During its original nine-season run, The X-Files became a true cultural phenomenon. It inspired thousands of girls to pursue science education and dozens of filmmakers to explore the thrilling paranormal and alien mysteries.
If you grew up in the 1990s, you may remember how passionately fans awaited each new episode, whether it was a Mytharc or a monster-of-the-week story, and how much emotion it brought.
The characters of Fox Mulder, an Oxford-educated conspiracy theorist and believer in all things supernatural, and Dana Scully, a skeptical doctor who prefers to rely on science rather than speculation, became household names and dear friends with whom we've been through thick and thin. That's why it was so devastating to see them stumble into dark turns of the plot.
Here are five X-Files episodes that never fail to bring tears to our eyes, even after multiple viewings.
Beyond the Sea (S1E13)
The episode in which Scully suffers the loss of her father always gets the viewers. The loss is made even more tragic when a serial killer claims he is connected to the dead and can deliver a message from William Scully to his daughter. In the end, Dana realizes that she knows exactly what her father would want to say to her, and it is as touching as it is heartbreaking.
Memento Mori (S4E14)
This episode has enough hard moments to make you hold back tears for the entire running time. First Scully tells Mulder that she has post-abduction cancer, then all her fellow abductees die, and then both Mulder and Skinner risk their lives to save her. Heart-wrenching.
Emily (S5E7)
Scully's abduction set off a chain of strange events. For example, it turns out that her eggs were used to give birth to a number of alien-human hybrids, one of which was a cute little girl named Emily. In the episode called after her, the girl Scully hoped to adopt died of a tumor infection. And that is really hard to watch. Gillian Anderson acted her socks off in this episode.
Closure (S7E11)
The main catalyst for Mulder's character and arc is the disappearance of his younger sister when they were children. Certain that Samantha was abducted by aliens, Fox grew up to become the Spooky Mulder we know and love.
In the episode Closure, Mulder finally learns what happened to Samantha and even has a chance to see her ghost for the last time. This scene and his final line, 'I'm okay. I'm free.' hit you like a truck.
Jump the Shark (S9E15)
If you followed The Lone Gunmen's arc from the beginning, and especially if you watched the spinoff dedicated to them, the episode with their deaths must have turned on the waterworks. The fan-favorite characters died like true heroes by isolating a deadly virus in a confined space with them, but their sacrifice is still almost unbearable.