Reception
"Via Negativa" premiered on December 17, 2000 on American television on Fox. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.3, meaning that it was seen by 7.3% of the nation's estimated households. The episode was watched by 7.36 million households and 12.37 million viewers. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "They say if you die in a dream... you will never wake up."
"Via Negativa" received largely positive reviews from critics. A review by John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode 9 out of 10, saying it was "not perfect, but pretty close". Keegan noted that some fans criticised the character of Doggett, because he mistakenly refers to Walter Skinner's rank as "Agent" and not "Assistant Director". George Avaros and Michael Liedtke from the Contra Costa Times were overall positive towards the episode, saying it had all the features which created a "superb X-Files episode". They further stated that it had an "eerie, almost surreal quality sprinkled with pithy dialogue, comic relief and cryptic insights into key characters that left us wondering what sort of trouble might be around the bend". Avaros and Liedtke also reacted positively to the numerous references to Fox Mulder. Finally, the episode was compared to the work of David Lynch in his series, Twin Peaks. 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 five stars out of five and called it "one of the best standalone X-Files in years." Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four. She noted that, "'Via Negativa' is short on plot but makes up for it by being long on atmosphere and mood, conjuring up a number of disgusting, eerie images".
Read more about this topic: Via Negativa (The X-Files)
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