10 Criminally Underrated X-Files Episodes

So lets get this straight: after complaining through most of season eight that Mulder appearances were few and far between, when David Duchovny was back, one of the best mythology episodes in several seasons, Vienen, causes a portion of the fanbase (shippers and MOTW fans, mostly) to turn their noses up?

What show had they been watching for all those years?

Vienen had everything a good X-Files mythology episode should have: a conspiracy (corporate, to an extent, but involving the FBI). The black oil. An outlandish, isolated setting that Mulder must somehow venture out to - then survive in. The wrath of his superiors.

Along for the ride was Robert Patrick's John Doggett, and their pairing hinted at what might have been great on-screen chemistry in seasons to come, had Duchovny returned for more than the final episode in season nine. Yet Ranker has Vienen ranked way down at 188 out of 202 total episodes of the series, putting stinkers like 2Shy and Terms of Endearment ahead of it. Even when the episode first aired, fan reaction was mixed. The critics were slightly more positive: some saw it as pumping fresh blood into the colonization storyline. Others, however, mirrored the same divide as the fans.

Watch it again: it's just as good as any mythology episode from the early seasons.