The 23 Best Mulder and Scully Moments

The X-Files, episode: “Memento Mori;” screengrab via Fox.

#8: Memento Mori

This season is rough. This storyline is wrenching. This episode is heartbreaking. But it makes the list, because it is, perhaps, the first time we fully understand how much Mulder and Scully already love each other.

Scully’s battling cancer. She’s in bad shape, and she knows it, but she’s not willing to go down without a fight. Mulder, meanwhile, is battling the government higher-ups, as per usual. He’s finally onto something, and it’s during this episode he realizes he can’t, or doesn’t want to, do it without Scully. And who would?

There’s a lot of intense moments here as we watch Scully fight for her life, including a beautiful, ugly-cry inducing letter she writes for Mulder to read should she lose. And though she makes it out alive, just the thought of a Mulder without a Scully is enough to insight bone-chilling panic in every viewer. And, of course, in Mulder.

In the episode’s final scene, Scully and Mulder get real real with each other. She doesn’t want to die without finishing what she started. He can’t do it without her. They’re both scared, but they’ve already faced death together countless times. There’s only so much they can say to each other. And so the only thing to do is to stand in the middle of the hallway in each other’s arms.

No, YOU’RE crying while writing this!

Next: #7: The Unnatural