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Monster of the Week Index

Shaenon K. Garrity is a talented cartoonist, writer, and artist who, among her many projects, writes a weekly twelve-panel cartoon which summarizes, parodies, and comments on successive episodes of the X-Files. It's called Monster of the Week and is a lot of fun.

I couldn't find an existing index for 'Monster of the Week', so I decided to make my own. Below you'll find the episodes divided by season, with the original episode's title plus Shaenon's subtitle.

Bonus: Here's a 2012 list Shaenon and her 'Skin Horse' co-auther Jeffrey C. Wells made of the top five 'X-Files' episodes not written by Darin Morgan. It predates the first episode of Monster of the Week by a couple of years.


Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7 | Season X
Top 5 Non-Darin Morgan Episodes


Season 1

  1. Pilot; or, They Haven't Invented The Theme Song Yet
  2. Deep Throat; or, Deep Throat Is Barely Even In This Episode
  3. Squeeze; or, The First Monster Of The Week
  4. Conduit; or, Sometimes Psychic Transmissions Aren't All That Useful
  5. Jersey Devil; or, Homeless + Cave Woman ≠ Scary
  6. Shadows; or, An Episode That Just Kinda Hangs There
  7. Ghost in the Machine; or, The Best Part Was When They Said "Phone Phreaks"
  8. Ice; or, The One Where They Do "The Thing"
  9. Space; or, Challenger Reference? Too Soon, X-Files
  10. Fallen Angel; or, Mulder's First Fanboy
  11. Eve; or, It's Hayley Mills AND Hayley Mills In "The Parent Trap"!
  12. Fire; or, Mulder Kisses A Girl
  13. Beyond The Sea; or, Scully Has Daddy Issues
  14. Gender Bender; or, Spring Of Drowned Amish
  15. Lazarus; or, Worst "Quantum Leap" Ever
  16. Young At Heart; or, Confidential To Mad Doctors: Quit Giving Convicts Superpowers
  17. E.B.E.; or, Because They Can't Say "E.T."
  18. Miracle Man; or, You've Got The Touch
  19. Shapes; or, Dances With Werewolves
  20. Darkness Falls; or, Mites!
  21. Tooms; or, "Squeeze" 2: Nerds In Paradise
  22. Born Again; or, More Like "Bored Again"
  23. Roland; or, Brain Freeze
  24. The Erlenmeyer Flask; or, Because There's A Flask In It, Is Why

Season 1 Recap


Season 2

  1. Little Green Men; or, Getting The Band Back Together
  2. The Host; or, Flukeman!!!
  3. Blood; or, Ignore The Generic Title, This Is The One With The Evil LCD Displays
  4. Sleepless; or, There Was A 1980s "Twilight Zone" Kinda Like This
  5. Duane Barry; or, Abductee Intervention, Part I
  6. Ascension; or, Abductee Intervention Part 2: Ski Lift Adventure
  7. 3; or, This Is The Terrible Vampire Episode
  8. One Breath; or, Scully In A Mind Boat
  9. Firewalker; or, Remember The Arctic Episode From Last Season? Like That, Only In A Volcano (featuring mycologist Paul Nagami - additional commentary from him here)
  10. Red Museum; or, The Vegetarian Cult And The Hormone Shots And The Cows And The Guy In The Walls And There Was Going To Be A "Picket ... [continues off-panel]
  11. Excelsis Dei; or, TW: Ghost Rape
  12. Aubrey; or, Only One In Two Million People Has What We Call The "Evil" Gene
  13. Irresistible; or, Hair And Fingernails. You Know The One
  14. Die Hand Die Verletzt; or, It Means, "The Hand That Wounds"
  15. Fresh Bones; or, The Voodoo Episode
  16. Colony; or, Samantha Return #1
  17. End Game; or, Samantha Return #1, Part 2
  18. Fearful Symmetry; or, Invisible Zoo Animals On Wheels
  19. Død Kalm; or, The Old Man And The Sea
  20. I Want To Believe It -- Or Not!; or, Humbug
  21. The Calusari; or, Romanian "Omen"
  22. F. Emasculata; or, It Doesn't Really Make Your Penis Fall Off, That's Just A Name
  23. Soft Light; or, Me & My Shadow
  24. Our Town; or, A Failure Pile In A Cannibalism Bowl
  25. Anasazi; or, Crap Goes Down, Part I: Dead Alien Boxcar

Season 2 Recap


Season 2 bonuses:


Season 3

  1. The Blessing Way; or, Crap Goes Down Part II: Indians Are Magic
  2. Paper Clip; or, Crap Goes Down, Part III: All The Files
  3. D.P.O.; or, Lightning Boy's Time To Shine
  4. Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose; or, W.H. Auden's Musée Des Beaux Arts
  5. The List; or, The Five People You Kill In Heaven
  6. 2SHY; or, It's Pronounced "Tushy"
  7. The Walk; or, Ruined Because I Couldn't Get The Title Out Of My Head & Hummed "Baby Elephant Walk" Over All The Key Scenes
  8. Oubliette; or, Not Fun Like The One In Labyrinth
  9. Nisei; or, Japanese For "Alien Autopsy Hoax"
  10. 731; or, Crazy Train
  11. Revelations; or, Scully Gets Her Catholic On
  12. War of the Coprophages; or, Cockroaches!
  13. Syzygy; or, X-Files Goes "Heathers"
  14. Grotesque; or, Gargoyles! But Not The Sexy Disney Kind
  15. Piper Maru; or, It's Gillian Anderson's Daughter's Name, Is Why
  16. Apocrypha; or, Not Gillian Anderson's Daughter's Name, Although It Would Be An Awesome Name For A Girl
  17. Pusher; or, "Please Explain To Me The Scientific Nature Of The Whammy"
  18. Teso Dos Bichos; or, Kitties!
  19. Hell Money; or, Lo Pan Steals Your Liver
  20. Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"; or, Thirteen Ways Of Looking At "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"
  21. Avatar; or The Ghost & Mr. Skinner
  22. Quagmire; or, R.I.P. Scully's Dog
  23. Wetwired; or, TV Rots Scully's Brain
  24. Talitha Cumi; or, It Means, "Arise, Maiden," But Mostly It's About Shapeshifters And Stuff

Season 3 Recap


Season 4

  1. Herrenvolk; or, Covered In Bees
  2. Home; or, The Worst Ironic Counterpoint Music Ever
  3. Teliko; or, Even Mulder Thinks This Case Is Kinda Racist
  4. Unruhe; or Horrible Swirly Photos
  5. The Field Where I Died; or, Cult Atlas
  6. Sanguinarium; or, The Devil Gets Nose Jobs
  7. Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man; or, Jack Colquitt Saves Goddamn Democracy: A Jack Colquitt Adventure
  8. Tunguska; or, In Russia, Oil Lightly Seasons YOU
  9. Terma; or, Krycek & Punishment
  10. Paper Hearts; or, Technically They're Fabric Hearts
  11. El Mundo Gira; or, It Means "General Hospital"
  12. Leonard Betts; or, Headless Body In Topless Morge
  13. Never Again; or, Clarice Starling's Revenge
  14. Memento Mori; or, Scully Gets Cancer
  15. Kaddish; or, Golem, Can You Hear Me?
  16. Unrequited; or, This Show Has A Lot Of Invisible Soldiers
  17. Tempus Fugit; or, I Dunno, Aliens And Crap
  18. Max; or, I Dunno, Aliens & Crap Part II
  19. Synchrony; or, Cold Shower Time Machine
  20. Small Potatoes; or, This Is Where My Tax Money Goes?
  21. Zero Sum; or, Skinner Needs To Stop Getting Framed For Murder
  22. Elegy; or, Autism Is Magic
  23. Demons; or, Dude, Where's My Mulder?
  24. Gethsemane; or, The Truth Is Boring

Season 4 Recap


Season 4 Bonus Content


Season 5

  1. Redux; or, Xposition
  2. Redux II; or, Redux Redux
  3. Unusual Suspects; or, That Lone Gunman Episode
  4. Detour; or, I Always Think This Is The One With The LSD Fungus, But That's "Field Trip"
  5. The Post-Modern Prometheus; or, Another Lovable Rape Monster
  6. Christmas Carol; or, Ghost Mom
  7. Emily; or, Not Without My Mutant
  8. Kitsunegari; or, Cerulean Blue 2: Cerulean Bluegaloo
  9. Schizogeny; or, Killer Trees, Maybe?
  10. Chinga; or, The One Stephen King Wrote
  11. Kill Switch; or, The One William Gibson Wrote
  12. Bad Blood; or, This Is The Awesome Vampire Episode
  13. Patient X; or, Oil Be Back
  14. The Red and the Black; or, Those Darn Aliens
  15. Travelers; or, Over Hill, Arthur Dales
  16. Mind's Eye; or, Cool, They Got Lili Taylor
  17. All Souls; or, Gingers Have No Souls
  18. The Pine Bluff Variant; or, Militia Impossible
  19. Folie à Deux; or, It Means "Blurry Bug Monster"
  20. The End; or, Not Actually The End

Season 5 Recap


Season 6

Shaenon's notes for Season 6, Episode 1, posted on Skin Horse

  1. The Beginning; or, So Much To Recap
  2. Drive; or, Holy Cow It's Bryan Cranston
  3. Triangle; or, Ship Fic
  4. Dreamland; or, All of Mulder
  5. Dreamland II; or, 51 Again
  6. How The Ghosts Stole Christmas; or, See, This Is The One With The Christmas Ghosts
  7. Terms of Endearment; or, Bruuuuuuce
  8. The Rain King; or, W.A.X.
  9. S.R. 819; or, Skinnerspace
  10. Tithonus; or, Weegee, Bored
  11. Two Fathers; or, Double the Daddy Issues
  12. One Son; or, Several Sons, Actually
  13. Agua Mala; or, It's Spanish For "Florida Man"
  14. Monday; or, Choose Your Own X-File
  15. Arcadia; or, And There Was Only One Bed (omg there was only one bed)
  16. Alpha; or, Dog Day Afternoon
  17. Trevor; or, The Tornado And The Alchemy Powers And The Stolen Money And The Stolen Kid And The Bisected ... (continues off-panel)
  18. Milagro; or, Tags: Self-Insert, Marty Stu, Ust, Angst
  19. The Unnatural; or, Field of Ebes
  20. Three of a Kind; or, Believing Las Vegas
  21. Field Trip; or, And This Is The One With The LSD Fungus
  22. Biogenesis; or, Oops, All O.O.P.S

Season 6 Recap


Season 7

  1. The Sixth Extinction; or, I've Got Friends in Locust Places
  2. The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati; or, They Saved Mulder's Brain
  3. Hungry; or, The South Brain Diet
  4. Millennium; or, You've Heard of Stealth Pilots? How about a Stealth Finale?
  5. Rush; or, Teens on Speed
  6. The Goldberg Variation; or, Hey, Rube
  7. Orison; or, More Hair, More Fingernails
  8. The Amazing Maleeni; or, Magicians Are Annoying
  9. Signs and Wonders; or, Lair of the White Trash Worm
  10. Sein und Zeit; or, It's German for "Samanthaaaa"
  11. Closure; or, The Truth Hurts
  12. X-Cops; or, Filmed on Location with the Men and Women of Law Enforcement
  13. First Person Shooter; or, Actually, It's About Ethics in Whatever the Hell This Is
  14. Theef; or, Hoodoo? You Do!
  15. En Ami; or, Cancer Man Shoots His Shot
  16. Chimera; or, Like "Arcadia" But They Don't Pretend To Be Married, So What Is Even The Point
  17. all things; or, This Is the One Gillian Anderson Wrote and Directed
  18. Brand X; or, Never Mind, The Real Title Is Already The Best Joke Title
  19. Hollywood A.D.; or, This Is the One David Duchovny Wrote & Directed
  20. Fight Club; or, Not The Movie, It Has Nothing To Do With The Movie, Actually It's Kathy Griffin Doppelgangers
  21. Je Souhaite; or, It's French For 'This Is The One With A Literal Genie'
  22. Requiem; or, Out: Fox

Season 7 Recap


Season X / the 2016 miniseries

  1. My Struggle; or, Cuz It's As Slow As Those Norwegian Novels
  2. Founder's Mutation; or, Mulder & Scully Remember They Have A Kid
  3. Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster; or, Nice Hat
  4. Home Again; or, Xit Through The Gift Shop
  5. Babylon; or, Mulder Tripping Balls
  6. My Struggle II; or, Because It's Twice As Slow As Those Norwegian Novels

Jeffrey C. Wells and Shaenon K. Garrity's Top 5 Non-Darin Morgan Episodes

As mentioned above, in 2010 (a couple of years before Monster of the Week started), Shaenon K. Garrity and her collaborator Jeffrey C. Wells put together a list of 'Jeff And Shaenon’s Top Five “X-Files” Not Written By Darin Morgan'. I thought it would be fun to link to the relevant Monster of the Week episodes.

Jeff's Top Five:

  1. The Post-Modern Prometheus; or, Another Lovable Rape Monster
  2. Bad Blood; or, This Is The Awesome Vampire Episode
  3. Soft Light; or, Me & My Shadow
  4. Beyond The Sea; or, Scully Has Daddy Issues
  5. Drive; or, Holy Cow It's Bryan Cranston

Shaenon's Top Five:

  1. The Unnatural; or, Field of Ebes
  2. Triangle; or, Ship Fic
  3. Monday; or, Choose Your Own X-File
  4. Small Potatoes; or, This Is Where My Tax Money Goes?
  5. D.P.O.; or, Lightning Boy's Time To Shine

And while I'm at it:

Episodes Written By Darin Morgan:

  1. Blood; or, Ignore The Generic Title, This Is The One With The Evil LCD Displays
    [Note: He did not write this episode by himself - Glen Morgan is credited as the writer -- but did work on it with Glen, and has a story credit on it.]
  2. I Want To Believe It -- Or Not!; or, Humbug
  3. Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose; or, W.H. Auden's Musée Des Beaux Arts
  4. War of the Coprophages; or, Cockroaches!
  5. Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"; or, Thirteen Ways Of Looking At "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"
  6. Quagmire; or, R.I.P. Scully's Dog
    [Note: He contributed to a rewrite of this episode.]
  7. Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster; or, Nice Hat
  8. The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat