Best SCP Play Podcasts (2025)

1
Where Do All the Calculators Go? 1:02:30

Play Pause

13h ago1:02:30

1:02:30

We reach Season 11 and find that the chosen way to resolve the massive, massive cliffhanger season 10 left on is.... lacking. My Struggle III spends a lot of time undoing some of Season 10 but not all of it and as a result leaves some weird debris behind. We talk retcons and wave goodbye to the nominal replacement Mulder and Scully... This is one o…

1
Chris Carter Lied to Us 1:09:11

15d ago1:09:11

1:09:11

Don't promise us the Lone Gunmen being back and then do... that. Babylon was quite notorious on first broadcast and the intervening years have done little to aid the fact it feels the wrong fit for The X-Files in general and specific for Mulder and Scully. We also get into what the whole point of Einstein and Miller probably was... My Struggle II u…

1
Remote Work Reality Check 38:54

15d ago38:54

38:54

Workplace whiplash is real. Since the pandemic, companies have swung wildly between remote, hybrid, and return-to-office mandates—and employees are feeling the impact. In this episode of HR Nightmares, Lisa Leath, Amy Conway, and Beth Looney unpack the real reasons behind these shifts. Is it truly about collaboration and culture, or are deeper moti…

1
Arcadia mk 2 57:35

22d ago57:35

57:35

We struggle to say much about Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster, broadly because the episode is an absolute delight and revisiting it has not diminished how starkly it contrasts with the rest of season 10. It is still a fantastic episode. Home, Again on the other hand is part fantastically acted Scully drama, part serious Arcadia remake and p…

1
Is AI Killing Entry-Level Jobs? 40:32

29d ago40:32

40:32

Is the entry-level job... extinct? In this episode of HR Nightmares, co-hosts Lisa Leath, Amy Conway, and Beth Looney dive into the AI-fueled shake-up that’s redefining what it means to “get your foot in the door.” As automation handles more of the repetitive and routine, many roles that once served as launchpads for new grads are either vanishing …

1
Deja Vu The Sequel 1:09:23

1M ago1:09:23

1:09:23

Welcome to season 10! And plots we could swear we saw in Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'. And Gethesmane... Still! The X-Files is back. Skinner is back! Cancer man... is somehow back! And now we're trying to retcon seemingly 9 seasons of plot out of the backstory. We discuss how strange the apparent project to discredit Mulder is and how odd some o…

1
Catering by Alan Smithee 56:49

1M ago56:49

56:49

We reach the second The X-Files film and are beset by questions. Many of them "Why this?" and "Really?" While the acting is fine, we are not so taken with the plot or the any of the new characters. We also learned a fair amount from the synopsis we are not sure we even got hinted at in the film itself... Somehow we can even pick fault with the end …

1
Ready Kafka? 1:01:02

2M ago1:01:02

1:01:02

So here we are. What once was the end of The X-Files is a bit too much like how Seinfeld ended for its own good... We end up talking about Franz Kafka for hopefully good reasons as well as continuing to observe that Mulder should never be allowed in any kind of court-room. We also get to our best and worst episodes of the season. Support the show…

1
Exit Here to Avoid The Truth 57:36

2M ago57:36

57:36

Release wraps Doggett's running backstory up perhaps a little too fast and a little too without warning (and that's not getting into Reyes' questionable decision re: seeing people taking bribes). But. There is an answer - its bleak and awful and does not involve whatever happened to Samantha. We are however obliged to point out that supernatural fo…

1
Slice of Bread with Legs 1:03:18

2M ago1:03:18

1:03:18

A strange description of Jimmy Bond, but accurate nonetheless. After our hiatus, Nick is trying to be more positive about The X-Files. Each episode must have some positive points. Unfortunately, he is trying this on Jump the Shark and William of all things. Jump the Shark does have a lot of sharks and Morris Fletcher. We get into why concluding a s…

1
When ICE Comes Knocking: A Guide for HR Professionals 29:41

2M ago29:41

29:41

In this episode of HR Nightmares, Lisa Leath, Amy Conway, and Beth Looney tackle one of the most challenging scenarios HR leaders face: immigration enforcement in the workplace. What do you do when ICE shows up unannounced? The team shares real-life stories, including the heartbreaking account of an employee deported after decades in the U.S., and …

1
God Plays Checkers with the Universe 1:05:29

4M ago1:05:29

1:05:29

At least, we're pretty sure guest star Burt Reynolds is God in Improbable at any rate. A rather stunning surprise from Chris Carter, this episode is tremendous fun, though unable to escape more questions about why Reyes isn't fired for this sequence of events. We talk about our own life-path numbers and how relevant they are; also how Mulder crazy …

1
AI in the Workplace: Friend or Foe? 35:46

4M ago35:46

35:46

Welcome to Season 4 of HR Nightmares. Today, Lisa Leath (Chief People Officer at Vantaca), Beth Looney (Senior Consultant at Leath HR Group), and Amy Conway (Senior Consultant at Leath HR Group) tackle artificial intelligence in the workplace. Is AI revolutionizing business or threatening jobs? Let's find out. Our hosts examine how differently busi…

1
The Episode We Forgot 1:02:47

4M ago1:02:47

1:02:47

One of them anyway... Audrey Pauley feels more like a Twilight Zone episode, but is an interesting contrast to Steven Maeda's previous season 9 episode of 4D. And yet, somehow we end up talking about Dark Souls and Die Hard during the course of this episode. And how familiar the villain is. Underneath is an episode we really did completely forget e…

1
Kim Manners Was Right 1:02:36

5M ago1:02:36

1:02:36

...mostly about the current state of the conspiracy here in Season 9... Providence, wait, Provenance. No, Providence. Dammit, its Provenance! Provenance has the Lone Gunmen for hilariously, almost futile inclusion and seems to want to hark back to one of the series more startling reveals - a half-buried ancient UFO off the coast of Africa. Except n…

1
Flayed Corpse Specific Sheets 55:51

5M ago55:51

55:51

Vince Gilligan has failed us! And apparently only us as the critical reception to John Doe is strikingly positive. We speculate how much of this is due to snobbishness around sci-fi/fantasy/horror and how much is because we're well acquainted with Gilligan's later productions. Also a waste of a memory vampire... Hellbound is not The X-Files take on…

1
Insect Boy Biology 1:00:16

5M ago1:00:16

1:00:16

With Lord of the Flies, we wonder why The X-Files is now about a group of British school-children trapped on a desert island- Wait... We actually get curious as to whether the show's allusion to Jackass makes any sense anymore and the horror of body lice as a concept. At least we have an unscrupulous entomologist in the form of Rocky to provide ent…

1
Rubber Mask Reality 56:38

5M ago56:38

56:38

Daemonicus is Kim's most hated episode of the entire run of The X-Files. Fun times! A good start leads into an increasingly dissatisfying experience and we once again discover how different intent was to how we wound up interpreting the episode on both watch and re-watch. Inevitably we also end up talking about Hannibal and also Hannibal. Also; its…

1
Saw Trap Mobiles 1:08:22

6M ago1:08:22

1:08:22

We're not entirely sure if Scully buys Jigsaw brand mobiles for her baby or the foley-artist made a strange choice for season 9's opener, but when baby William seems to use telekinesis to make his mobile move... It does sound like something out of Saw... Welcome to Season 9! It all looks and sounds and feels a lot better than another series we've b…

1
Walk Without Rhythm... 1:23:29

6M ago1:23:29

1:23:29

...it won't attract the worm! Weapon of Choice used (for no particular reason) in All About Yves is one of the high points. We get into why even with the writers throwing every trick in the bag to get a second series, even the revelatory answers were never going to be exactly great by way of Star Wars and Twin Peaks. Plus, Kim has a far better plan…

1
Better 1:06:20

6M ago1:06:20

1:06:20

We were told these two episodes were an improvement... and that was not wrong! The Lying Game impressively avoids a gigantic pitfall that would have made the episode incredibly uncomfortable and lowered our impression of the characters still further. It also boasts a guest appearance from Mitch Pileggi who does a stellar job of impersonating Jimmy …

1
Doldrums 1:06:40

6M ago1:06:40

1:06:40

It is hard to muster energy for The Lone Gunmen at this point... Diagnosis Jimmy feels stitched together from discarded parts of other episodes and continues to call into question how Jimmy is able to exist in the real world. Meanwhile the other LGM-centric plot feels so poorly justified for its inclusion. Unprofessional nurses and weirdly ineffect…

1
If Belonging Was a Party, Would You Be on the Invite List? 53:54

7M ago53:54

53:54

Welcome back to HR Nightmares, where every "growth opportunity" is just one awkward coaching conversation away from a full-blown crisis. In this episode, hosts Lisa Leath, Amy Conway, Beth Looney, and guest, Lakesha McDay tackle one of the spiciest HR hot potatoes — embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into workplace culture. Spoiler al…

1
Watching the Skis! 47:50

7M ago47:50

47:50

We've reached episode 100 and so... are taking a break from The Lone Gunmen for this week. Instead we have taken a trip to Springfield to witness the reasonably inexplicable crossover of The X-Files into The Simpsons. Which remains a lot of fun and is an extremely highly rated episode even now. A lot of jokes and only a little threat of fear, famin…

1
Sit Happens: Why Office Design Deserves a Reboot 43:26

7M ago43:26

43:26

The latest episode of the HR Nightmares podcast took a deep dive into the role of workplace design in boosting employee well-being and productivity—because, as Lisa quipped, “If your office looks like a dungeon, don’t be surprised if morale’s in the basement.” HR Nightmares’ guest, Rick Snyder, a furniture design guru, shared how thoughtful office …

1
Weird Linux Joke 1:16:58

7M ago1:16:58

1:16:58

...which was probably more baffling on release, but now we have to ask why the LGM don't actively use Linux for like paranoid reasons... Back off hiatus! And despite the episode title being Planet of the Frohikes, the episode is more about Jimmy and chimpanzees and not really about Frohike at all. We get into the episode tipping its hand way too ea…

1
Pixellated Wife 1:12:16

8M ago1:12:16

1:12:16

Stuff happened between watching Three Men and a Smoking Diaper and when we recorded this episode and made it somehow even less fun than the first time around when we were merely severely annoyed by every little thing in it. Quite apart from the Lone Gunmen apparently getting into Gonzo Journalism rather than their normal style, the continued relian…

1
Wilhelm (Doesn't) Scream 1:11:28

9M ago1:11:28

1:11:28

Somehow the third episode of the series is Eine Kleine Frohike, an episode of The Lone Gunmen which feels like it should come from a hypothetical season 4 when the writers have well and truly run out of ideas. That it's also taking inspiration from The Ladykillers is just an additional bizarre twist to the whole mess. We return to wondering if this…

1
Bertram's Blood 1:17:31

9M ago1:17:31

1:17:31

We swap from the bureaucratic FBI to a low-circulation newspaper office run by three familiar characters. Welcome to The Lone Gunmen. The one series spin-off of the popular trio into their own show! Second time we're discussing an episode titled Pilot... For the most part the series starts strong with a plot more Lone Gunmen like than The X-Files p…

1
Could Have Ended Here... 45:40

9M ago45:40

45:40

The X-Files could genuinely have ended with Existence. There's room for a future version of the series, but a lot of plot is resolved and the current alien threat is so nebulous. But Season 9 looms. But before that: The Lone Gunmen. And before that: We get hung up on all the Biblical imagery in this episode, none of it subtle. Including the UFO/gui…

1
Billy Miles: Weakness: Doors 1:16:11

9M ago1:16:11

1:16:11

Not to The Doors slightly sadly. That would be a bit too surreal. But certainly, closing and not even locking a door is enough to deter the new villainous version of that kid from the pilot episode of the series from attacking Doggett or killing Mulder. Useful stuff. But before that Essence stuff, there's Alone: Scully leaves the X-Files (the depar…

1
Passing the Time as the Black Oil 1:02:18

10M ago1:02:18

1:02:18

Its never bad to have an episode where Reyes shows up. Though Empedocles does stress this attitude. For the main plot, Reyes herself prompts all kinds of questions about her existence within the FBI and her complete non-crossing paths with the X-Files. For the subplots, we do have to increasingly stress the question no one wants to ask: just who is…

1
Punching Krycek in the Face 1:09:27

10M ago1:09:27

1:09:27

So Krycek's back in Deadalive. What has he been doing? Did he tell anyone he killed CSM off last season? Why does he want Skinner to prevent Scully from giving birth? We get no answers. But Mulder is definitely dead. Totally. 100%. Just pay no attention to him being first in the opening credits again. We get very confused about why Theresa (the oth…

1
Scary scary times: Election Season Rhetoric 33:23

10M ago33:23

33:23

In this episode of HR Nightmares, Lisa Leath and Beth Looney are diving into one of the most polarizing, yet unavoidable, challenges we face in the workplace: navigating sensitive situations around election season. As we get closer to election day, we see more political conversations, social media posts, and yes, even heated debates creeping into t…

1
Alien in Nikes 1:07:58

10M ago1:07:58

1:07:58

It is hard not to question Scully's decision-making ability in Per Manum. Not least because she figures the best place to hide out while conspiratorial stuff is going on is with the army. Who have never, ever been involved with anything shady and conspiratorial. We discuss how ultrasounds tend to look a tad on the alien-side of things no matter wha…

1
Worse Than the Mayor from Jaws 48:13

11M ago48:13

48:13

We're back! After injury and illness, we return to watch Doggett die in The Gift! It is perhaps not as big a spoiler as you might imagine given he's perfectly fine and in the rest of this season despite this slight complication. This is a weird episode though and features an entity which we are repeatedly told is a soul eater despite not acting any…

1
Non-Competes and Overtime Woes: HR’s Summer Blockbusters 44:23

11M ago44:23

44:23

This week, the HR Nightmares crew tackled the legal spaghetti bowl that is non-compete agreements and the proposed FTC ban, and they brought in the big legal guns—Katie Greene from Michael Best. Lisa dove into the hot topics keeping employment lawyers and HR leaders up at night—non-compete bans, overtime thresholds, and employee classifications. Sh…

1
The Tetsuo in the Room 1:11:15

11M ago1:11:15

1:11:15

We watched Tetsuo the Iron Man ahead of Salvage this week. Mostly because Salvage is an admitted version of the film. The experience was illuminating but did underscore how strange the idea of doing this idea as an X-Files episode and all the parts Salvage left out. At least we got to see all the things that inspired Tetsuo and all the things it se…

1
Skinman Does Some Muldering 1:03:55

11M ago1:03:55

1:03:55

The premise and intent behind Via Negativa is really neat and interesting! The actual episode starts really strongly and then loses its way somewhat spectacularly and is found exceptionally wanting. Very confusing and not in a fun what is reality kind of way the episode is probably going for. We talk about Event Horizon a bit and how the episode se…

1
Hey Tristan 1:05:16

12M ago1:05:16

1:05:16

That Doggett can go through the events of Invocation and come out the other side to dismiss anything happening in Redrum is nothing short of astonishing. Never did Scully get handed something so ardently impossible as the dark tale of child kidnap and apparent manifestation from beyond the grave. Fresh Bones was not this concrete with its impossibl…

1
Ship Happens: Navigating HR Seas 47:02

12M ago47:02

47:02

This episode of HR Nightmares was a ride through the choppy waters of HR. Joined by guest, attorney Geoff Losee, the Leath HR Group hosts navigated topics from open container laws to office romances with the grace of a seasoned sailor This episode of HR Nightmares dives into a whirlwind of workplace issues. From the complexities of maritime law to …

1
Worm Emperor 57:57

12M ago57:57

57:57

A decidedly odd start to Doggett's time on the X-Files. And we can't ignore that it would be more effective if Patience and Roadrunners was swapped in the episode order. And also that Patience feels a lot like a re-do of Squeeze just without actually re-watching Squeeze and apparently just working off the vague memories of the classic. We compare t…

1
Whatever Happened to Strughold? 56:25

1y ago56:25

56:25

New season and new character! With Within we welcome John Doggett to The X-Files and indeed, the X-Files. Our new hardened skeptic to Scully's abruptly much more open-minded version of herself. Which does feel a little odd as it feels like seeing the UFO at the end of Requiem would be more of a trigger for this, but here we are. Also Kersh is back!…

1
Teens with Giger Counters 1:15:16

1y ago1:15:16

1:15:16

Is it ever possible to have a story wherein a character is granted three wishes and for them to not screw up immediately? Je Souhaite certainly paints none of the would be wishees in especially good light. Despite the inherent issues with humanity, the episode is a lot of fun. Scully gets to be giddy about autopsying an invisible man, while Mulder …

1
The Second Rule 55:45

1y ago55:45

55:45

Not sure if the first episode to receive the treatment, but it turns out Mythbusters specifically took down one of the central premises of this episode as being effectively impossible. So, no you can't listen to the Aramaic version of I am the Walrus on that pot your aunt made... Hollywood AD is a weird episode. Part religious struggle and part Hol…

1
HR Managers from Hell: Don't Let Your HR Dept. Become a Horror Story! 37:26

1y ago37:26

37:26

Ever feel like HR is stuck in a filing cabinet from the dark ages? This week on HR Nightmares, the Leath HR Group crew – your friendly neighborhood HR exorcists – are here to slay those workplace woes! We're throwing down the gauntlet. We're talking clueless HR reps, policy-obsessed robots, and service levels that make the DMV look like Disneyland.…

1
Sinister Buddhas 1:01:53

1y ago1:01:53

1:01:53

The enduring question we were left with all things was what happened? The answer seemingly was Carter and Spotnitz who did things to the episode and fundamentally changed a few things about the directorial debut of Gillian Anderson. It is a shame as we would really like to like this episode but even now the details drift away. Except for a ship-bai…

1
Unlock the Secrets of Workplace Behaviors: Beyond the Personality Assessment Maze 37:29

1y ago37:29

37:29

Tired of team meetings that sound like a pack of hyenas arguing? This episode's all about unlocking the secret weapon of assessments! We delve into the Tracom Social Styles model, where Ashley breaks down the four basic human types: the charging Drivers, the lovable Amiables, the bubbly Expressives, and the meticulous Analyticals. Think of it as yo…

1
Water Skiing Lessons 1:06:38

1y ago1:06:38

1:06:38

We are very much ignoring the future of En Ami. We know and we will get to it. Later. For now, we have questions about extraneous other angels and the complete lack of Lord Kinbote. And that man really does not live up to the code-name 'Cobra'. Still, the CSM and Scully road-trip has its moments though we are bewildered by the end as to what the po…

1
The Sexy Lamp Test 1:24:02

1y ago1:24:02

1:24:02

If you are at all convinced by the advertising, the promotional gimmicks, the press interviews for First Person Shooter, we are here to tell you in no uncertain terms how bad this game is. That said, you likely already played it during the press embargo and know of its absurd difficulty spike, its complete lack of cohesion and rumoured risk of perm…