In the days before streaming, when people had to tune into a TV show at a specific day and time, it was important that the first few episodes — instead of just the first episode — served as an introduction to the show, so as not to alienate viewers who didn’t catch the pilot and wouldn’t be able to catch it until it appeared as a rerun.

In its first episode about FBI agents who investigate paranormal phenomena, true-believer Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) meets the skeptic Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) and they take on their first case, which seems to revolve around alien abductees. Then, in the second episode, they look into a case involving an Air Force base experimenting with alien aircraft. Both of these episodes are about the show’s central alien mythology, which is why the third episode — which was the show’s first standalone, “Monster of the Week” episode — was just as crucial as the first two in establishing the balance between plot-driven stories and one-off sidequests.

Fortunately, that third episode was so good it helped get early viewers hooked on the series and also set a very high benchmark for future Monster of the Week episodes.

“Squeeze” first aired on September 24, 1993, and it was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, the first people besides creator Chris Carter to write an X-Files episode. The case begins with a series of seemingly impossible murders occurring in Baltimore, where a person is killed and their liver is removed with the killer’s bare hands.

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