1. Grotesque
Season 3, Episode 14
Perhaps not the episode you mightve expected to see at the top of my list (if you had any expectations at all). This tops my list because its a deep, dark, twisted psychological moment for The X-Files that I absolutely love. A killer is attacking young men and mutilating their faces after death with a knife. When the maniac responsible is caught, a local artist named Mostow, he claims to be possessed by a spirit that drove him to murder, depicting a gargoyle in a drawing when questioned, which brings paranormal investigators Mulder and Scully into the case. With the case run by a former mentor of Agent Mulder, there is friction between them as they investigate, focusing particularly on the killers studio, which is full of gargoyle drawings and sculptures. Mulder pursues this direction, researching thoroughly into the subject and getting deeply involved, putting up Mostows drawings all around the walls of his apartment and going to his studio in the depths of the night to work. His mental state becomes the concern of both partner Scully and superior A.D. Skinner, and Mulder has nightmares of being attacked by gargoyles, that are in fact himself as he battles to break down the case and find the killer, who continues to claim victims as Mostow said it would now he has been incarcerated. Its a step into darkness that compels even as it disturbs, staring insanity in the face as the investigator loses himself into the case and his own mind, trying to get inside the head of a killer. With things not as they seem and relationships strained by those closest wanting to both protect but not inhibit, Grotesque is a dark, gothic piece with so many elements to enthral as it twists towards the apprehension of a deranged killer.