Squeeze marks the inauguration of the traditional "standalone" or "Monster of the Week" episode format, which complemented the mythology storyline. It is also the first episode written by Glen Morgan and James Wong (the writer/director of Final Destination), who began their tenure on the show with one the most memorable and scariest stories ever conceived for the series.
It all starts as a regular murder case, the twist being that all the victims were killed in closed spaces, with the doors and windows locked from the inside. Because of this, Mulder and Svully are brought in, and Mulder immediately notices similarities between this recent string of murders and other cases that date as far as a hundred years before. This would imply three things: prime suspect Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchison) is over a century old; he can squeeze into the tightest spaces; and he harvests human livers. Of course, this being The X-Files, the most far-fetched theory is more often than not spot-on.
More than the previous two episodes, Squeeze really allows the writers to pinpoint the sharp contrast between Scully's pragmatic rationalism and Mulder's enthusiastic belief in the supernatural, with half of the running time devoted to the duo comparing their ideas in a very witty way. The other half is where the scarier aspect kicks in, thanks to careful work on the general atmosphere of the episode (lighting, editing, music) and Hutchison's sincerely creepy turn as Tooms, still fondly remembered as one of the show's best "monsters".
With the pilot and Deep Throat, Chris Carter and his writing team produced a hybrid of science-fiction and political thriller. Here they introduced another template, namely a supernatural spin on the traditional whodunit structure. Together, they went on to define The X-Files as one of the essential shows of the '90s.
