30 Years Ago, The X-Files Released Its Most Disturbing Episode

By popularizing the monster-of-the-week format, The X-Files was able to showcase its variability between episodes without losing its sense of cohesion. Some episodes were funny, others action-packed. Some episodes were completely devoted to unspooling the show’s larger mythology arc, while some stood completely on their own. The show even managed to pull off a crossover episode with Cops​​​​​.

This range is also what allowed The X-Files to deliver must-watch episodes that tapped into every avenue of horror. For a show primarily about aliens, it quickly became so much more. From hauntings and demonic possessions to cults, serial killers, and everything in between, The X-Files found ways to scare every horror fan in its audience.

Yet even after becoming the longest-running American sci-fi show with 11 seasons, two feature films, and a spinoff series, this 1996 episode of The X-Files remains the most disturbing of the show’s entire run.

“Home” Was The X-Files’ First Episode To Include A Viewer Discretion Warning

Image via Everett Collection

Season 4, episode 2, “Home,” made waves at the time of its 1996 airing. It was the first X-Files episode to include a viewer discretion warning for graphic content, and the only episode of the entire series to earn a TV-MA rating. It was also the only episode that Fox temporarily pulled out of syndication during The X-Files influential original run, only repeating the episode once, on Halloween 1999.

Ultimately, though, all the legal and network troubles that “Home” experienced speak to how daring the episode was for its time. It was a standalone episode, but it depicted something even darker than “monsters” in the show’s traditional sense. Mulder and Scully began by looking into the death of an infant with severe genetic abnormalities, though this proved to be the tip of the iceberg of their investigation.

They soon found that the baby, who was unearthed on the extremely outdated property of the Peacock brothers, had been buried alive. Even more disconcerting, the baby was a result of generations of inbreeding. The Peacock brothers themselves dealt with serious genetic anomalies and had been keeping their bloodline alive by impregnating their own mother, a quadraplegic believed dead after a car crash.

“Home” was macabre in everything from its graphic visuals to its emotionally heavy subject matter. The episode was largely visually dark, with much of the episode taking place in the Peacock family’s unlit house. When things were legible, “Home” depicted some of the most overt violence the show has seen. Even Mulder and Scully’s typical banter took on a darker, more grim slant than usual.

Why “Home” Still Holds Up As The X-Files’ Most Disturbing Episode

Image via Everett Collection

Mulder almost always believes there’s a supernatural explanation to the cases they investigate, and The X-Files even acknowledges that he is almost always right. “Home” stands out as one of very few episodes whose crimes weren’t metaphysical or mythical in nature. This already set it apart, but most impressive was the fact that its grounded nature only made the episode more unsettling, not less.

The closest “Home” came to true X-file territory is the late-stage reveal that every living member of the Peacock family doesn’t feel pain. This is unusual, but the phenomenon isn’t unheard of, nor does it account for the family’s bizarre behavior. Instead, the audience was forced to reconcile the fact that some of the darkest, most graphic behavior ever depicted on The X-Files was completely human.

“Home” began with an extremely disconcerting cold open, but its conclusion was just as troubling. After one of the show’s most graphic and action-packed confrontations, Mulder and Scully were unable to be completely victorious. Many X-Files episodes were no strangers to inconclusive endings, but they were often playful in a way that still allowed for the satisfaction of a resolved case.

“Home” didn’t offer any such satisfaction, proving instead to be visually and thematically dark from start to finish and the most disturbing installment The X-Files would ever air.

Release Date

1993 – 2018-00-00

Network

FOX

Showrunner

Chris Carter