The X-Files is a perfect blend of genres, taking sci-fi themes and setting them in a police procedural environment. While the show does not often enter the horror genre, that does not make it any less terrifying. Many of the best episodes of The X-Files are scary, but this is not always due to its villains. The series’ theme of high-level conspiracy, and the idea that the government is hiding something as monumental as the existence of aliens on earth are frightening on their own, even before the show introduced some of the best TV show monsters of all time.

That said, while not considered one of the series’ most frightening episodes, Vince Gilligan’s unforgettable X-Files crossover with Cops is now going viral for a surprising reason. “X-Cops” is one of many episodes of the show written by Gilligan, and begins like a typical episode of Cops, before a routine case the cops are investigating turns into an X-File. To look as close to Cops as possible, the episode was deliberately made to look low-budget, being shot on videotape. Despite being set in the 1990s, the episode now feels very current, featuring a word that is dominating the news: “hantavirus.”

The season 7 episode centers on a shapeshifting being that appears as a person’s worst fear. When it manifests as a werewolf, Mulder and Scully arrive to investigate, believing that they are hunting the legendary monster. However, the being reveals itself to be much harder to pin down, taking the shape of several different things, including Freddy Krueger and, later, hantavirus. When the coroner’s assistant, Chantara, hears Scully mention hantavirus as a figure of speech, this becomes her greatest fear, and she immediately gets a nosebleed and collapses, with her symptoms looking like the virus, but sped-up.

“X-Cops” was an episode that made The X-Files into a cult classic, showing that the writers were not afraid to take risks and reveal a sense of humor in a series that is usually very dark and disturbing. While it is a surprising and rather disconcerting coincidence that an outbreak of hantavirus is now occurring as there is a renewed spotlight on the show due to the upcoming reboot, this is not the first time that the show has referenced the future in a surprisingly accurate way.

This Is Not The First X-Files Episode To Reference The Future

Many sci-fi TV shows have predicted the future and its many technological advances. Star Trek is arguably one of the most famous examples, with Black Mirror being a close second, with most episodes offering a very disturbing “what if” scenario linked to existing technology. With 11 seasons covering a wide range of themes and possibilities, The X-Files has also referenced future events many times. While the hantavirus scene was a relatively minor moment in “X-Cops,” The X-Files has also centered entire episodes around now-familiar concepts that once felt far away.

Season 1 had some of the best X-Files episodes, with “Ghost in the Machine” featuring a home and office setup in which buildings can be controlled using devices, which are considered normal now thanks to devices like Alexa. When the AI powering these controls turned rogue, the episode provided an uncomfortable glimpse at potential future issues linked to the use of and dependence on AI. This would not be the only time the concept was explored, with season 11’s AI-focused episode “Rm9sbG93ZXJz.” The later X-Files seasons might have dramatically dropped in quality, but this episode was a highlight.

Still, even these are not the most disturbing coincidences in The X-Files legacy, with the pilot episode of the spinoff, The Lone Gunmen, featuring a plot in which a hacker sets a plane up to fly into the World Trade Center. This might have been considered a tasteless and inappropriate idea for a TV show, except for the fact that it aired six months before the 9/11 terror attack. The hantavirus reference from “X-Cops” may not be as shocking as The Lone Gunmen, but it is another surprising coincidence for The X-Files.

Source: CDC website

The X-Files

8/10

Release Date

1993 – 2018-00-00

Network

FOX

Showrunner

Chris Carter

Directors

Rob Bowman, David Nutter, R. W. Goodwin, Michael W. Watkins, Tony Wharmby, Daniel Sackheim, Michael Lange, Cliff Bole, David Duchovny, Jim Charleston, James Wong, Peter Markle, Rod Hardy, Thomas J. Wright, William A. Graham, Jerrold Freedman, Joe Napolitano, Kevin Hooks, Larry Shaw, Richard Compton, Tucker Gates, Allen Coulter, Barry K. Thomas, Brett Dowler