The File Room

Black oil. 'nuff said.

Michaela and Ed talk about camping and trivia, as well as an extremely moody episode of The X-Files that invokes Poe, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, and mostly gets away with it.

A young, blockbuster mega-star Ryan Reynolds features in this 90s teen drama send-up. We discuss Mystic Meg, stealing our parents' liquor and whether this episode was made to poke the 'shippers.

Bugs are driving everyone crazy in Massachusetts in another fun Darin Morgan-penned episode. Michaela and Ed enjoy the mania, and also talk about getting stuck in things. Also, apologies to Bobbie Phillips, who Ed mistakenly calls "Bonnie Phillips" at one point.

Scully struggles with her faith, Michaela loses her faith in the local football team, and Ed has hopes for contenders.

This episode has it all: tense cat and mouse games on a train, a big-ass explosion, and Limp Bizkit talk.

Is the Mythology still on the tracks? Michaela and Ed politely disagree, chat Whales and divisive film-makers.

Michaela and Ed discuss an episode full of harrowing subject matter and extremely well-handled performances, but somehow they still manage to have fun.

There's sport, there's astral projections, there's Jaws but in a swimming pool. Ed and Michaela discuss this episode, which is a pretty good time with some serious messages sewn in, too.

Michaela and Ed discuss a depressingly relevant episode which uses a gross monster to explore real dangers women face in the world. Also there's some discussion about The Brutalist, which may just barely be relevant when this episode comes out.

Wolfie's bum, a dead possum and just so many maggots. Some of this is relevant to this episode of The X-Files, where a brutalised prisoner wishes real hard to be reincarnated.

It’s a big episode this week as we tackle one of the consensus picks for best episode of the entire series.

Ed and Michaela discuss one of the coolest and most fun episodes of the X Files so far featuring a young Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi. 

The thrilling finale of The X-Files' first three-parter has everything: bright lights, a mine in British Columbia pretending to be West Virginia, old men in rooms. Michaela and Ed discuss all this as well as the bits of real-life history that make this episode one of the best Mythology episodes the show ever did.

We're back to dive right into the action for this season 3 opener. 

As they wrap up their first full year of the podcast, Michaela and Ed look back on the year, then go over the spreadsheet and try to assess how good season 2 of The X-Files was.

Thank you to everyone who has listened to the show this year! Happy holidays, and see you in 2025!

Spider Divination, aliens (?), all the bad stuff America has done and much more, in this thrilling, explosive season finale chat.

Michaela and Ed reconvene after a month away from recording to talk about their trip to New York, before delving into an episode that is packed with literary allusions and chicken bits.

Michaela and Ed get a break from so-so formulaic episodes this week thanks to one Vince Gilligan, who makes his X-Files writing debut with a strange and inventive science gone wrong story.

Also, apologies for all the US politics talk at the beginning, this episode was recorded the Sunday after the election.