
X-Files Retrospective Podcast
By Blaine Dowler

X-Files Retrospective PodcastDec 22, 2020

Goblins (Novel)
In this novel by Charles Grant, Mulder and Scully are joined by two other agents tracking down a seemingly invisible killer.

Millennium: 522666 (1x05)
Frank Black engages in a battle of wits with a bomber.

Millennium: The Judge (1x04)
Frank is called in to investigate when body parts are sent in the mail to seemingly random people.

Millennium: Dead Letters (1x03)
Frank travels to Portland, Oregon to track a serial killer, and works with an officer being considered for employment by the Millennium group.

Whirlwind (Novel)
Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders, in which the victims appear to have been skinned alive.

Millennium: Gehenna (1x02)
Frank is called to San Francisco to investigate serial killings that lead him to a cult.

Millennium: Pilot (1x01)
Meet Frank Black, and man we've met before when this series had its final episode as a part of The X-Files in season 7.

Dusk (Short Story)
Mulder and Scully investigate missing teenage girls who were obsessed with an unhealthy "romance" in a series of vampire novels.

Loving the Alien (Short Story)
Scully needs to investigate alone to find a missing Agent Mulder.

Oversight (Short Story)
Skinner needs to convince the accounting department not to shut down the X-Files.

Topps Comics 2 and 3
Mulder and Scully investigate the deaths of witnesses to a 40 year old UFO crash, and uncover an entirely different government conspiracy.

Not To Be Opened Until X-Mas (Topps Comics Issue #1)
Mulder and Scully must chase a document stolen from the Vatican.

Ground Zero: Novel
Kevin J. Anderson makes his first contribution to the world of The X-Files.

Back in El Paso My Life Will Be Worthless (Short Story)
Agent Jackson Cole is forced to work with Mulder and Scully against his will when one of his closed cases opens again.

Catatonia (Short Story)
Mulder and Scully investigate catatonic teenagers, in a case completely unrelated to the pilot episode of the series.

Non Gratum Anus Rodentum (Short Story)
Skinner needs to decide which side he's on, but he gets distracted by seeing a man he served with in Vietnam.

Beast of Little Hill (Short Story)
Mulder and Scully investigate two completely different "alien" bodies in a tourist trap town.

X-Files Origins: Devil's Advocate
This novel by Jonathan Mayberry gives us a look at a teenage Dana Scully, whose classmates keep dying under suspicious circumstances.

X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos
A look at Kami Garcia's novel about 17 year old Fox Mulder.

Stryzga
Lauren A. Forry takes us into the woods of Pennsylvania for this short story from The X-Files: Secret Agendas.

Kanashibari (Short Story)
Mulder and Scully investigate Japanese mythology while in California.

Dead Ringer (Short Story)
Mulder and Scully encounter a pair of fae.

The Voice of Experience (Short Story)
Covering a short story from The X-Files: The Truth is Out There by Rachel Caine.

What the X-Files Means to Us
Listener feedback, and an announcement.

Series Wrap Up
A look back at the entire series.

Season 11 Wrap Up
A look back at season 11.

My Struggle IV (11x10)
Mulder and Scully get a lead on the whereabouts of their son, and several important characters will be dead by the time it's all said and done.

Nothing Lasts Forever (11x09)
Mulder and Scully meet a former movie and television star who really, really doesn't like to grow old.

Familiar (11x08)
Mulder and Scully investigate the deaths of several children in Connecticut.

Rm9xbG93ZXJz (11x07) (X-Files Retrospective #239)
Always tip your server.

Kitten (11x06)
Skinner goes AWOL, and it's directly related to his time in Vietnam.

Ghouli (11x05)
A teenage boy makes his girlfriends try to kill each other, in a very personal case for Mulder and Scully.

The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat (11x4)
Mulder and Scully reunite with Reggie, their original partner who started the X-Files. You remember Reggie, right?

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Plus One (11x3)
Mulder and Scully deal with doppelgangers in an episode that is significantly better than Fight Club.

This (11x2)
Langly reaches out for help, but Langly's dead... isn't he?

My Struggle III (11x1)
We get the resolution to that massive cliffhanger from season ten. Sort of.

Season 10 Wrap Up
An overview of the televised season 10.

My Struggle II (10x6)
Mulder and Scully try to stop the end of the world as we know it, and they do not feel fine.

Babylon (10x5)
Mulder and Scully meet their FBI doppelgangers and get involved in a terrorism case.

Home Again (10x4)
Glen Morgan returns as writer, and also as director, when Mulder and Scully go to Philadelphia to investigate murders related to a homeless relocation project.

Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster (10x3)
Mulder and Scully are brought in to investigate a series of murders whose prime suspect is able to transform between human and reptile forms.

Founder's Mutation (10x2)
Mulder and Scully investigate a strange suicide in a medical research facility.

My Struggle (10x1)
Mulder and Scully return again in the event series, 23 years after the series originally hit the airwaves.

Bones: The X in the File (5x11)
Another procedural show spoofs The X-Files and guest stars some very familiar performers.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Mulder and Scully return to the silver screen to save the lives of kidnapped villains with the help of a psychic sex offender.

Season 9 Wrap Up
A look back at the entirety of season nine.

The Truth (9x19)
Mulder returns, and is put on trial for his life in the original series finale.

Sunshine Days (9x18)
Doggett and Reyes investigate a murder in... the Brady house?

Release (9x17)
John Doggett finally gets closure regarding the death of his son.

William (9x16)
A horribly disfigured man may or may not be Mulder, but he seems to have an unhealthy interest in William.

Jump the Shark (9x15)
The dangling plotlines from The Lone Gunmen are wrapped up in The X-Files.

Scary Monsters (9x14)
Leyla Harrison returns to help a boy deal with the monsters under his bed.

Improbable (9x13)
Burt Reynolds joins The X-Files playing a character that is not officially identified as God.

Underneath (9x12)
One of Doggett's old cases is reopened.

Audrey Pauley (9x11)
Reyes has a near death experience that lasts for hours.

Our monthly Patreon shout-out: April 2021
Our monthly Patreon shout-out: April 2021

Provenance / Providence (9x09 and 9x10)
UFO cultists kidnap baby William and insist that Mulder must die to save the world.

Hellbound (9x08)
Reyes feels compelled to involve Scully and Doggett in a case involving flayed victims.

John Doe (9x07)
John Doggett wakes up with amnesia in Mexico.

Trust No 1 (9x06)
There is a chance to bring Mulder home, but at what risk?

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Lord of the Flies (9x05)
Comedy is back with another insect-oriented episode.

4-D (9x04)
Doggett has been shot, and Reyes is the prime suspect, despite having been 14 miles away.

Daemonicus (9x03)
Doggett and Reyes are called in to what seems to be a satanic ritual killing.

Nothing Important Happened Today I & II (9x01 and 9x02)
Season nine launches with more information on the super soldier program.

Season Eight / The Lone Gunmen Wrap Up
Reviewing the 2000-2001 TV season of The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen.

The Lone Gunmen: All About Yves (1x13)
The series finale of The Lone Gunmen turns out to be a cliffhanger.

Essence / Existence (8x20 and 8x21)
Scully's baby is due, but not everyone wants to see it born.

The Lone Gunmen: The Cap'n Toby Show (1x13)
Langly meets one of his heroes, and it doesn't go well.

Alone (8x19)
Doggett gets a new partner as Scully goes on maternity leave.

The Lone Gunmen: The Lying Game (1x11)
Is Walter Skinner a murderer?

Vienen (8x18)
Mulder and Doggett are trapped on an oil rig with the alien virus.

The Lone Gunmen: Tango de los Pisteleros (1x10)
The Lone Gunmen can help stop DOD secrets from getting smuggled out of the country, if they let Yves kill Langly...

Empedocles (8x17)
Agent Reyes returns.

The Lone Gunmen: Diagnosis: Jimmy (1x09)
Jimmy suspects his doctor is a killer.

The Lone Gunmen: Maximum Byers (1x08)
Byers and Jimmy go undercover as prison inmates.

Three Words (8x16)
Mulder is back, but he and Doggett don't get along.

The Lone Gunmen: Planet of the Frohikes (1x07)
The boys are called upon to rescue... a highly intelligent chimp?

Deadalive (8x15)
Mulder is back, just in time to be buried, because nobody ever autopsies and enbalms an FBI agent who disappears for months and then turns up recently deceased.

The Lone Gunmen: Madam, I'm Adam (1x06)
Stephen Tobolowsky comes from a parallel reality... or does he?

The Lone Gunmen: Three Men and a Smoking Diaper (1x05)
The boys kidnap a baby. What could possibly go wrong?

The Lone Gunmen: Like Water For Octane (1x04)
The boys pursue a mythic water powered car.

The Lone Gunmen: Eine Kleine Frohike (1x03)
Frohike goes undercover.

The Lone Gunmen: Bond, Jimmy Bond (1x02)
We finally meet our fifth and final cast member.

The Lone Gunmen: Pilot (1x01)
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains a plot to destroy the World Trade Center by crashing a plane into it, under the pretence of a terrorist attack.

This Is Not Happening (8x14)
Mulder is back, barely.

Per Manum (8x13)
Introducing Duffy Haskell.

Medusa (8x12)
This was a huge set.

The Gift (8x11)
A possible reference to The Twilight Zone.

Badlaa (8x10)
Beware the butt genie.

Salvage (8x09)
OHSA should know about this place.

Surekill (8x08)
The military would love a sniper like this.

Via Negativa (8x07)
Skinner and Doggett team up.

Redrum (8x06)
Starring Joe Morton

Invocation (8x05)
Shades of Flight of the Navigator.

Roadrunners (8x04)
That's a heck of a slug.

Patience (8x03)
Introducing a monster inspired by Batman comics.

Within and Without (8x01 and 8x02)
Season eight launches with the return of Mulder. Kind of.

Season seven wrap up
A look back at season seven.

Requiem (7x22)
Season seven draws to a close.

Je Souhaite (7x21)
The X-Files does a story about a genie.

Fight Club (7x20)
Guest starring Kathy Griffin

Hollywood A.D. (7x19)
David Duchovny gets to write and direct again.

Brand X (7x18)
Turns out that smoking kills.

all things (7x17)
Gillian Anderson gets to write and direct.

Chimera (7x16)
Another look at suburbia

En Ami (7x15)
William B. Davis gets to write one.

Theef (7x14)
You don't have to be a good speller to be a criminal.

First Person Shooter (7x13)
William Gibson writes again.

X-Cops (7x12)
The show spoofs the popular reality show Cops.

Sein und Zeit and Closure (7x10 and 7x11)
We learn the solution to the mystery of Samantha Mulder's disappearance.

Signs and Wonders (7x09)
A Fundamentalist church may not be wrong.

The Amazing Maleeni (7x08)
Stage magicians get their shot.

John Woo's Once a Thief: The Director Files (1x18)
Nick Lea stars in a spoof of The X-Files from another series.

Orison (7x07)
Donnie Pfaster returns.

The Goldberg Variation (7x06)
Guest starring Wile E. Coyote.

Rush (7x05)
The show does its own take on super speed characters.

Millennium (7x04)
Chris Carter's other show ends in the middle of The X-Files.

Hungry (7x03)
Guest starring Judith Hoag.

The Sixth Extinction and The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati
Season seven launches across the world.

Babylon 5: Crusade: The Visitors from Down the Street (1x12)
The Babylon 5 spinoff Crusade does its version of The X-Files.

Season six wrap up
A look back at season six.

Biogenesis (6x22)
This is the end of season six.

Field Trip (6x21)
Beware the trees....

Three of a Kind (6x20)
Another episode focused on The Lone Gunmen.

The Unnatural (6x19)
David Duchovny writes and directs an episode about a baseball playing alien.

Milagro (6x18)
Beware the psychic surgeon.

Trevor (9x17)
This redefines the idea of a custody battle.

Alpha (6x16)
Guest starring Andrew Robinson

Monday (6x15)
The X-Files does Groundhog Day

Agua Mala (6x14)
Beware of the water.

Arcadia (6x13)
A parody of suburbia.

Two Fathers and One Son (6x11 and 6x12)
Jeffrey Spender has a really bad day.

Tithonus (6x10)
Guest starring Geoffrey Lewis.

S.R. 819 (6x09)
The return of a familiar face.

The Rain King (6x08)
Guest starring Victoria Jackson

Terms of Endearment (6x07)
Guest starring Bruce Campbell.

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (6x06)
Guest starring Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin

Dreamland and Dreamland II (6x04 and 6x05)
Guest starring Michael McKean

Triangle (6x03)
An homage to The Wizard of Oz.

Drive (6x02)
Guest starring Brian Cranston.

The Beginning (6x01)
A new season, post-film.

The X-Files: Fight the Future
The first movie.

Season five wrap up
A look back at season five.

The End (5x20)
Season five ends rather significantly.

Folie a Deux (5x19)
A telemarketing parody

The Pine Bluff Variant (5x18)
A personal favourite of mine.

Home Improvement: Believe It Or Not (7x22)
Home Improvement does a spoof of The X-Files.

all souls (5x17)
A Scully-centric episode.

Mind's Eye (5x16)
This guest star is not as famous as her mother.

Travelers (5x15)
The origin of the X-Files.

Patient X and The Red and the Black (5x13 and 5x14)
Veronica Cartwright guest stars in this two parter.

Bad Blood (5x12)
Another take on vampires.

Kill Switch (5x11)
Co-written by William Gibson.

Chinga (5x10)
Written by Stephen King

Schizogeny (5x09)
Guest starring Millennium's Sarah Jane Redmond.

Kitsunegari (5x08)
A sequel episode to a monster of the week, Pusher.

A Christmas Carol and Emily (5x06 and 5x07)
Scully... a mother?

The Postmodern Prometheus (5x05)
An homage to classic Universal horror films.

Detour (5x04)
Got to love corporate training exercises.

Unusual Suspects (5x03)
A flashback to Mulder meeting the Lone Gunmen.

Redux and Redux II (5x01 and 5x02)
Season five starts with a shocker.

Season Four Wrap Up
Looking back on season four.

Gethsemane (4x24)
Season four ends here.

Demons (4x23)
Mulder... murderer?

3rd Rock From the Sun: Dick and the Single Girl (2x24)
3rd Rock From the Sun incorporates a lot of references to The X-Files this week.

Elegy (4x23)
A new recurring character is introduced.

Zero Sum (4x21)
Exposing the dangers of an uncontrolled pandemic.

Small Potatoes (4x20)
Another comedic episode, but with Darin Morgan on the other side of the camera.

Synchrony (4x19)
Time travel stories are fun, but microbiology tells us they don't work like this. If you travel to the future, you die. If you travel to the past, everybody dies.

Tempus Fugit and Max (4x17 and 4x18)
Max returns for this two parter.

Unrequited (4x16)
Vietnam veterens and super soldiers.

Kaddish (4x15)
A Golem appears.

Memento Mori (4x14)
Scully faces her cancer.

Never Again (4x13)
Jodie Foster guest stars.

Leonard Betts (4x12)
This one had the post-Super Bowl spot.

The Simpsons: The Springfield Files (8x10)
The Simpsons lampoons The X-Files this time.

El Mundo Gira (4x11)
Immigration and the chupacabra.

Paper Hearts (4x10)
Were they paper or cloth?

Terma (4x09)
The two parter ends.

Tunguska (4x08)
A two parter with Russia and Krycek.

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (4x07)
One possible backstory for the Cigarette Smoking Man is revealed.

Sanguinarium (4x06)
Choose your health care provider carefully.

Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations (5x06)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine references The X-Files.

The Field Where I Died (4x05)
Gee... what a riveting teaser...

Unruhe (4x04)
This defies a few conventions.

Teliko (4x03)
Be careful who you upset.

Home (4x02)
One of the most disturbing episodes in the history of the series.

Herronvolk (4x01)
Season four begins!

Season 3 wrap up
Looking back at season three.

Talitha Cumi (3x24)
The end of season three.

Wetwired (3x23)
More dangerous screen time, combined with bad water.

Quagmire (3x22)
Lots of Moby Dick references here.

Avatar (3x21)
Guest starring Amanda Tapping.

Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" (3x20)
Charles Nelson Reilly guest stars alongside Alex Trebek.

Hell Money (3x19)
Guest starring Lucy Liu.

Teso Dos Bichos (3x18)
Not one of the better episodes.

Pusher (3x17)
Meet Robert Patrick Modell.

Apocrypha (3x16)
The latest two parter wraps up.

Piper Maru (3x15)
Another two part story kicks off.

Grotesque (3x14)
Kurtwood Smith shows up this week, and the cinematography is gorgeous.

Babylon and My Struggle II
Wrapping up the peek ahead at season ten.

Home Again
Another peek ahead.

Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
Again, an immediate response before we return to it later.

My Struggle / Founder's Mutation
A peek ahead at season 10. We'll return to it in the original broadcast order when the time comes.

Syzygy (3x13)
Guest starring Ryan Reynolds and more.

Reboot: Trust No One (2x09)
The first all-CGI television series spoofs The X-Files.

War of the Coprophages (3x12)
A hilarious riff on "The War of the Worlds".

Revelations (3x11)
Another episode tied to Christian writings.

731 (3x10)
The two parter concludes.

Nisei (3x09)
Another two parter begins.

Oubliette (3x08)
Sometimes the blind can see...

The Walk (3x07)
What do you mean he can't walk just because he doesn't have legs?

2shy (3x06)
Another serial killer.

The List (3x05)
Be kind to people, even your prisoners.

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (3x04)
The first truly hilarious episode.

D.P.O. (3x03)
More notable "before they were stars" style of guest stars here.

Paper Clip (3x02)
The end of the first three parter.

The Blessing Way (3x01)
The series returns for season 3.

Season two recap
Looking back at season two.

Anasazi (2x25)
This was a watershed episode for audience retention.

Our Town (2x24)
Watch out for bird flu.

Soft Light (2x23)
Tony Shaloub guest stars, long before Monk.

F. Emasculata (2x22)
This is what happens when you ignore pandemic warnings.

The Calusari (2x21)
Another creepy child.

Humbug (2x20)
The first concentrated attempt at humour, with some great guest stars.

D0D Kalm (2x19)
A ship at sea...

Fearful Symmetry (2x18)
A commentary on zoos.

End Game (2x17)
Ending a major two parter.

Colony (2x16)
Another two parter begins.

Fresh Bones (2x15)
Refugee internment camps on US soil? Inconceivable!

Die Hand Die Verletzt (2x14)
This one stars someone I've actually met.

Aubrey (2x12)
Here's a serial killer story.

Excelsis Dei (2x11)
Quite the 'shrooms...

Red Museum (2x10)
This was almost a very unexpected crossover.

Firewalker (2x09)
I've always had a soft spot for this one.

One Breath (2x08)
Scully returns.

3 (2x07)
The first vampire episode.

Ascension (2x06)
Part two, and an even bigger cliffhanger ending.

Duane Barry (2x05)
Part one of two, with one heck of a cliffhanger.

Sleepless (2x04)
Meet Alex Krycek.

Blood (2x03)
The real dangers of screen time.

The Host (2x02)
We'll see this actor again, but we'll mostly know him for his writing.

Little Green Men (2x01)
Season two kicks off with a very different status quo.

Season One Roundup
Reviewing the complete season 1.

The Erlenmeyer Flask (1x24)
Season one ends in a way that really shows what the show can do.

Roland (1x23)
We'll see this guest star again, but good luck recognizing him!

Born Again (1x22)
The one where the Kingpin learns Mulder's secret identity.

Tooms (1x21)
Eugene Victor Tooms returns.

Darkness Falls (1x20)
Look out for small, glowing insects.

Shapes (1x19)
Here's another classic monster.

Miracle Man (1x18)
Here's an actor that Chris Carter will hire again.

E.B.E. (1x17)
This is a much bigger landmark than anyone realized at the time.

Young at Heart (1x16)
That's one way to stay young...

Lazarus (1x15)
Scully's history starts to matter.

Genderbender (1x14)
Nick Lea is here! Alex Krycek is not.

Beyond the Sea (1x13)
Want a famous guest cast? Here, have a famous guest cast!

Fire (1x12)
Featuring a geek icon before he became a geek icon.

Eve (1x11)
Our first hint at super-soldiers.

Irresistible (2x13)
Meet Donnie Pfaster.

Fallen Angel (1x10)
We'll meet Max again some day.

Space (1x09)
Does this deserve its reputation as the worst of the series?

Ice (1x08)
This is where the series really starts to find its footing.

Ghost in the Machine (1x07)
The only Halloween episode of the series.

Shadows (1x06)
Our first ghost story.

Jersey Devil (1x05)
The cinematography really kicks in.

Conduit (1x04)
The first of many creepy little children.

Squeeze (1x03)
Meet Eugene Victor Tooms.

Deep Throat (1x02)
Mulder's informant is introduced.

Pilot (1x01)
The first episode of a podcast looking back at one of the most influential shows in television history.