Top 3 Most 90's Episodes of The X-Files

The X-Files was one of the most iconic TV shows of the 90's for pretty much anyone who lived through the decade, regardless of whether or not they actually liked the show. But, over a decade after the 90's ended, in a show that practically defined the 90's what are the most iconic of the 90's episodes that The X-Files has to offer? Occasionally while revisiting the series I'll come across an episode that is just soaked in 90's culture, and that's what today's brief list is all about!

D.P.O 

Season 3, episode 3. Original air date Oct. 6, 1995

D.P.O is a rather depressing episode about an outcast who doesn't do a whole lot more than play video games who also just so happens to be able to control electricity and uses it to get revenge on people who've bullied him and who he sees as being in the way of his teenaged dreams. Jack Black stars as his equally loserly friend in an era where Jack Black was young enough to play a high school student. James (a band most people are only familiar with because of their hit single "Laid", you know you've heard it before, even if you claim to have never heard of it), Filter, and The Vandals are featured in this episode's soundtrack. If you're unfamiliar with The X-Files's soundtracks, this is an unusually musical episode, which really hammers it home just how iconically 90's this episode is. 

Syzygy

Season 3, episode 1. Original air date Jan. 12, 1996

Two nice girl high schoolers get wrapped up in some Satanic styled witchcraft (except, surprise, the episode's twist is that it's not really Satan) and turn into vicious, eyeliner smeared, hair-spray loving murders. I might say that Syzygy is The X-File's version of The Craft, if only it didn't come out almost half a year before The Craft was released! Like D.P.O, this episode features some iconic 90's music in the form of Live's "All Over You".

Kill Switch

Season 5, episode 11. Original air date Feb. 15, 1998

Kill Switch was actually co-written by cyberpunk icon William Gibson, and it really shows! This episode comes right before the late 90's dystopic sci-fi obsession that movies like The Matrix spawned. There's no iconic 90's music, arcades, or witchcraft in this episode (although there is a lot of eyeliner), but the themes of digital obsession that was really prevalent in a lot of sci-fi works in the age where the internet was just becoming a thing really makes this episode so iconic of it's time.

In a series that was so definitive of the 90's, there are, of course, other episodes that practically oozed ninetiesness, but these 3 are some of my all time favorites!

If for some reason you never got into the series the first time around, or during any of the subsequent reruns, The X-Files is available streaming on Netflix instant. For me, and many others, this show was the show to watch in the 90's and it's not surprising at all that it's held up over the years.