AIR DATE:  October 13, 1995
Written by Darin Morgan
Directed By David Nutter

	I don't know quite what to say about tonight's episode except I
really enjoyed it esp. since it had Peter Boyle in a guest role.  It was 
funny and it had its usual gruesome stuff.

	The idea of having a life insurance salesman with psychic
abilities, but with psychic abilities where he can only tell how people
will die was kind of ironic.  Boy, what a salesman he must have been. We
did see his sale pitch to the couple, didn't we?  Also, notice how he kept
trying to sell Mulder life insurance like he knew Mulder was going to die
soon.  It is kind of creepy to think someone can tell you how you will die
with the certainty that there is nothing you can do to prevent it.  Peter
Boyle's portrait of man who has had to live with this ability was great. 
He gave Bruckman a kind of world weariness to it all. 

The best bits on the show -

- Bruckman upon seeing Mulder's name goes to him and I think this is the
quote "What kind of name is that?"  Who didn't think that when the show
first started of a main character with a first name of Fox.

- Looking for the body in the woods and Mulder and Scully questioning his
ability to find bodies then finding it buried under the car they drove out
in when it got stuck in the mud.  Hey, haven't we seen these woods before? 

- Yappi kicking Mulder out of the apartment because of his negative energy
(i.e. he doesn't believe Yappi's psychic powers) is affecting his ability
to see in the victim's apartment.  The look on Scully's face when he got
kicked out was great.

- Having us think the two detectives are talking about Mulder by using
words like "Spooky" and "weird" to describe the person whose help they
have called in when in reality it was Yappi they were talking about.

- Bruckman is psychic, but he still can't win the lottery.

- Bruckman describing to Mulder and Scully how the murderer is going to
sneak up on Mulder in a kitchen then keeps getting distracted by what kind
of pie Mulder steps in.  Mulder and Scully trying to get him to tell them
what happens, and Bruckman not telling Mulder because he knows Mulder
isn't ready to know what happens and Bruckman believes that there isn't
anything you can do to prevent your death.

- Bruckman holding a piece of cloth and saying it was torn from Mulder's
New York Knicks sweatshirt.  A reference to "Beyond the Sea" where Mulder
had Boggs test his so-called psychic abilities on his New York Knicks
sweatshirt.  They could be using this scene to contrast this episode with
"Beyond the Sea" where Mulder didn't believe Boggs was psychic while
Scully did believe.  In "Beyond the Sea" Scully chases after the killer
and stops short before going over the catwalk and doesn't get killed or
hurt, while in "Clyde Bruckman" Mulder almost gets killed when he only
remembers at the last moment what Bruckman had warned him about chasing
the killer.  Maybe Yappi was right and Mulder really doesn't believe in
these kinds of abilities, but doesn't want to admit to himself that there
are some possiblities even he can't believe in. Both times his inability
to believe almost gets him killed.  In "Beyond the Sea" he almost dies
from a gunshot wound when he didn't heed Boggs warning about the white
cross and he didn't listen to Clyde Bruckman completely. Whereas Scully
says she doesn't believe, though subconsciously she really does and it
saves her.

- Det. Havez asking Bruckman if he dies of lung cancer and Bruckman saying
he doesn't, cueing us Havez's going to die by the murderer hands. 

- Oh yeah, I liked how the killer worked as a bellboy at the hotel they
were holing up Bruckman, and both Bruckman and the killer are amazed at
such a consequence.  This probably explains why the killer left his last
victim's body behind instead of doing what he usually does to a body - he
had to go rush off to work.

- After Scully shoots the killer and the killer saying this wasn't how it
was suppose to be, meaning this isn't how he had saw it.  Of course, we
X-Files fans knew the second we saw Mulder go in there with his gun that
he would lose it.  It was also good that they had Scully end up there to
shoot the killer because she took the service elevator by mistake.  Though
maybe the real reason she took the service elevator by mistake was because
on some psychic plan, she knew Mulder was in trouble and knew how to get
to him. 

	There really wasn't anything I didn't like about this episode. 
Scully and Mulder did their usually jump to the quick conclusion (well,
Mulder) that Bruckman has special abilites since he knew things no one
else did.  They really played up Scully not quite believing everything
which was good because I don't care what she has seen in the past two
years I think she would still be a bit of a skeptic about things. 

	The eeriest bit of the show was when Bruckman asked Mulder if he
wants to know how he dies, and Mulder hesitates enough to tell us and
Bruckman he's scared to know how he dies since there are some things even
he doesn't wants to know.  Contrasting this to Scully who was quick to
want to find out what Bruckman had to say and him telling her she doesn't
die ("you don't" as he puts it). It shows the differences in both
characters in how they approach death.  Mulder was afraid to find out when
he dies since it could mean he still hadn't found his sister before he
dies.  Scully on the other hand isn't afraid of death since she has faced
it before and knows what to expect from it. 

	Well, that's all I can think to say right now.  As I said before I
really liked this episode.  I think we got solid performances out of
everyone.  Gee, I liked the episode so much I can't even think of any plot
holes or other things writers do to keep the story going.


Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

Back to Top of Page