he wants to go out in a blaze of glory,” Scully suggests. He won’t be the last Gilligan monster to commit extreme acts while close to the end." Broadcast and reception "Pusher" premiered on the Fox network in the United States on February 23, 1996. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.8, with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 10.8 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. The episode was watched by a total of 16.2 million viewers. "Pusher" received overwhelmingly positive reviews from television critics. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave it an A−, describing it as "smart, well-paced, and exciting, and Modell is memorable for being a very human monster who manages to be both well-drawn and unsympathetic". Though he praised Modell and the climax, he felt that Holly was a stereotype and "the implication that Modell is able to get through to her because of her fear walks that weird line between plausible and not entirely necessary". Handlen also felt that it was "an excellent starting point" for someone who wanted to get into the series. Entertainment Weekly gave "Pusher" a B+, writing, "Much inscrutable warmth between Mulder and Scully parallels some inscrutable detective work. But the climactic mental tug-of-war between Mulder and Pusher makes up for any lapses in logic". Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson gave the episode a glowing review and rated it five stars out of five. The two called Gilligan's script "witty and clever" and noted that it was "a triumph". Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson praised Wisden's performance as Robert Modell, calling his portrayal "spot on". Paula Vitaris of Cinefantastique gave the episode a positive review and awarded it a rare four stars out of four. She called it an "intense nail biter" that "ranks with the best of The X-Files". Since its airing, many reviewers list the episode as one of the best episodes of The X-Files. IGN named it the third best standalone episode of The X-Files, writing "[t]hough the episode is loaded with memorable scenes of terror [...] it's the emotional bond between our two leads that really resonates." Den of Geek listed "Pusher" as their seventh best episode of the series, and called it "a good game of cat and mouse". Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the