"Writing for AOL TV, Jonathan Toomey considered "Every Man for Himself" as "an interesting episode" which set up many new elements, and while Toomey called the flashback "a little dry and 100% predictable", he liked how it related to the other events in the story "right up to the title".Mac Slocum of Filmfodder.com praised the episode for returning to the mythology, as he considered the previous episode lacked "the slack-jawed wonder I'm so accustomed to experiencing with this show".