High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "The Red and the Black" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, directed by Carter and aired in the United States on March 8, 1998 on the Fox network. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 12.0, being watched by 19.98 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received moderately positive reviews from critics.