on an advance viewing of the episode's script, Entertainment Weekly rated "Tunguska" an A−, praising the "arms race" plotline. Sarah Stegall, in The Munchkyn Zone, wrote positively of the entry and gave it a 5 out of 5 rating. Stegall highlighted the "taut storyline" and the "excellent direction". Writing for The A.V. Club, Emily VanDerWerff rated the episode a B, noting that the move to a global scale detracted from the series' overall relevance. VanDerWerff felt that "the action setpieces in this episode and the next one are really terrific", and praised William B. Davis' portrayal of The Smoking Man. However, she described "Tunguska" as being "one of the first really unfocused mythology episodes in the show's run", and found the plot of the episode to not be moving the series forward enough, noting that "for the first time, Mulder feels less like he's driving the action and more like he's a messenger boy". David Duchovny described this episode, along with "Terma", as being action-heavy and "lots of fun". Awards "Tunguska" received a nomination for a CAS Award by the Cinema Audio Society for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Television Series. Footnotes Bibliography External links 1996 American television episodes Television episodes written by Chris Carter Television episodes set in Hawaii Television episodes set in Maryland Television episodes set in New York (state) Television episodes set in Russia The X-Files (season 4) episodes Television episodes set in Virginia