SEASON 1
101 - Pilot
102 - Deep Throat
103 - Squeeze
104 - Conduit (Not a great episode but covers Mulders feelings about his sister's abduction.)
105 - The Jersey Devil
106 - Shadows
107 - Ghost in the Machine
108 - Ice
109 - Space
110 - Fallen Angel
111 - Eve
112 - Fire
113 - Beyond The Sea
114 - Gender Bender (An early glimpse at how good this show can look.)
115 - Lazarus
116 - Young at Heart
117 - E.B.E.
118 - Miracle Man
119 - Shapes
120 - Darkness Falls
121 - Tooms
122 - Born Again
123 - Roland
124 - The Erlenmeyer Flask
SEASON 2
201 - Little Green Men
202 - The Host
203 - Blood
204 - Sleepless
205 - Duane Barry
206 - Ascension
207 - 3 (Much maligned but I like this one. Can’t really recommend it though.)
208 - One Breath (Go straight to 213)
209 - Firewalker
210 - Red Museum (Some semi-relevant stuff in this episode. Watch if you have the time.)
211 - Excelsis Dei
212 - Aubrey
213 - Irresistible (This will play best directly after 208. You can go back to 210 if you want.)
214 - Die Hand Die Verletzt
215 - Fresh Bones
216 - Colony
217 - End Game
218 - Fearful Symmetry
219 - Dod Kalm (Like Ice/Darkness Falls but on a ship. Skippable but I really like it.)
220 - Humbug
221 - The Calusari
222 - F. Emasculata
223 - Soft Light (Don’t think it works as an episode but it has it’s fans.)
224 - Our Town (Some people really like this as a lesser but fun episode. I don't.)
225 - Anasazi
SEASON 3
301 - The Blessing Way
302 - Paper Clip
303 - D.P.O. (Solid MOTW. Great cold open, standard after that.)
304 - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
305 - The List
306 - 2Shy (Above average MOTW. Kind of gross. Standard stuff otherwise.)
307 - The Walk (Suffers from a bad guest star but has some striking sequences.)
308 - Oubliette (A non-supernatural monster. Usually overlooked but I found it very effective.)
309 - Nisei
310 - 731
311 - Revelations
312 - War of the Coprophages
313 - Syzygy (Notable because Mulder and Scully snipe at each other for the whole episode.)
314 - Grotesque (A straight horror episode. Some rate it highly. I wasn't feeling it.)
315 - Piper Maru
316 - Apocrypha
317 - Pusher
318 - Teso dos Bichos
319 - Hell Money
320 - Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'
321 - Avatar (Skinner-centric. Wasn’t my jam but works for some people.)
322 - Quagmire
323 - Wetwired
324 - Talitha Cumi
Season 4
401 - Herrenvolk
402 - Home
403 - Teliko
404 - Unruhe (Really good episode. But skippable if you don’t have time.)
405 - The Field Where I Died (Strange episode. Can't recommend but it has big ideas.)
406 - Sanguinarium
407 - Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
408 - Tunguska
409 - Terma
410 - Paper Hearts
411 - El Mundo Gira
412 - Leonard Betts
413 - Never Again
414 - Memento Mori
415 - Kaddish
416 - Unrequited
417 - Tempus Fugit
418 - Max
419 - Synchrony
420 - Small Potatoes
421 - Zero Sum
422 - Elegy
423 - Demons (8.2 on imdb. Not crazy about it but it plays a part in the greater story.)
424 - Gethsemane
SEASON 5
501 - Redux
502 - Redux II
503 - Unusual Suspects (Fun episode. 8.7 on imdb but I have some issues with it.)
504 - Detour
505 - The Post-Modern Prometheus
506 - Christmas Carol (This is a Scully-centric episode. Good, not great. 507 is part 2.)
507 - Emily (These two focus on her family and spirituality.)
508 - Kitsunegari (Sequel to 317. Enjoyable. Not as good as the original.)
309 - Schizogeny
510 - Chinga (I recommend this 'cause I really enjoyed half of it. The other half, eh.)
511 - Kill Switch
512 - Bad Blood
513 - Patient X
514 - The Red and the Black
515 - Travelers (Interesting only because it shows the origins of the X files in the '50s.)
516 - Mind's Eye (People like this but I thought it was very standard stuff. Nice twist though.)
517 - All Souls (Sorta sequel to 506/507. If they didn't interest you, this won't either.)
518 - The Pine Bluff Variant
519 - Folie a Deux
520 - The End
The X-Files Movie (1998) (Not bad but also not great. If you're really enjoying the series, check it out. 601 pretty much covers the essentials, though you might feel you've missed something if you skip the movie.)
SEASON 6
601 - The Beginning
602 - Drive
603 - Triangle
604 - Dreamland (9.1 on imdb. I have issues with these two eps but check them out.)
605 - Dreamland II (9.0 on imdb. There are references in later episodes to these two as well.)
606 - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
607 - Terms of Endearment (Bruce Campbell guest stars. Not bad but definitely not great.)
608 - The Rain King
609 - S.R. 819
610 - Tithonus
611 - Two Fathers
612 - One Son
613 - Agua Mala
614 - Monday
615 - Arcadia
616 - Alpha
617 - Trevor
618 – Milagro (Some people really like this. I didn't. John Hawkes guest stars.)
619 - The Unnatural (Duchovny's first written & directed episode. Sentimental but enjoyable.)
620 - Three of a Kind (Sequel to 503. Watch this f you enjoyed that.)
621 - Field Trip
622 - Biogenesis
SEASON 7
701 - The Sixth Extinction (This and the next are necessary but ponderous.)
702 - The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
703 - Hungry (Mulder as Columbo essentially. It's alright.)
704 - Millennium
705 - Rush
706 - The Goldberg Variation (Slight but fun. Doesn't feel like The X-Files.)
707 - Orison (Sequel to 213)
708 - The Amazing Maleeni (Much like 706. Slight but fun.)
709 - Signs & Wonders
710 - Sein und Zeit
711 - Closure
712 - X-Cops
713 - First Person Shooter (A sword wielding Mulder in a VR wild west. Memorable.)
714 - Theef
715 - En Ami
716 - Chimera
717 - All Things (Gillian Anderson wrote and directed this one.)
718 - Brand X (Average MOTW that's risen by an excellent guest star. Skippable otherwise.)
719 - Hollywood A.D. (Second Duchovny written/directed episode. Messy but it's a joy.)
720 - Fight Club
721 - Je Souhaite
722 - Requiem
SEASON 8
801 - Within
802 - Without
803 - Patience
804 - Roadrunners (8.4 on imdb. I didn't feel that strong about it.)
805 - Invocation
806 - Redrum (Memento style episode. 8.6 on imdb. Played too straight to be that enjoyable.)
807 - Via Negativa (The first half is pretty standard but the second half shines.)
808 - Surekill
809 - Salvage (There's a nice cold open to this episode. That's it.)
810 - Badlaa (Legless, homeless, Indian butt crawler.)
811 - The Gift (A good, semi myth-related episode that's skippable if you don't feel up to it.)
812 - Medusa
813 - Per Manum
814 - This Is Not Happening
815 - Deadalive
816 - Three Words
817 - Empedocles
818 - Vienen
819 - Alone
820 - Essence
821 - Existence
SEASON 9
901 - Nothing Important Happened Today
902 - Nothing Important Happened Today II
903 - Dæmonicus
904 - 4-D (Pretty good. I actually still remember it unlike most of this season.)
905 - Lord Of The Flies (Aaron Paul is in this episode.)
906 - Trust No 1
907 - John Doe (People like this. I wasn't crazy about it but it's worth checking out.)
908 - Hellbound
909 - Provenance
910 - Providence
911 - Audrey Pauley
912 - Underneath
913 - Improbable (Cheesy/goofy like Post-Modern Prometheus.)
914 - Scary Monsters
915 - Jump The Shark (Included because some events are important.)
916 - William
917 - Release (Focused on Doggett’s missing son if you give a shit.)
918 - Sunshine Days (A sort of spiritual or tonal sequel to 721. Enjoyable.)
919 - The Truth: Parts 1 & 2
The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008) (I actually really like this even though it’s derided. Duchovny is clearly invested in the role in a way he wasn't for the last couple of his seasons. If you watch it, just focus on Mulder and Scully’s relationship. It's a MOTW episode otherwise and, while it's fine, there's not much happening there.)