confronts him, Skinner reveals that he is working for the Cigarette-Smoking Man in order to obtain a possible cure for Scully's cancer.

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16. 

    7.8/10(46 votes)

    #16 - Memento Mori

    S4:E142/9/1997

    Scully's recent failing health is revealed to be an inoperable cancer in her skull, which appears to be common among abductees and she attempts to come to terms with her condition. Meanwhile, Mulder and the Lone Gunmen break into a high-security research lab to find the cure that could save her life.

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17. 

    7.8/10(51 votes)

    #17 - Leonard Betts

    S4:E121/26/1997

    After the body of a decapitated EMT disappears from the morgue and an identical man starts work at the same hospital, Mulder believes that the man has the ability to regrow parts of his body, including his head. The agents soon discover that Betts' body is riddled with cancer and he is able to live in that condition but needs to feed on cancerous tumors to keep up his strength.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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18. 

    7.8/10(51 votes)

    #18 - Max (2)

    S4:E183/23/1997

    Mulder is arrested for investigating the plane crash and interfering with a military operation, while Scully is caught in the attempted assassination of Corporal Frish.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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19. 

    7.8/10(57 votes)

    #19 - Sunrise

    S1:E210/23/2015

    Juliana and Joe are becoming closer and closer in the neutral Rocky Mountain states. Juliana finds a job in a local cafe and receives information of a mysterious King James bible in a local bookshop. Frank is tortured and interrogateed by the Japanese Occupation Military Police back home to know about Juliana's whereabouts.

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20. 

    7.7/10(38 votes)

    #20 - Biogenesis (1)

    S6:E225/16/1999

    Two scientists confer about each of their metal objects that were found in Africa and they theorize that the objects are pieces of a puzzle which could be undeniable proof that human, plant, and animal life did not originate on this planet. When one of the scientists is killed and the objects are stolen, the agents investigate and Mulder begins to experience severe neurological pain caused by the objects.

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    Writer:Frank Spotnitz

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21. 

    7.6/10(38 votes)

    #21 - The Amazing Maleeni

    S7:E81/16/2000

    When a small-time magician performs a trick where it appears that he turns his head all the way around but is then found in his van dead with his head neatly sawed off, Mulder and Scully suspect he was murdered and get caught up in an intricate scheme planned by two magicians trying to rob a bank.

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22. 

    7.6/10(43 votes)

    #22 - The Pine Bluff Variant

    S5:E185/3/1998

    Scully fears that Mulder has gone to the other side when she sees him assisting a federal suspect escape custody. In truth he has infiltrated a terrorist group testing a deadly biological weapon that can eat through a person's flesh.

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23. 

    7.6/10(64 votes)

    #23 - The New World

    S1:E11/15/2015

    Joe Blake, a resistance fighter, leaves German New York with cargo for neutral Colorado. In Japanese San Francisco, Juliana Crane receives footage of the Allies winning the war and a bus ticket to Colorado from her sister. There, she meets Joe. Joe reveals a dark secret.

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24. 

    7.6/10(35 votes)

    #24 - The Tiger's Cave

    S2:E112/16/2016

    When Julianna allows Joe to flee from the hands of the Resistance, she is questioned on her loyalty, Obergruppenführer John Smith returns with news on the event that almost led to his death and Trade Minister Tagomi is overwhelmed by the vision of life if the Nazis had failed to win World War 2.

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25. 

    7.6/10(10 votes)

    #25 - The Dome and the Domicile

    S1:E210/18/2016

    The war is throwing Florence into chaos. Piero, Cosimo's only son, is eager to fight. Meanwhile, Cosimo manages to "buy" the withdrawal of Milan's troops, thus saving the city, but in the meantime Florence has again fallen into the plague.

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