well received by critics and fans. Entertainment Weekly described Hardin's performance as "world-weary and heavyhearted", and listed his appearance in the character's eponymous début episode as the 37th greatest television moment of the 1990s. However, they felt at times that his presence in episodes such as "Ghost in the Machine" seemed "gratuitous". Reviewing the character's début episode, the San Jose Mercury News called Deep Throat "the most interesting new character on television". Chris Carter has stated that Hardin's performance gave the series an element of "believability" that it needed; and felt that the episode "E.B.E." was a great opportunity to expand the character's role. Writing for The A.V. Club, Zack Handlen called Deep Throat's death "a shocking moment, even when you know it's coming", praising the "desperation" evident in Hardin's performance, although lamenting the "curse of continuity" that led to the character being quickly replaced with Steven Williams' X. Ben Rawson-Jones, writing for Digital Spy, felt that Deep Throat's tenure on The X-Files was "arguably the show's peak", and praised Hardin's acting in the role. Brian Lowry, in his book The Truth Is Out There, has noted that the character "helped establish a tone and undercurrent of gravity on The X-Files that was to provide the spine of the series". A.J. Black, writing on The Companion, about the influence of the Watergate scandal on The X-Files, observes: "While Deep Throat’s involvement in The X-Files, ostensibly easy to consider as a narrative cheat for Mulder’s investigations, in truth serves to further enhance the series’ deeper connections to the conspiratorial history of the 1970s." Footnotes References Television characters introduced in 1993 Fictional murdered people Fictional Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel The X-Files characters Fictional Vietnam War veterans