Keith Phipps, writing for "The A.V. Club" in 2008, praised the episode, rated it an A−, and described Hutchison's role as "the part that would launch as a go-to character actor for creep parts". Phipps felt the climactic scene in which Tooms infiltrates Scully's home is "the scene that makes the episode", noting that there was "a real sense of peril" despite it being clear that Scully, a lead character, was not going to come to harm. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book "Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen", note that the episode's premise is the first in the series "not to rely upon accepted urban legends". It conveys its "absurd" plot through suggestion, leaving any special-effects sequences of Tooms' abilities until the audience is "already suitably adjusted to the absurdity". However, Shearman and Pearson found the monologue likening the crimes committed by Tooms to the Holocaust, given by the retired detective Briggs, to be "not only unnecessary but tasteless to boot". They rated the episode four stars out of five. Mumtaj Begum, writing for Malaysia's "The Star" in 2008, described "Squeeze" as "the episode that really sold "The X-Files" idea to the masses", and called it "simply brilliant".