Pusher (The X-Files)

"Pusher" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It originally aired on the Fox network on February 23, 1996, and was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology, or overarching fictional history of The X-Files. "Pusher" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.8, being watched by 16.2 million viewers in its initial broadcast. "Pusher" received overwhelmingly positive reviews from television critics.

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 this episode, Mulder and Scully’s assistance is requested for a case involving a man, who goes by the pseudonym "Pusher", seemingly capable of bending people to his will. The suspect uses his mysterious abilities to manipulate Mulder into a dangerous end game.

"Pusher" was crafted by Gilligan with the intention to feature a tense cat and mouse game between Mulder and Pusher. The final scene, featuring a game of Russian roulette, was met with some resistance from the network. The standards and practices department argued that, because the game had never been featured on a television series before, it was unsuitable for broadcast. Several actors were considered for the role of Modell, including Lance Henriksen, who went on to play the lead role in Millennium, but Robert Wisden was eventually selected for the role.