Reception
"Blood" premiered on the Fox network on September 30, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on September 11, 1995. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.1, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 9.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 8.7 million households.
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B+, considering that despite the "convoluted plot" the episode "pays off in white-knuckle tension." Reviewer Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club labeled the episode as a "good" stand-alone story. He described it as "a memorable episode, due in no small part to its humor", praising the "simultaneously absurd and frightening" story with scenes that make the viewer "snicker even as you shudder". In addition, Handlen praised and William Sanderson's performance, as well as the ending, calling it "the punchline of Mulder's deepest fears, a group so secret that you never be sure they exist at all". Starpulse named the episode the tenth best of the series, defining it as "very creepy" and what turned The X-Files "from a mere creepfest to a show that offered real psychological thrills". Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three stars out of five. The two wrote positively of the episode's flourishes, noting "minute by minute, there is tons to enjoy." However, Shearman and Pearson argue that the premise is "disjointed and not a little frustrating" due to the lack of overall coherence and narrative.
Read more about this topic: Blood (The X-Files)
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