Case 02, File 03: Blood

AKA: No, It's Not a Vampire Episode

The X-Files usually avoided doing episodes that were of their moment in history, which usually worked out for the better. "Ripped From the Headlines" tends to date your story, while except for the the technological limitations, most episodes of The X-Files are timeless. There are a couple of exceptions, most notably The Field Where I Died, which pulled most of its plot from the Waco standoff. But, while Blood doesn't pull much of its plot from then-relevant events, it seems to get dated by its details.

Case 02, File 02: The Host

AKA: The Grossest Place to Die

Over the course of nine (now ten) seasons, The X-Files acquired a reputation for being weird, and that reputation began to really grow in the second season. Sure the first season had some weird monsters (the glowing bugs from Darkness Falls and Eugene Tooms were both pretty weird) but this is the season where we started getting the truly strange episodes. And The Host was strange enough to become iconic.

Case 02, File 01: Little Green Men

AKA: They're Actually Grey, But Whatever

And thus we enter Season 2. Season 2 is an important step in The X-Files' evolution. It's not only the season where the series began to really develop the voice and identity that would carry it forward, but also the season where it began to shift from being a well reasonably well reviewed and watched cult show, to a full blown cultural phenomena. It's also got a solid number of the episodes that most fans consider to be some of the classics. And it all starts right here.