The founder of the Where Filmed portal on the order to watch episodes of The X-Files series to save time but not miss anything important.

In 2023, I decided to watch the series The X-Files for the first time. Yes, I'm that person who didn't watch it in the 90s. I'll be honest, I was little back then, and it seemed scary to me. Now I realize there's almost nothing scary about it. At the same time, the series is really interesting, but quite slow and measured, and watching about two hundred episodes, each 40-50 minutes long, can take a really long time.

At first, I watched all the episodes in a row and attentively, but starting from the fourth season, I began to notice that most of the episodes were passing me by. Specifically, those without the main storyline. The entire series is structured like this:

• some episodes move the main plot forward;
• most are just investigations of random cases.

These investigations start to get really tiresome around the 4th season, and you want to skip them and get back to the plot episodes.

If you're also one of those people who don't want to watch all the episodes or got tired of the non-plot investigations at some point, I've prepared a list of episodes important to the main storyline for you.

My viewing recommendation: starting from the first episode, watch everything in a row – this will allow you to get to know the characters a bit, understand their motives and feelings, but as soon as you feel you're losing interest, immediately stop watching everything in a row and switch to the list below.

Season 1

• 00 – Pilot
• 01 – Deep Throat
• 09 – Fallen Angel
• 16 – E.B.E.
• 23 – The Erlenmeyer Flask

Season 2

• 01 – Little Green Men
• 04 – Sleepless
• 05 – Duane Barry
• 06 – Ascension
• 08 – One Breath
• 10 – Red Museum
• 16 – Colony
• 17 – End Game
• 25 – Anasazi

Season 3

• 01 – The Blessing Way
• 02 – Paper Clip
• 09 – Nisei
• 10 – 731
• 15 – Piper Maru
• 16 – Apocrypha
• 20 – Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'
• 21 – Avatar
• 23 – Wetwired
• 24 – Talitha Cumi

Season 4

• 01 – Herrenvolk
• 07 – Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
• 08 – Tunguska
• 09 – Terma
• 14 – Memento Mori
• 17 – Tempus Fugit
• 18 – Max
• 21 – Zero Sum
• 24 – Gethsemane

Season 5

• 02 – Redux
• 03 – Redux II
• 05 – Christmas Carol
• 07 – Emily
• 13 – Patient X
• 14 – The Red and the Black
• 20 – The End

Season 6

• 01 – The Beginning
• 04 – Dreamland
• 05 – Dreamland II
• 10 – S.R. 819
• 11 – Two Fathers
• 12 – One Son
• 22 – Biogenesis

Feature Film: The X-Files: Fight the Future

Season 7

• 01 – The Sixth Extinction
• 02 – The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
• 10 – Sein und Zeit
• 11 – Closure
• 15 – En Ami
• 22 – Requiem

Season 8

• 01 – Within
• 02 – Without
• 13 – Per Manum
• 14 – This Is Not Happening
• 15 – Deadalive
• 16 – Three Words
• 18 – Vienen
• 20 – Essence
• 21 – Existence

Season 9

• 01 – Nothing Important Happened Today
• 02 – Nothing Important Happened Today II
• 08 – Trust No 1
• 10 – Provenance
• 11 – Providence
• 17 – William
• 19 – The Truth

Feature Film: The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Season 10

• 01 – My Struggle
• 06 – My Struggle II

Season 11

• 07 – My Struggle III
• 05 – Ghouli
• 10 – My Struggle IV

Thus, you need to watch 74 episodes (out of 218) and two feature films to be fully up to date with the plot of The X-Files. I hope I've saved you some time without losing the viewing experience.