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

6. Scully’s version of the story in “Bad Blood”

If I had to pick just one favorite episode from this long-lived, wide-ranging series, it would have to be “Bad Blood.” The 12th episode of season 5 is one of the standalone greats of the series. You see, there were two general categories of X-Files episodes: the long narrative threads that made up the alien-focused “mytharc” and the one-off stories often called “monster of the week” narratives.

As much as fans loved the intense and complicated mytharc episodes, a “monster of the week” could be a welcome relief. It was also often a chance for writers and actors alike to dive into some levity. Laughs, however, don’t make a script stupid. Such is the case with the Rashomon-inspired “Bad Blood.”

Essentially, “Bad Blood” focuses on the duo’s visit to a small Texas town. Mulder is so convinced that the settlement is infested by vampires that he apparently stakes a pizza delivery guy to death. Mulder and Scully are subsequently called before their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, to explain themselves. The pair meet up in their basement offices to discuss their different versions of events.

Those versions are indeed very different. Mulder paints himself as a humble, quietly intelligent FBI agent, while Scully comes across as a whining, disbelieving terror. The town’s law enforcement officer, Sheriff Hartwell (played by Luke Wilson), is portrayed as a snaggle-toothed bumpkin who catches Scully’s eye.

Scully, however, saw things differently. Mulder, in her telling, was a hyper toddler who dragged her on a wasteful trip to the middle of nowhere while shouting about untied shoelaces and vampires. And, well, if the sheriff happened to look like a young Luke Wilson, who wouldn’t be a little distracted?