Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose

"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 4
Directed by	David Nutter
Written by	Darin Morgan
Production code	3x04
Original air date	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 "D.P.O." Next → "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 of psychics and fortune tellers. The two are assisted by Clyde Bruckman, who has the ability to foresee how people are going to die.

Plot

The episode begins with Clyde Bruckman standing in a liquor store reading tabloid headlines about a psychic's predictions. After purchasing the paper and a lottery ticket, he leaves. In the street he almost bumps into a man—they each move to the side to get out of the way of the other, but they fail to anticipate the other's movements so keep blocking each other as they step left and right. Then they have a short conversation and the other man then heads to a fortune teller.

The fortune teller is a palmist who dresses and speaks like a gypsy. The man looks at the fortune teller and asks her why he does the thing he is about to do. She replies that she is not a psychologist. He grabs the fortune teller's hands and remarks that as a psychic, she should have seen this coming. Then, he attacks and kills her.

A few days later, a different fortune teller has been found with her eyes and entrails removed. This is the latest victim in a series of attacks on fortune tellers and psychics. Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive at the scene of that murder to help the local cops, who have recruited the help of a psychic, the eccentric 'Stupendous Yappi'. Yappi demands that Mulder leave, ironically saying that the true-believer Mulder is giving off negative energy. After Mulder leaves, the psychic delivers clues and descriptions of the killer that are so vague that they could apply to almost anyone and be intuited about the serial killer by almost anyone. The cops are thoroughly impressed, although Scully and Mulder are skeptical.

Meanwhile, Bruckman works on selling insurance to a young couple, giving them a disturbingly detailed account of a potential death that might soon be in store for the husband. The couple is vaguely disturbed and incredulous. Later, Bruckman takes the trash out for his neighbor. She appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's, and after seeing a vision of her cute Pomeranian dog eating the woman's corpse following her death, Bruckman asks her if she has enough dog food. She slams the door in his face.

Bruckman discovers the body of the fortune teller outside in his dumpster and when interviewed by Mulder and Scully reveals details about the crime that he couldn't have known from the media accounts. While Mulder is skeptical of Yappi, he believes that Bruckman is demonstrating true psychic abilities, and insists that he join them in a visit to the other crime scene. Bruckman walks around the scene, looking disturbed, and tells them that they will find another victim, giving them an amusing but specific description of the place. At Scully's suspicious insinuation that he might be affected by "negative energy," he shows he is unaware of what the term means. A body is soon found at a place that meets Bruckman's description, causing Mulder to want to talk to him further. Bruckman is reluctant to join the agents on the case however, saying 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 and cannot prevent the futures he sees.

The three of them go to the woods, where they discover another body. Bruckman explains how he became obsessed with death when the Big Bopper was killed in a plane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly). He was a fan and reflected upon the incredibly large number of turning points, culminating with a coin toss, that led the Big Bopper to be on that plane. All of his contemplations led him to realize he could tell how people were going to die. Scully is skeptical. 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, but then Bruckman corrects himself—what he sees is only the killer's fantasy and might not be what actually happens.

Mulder continues to press Bruckman for information from his visions, stopping only when Bruckman says that while there are worse ways to die than autoerotic asphyxiation, he can't think of one more humiliating. On the other hand, while Scully does not believe in Bruckman's power, the two develop a fast friendship. Bruckman asks Scully why she isn't interested in knowing how she will die. Scully finally breaks down and lets him tell her, to which Bruckman, joyfully but cryptically, replies, "You don't." Bruckman later tells Scully that they will end up in bed together, in a very special moment neither of them will forget. This reinforces her skepticism.

Bruckman gets a note from the killer saying he's going to die, and Bruckman tells the agents that he himself will die before they catch the killer. In response, the agents bring Bruckman to a hotel where they protect him with an FBI guard. Meanwhile, the killer murders another psychic. Mulder and Scully leave, with Bruckman safely being guarded by Detective Havez. As they walk through the hallway, they bump into a bellhop who is delivering food to Bruckman's hotel room. Havez, a chain smoker, agitatedly asks Bruckman if he will die of lung cancer, and Bruckman assures him he won't. A relieved Havez puts his cigarette down and goes to the bathroom. Meanwhile, the hotel bellhop, who is in fact the killer, arrives.

The killer and Bruckman realize each other's identity. The killer asks Bruckman why he is committing these crimes. Bruckman replies that he has been doing them because he is a homicidal maniac. The bellhop considers this and then, satisfied by the answer, moves to murder Bruckman. He's taken aback and pauses for a moment when a calm Bruckman stops him, saying "No, you don't kill me now." When the killer asks why, Bruckman replies, "How should I know". At that moment, the toilet flushes and Detective Havez emerges from the bathroom and, caught by surprise, is murdered, his cigarette still burning.

At the crime scene Scully finds a lace thread on her thumb. It triggers the memory of what Bruckman had said about the Big Bopper, whose best-known song is "Chantilly Lace". She realizes the bellhop she just saw is familiar, and he had been at prior crime scenes. They rush back to the hotel. Mulder chases the killer to the basement and the scene plays out as described in Bruckman's earlier premonition, but when the killer attacks him, Scully arrives and shoots him—what Bruckman had seen was the dying killer's last thoughts, not Mulder's death. Mulder and Scully return to Bruckman's apartment to find that Bruckman has committed suicide by tying a plastic bag around his head. Scully sits on his bed holding his hand as he dies, deeply moved, as a drop of condensation flows down, like a tear, just as he had predicted. Bruckman has left Scully a note asking her to take the Pomeranian 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]

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 an actual screenwriter from the silent film era named Clyde Bruckman who committed suicide.^[5] The names of characters Detective Havez and Detective Cline are also references to a writer and director from that era (Jean Havez and Eddie Cline, respectively).^[5] One of the victims, Claude Dukenfield, is a reference to the real name of W.C. Fields.^[5] The name of the hotel in this episode, "Le Damfino" is a reference to a boat used by Buster Keaton in the movie The Boat.^[5] While playing poker with Agent Scully in their hotel room, Bruckman is seen to be holding the "dead man's hand" (a full house composed of two Aces and three Eights).

The role of the title character Clyde Bruckman was originally written with Bob Newhart in mind, but was eventually cast with Peter Boyle. ^[4] 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.^[6] The character of the Stupendous Yappi was specifically written for Jaap Broeker, David Duchovny's stand-in.^[6] 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]

Visual effects producer Mat Beck and Toby Lindala created the elaborate dream sequence where Bruckman's body decomposes.^[6] The two used a skeleton rib cage made of copper wire along with fake skin that melted into gelatin when the wires were heated.^[6] 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.^[6] The episode's original cut was 10 minutes too long, resulting in multiple scenes with Bruckman and Dana Scully being removed from the episode. ^[2]

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.^[7] It was named the 10th greatest episode in TV history by TV Guide.^[8] 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.^[9]

David Duchovny considers this episode one of his favorites of the third season.^[10] 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 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] IGN named it the best standalone X-Files episode of the entire series.^[14]

Footnotes

1. ^ Lowry,Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. pp. 93–95. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 96. 
3. ^ Hurwitz, Matt, Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. p. 74. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 145. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 94. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. pp. 96–97. 
7. ^ Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 251. 
8. ^ "The 100 Greatest TV episodes of all time!"]. TV Guide. March 13, 2003. Archived from the original on October 28, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071028140448/http://members.aol.com/speaker606/jim/tv.html. Retrieved August 3, 2009. 
9. ^ Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 253. 
10. ^ Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 95. 
11. ^ Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. HarperPrism. p. 97. 
12. ^ Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 145–146. 
13. ^ Farrand, Phil (1997). The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files. Dell Publishing. p. 223. 
14. ^ Collura, Scott, et al. "IGN's 10 Favorite X-Files Standalone Episodes". http://tv.ign.com/articles/870/870608p1.html. Retrieved 15 November 2011. 

External links

• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose article at X-Files Wiki
• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at the Internet Movie Database
• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose at TV.com