Keith Uhlich · @keithuhlich
21st Jan 2016 from TwitLonger
#XFiles Ranked at Thrillist (Rationale)
Now, probably the biggest (craziest?) piece of #XFiles writing I've done. I ranked all 201 episodes for Thrillist.
Here's my rationale behind this project. First off, I considered all nine seasons equally. That was a given, and something that really needs to be done given the accepted belief by many that the later years are worthless. They are not.
Next, the ranking: I knew what I wanted the bottom entry (201) to be, and I knew that the finale had to be smack dab in the middle at #100 since I think it has some of the finest and least work of the series.
Then I went to the top 10 and bottom 10. I made sure that an episode from each season was represented in both (basically a true favorite and a true least favorite). That's 9 titles, so that allowed me one more title of my choosing from any season in those sections. 10 total.
In between all that was fair game. I used the series finale being at 100 as a kind of dividing line. Which episodes would I say I skew more positive on (and so above 100) and which ones more negative (and so below 100), even if only slightly in either direction?
Those who know me know that I'd re-watch even the worst episode again in a heartbeat, but this was a good exercise to kind of see where I stand, critically, psychologically and emotionally, with the series.
As with any list, guaranteed some of these rankings could change given a different day. Regardless, very happy with how this turned out. It only remains for me to tip my hat to my editors on the project, Matthew Patches, who assigned it and did first pass, and John Sellers, whose top edit of the piece really helped make it stronger. Deepest thanks to you both.
For everyone else…click through and (hopefully) enjoy!
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-x-files-episodes-all-201-episodes-ranked