Vince Gilligan’s 5 Best X‑Files Episodes to Watch While Waiting for More Pluribus

Though Vince Gilligan’s Apple TV series Pluribus might read as a new direction for him, it actually reconnects with the genre work that launched his career. Long before Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Gilligan cut his teeth scripting episodes about extraterrestrials, psychics and other oddities for The X-Files, where he also first collaborated with Bryan Cranston.

Gilligan wrote or co-wrote numerous episodes of The X-Files and helped create the short-lived spinoff The Lone Gunmen. Like Apple’s serialized sci-fi hit Severance, Pluribus is unfolding week by week — so if you’re craving more Gilligan-crafted mysteries while you wait, these are his best standalone X‑Files installments. Each one can be enjoyed independently, and the series is currently available to stream on Hulu.

5
“Small Potatoes” (season 4, episode 20)

The X‑Files often found its finest tone when it leaned into humor, and “Small Potatoes” is a standout comedy. Mulder and Scully investigate a rash of babies born with tails, tracing the anomaly to a fertility clinic with uncanny results. The perpetrator possesses a bizarre mimicking ability and uses it to appear as Mulder in an attempt to woo Scully — a gag that plays deliciously for viewers who’ve long read romantic subtext into the duo’s partnership.

4
“Bad Blood” (season 5, episode 12)

“Bad Blood” is another comic high point, constructed around divergent retellings by Mulder and Scully to their superior, Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Mulder insists they confronted a vampire in a Texas town and that Scully was distracted by an attractive sheriff; Scully’s version flatly rejects the supernatural angle and credits herself with solving the case. The episode gleefully lampoons the partners’ differing perspectives while riffing on vampire lore.

3
“Dreamland” and “Dreamland 2” (season 6, episodes 1–2)

The two‑part “Dreamland” is a rare standalone double episode that leans into body‑swap hijinks rather than the series’ myth arc. After an incident at Area 51, Mulder and a base official named Morris Fletcher (played by Michael McKean) trade bodies. Fletcher enjoys impersonating Mulder, while Mulder must navigate Fletcher’s dysfunctional domestic life as he scrambles to reverse the switch. The episodes showcase Gilligan’s taste for farce within the sci‑fi framework; McKean would later reunite with Gilligan on Better Call Saul.

2
“Monday” (season 6, episode 14)

Every long‑running genre series eventually tries a time‑loop tale, and Gilligan’s co‑written entry “Monday” makes it memorable. Mulder and Scully get caught in a repeating day centered on a bank robbery that always ends with their deaths. Rather than focusing solely on how to break the loop, the episode foregrounds the robber’s girlfriend Pam, who becomes the one determined to stop the repetition. Gilligan nods to “Dreamland” with a small recurring detail — a waterbed leak that sets the loop in motion.

1
Season 7, Episode 3: “Hungry”

“Hungry” shifts perspective to the monster itself in a manner reminiscent of Columbo. The episode follows Rob Roberts, a fast‑food employee struggling with a compulsion for human brains. He fights his urges with diet pills and meetings at Overeaters Anonymous while Mulder doggedly pursues the unsettling trail. The result is a character study that makes the creature oddly sympathetic and underscores Mulder’s relentless obsession.

All episodes of The X‑Files are available to stream on Hulu. Individual seasons and episodes can also be purchased on platforms such as Amazon and Apple.

Source: Polygon