The third episode of The X-Files, titled "Squeeze," aired on 24 September 1993 and proved instrumental in establishing the show's viability as long-term television. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, the episode was the series' first standalone "Monster of the Week" story and succeeded so effectively that it helped secure early viewers' engagement whilst setting a remarkably high standard for future episodes of its type. Since The X-Files ultimately relied far more on procedural, paranormal investigations than its central alien mythology arc, the success of "Squeeze" was crucial to the show's longevity and cultural impact.

The episode follows FBI agents Mulder and Scully as they investigate a series of impossible murders in Baltimore committed by a man who extracts human livers with his bare hands and strikes in locations without apparent points of entry. After apprehending a suspect named Eugene Victor Tooms who passes a lie detector test and is released, the murders continue—eventually revealing that Tooms is a creature capable of stretching and squeezing his body into impossibly tight spaces, who feeds on livers before entering 30-year hibernation cycles. Although occasionally surpassed by later episodes such as "The Host" and "Home," "Squeeze" remained the definitive template for successful Monster of the Week storytelling and influenced the standard against which subsequent standalone episodes were judged throughout the show's eleven-season run.