 " Irresistible " received largely positive reviews from critics . Entertainment Weekly rated " Irresistible " a B + , saying it was based on " an unsettling concept to begin with " that was reinforced by " Chinlund 's skin @-@ <unk> one @-@ man show " . Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club rated the episode A , praising the acting , particularly of Chinlund as Pfaster , and describing it as " legitimately scary , a sign of a show that was pushing itself in new and interesting directions " . The only criticism was for the scenes where Scully <unk> Pfaster <unk> as " pretty silly , almost feeling like an attempt to make sure something vaguely paranormal is in the episode so the fans don 't get bored with what is ultimately a very good episode " . Jessica Morgan of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B + grade . Writing for Den of Geek , Nina <unk> ranked " Irresistible " the sixth best X @-@ Files episode , saying that " excluding <unk> and his <unk> , Pfaster has got to be the most disturbing villain that our favorite agents have encountered " . Den of Geek writer <unk> <unk> named it the " finest " stand @-@ alone episode of the second season , describing it as " a genuinely creepy 45 @-@ minute horror movie " . Connie <unk> of <unk> listed Pfaster among the best monster @-@ of @-@ the @-@ week characters of the series , and IGN 's Christine <unk> ranked Chinlund the seventh best guest star in the history of the show , considering that " what makes him all the more frightening is how downright passive and polite he is up until the moment he 's going to kill ; the perfect camouflage for a modern @-@ day monster . " TV Guide listed Pfaster among the <unk> X @-@ Files monsters describing him as " evil <unk> " . 
