Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose

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"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 4
Written by	Darin Morgan
Directed by	David Nutter
Production no.	3x04
Original airdate	October 13, 1995 (Fox)
Guest stars
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
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "D.P.O." "The List"

"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is the fourth episode of the third season of the television series The X-Files. The episode features agents Mulder and Scully investigating a series of murders involving psychics and fortune tellers. The two are assisted by Clyde Bruckman, who has the ability to know how people are going to die.

[edit] Plot

Clyde Bruckman leaves a liquor store, passing by a man who goes to visit a fortune teller. The man questions why he does what he is about to do then attacks the fortune teller. The fortune teller is found with her eyes and entrails removed, and is the latest victim in a series of attacks on fortune tellers and psychics. Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) join the case to the surprise of the cops, who have instead recruited the help of a psychic, the eccentric 'Stupendous Yappi'. Yappi demands Mulder leave, saying he is giving off negative energy.

Meanwhile Bruckman works on selling insurance to a young couple, foretelling how the husband is going to die. Bruckman discovers the body of the fortune teller in his dumpster and reveals to Mulder and Scully details about the crime that they are surprised he knows. Mulder is sceptical of Yappi, but believes in Bruckman's abilities and they take him to the crime scene where Bruckman predicts they will find another victim, which the agents soon do. Bruckman is reluctant to join the agents on the case however, thinking that it won't make a difference whether he helps or not. Mulder soon realizes that Bruckman can tell how people are going to die, but has no other psychic abilities. The three of them go to the woods. Bruckman explains how he became obsessed with death when, by the flip of a coin, 1950s rock-and-roll singer the Big Bopper joined Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on a plane which later crashed. The trio then discover another body.

Bruckman tells the agents that more people will die before they catch the killer. He foresees Mulder's death, telling him that he'll have his throat slit by the killer after stepping in a pie. Bruckman gets a note from the killer saying he's going to die, and tells the agents that he will die before they catch him. The agents bring Bruckman to a hotel where they protect him. Meanwhile the killer murders another psychic. Bruckman tells Scully that they will end up in bed together in a very special moment neither of them will forget. Mulder and Scully leave, leaving Bruckman in the hands of Detective Havez. The hotel bellhop, who is in fact the killer, soon arrives, and asks Bruckman why he is committing these crimes. After Bruckman tells him its because he is a homicidal maniac, the killer murders Havez, who had gone to the bathroom.

Scully realizes she recognized the bellhop at prior crime scenes and the agents return to the hotel. Mulder chases the killer to the basement and thanks to Bruckman's earlier premonition is able to save himself when the killer attacks him. Scully arrives and shoots him. Mulder and Scully return upstairs to find that Bruckman has died from an overdose of pills. Scully sits on his bed, upset, as he had predicted she would. Bruckman left her a note asking her to take the dog that belonged to his recently deceased neighbor. That night Scully sees a commercial for the Stupendous Yappi on T.V., causing her to throw her phone at it.^[1]

[edit] Production

This episode was the second of four episodes written for the series by Darin Morgan. Morgan was in a dark mood at the time, and decided to craft a plot around a character who committed suicide at the end of the episode. The joke in the episode about Fox Mulder's predicted death being by autoerotic asphyxiation was inspired by previous jokes in the series about Mulder's interest in pornography. It was also inspired by a book Morgan had read on homicide investigations.^[2] Morgan also claims to have watched the episode "Beyond the Sea" several times and wanting to write an episode in that vein.^[3] Morgan feared putting too much comedy in the episode, like his previous effort "Humbug", and purposely tried to make it as serious and dark as possible, only to end up adding a lot of jokes by the time the final draft was completed.^[4] The name 'Clyde Bruckman' refers to a screenwriter from the silent film era who committed suicide.^[5] The names of characters Detective Havez and Detective Cline were also references to a writer and director from that era.^[5] One of the victims, Claude Dukenfield, had a name which was a reference to the real name of W.C. Fields.^[5] The name of the hotel in this episode, "Le Damfino" was a reference to a boat used by Buster Keaton in the movie The Boat.^[5]

The role of the title character Clyde Bruckman was originally written with Bob Newhart in mind, but was eventually cast with Peter Boyle. ^[6] Chris Carter preferred to not cast well-known actors, but felt that Boyle was such a gifted character actor that he ignored that preference for this episode.^[7] The character of the Stupendous Yappi was specifically written for Jaap Broeker, David Duchovny's stand-in.^[7] 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.^[7]

Visual effects producer Mat Beck and Toby Lindala created the elaborate dream sequence where Bruckman's body decomposes.^[7] The two used a skeleton rib cage made of copper wire along with fake skin that melted into gelatin when the wires were heated.^[7] Eight different stages were used for the effect, starting with Boyle in makeup, progressing to the dummy, and eventually a computer generated skeleton which were morphed together.^[7] The episode's original cut was 10 minutes too long, resulting in multiple scenes with Bruckman and Dana Scully being removed from the episode. ^[8]

[edit] Reception

"Clyde Bruckmann's Final Repose" earned a Nielsen rating of 10.2, with an 18 share. The episode was watched by 15.38 million viewers.^[9] It was named the 10th greatest episode in TV history by TV Guide.^[10] Because of the success of the episode, it 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.^[11]

David Duchovny considers this episode one of his favorites of the third season.^[12] David Nutter called it one of the most enjoyable shows he had done.^[13] 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 Morgan.^[14] 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.'^[15]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at the Internet Movie Database
• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at TV.com