3x04 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"

[wendelah1]

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY DANA SCULLY!

As chosen by the Scully Fest members, our final episode is "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," one of my favorites. Though it begins with a murder and ends with a suicide, it doesn't leave the viewer feeling hopeless. The story is a perfect mixture of light and dark, with the bleakness of a serial murder investigation interlaced with black humor. The script won an Emmy for Darin Morgan. In the span of 44 minutes, Peter Boyle creates an unforgettable character, winning an Emmy for his performance.



Writer/s: Darin Morgan
Director: David Nutter
Originally aired: October 13, 1995 (in the US) – 6th March 1996 (in Australia)

Synopsis: In the course of the FBI's investigation into the serial killings of psychics, Mulder and Scully meet Clyde Bruckman, a psychic whose only ability is to predict when people will die. (What does he do for a living? He sells life insurance.) He will eventually help lead the FBI to the killer.

Most Memorable Quote: How do I choose just one? The entire episode is quotable. This dialogue inspired some of the fandom's best fanfiction.
SCULLY: So, Ahab mistakes the prophecy and as a result, dies. A similar fate happens to MacBeth.
CLYDE BRUCKMAN: Still, you're not the least bit curious?
(There is a knock on the door.)
SCULLY: That must be Mulder. Time for the midnight shift.
(She puts her cards down and stands up. She goes towards the door, but then walks back up to Bruckman.)
All right. So how do I die?
CLYDE BRUCKMAN: You don't.

Links:
Episode transcript.
Not Just a Fluke: How Darin Morgan Saved The X-Files Jonathan Kirby, Pop Matters.
The Immortal Agent Scully Josh Daniel, Slate.
Autumn Tysko's review.
Sarah Stegall's review.

Fanfiction: These are all takes on the Scully is immortal trope. They are all different, all brilliant, and all very dark. That's a warning. If these look familiar, it's because they're all cribbed from the "Tithonus" post.
Fata Morgana by Julie Fortune. Another take on how Scully becomes immortal.
How a Resurrection Really Feels by idella. Summary: Experimental living.
Fathoms Five by penumbra23. Summary: Never is a very long time.

From the spoilers section at Gossamer, I can recommend "Monotone" by Pacquin. She calls it an homage to the Mulder/Scully first time genre. It made me laugh, though it has nothing to do with the episode as far as I can tell.

Comments

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

"Fish"y reasons why I love CBFR:

1. It is brilliantly crafted, but so much line-by-line fun that you don't get it all until you watch again...and again. Like Clyde missing the lottery by l number, or his future vision of bed-with-Scully coming tragically true. There is a very unusual wit to Darin's stuff. You might call it whimsey ("Oh, it's you!"), but it's weightier than that. Frankly, I like humor mixed with my sad. Big Iolokus fan; enough said.

2. As sad as I am for Clyde, that's how happy I am for Pete. Heart-attack survivor and gigantically popular movie monster (Young Frankenstein) is lured into television, makes his peace with it, and is gigantically rewarded. Well, he got an emmy and a retirement-insuring job in Everybody Loves Raymond. Dead now, unfortunately.

3. Wonderful music.

4. Wonderful pop-cult references. "Who's Buddy Holly?"

5. About Scully's fashion look: unapologetically schlubby. I understand the hatred of the beige suit and the dumb hair. I myself was gratified when S got a good cut and an expensive suit. But there is something wonderful about her beauty as it shines through the FBI dullness as it surely exists. That is a thoroughly lovely woman. No more so than when she trains that gun on a killer through a window in a door.

6. She saves Mulder. And you can't say he doesn't appreciate her. "Woman's intuition" indeed. He has the fascination, but she has the chops.

7. I *thought* I had read that essay about Darin M. saving the X-Files, but maybe not, because I didn't remember some of the interesting things DD said about him. (DD was an excellent critic. Is, I guess.) I believe every word of it. The influence that reluctant genius had on the show was miraculous. He allowed it to be light, sardonic, and near-meta when that's exactly what it needed. "I'm supposed to believe that's a real name?" Mulder's a name you wouldn't have found on TV before then. Although Haven's "Wuornos" comes close. Of course, S. King wrote the origin story and it's yet another X-conscious series.

8. Scully breaks the "future is set" spell. "It wasn't supposed to end this way." (Or words to that effect.)

I'm noticing the hook coming out from behind the curtain. But I MAY NOT BE FINISHED. Live in apprehension.

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

8. hmm, if Scully breaks the "future is set" spell here, maybe it means she can also avoid the fate of not dying. what can i say, i'm holding out hope for her mortality, odd as that sounds.