15 times The X-Files’ Dana Scully was the best character on TV

383551 01: 1996 GILLIAN ANDERSON AND DAVID DUCHOVNY OF THE HIT SERIES THE ‘X-FILES’. (Photo by Fox/Liaison via Getty Images)

1. Scully is smarter than anyone else

Honestly, this is only a bit of an exaggeration. Who amongst us has actually written an undergraduate thesis entitled “Einstein’s Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation,” wherein you put forth a new interpretation of the theories of one of the greatest minds of our time? Moreover, did you do that while still a baby-faced undergraduate?

Of course, Scully didn’t stop there. Once she earned her bachelor’s degree in physics, she went on to Stanford University to knock out a quick doctorate or two. She was still in medical school when the FBI came around and successfully recruited her. Scully worked for the FBI for two years before her fateful assignment to the X-Files.

It’s not as if her medical skills and logical mind went to waste, however. The X-Files arguably gained traction thanks to her intelligence and the respect she gained amongst fellow FBI agents. True, they were still stuck in that basement office, but it’s hard to imagine keeping the effort open if it were only up to the intelligent but goofy Mulder.

Scully made good use of her medical skills as a forensic pathologist for the X-Files. Even when she encountered something extra weird—be it an alien pathogen, a mutated fluke worm parasite, or the occasional individual who decides to haul themselves off the autopsy table—Scully used her smarts to keep cool. That especially came in handy when she had to keep Mulder out of trouble, too.