Reception
"Kill Switch" premiered on the Fox network on February 15, 1998. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.1, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 11.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 18.04 million viewers. Editor Heather MacDougall won an Emmy award for her work on this episode.
The episode received positive reviews from television critics. Brett Love of TV Squad stated that it was his favorite episode of The X-Files, noting that it did seem "dated", but the concept of artificial intelligence was well-realized in the episode. John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode a 8 out of 10, and wrote "Overall, this episode puts Gibson’s genre credibility to good use by taking standard concepts of cyberpunk and applying them to the series." He did note that there are "a few minor characterization issues", and that "not all of the concepts are pulled together as tightly as they could be", but other than those points, he concluded that it was "solid and enjoyable". Todd VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ and wrote that, while "William Gibson’s cyberpunk milieu wouldn’t necessarily seem to be the best fit for The X-Files", the episode "weirdly benefits from the lack of staff oversight." He noted that it featured many elements to its plot, but was "a rare example of an X-Files episode that works, it tries to do too much." VanDerWerff was complimentary towards the story and called it "propulsive"; he was particularly praise-worthy of the fact that Scully was featured heavily in the episode. He cited the scene wherein a virtual Scully roundhouse kicks a group of nurses as one of the best shots in the episode, and called it a "hysterical moment".
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 four stars out of five. The two wrote that its themes were "fresh and new" and that the plot had "real heart to it". Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it three stars out of four. She praised the episode's directing and noted that the entry was "a great improvement over The X-Files's earlier A.I. episode, first season's "Ghost in the Machine". Vitaris cited "Mulder's virtual experience" as the "highlight of the episode".
Read more about this topic: Kill Switch (The X-Files)
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