Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
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| "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" | |||||||
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| The X-Files episode | |||||||
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 4 |
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| Written by | Darin Morgan | ||||||
| Directed by | David Nutter | ||||||
| Guest stars | Peter Boyle as Clyde Bruckman
Stuart Charno as Puppet |
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| Production no. | 3x04 | ||||||
| Original airdate | October 13, 1995 (Fox) | ||||||
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"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is the fourth episode of the third season of the television series The X-Files.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Skeptical of a famous psychic's predictions regarding the murder of several prognosticators, Mulder instead finds someone who he believes truly can predict the future. Clyde Bruckman is an insurance salesman who has the ability to see into the future, specifically, he can see how people are going to die. He finds the body of one of the murdered prognosticators in a dumpster and then is involved in the case by Mulder who believes in his ability. Catching the killer could prove difficult, though, particularly if the murderer can also see into his own future. Bruckman leads them to one more body and is also able to see what the killer has seen of the future, but he does not reveal all of it to Mulder and Scully. The killer also knows that Bruckman is helping the FBI and he is moved into a hotel for his own safety. Unfortunately, the killer works at the same hotel and he meets Bruckman there. Scully, at the scene of another murder nearby, pulls together several strings of evidence and rushes back to the hotel, followed by Mulder. Mulder pursues the killer into the kitchen, but the scene does not follow the killer's vision of the future.
[edit] Production
This episode was the second of four episodes written for the series by Darin Morgan. Morgan was in a dark mood when he wrote the episode, and decided to write an episode about a character that committed suicide at the end of the episode. The joke in the episode about Mulder's predicted death being by autoerotic asphyxiation was inspired by previous jokes in the series about Mulder's love for pornography. It was also inspired by a book Morgan had read on homicide investigations.[1] Morgan also claims to have watched the episode Beyond the Sea several times, wanting to write an episode in that vein.[2] Morgan feared putting too much comedy in the episode, like his previous episode, Humbug and purposely tried to make it as serious and dark as possible, only to end up adding a lot of jokes in by the time the final draft was completed.[3] The name 'Clyde Bruckman' is referring to a screenwriter from the silent films era who committed suicide. The names of characters Detective Havez and Detective Cline were also references to a writer and director from that era.[4]
The role of the title character Clyde Bruckman was originally written with Bob Newhart in mind, but was eventually cast with Peter Boyle. [5] Series creator Chris Carter preferred to not cast well known actors, but felt that Peter Boyle was such a gifted character actor that he ignored that preference for this episode. The character of the Stupendous Yappi was specifically written for Jaap Broeker, David Duchovny's stand-in. The character later appeared again in the episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space. Stu Charno, who played the part of the killer in this episode is the husband of Sara Charno, a former writer on the show.[6]
The episode's original cut was 10 minutes too long, resulting in multiple scenes with Bruckman and Scully being removed from the episode. [7]
[edit] Guest Stars[8]
- Peter Boyle as Clyde Bruckman
- Stuart Charno as Puppet
- Jaap Broeker as The Stupendous Yappi
- Frank Cassini as Detective Cline
- Dwight McFee as Detective Havez
- Alex Diakun as Tarot Reader
- Karin Konoval as Madame Zelma
- Ken Roberts as Clerk
- David Mackay as Young Husband
- Greg Anderson as Photographer
[edit] Reception
This episode won two Emmys; writer Darin Morgan won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series while Peter Boyle won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.[9]
David Duchovny considers this episode one of his favorites of the third season.[10] Director David Nutter called it one of the most enjoyable shows he had done.[11] He also said of the episode "The writing was so tight and so crisp and so fresh that I think, as a director, the only thing you have to do is create the atmosphere, set up the characters, set up the shots and you are basically invisible. Then you step back and just let it happen. Frank Spotnitz stated that the episode worked on every level and is his favorite of those episodes written for the show by Darin Morgan.[12] Author Phil Farrand rated the episode as his third favorite episode of the first four seasons in his book 'The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files.'[13]
This episode was named the 10th greatest episode in TV history by TV Guide.[14]
This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.2, with an 18 share. The episode was watched by 15.38 million viewers.[15]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 96.
- ^ Hurwitz, Matt, Knowles, Chris (2008) (in English). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. p. 74.
- ^ Edwards, Ted (1996) (in English). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 145.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 94.
- ^ Edwards, Ted (1996) (in English). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 145.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 96-97.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 96.
- ^ Lowry,Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. p. 93.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 253.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 95.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 97.
- ^ Edwards, Ted (1996) (in English). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 145-146.
- ^ Farrand, Phil (1997) (in English). The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files. Dell Publishing. p. 223.
- ^ TV Guide 100 Greatest TV Episodes
- ^ Lowry, Brian (1996) (in English). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 251.
[edit] External links
- Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at the Internet Movie Database
- Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at TV.com
