Our summer binge is long over but The X-Files is a show that I never stop thinking about. While not perfect, it’s a groundbreaking show that’s influence can be felt and seen in so many shows that followed it. So, because of that and because I’ve had so much fun doing this rewatch, I’m keeping the fun going and will keep on going until I hit the final episode of the revival. This time I’m going to do things slightly differently though as some weeks we’ll be combining episodes and in time, when we reach the movies and spin offs I’ll get into those as well. This week we carry on further into season 3 with an all time classic episode in “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.” This is an episode that every X-Phile will point at as a favorite and it’s a perfect example of what the show does so well. Let’s jump into this.
1. The Premise
The episode opens with the eponymous Clyde Bruckman at a convenience store eyeing newspapers. His attention is mostly aimed at the articles about a so called psychic and his visions. Bruckman is wise to this game and calls each one of his predictions out for how much they just play the odds and don’t actually tell anyone anything. He’s an insurance salesman with a peculiar gift that, as we see, doesn’t always help him out. We are also introduced to an unnamed killer who’s decided to kill psychics, palm readers and everyone that fits in between that because he believes that he doesn’t have control of his life. He truly believes that he’s just some kind of puppet and doesn’t have control of his own life. Bruckman finds one of his victims in his dumpster and that’s how he meets Mulder and Scully, who were called to St. Paul to help local law enforcement with this rash of murders.
2. Not Your Typical Psychic
When Bruckman finds the body, Mulder and Scully go to talk to him because that’s their job and the rest of the St. Paul police force is busy paying attention to half baked pretend psychic who’s only giving them vague ideas of where to look. Bruckman gives them a little too much information and Mulder is on to him. He knows that he has some kind of ability but isn’t exactly sure what it is. After some really funny trials and errors, it’s shown to us that Bruckman has one very specific ability – he can tell you how you die. He knows when and how it will happen and it’s really messed up his life a lot. He sells insurance to people and can pin point exactly when they’ll go and he knows how he’ll go. It’s all very depressing and it kind of makes him the way that he is. He’s very lonely but doesn’t dislike people, he just has a hard time connecting with them. It adds a really interesting twist to the case of tracking down a serial killer and really works for me.
3. Tone Is Everything
It’s a given that Mulder and Scully would come up against psychics or people who think they possess those kinds of powers. It’s amazing that this episode goes a very comedic and macabre direction with it and makes it all about this old man who can see death. There were so many conventional ways to take it but that’s such a big part of what makes this episode so special. Not only do you have this very dark humor sprinkled throughout but it’s also incredibly violent. None of the violence is pushed aside and that’s actually a good thing here. This is a bonafide fan favorite but it’s not without its darkness and violence but it wouldn’t be The X-Files without a little of that anyway.
4. The GAWD Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle is an all time great. He’s been gone for a long time now and there’s a whole audience that’s never seen how actually funny he was but man he was great. In all honestly, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” lives and dies (ha) on him as the guest star. It’s a role perfect for him in every way and he clearly has a good time with it. He plays the character as a grump but there’s this underlying heart there and his chemistry with Mulder and Scully is absolute perfection. When I think about this episode, I think about him, not the story.
5. Final Repose
Towards the end of the episode, the killer has found Bruckman and so Mulder and Scully take him to a hotel to protect him but he’s found him anyway. During the night, while watching over him, Scully and him quickly become friends even though she doesn’t believe he can see deaths. She asks him how she dies and he tells her that she doesn’t. Very quick side note about this: many fans of the show actually believe this to be canon. Bruckman’s visions weren’t lies, he was always right and so many of us believe that Scully is immortal. As we get into the reveals of what happened to her, it could kind of make some weird sense. ANYWAY…as it turns out, Bruckman’s vision was right but it wasn’t Mulder’s death exactly. He saw the killer’s death and when they go back to find Bruckman, he’s killed himself. His last vision basically helped saved Mulder and that was what he left the two of them. Scully is “deeply moved” just as Bruckman had said and it’s a testament to who he was as a person that this impacted the two of them so much, especially Scully. It’s an ending you saw coming a mile away (his death, not the suicide) but it’s still so good because the entire episode is executed so well.
