The 23 Best Mulder and Scully Moments

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

#3: Millennium

This is a weird episode to add to the list, mostly because it’s not that good. It doesn’t really add a whole lot to the mythology, and the mystery isn’t a particularly fun one. But the last two minutes makes it worth a thousand killer monsters-of-the-week.

Mulder and Scully, both tired from a long day of believing and doubting, respectively, are in rough shape. Mulder’s in a sling. Scully has cuts and bruises all around her neck. And, though totally not out of character for either of them, they’re working on a holiday.

It’s New Year’s Eve, 1999. The ball is about to drop as they wrap up their case and their victim goes free. And they’re left alone, counting down, waiting to see whether the total catastrophe of a new millennium is upon them or if the world’s going to just keep right on spinning.

And this is where Mulder makes his move. At midnight, Auld Lang Syne playing on the TV, confetti blowing and crowds cheering. Mulder and Scully, alone together in a hospital wing, share their first kiss- that we know of. The moment is magical, the culmination of five years of torturous back-and-forth glances and excruciating almost and should-haves, and they finally kiss. It’s a big moment. It’s huge. I cry whenever I even think about it. But still, as Mulder puts it, miraculously “The world didn’t end.”

Next: #2: Pilot