making the viewer feel uneasy. I even found it a difficult show to watch. Yeah, it was a pretty dark hour of television and I would like to do more of those." To get inspiration, Manners played the soundtrack to the film Jacob's Ladder (1990) on repeat until his wife "finally asked, 'Do we have to listen to that (bleeping) CD again?'" Manners also theorized that this episode may have inspired Carter when he eventually developed the show Millennium, which premiered on Fox the following television season. Reception Ratings "Grotesque" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on February 2, 1996. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.6, with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 11.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. This totaled 18.32 million viewers. The episode had the third highest ratings of the third season. Reviews "Grotesque" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Reviewer Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A− and noted that while the episode is "ponderous and pretentious", this aspect of the entry turns it into "a benefit". VanDerWerff wrote, "here's the thing: 'Grotesque' is absolutely [...] self-serious, just as much as I feared it would be. It also, unquestionably, works. The reason it works is very simple: It's pretty scary". Critical Myth's John Keegan gave the episode a largely positive review, awarding it an 8 out of 10. He noted, "Overall, this is a solid effort by Howard Gordon. It’s good to see some of the methods that earned Mulder his nickname, and the underlying dynamic between Mulder and Scully is very well played. The central premise is vague enough to fall within the confines of the unusual, if not necessarily paranormal, and the supporting cinematography and score rise to the occasion." 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 praised the themes of the episode, writing that, "Because 'Grotesque' certainly surprises, and shocks, and even appals —this is the closest The X-Files ever gets to staring into the face of insanity." Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson praised Duchovny's acting, calling it "his best performance yet seen in the series". Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded