Long before creating the American television series Breaking Bad and producing Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan got his big break in writing, and sometimes directing, for The X Files. The series follows Mulder and Scully, government who investigate cases of paranormal activity.
Gilligan started writing for The X-Files in season two and the episodes that he worked on remain fan favourites because of his inventive approach to storytelling, his preference for anti-heroes, and talent for injecting humour into drama. There’s a direct connection between The X Files and the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, in which terminally ill chemistry teacher Walter White becomes a methamphetamine dealer to secure his family’s financial future. Here is how.
Soft Light (Season 2)
Tony Shaloub (the lead actor from the television series Monk) guest stars as physicist Chester Ray Banton; whose shadow acts as a black hole and vapourises anyone it touches. This episode was the first to be written by Gilligan for the series. His preference for tragic and open-ended climaxes starts here. Just when we think that Ray Banton and Mulder and Scully have parted ways, we find out where he has really ended up.
Drive (Season 6)
Walter White makes an appearance for the first time on the sets of this episode as Patrick Crump, an escaped kidnapping suspect who forces Mulder to help him shake off a police dragnet at gunpoint.
Cranston plays the role that he would reprise a decade later — of a man who gets sick and loses his mind. Most of the episode is shot inside a car, and Cranston’s riveting performance keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride.
Pusher (Season 3)
One of most highly rated episodes of The X Files. The premise focuses on a so-called pusher, who can manipulate other people into acting according to his wishes. Gilligan once again tests out his plot device of “dying man gone mad”; Pusher is on a killing spree because he is slowly dying of cancer.