The 23 Best Mulder and Scully Moments

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

#17: Small Potatoes

Babies born with tails. A woman claiming to have been impregnated by Luke Skywalker. Scully getting wine-drunk and regaling Mulder with tales of her prom night. A fever dream, or an X-File?

In this season 4 gem, a shapeshifting small-town loser uses his extra layer of muscle (again, fever dream) to his advantage, and by that, I mean he mostly has sex with married women by transforming into their husbands. “Loser” was the appropriate term. Albeit, he ultimately causes little damage, but he confuses a bunch of people. People like Mulder, who walks in on Scully about to make out with….himself?

It’s a tricky, roundabout way to give us what we want (MULDER + SCULLY + KISSING) without disrupting the mythology or the established relationships of the show, and even though we’re kind of aware of that while we’re watching, it’s still so damn grand.

We get to see Mulder and Scully on a date. We walk away with the knowledge that, if Mulder were ever to proposition her, Scully would be game. And, perhaps most importantly, we get to find out that when Scully drinks, she gets giggly and chatty and somehow even more adorable. So he may be a loser, but as the old saying goes, who can really blame a guy for shapeshifting?

Next: #16: Je Souhaite