Irresistible (The X-Files)

Irresistible (The X-Files)

"Irresistible" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on January 13, 1995. The episode featured the first of two guest appearances by Nick Chinlund as the death fetishist killer Donnie Pfaster. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. The episode was viewed by 8.8 million people upon its first broadcast, and received positive reviews, with much praise to Chinlund's performance as the antagonist.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In the episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a "death fetishist" who begins kidnapping and killing women to satisfy his obsession. Scully, still recovering from her earlier abduction, is soon overcome with posttraumatic stress disorder.

"Irresistible" is one of the few in the series that has no paranormal elements to it. Initially, the script called for Donnie Pfaster to be a necrophiliac, but the idea was soon rejected by the Fox Broadcasting Company for being "unacceptable for broadcast standards". Pfaster was eventually brought back in the season seven episode "Orison".