The X-Files Mythology & Best Episodes
This list contains the most important X-Files mythology episodes + episodes that connect to the mythology + the best episodes of the series (but not part of the mythology).
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/XFiles/comments/33zhcr/the_essential_xfiles_episode_list/
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/XFiles/comments/33zhcr/the_essential_xfiles_episode_list/
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- DirectorRobert MandelStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonCharles CioffiAgent Dana Scully is instructed to debunk an FBI project dubbed "The X-Files," paranormal cases that have been reopened by Agent Fox Mulder.
- DirectorDaniel SackheimStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJerry HardinMulder and Scully investigate the mysterious case of a military test pilot who disappeared after experiencing strange psychotic behaviour.
- DirectorHarry LongstreetStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonDoug HutchisonMulder and Scully search for a humanoid killer whose savage murder spree reoccurs every 30 years.
- DirectorDaniel SackheimStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonCarrie SnodgressMulder becomes obsessed with solving a case that closely parallels an "encounter" he experienced as a child.
- DirectorLarry ShawStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonFrederick CoffinThe future of the X-Files project is jeopardized after Mulder secretly infiltrates the government cover-up of a UFO crash.
- DirectorFred GerberStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonHarriet Sansom HarrisMulder and Scully search for two missing girls who disappeared after their fathers were murdered in an identical fashion.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonBrad DourifScully believes that the psychic predictions of a death row inmate are the only hope in the kidnapping of two college students.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJerry HardinMulder and Scully become the focus of a disinformation campaign when they attempt to trace the government's secret transport of an alien life form.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonDoug HutchisonEugene Tooms, a supernatural killer whom Mulder helped incarcerate, is released on parole.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonLindsey GinterDeep Throat tips Mulder to a critically important case involving a missing fugitive and the cloning of extraterrestrial viruses.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiWith the X-Files shut down, Mulder travels to Puerto Rico on a tip from his mentor in the Senate to uncover the reason behind the sudden reactivation of a remote long abandoned SETI-like communications station.
- DirectorDaniel SackheimStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder pursues a humanoid, parasitic organism that uses sewage systems as its home.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder is on the manhunt for a Vietnam veteran who can project his consciousness into other people's minds to kill them. Mulder and Agent Krycek try to uncover the conspiracy behind the killer's powers.
- DirectorChris CarterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSteve RailsbackA former FBI agent who claims he was abducted by aliens takes several people hostage. Mulder agrees to be the negotiator.
- DirectorMichael LangeStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSteve RailsbackMulder and Agent Krycek are in a race against time to find and rescue abducted Scully before crazed Duane Barry can take her to what he believes to be his alien puppet masters.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSheila LarkenScully's comatose body is discovered at a local hospital and her life is hanging in the balance. When Mr. X shows Mulder the high price he'd have to pay if he truly wants justice for Scully, Mulder must choose between hope and revenge.
- DirectorWin PhelpsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPaul SandA vegan religious cult is accused of kidnapping local teenagers for some type of ritual. Mulder and Scully begin to suspect that a different kind of conspiracy is at play when Scully sees Deep Throat's killer in town.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonBruce WeitzScully and Mulder hunt down a fetishist who collects pieces of the dead.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonDan ButlerThe agents investigate a murder in a small town populated by devil worshippers.
- DirectorNick MarckStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPeter DonatWhen someone sends Mulder and Scully obituaries showing three separate but identical men apparently having died, the agents investigate, but things take an unexpected turn when Mulder receives a call from his father.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSteven WilliamsMulder is forced to make an impossible choice, when the alien bounty hunter gives him an ultimatum - Scully's life for Samantha's.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJim RoseThe agents search for a killer in a Florida town inhabited by sideshow performers.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPeter DonatMulder receives an encrypted computer tape containing the defense department's top secret files on extraterrestrial life and becomes a target. Scully takes him to a Navajo family that unearthed a buried secret to decipher the files.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiA furious pursuit of Agent Mulder is underway, and more importantly, the government wants the data tape he carried. Agent Scully, against all odds, searches to uncover his whereabouts, persisting that he is alive when all others deny it.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiAs a government hit squad closes in on the agents, Mulder searches for clues about his father's involvement in a top secret project.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonGiovanni RibisiThe agents investigate the deaths of several young people who were apparently struck by lightning in the same small town.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPeter BoyleA grumpy old man with psychic powers that show him how someone will die assists the agents with the hunt for a crazed killer who targets psychics. He also cryptically reveals to Mulder and Scully their own ultimate fates.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiAn "alien autopsy" videotape and a murder spark Mulder's search for a strange creature. Scully looks for information about her disappearance.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonStephen McHattieMulder becomes trapped aboard a train rigged with an explosive device. Scully searches for the truth behind the government's secret experiments.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonBobbie PhillipsWhile looking for signs of alien ships in the sky above a small town, Mulder learns of a series of deaths supposedly caused by metallic cockroaches. He turns to sexy entomologist Bambi for help, which makes Scully angrily rush to his aid.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonDana Wheeler-NicholsonA rare alignment of the planets gives two homicidal teenage girls dangerous telekinetic powers while simultaneously driving their small town insane with satanic panic. Mulder's interest in the local female detective makes Scully jealous.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiThe agents investigate the mystery surrounding a sunken World War II aircraft.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder uncovers clues about a cover-up involving an alien entity and a sunken World War II aircraft. Scully pursues the man who murdered her sister.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiA seemingly unmotivated murderer, who can apparently talk his victims into killing themselves is on the loose and it is up to Mulder and Scully to study the clues left to them by the person and capture him.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonCharles Nelson ReillyScully recounts the investigation of an alleged UFO encounter for the famous quirky author Jose Chung's latest novel. The case gives a whole new meaning to the term Rashomon effect. Chung later returns in Jose Chung's 'Doomsday Defense' (1997).
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiAfter his mother suffers a stroke under strange circumstances, Mulder searches for a strange, benevolent alien man that possesses miraculous healing powers.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiWith his mother on deathbed and the alien bounty hunter in pursuit, Mulder decides to put the alien healer in mortal danger for a chance to finally uncover the whole truth behind the alien conspiracy. Meanwhile, Mr. X's cover is blown.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonTucker SmallwoodThe remains of a murdered deformed infant lead the agents to a family of murderous, inbred, animal-like brothers living on a secluded farm in a remote section of Pennsylvania.
- 1993–201845mTV-149.0 (5.7K)TV EpisodeDirectorJames WongStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisThe Lone Gunmen reveal the (possibly fake) secret history of the Smoking Man to Mulder with focus on three episodes from his life - the assassination of JFK, his attempts at becoming a novelist and one of his UFO cover ups.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiA tip from Krycek takes Mulder to a gulag in Tunguska, Russia where prisoners are being used for experiments with the black oil alien virus. Meanwhile, Scully's colleague is infected with the same virus which lay dormant in a meteorite.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder tries to stop a Russian supersoldier from destroying the site in North America where the black oil virus can be excavated. Scully is jailed after she refuses to reveal Mulder's whereabouts at a Senate subcommittee hearing.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRodney RowlandMulder takes a vacation to visit Graceland while sending disaffected Scully to Philadelphia to look into Russians with ties to UFOs. She becomes attracted to a secretly unstable young divorcee whose tattoo is telling him to kill women.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPaul McCraneA headless corpse of a paramedic walks out of the hospital morgue triggering a manhunt for a man with unimaginable regenerative powers, that come at a terrible cost. The case makes Scully realize in shock that she may not be well.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiScully attempts to come to terms with her inoperable cancer. Meanwhile Mulder and the Lone Gunmen break into a high-security research lab to find the cure that could save her life.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJoe SpanoWhile investigating the unexplained crash of a commercial airliner the agents' search for answers leads to the bottom of a desolate lake and a startling discovery involving Mulder's alien abductee friend Max Fenig.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder and Scully continue their investigation into what really caused the airliner to crash, as the military insidiously begins to cover up the truth and even tries to murder the agents. Someone close to Scully is killed in the process.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJay AcovoneCovered in blood and suffering from amnesia, Mulder pieces together the events of the last few days, but the trail leads to a double murder that appears to have been committed with Mulder's weapon.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiA swarm of bees mysteriously kill a postal worker in an enclosed restroom. Assistant Director Skinner covers up the evidence. Mulder investigates Skinner's apparent involvement with the crime.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJohn FinnMulder fights to prove that a discovery frozen in the mountains of Canada is irrefutable evidence of alien life, but his quest for the truth only leads to more lies and an unthinkable conclusion.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiMulder accesses a facility that may hold a cure for Scully's illness. Scully performs an experiment in hopes of determining the origin of the disease.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiScully is hospitalized after collapsing, while Mulder receives help from a most unlikely source as he continues to search for a cure for Scully's illness.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRichard BelzerIn May 1989, the Lone Gunmen meet for the first time when they assist a woman who claims the government plans to use civilians in a secret experiment.
- DirectorChris CarterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJohn O'Hurleyin this surreal, comical take on Frankenstein, Mulder and Scully arrive in a small rural town to investigate claims of a monster obsessed with Cher that's sedating and impregnating the local women.
- DirectorPeter MarkleStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSheila LarkenWhile visiting family for Christmas, Scully receives a mysterious phone call that leads to a woman's apparent suicide and a young girl who may be her sister Melissa's daughter.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJohn Pyper-FergusonScully and Mulder search for a cure to Emily's strange illness.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSusannah HoffmannRumors of witchcraft and sorcery surrounding a bizarre murder at a supermarket in a small New England fishing town lead Scully, who's on vacation, to a little girl and a cursed doll that may be hiding a murderous presence.
- DirectorCliff BoleStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiScully and Mulder each recount their version of events that led Mulder to drive a stake through the heart of a Texas teenager he claims was a vampire.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonNicholas LeaMulder and Scully search for answers when separate groups of alien abductees are burned alive. They meet a woman with an implant in her neck and symptoms similar to Scully.
- DirectorChris CarterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiScully undergoes hypnosis to recall her experiences on the bridge where the group of abductees was burned alive. Krycek provides the consortium with a vaccine for the black oil and tells Mulder of the planned colonization and alien rebels.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonFredric LehneIn 1990, Mulder investigates the death of a man who disappeared in 1952 before he could be charged in a series of bizarre killings. The retired agent who worked the 1952 case recounts the facts to Mulder and the connection to his father.
- DirectorR.W. GoodwinStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiA government assassin is caught trying to kill child chess prodigy Gibson Praise during an international chess tournament. Mulder's old flame Agent Diana Fowley arrives to help on the case but Scully is suspicious of her.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJohn NevilleMulder and Scully must fight the government in a conspiracy and find the truth about an alien colonization of Earth.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisAfter the events of The X Files (1998) movie, Mulder and Scully's new boss, Kersh, assigns agents Spender and Fowley to work on the X-Files instead of them. Ignoring this, Mulder takes Scully on a hunt for a rampaging alien.
- DirectorChris CarterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisMulder boards the wreck of a legendary missing WWII ship that suddenly appeared in the Bermuda Triangle. The ship turns out to be a time portal. Now Scully must use all of her wits to try and get the unwilling FBI to help her save him.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMichael McKeanAn anonymous tip finally brings Mulder and Scully to the mecca of all UFO lore, Area 51. But when the agents witness the flight of a mysterious craft there, Mulder and one of the Men in Black, Fletcher, somehow switch bodies - and lives.
- DirectorMichael W. WatkinsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMichael McKeanScully begins to suspect that her partner's strange behavior is more than it appears to be, while Mulder fights to return his life to normal before it's too late.
- DirectorDaniel SackheimStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiWhen Skinner is infected with an unknown disease and receives a mysterious phone call telling him he has 24 hours to live, Scully and Mulder rush to find a cure and those responsible.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisThe alien rebels return to kill abductees including Scully and Cassandra Spender. With the Syndicate in shambles, the Cigarette Smoking Man reveals the truth to Agent Spender hoping that he will continue his work.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisEveryone prepares in their own way for the alien rebels' bloody endgame after which nothing will ever be the same again. Mulder and Scully try their best to stop the bloodshed and save Spender's mother.
- DirectorMichael W. WatkinsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonPeter WhiteOn their first assignment after being reinstated to the X-Files, Scully and Mulder go undercover as husband and wife in a high-class planned community where several couples have gone missing.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJohn HawkesA strange writer infatuated with Scully moves in next door to Mulder and proceeds to slowly bewitch her through his writing. Mulder investigates the man and realizes that he may be behind a series of killings involving psychic surgery.
- DirectorDavid DuchovnyStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJesse L. MartinSearching through an FBI reference book, Mulder finds a photograph of Arthur Dales with a baseball team and the alien bounty hunter. Mulder goes to Arthur Dales' house to ask him about the photograph. There he finds Arthur Dales' brother, also named Arthur. Mr. Dales proceeds to tell Mulder a story of a 1940s Negro baseball player in Roswell named Josh Exley who was closing in on breaking some professional baseball records. Mr. Dales tells how he was assigned to protect this player from the KKK and that Exley was actually an alien.
- DirectorBryan SpicerStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonSigny ColemanWhile infiltrating a defense contractor conference in Las Vegas, The Lone Gunmen are reunited with Susanne Modeski, the mysterious woman who disappeared 10 years earlier after the trio first came together to help her.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisMulder believes metallic objects discovered on the coast of West Africa are proof of the extraterrestrial origin of life on Earth. He falls mentally ill under the apparent influence of the artifact while Scully goes to Africa for answers.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiScully and a colleague try to decipher the symbols on the spaceship beached in Africa before their rival can take over the dig, but the ship starts recreating the Plagues of Egypt. Skinner and Kritschgau test Mulder's telepathic ability.
- 1993–201845mTV-147.7 (3.3K)TV EpisodeDirectorMichael W. WatkinsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisScully searches for Mulder after the Cigarette Smoking Man takes him from the hospital for unknown purposes. An unconscious Mulder dreams of a better life away from his mission and the X-Files. But perhaps he is being led astray.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonScott WilsonFive years have passed since Scully escaped from Donnie Pfaster, an obsessed death fetishist. When Reverend Orison helps the madman escape from prison he immediately turns to the one that got away...Scully.
- DirectorMichael W. WatkinsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiThe strange disappearance of a little girl leads Mulder to make connections with previous unexplained cases of missing children. Scully believes he is becoming obsessed with the case by associating it with the abduction of his sister.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisWith help from a police psychic, Mulder continues to search for clues about Samantha's abduction and ultimately finds the long sought after answers concerning her fate.
- DirectorMichael W. WatkinsStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonJudson MillsThe investigation of a neighborhood monster isn't too weird for the crew of Cops (1989) to follow around Mulder and Scully.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisAgent Scully lets sympathy cloud her better judgment when she accompanies the Cigarette Smoking Man on a road trip and wonders if he's as evil as she always thought.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonWilliam B. DavisSeven years after their first case, Mulder and Scully return to Bellefleur, Oregon to see Billy Miles and investigate a new series of abductions in the local forest, risking their partnership and lives.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickNew Deputy Director Kersh has Agent John Doggett investigate the missing Mulder case. Doggett's skeptical treatment of Mulder's disappearance puts a thorn in Scully and Skinner's sides.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickScully leads Skinner and an unhappy Doggett to Arizona to protect child prodigy Gibson Praise from an alien bounty hunter disguised as the missing Mulder.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickScully stumbles upon a woman whose abductee experience and symptoms are amazingly similar. The fear now is that both their upcoming births will be to non-human offspring.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickJeremiah Smith appears out of nowhere and formerly dead abductees are coming back to life, giving Scully and Skinner the idea that Mulder may have a shot at still being alive.
- DirectorTony WharmbyStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickThree months after Mulder's funeral, another dead alien abductee comes back to life. Skinner exhumes Mulder hoping that he too can be revived. Skinner faces an impossible decision when Krycek offers him a vaccine that can save Mulder.
- DirectorTony WharmbyStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickMulder requests reassignment to the X-Files but is denied by Kersh. When a man with information about an alien invasion is killed on the White House lawn, Mulder conducts his own investigation to find further evidence of colonization.
- DirectorRod HardyStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickDoggett and Mulder unwillingly team up investigating an oil rig where some mysterious murders have happened and the possibility of the Black Oil being involved is a haunting reality.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickThe X-Files team must protect Agent Scully and her unborn child as groups of Super Soldiers try to stop her pregnancy.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAgents Mulder, Doggett and Skinner investigate (along with Alex Krycek) the Super Soldier conspiracy, while Scully goes into hiding to have her child.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishWhile Doggett's investigation of Deputy Director Kersh hits difficulties, the agents encounter a beautiful woman with the ability to remain submerged underwater.
- 1993–201845mTV-147.3 (2.6K)TV EpisodeDirectorTony WharmbyStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishDoggett attempts to uncover the truth about a woman with superhuman abilities who is somehow connected to scientific experiments being conducted in a lab aboard a secret ship that stays at sea year round.
- DirectorTony WharmbyStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishMulder contacts Scully which sets off a chain of events involving an NSA man obsessed with speaking and giving information to Mulder.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishA man is chased from the Canada/US border and reportedly burned alive though his body is not found. Meanwhile, in the burned remains, the FBI finds papers with the same UFO markings Scully found in Africa.
- DirectorChris CarterStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishScully's baby becomes a bargaining chip for a psychotic UFO cult that feels the baby is ultimately connected to a UFO they have uncovered.
- DirectorCliff BoleStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishThe Lone Gunmen, with the (unwanted) aid of Morris Fletcher, must stop a destructive virus from entering the populace.
- DirectorDavid DuchovnyStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishA disfigured man attacks Doggett trying to retrieve X-Files for Mulder...but he might be Mulder himself.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsGillian AndersonRobert PatrickAnnabeth GishAn eerily brilliant cadet from Scully's class directs Doggett to a current murder case that may have something to do with a case that went unsolved 9 years prior - the murder of Doggett's young son.
- DirectorKim MannersStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonRobert PatrickMulder's return leads to him being tried for murder before a military tribunal where he seeks to prove the very existence of an alien conspiracy and justify the maintenance of the X-Files.