Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
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"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of television series The X-Files. This episode details the previous exploits of the Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM), which include some of the most infamous political assassinations of the 20th century, rigging the Oscars, preventing the Buffalo Bills from winning the Super Bowl and drugging the Russian goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak during the Miracle on Ice ice hockey match. Mulder, Scully and Byers meet with Frohike, where he details what may be CSM's real life. Finally, in the present day, CSM contemplates his failed career as a pulp fiction author.
Frohike's death
Frohike, a member of The Lone Gunmen, was to be fatally shot by the Cigarette Smoking Man in the original script. Chris Carter disallowed this, but director James Wong still attempted to film the scene several times (see below). The final episode ends with the Smoking Man saying, "I can kill you whenever I please... but not today." This repeats a line from the "Jack Colquitt" pulp spy novel written earlier in the episode by the Smoking Man.
Trivia
- There are several references to Forest Gump in this episode, notably the "Life is like a box of chocolates" speech. Like Forrest, CSM is present in and influences a great deal of recent historical events, but unlike Forrest, he ends up embittered by his experiences.
- The scene where the young CSM is first recruited to assassinate JFK is reminiscent of the scene where Martin Sheen is given his mission to assassinate Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979). The scene may also reference The Day of the Jackal, since CSM and the Jackal both count Rafael Trujillo and Patrice Lumumba among their successful past missions.
- David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, as Agents Mulder and Scully, appear in this episode only in voiceover and flashback.
- His line in the episode about how he ensured that the Buffalo Bills would never win the Super Bowl as long as he is alive has become part of the Buffalo Sports Curse.
External links
- Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man at IMDb
- Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man at TV.com
- Interview on "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" with director James Wong and writer Glen Morgan: Cinefantastique, October 1997.
