I recently rewatched the episode and found myself wondering if the cards that the tarot reader used were custom-made props or if they belong to a real-world commercially available deck. Does anyone here happen to know the answer?
I've been hearing alot of talk from news articles and such and it seems that Clyde Bruckman's final response is a very popular episode. The episode is quite good however, i dont feel its the series best as fellow fans do. There are much better episodes out there and i've never understood how time and time again. To put it simply i feel its just to basic and episode to be that high on fan lists. If you agree or disagree please start a discussion in the comments :).
And the Smoking Man is one of them and that's how he survives so much.
I wonder how did killer know about Bruckman? He sent a note to Bruckman that says he is going to die soon. And later finds him by chance? Did I miss something?
This episode of the X-Files, Season 3 Episode 4, has one of the best depictions of the difference between someone who's legitimate and a book deal imposter I've ever seen.
Legitimate:
Book Deal:
The Stupendous Yappi - 4 min 52 sec
In the end, the legitimate psychic is so depleted by the visions he sees, that he's been seeing for decades of how people will die, that he takes his own life.
Clyde Bruckman - Dead Dreaming - 1 min 19 sec
It's extremely accurate of how he gains the ability. He became completely obsessed on why a singer that he really liked got on the plane that Billy Holiday died in, when he wasn't actually supposed to be on the plane and boarded based on a coin flip.
His double picked up on his obsession, and time is the arena of the double...it's non-linear and can perceive the future, as this recent passage expounds on. Page 881 in the PDF:
"Florinda (then nagual woman from Don Juan's group) explained that when she or her peers talked about time, they were not referring to something which is measured by the movement of a clock. Time is the essence of attention; the Eagle's emanations are made out of time; and properly, when one enters into any aspect of the other self, one is becoming acquainted with time."
It also gave him a means to earn money, by being a very convincing life insurance salesman! Where the Stupendous Yappi makes commercials:
YouTube - 1-900-555-YAPP - 48 sec.
(it's also true to reality that he doesn't know and doesn't care how he knows what he knows)
this was a wholesome episode to me idky lol 😂 it was just so good! a real psychic vs a fake one and Mulder not believing but also believing
Mulder: I don't believe he's the killer.
Scully: I don't believe he's psychic.
Mulder: Well if he's neither how did he know where the body would be found?
Scully: Maybe he's just lucky.
Cut to Clyde Bruckman listening to the lottery results.
Announcer: 38, 40, and 44.
Once again the winning lotto numbers are 8, 12
Bruckman: Why do I do this to myself?
The end of season 2 to a few episodes into season 3 have just been some of the most fantastic television I have seen. I can't recall too many streaks that I have loved as much as the episodes from "Anasazi" to "Clyde Bruckman...". Just bear with me while I pour out some of my love for these episodes!
As a first time viewer, season 2 was a little disappointing on the whole for me despite having such a great time going through the first season (I know, uncommon to prefer S1 to S2) and despite loving a number of season 2 episodes. Anyways, "Anasazi" was an incredible way to end that season on such a high note.
"The Blessing Way" while the weak link of the trilogy, I still loved it, largely based on R.W Goodwin's amazing direction. The actual Mulder storyline didn't necessarily work as much for me on a story level but the direction was magnificent that it still completely hooked me.
"Paper Clip" was just outrageous. By this point, I'm loving the expanded mythology of the show though I'm aware that it's all going to go downhill. Love the Shadowy Syndicate, love how hyper-stylized that entire aspect of the mythology is. Love the tension between CSM and Skinner, both of whom are amazing but especially Skinner. Props to him, I mean the poor guy gets held at gunpoint by Mulder (in "End Game") and Scully ("Blessing Way", "Paper Clip") and even physically attacked by Mulder ("Anasazi") though he still maintains a loyalty to them. Skinner's just the best!
The direction of those three episodes was just amazing. Both Goodwin and Bowman just direct these episodes with a real cinematic eye when they could have just as easily directed it in a televisual manner.
After all that comes "D.P.O", probably the inverse of the trilogy that preceded it. It's just outrageously entertaining, funny, at times dark, always thrilling and hell, even sad. Love Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black, great characters, fantastic chemistry and charisma. It was a genuinely sad moment for me when Darin kills Zero. "D.P.O" was probably the most purely entertaining episode for me yet. God I love Kim Manners's direction, especially some of his oblique and exaggerated camera work. Can't wait to see what he'll do with "Home".
"Clyde Bruckman...." - I really don't know what to say with this one that others far more eloquent and intelligent haven't already said. It's just absolutely amazing. It's probably the X-Files episode that so far sums up everything the show can be: it's dark, it's funny, it'
... keep reading on reddit ➡This is my favorite The X-Files episode of all time. And I really want to get someone who would be great at analyzing it. I have been emailing with Darin Morgan, but I wanna save him until all his episodes are done so I can do a Glen Morgan style interview with him about all of them.
Of the past guests, who would be good for this? Devin is doing the ones right before it, so he's out. I'm kind of leaning towards Steve Asbell. I know it's his favorite episode too.
What do you guys think? Just really wanna get someone who can do justice to one of the finest hours of television ever created.
So I recorded an episode with Steve Asbell about these two episodes. And I think it's really good. There is no way we can do justice to the perfection & genius of Clyde Bruckman, but I think we did a good job of capturing what it means to us.
But here is the plan. I am going to split the conversation into two parts. I'm going to put out an episode with just DPO and interview Jack Black after the Steve part, and then do the same with Darin Morgan on the next episode. How does that sound?
So, basically, DPO with Steve Asbell & Jack Black, then Clyde Bruckman with Steve Asbell & Darin Morgan.
I'm pretty stoked.
Kumail
Like any serious subreddit, after the airing of an episode there should be a stickied thread that stays at the top of the sub all week. Or at least for a couple days until a Pre-episode thread takes it place.
Any well established sub based on a tv show or podcast follows this format, and it greatly improves the quality of the sub, and makes discussion easier.
I would love to see a better sub design as well. In terms of graphics as well as sidebar content. We are lucky that Kumail mentions this sub on the podcast, seeing as most hosts direct you to the place where the episode is hosted.
That being said, this is what I would like to see weekly stickied threads look like.
If the mods don't have time I would be happy to make these each week.
XFF 27 – Season 3, Episodes 3 & 4 “D.P.O” & “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” with @Steve Asbell and @Jack Black
Listen to the podcast here, via feralaudio.com
Season 3, Episode 3 "D.P.O": Directed by Kim Manners, Written by Howard Gordan
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Message Boards
-
(Additional links: Interviews, Reviews, ect)
Season 3, Episode 4 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Respose": Directed by David Nutter, Written by Darin Morgan
- Plot Analysis
- AV Club Review
- Message Boards
- (Additional links: Interviews, Reviews, ect)
Feel free to discus anything & everything about the two episodes themselves, or the podcast.
Next Week: Interview with Darin Morgan
Additional Links:
- The talk about the lottery reminded me of this Last Week with John Oliver segment. Worth a watch if you agree with the gentlemen about the state lottery
- (Links to any crazy conspiracies mentioned in an episode would go here as well)
Those are on gfycat, so I can't link to one album, sorry for that.
I just watched "Clyde Bruckman's Final Response" in season 3 and absolutely loved the character. The way in which he dealt with his troublesome gift with some humor, as well as his well-put musings on free will, left me smiling for much of the episode. I can definitely understand why Peter Boyle won an Emmy for that one.
If the answer to this question has anything to do with future episodes, PLEASE just say "Not available."
So I just finished "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and I am confused about his death. So in the car about 1/3 of the way through the episode, he says that autoerotic asphyxiation is one of the worst ways to go. Mulder then asks him why he would say that to him, and he strugs and says that it's none of his (Clyde's) business. At the end of the episode, Clyde is found dead, asphyxiated inside of a bag with some pills in his hand. Did Clyde kill himself through autoerotic asphyxiation (and what were the pills for?). It seems a little strange to me that he would take out his sorrow with the world through such a strange method, but I'm just wondering if that is what he meant earlier, if it's not something you can tell me as of my current episode (S3, E6), if it's not something we know, or if it was just played for laughs.
I beg you, please, please, give me no spoils. I love this show so much, and it seems almost impossible that I've made it this far in my life without this show having been spoiled for me at all. Thank you so much
I've been waiting for this one, but now that it's here, I just don't know what to say. This is in my top 5 favorite episodes, and is consistently mentioned by fans and critics as one of the best of the series. If I tried to list everything I love about this episode... well, I'd basically just be writing a transcript, so I'm going to stick to 5 and hope that conveys me deep, abiding love for it.
In no particular order:
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The scene with Stupendous Yappi. His amazing eyebrows, "I can't take you anywhere," "So's your old man!" You know right off the bat that this is going to be an hilarious episode, but all the characters are so fucking serious in their roles that it just makes it even funnier. It's like everyone is the straight man, and no one knows it.
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"It's from your New York Nicks t-shirt!" "Miss!" Wow, Mulder, way to be a dick. Also, nice callback to another amazing episode, Beyond the Sea, wherein self-professed psychic Luther Lee Boggs fails to recognize that that same shred of fabric is, indeed, from that t-shirt.
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Detective all blah blah blah hard evidence will catch this guy... Scully out of nowhere: It's the bellhop!
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That doll. The doll that turns into a corpse in Bruckman's hands. That fucking doll. Oh god.
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Scully finding Bruckman after he commits suicide. It's a beautiful, heart-wrenching moment that I could not begin to describe. Yes, the episode is mostly a comedy, but it's such a dark comedy interspersed with moments of deep tragedy culminating in this very scene. When Bruckman described it earlier, we laughed it off as a horny old man flirting with (the devastatingly hot) Scully... only to have that prediction come back and STAB US IN THE HEART.
Special mention: Bruckman's obsession of which precise type of pie Mulder steps in before being stabbed. Always makes me giggle. And want pie.
Do you remember how you reacted the first time you watched Darin Morgan's Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose?
Personally I think I was actually shocked or stunned. I couldn't believe that I had just seen an X-files. I think that I had grown used to thinking that I knew what to expect from the x-files, and this episode presented a totally different voice to the show and all the characters. It's stunning that this episode, and the few episodes that Darin Morgan wrote stand out so clearly from anything else that I've ever seen on television, so much so that I would call these masterpieces.
It's a little on the long side, but I thought you guys might enjoy this article on The Amazing Randi, debunker of phony psychics: http://nyti.ms/1wC7CK4
Aired: October 13, 1995
Written by: Darin Morgan
Directed by: David Nutter
Treat the discussion like this is the first time you've seen the episode, and try to avoid spoilers for genuinely new viewers, as these threads are mostly for them.
Please use spoiler tags if referencing future plot developments, remove the quotes: Spoiler example
Hi everybody - I was recently able to read UCLA's copy of the unpublished script of "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." Darin Morgan talks about a lot of these things on the podcast, but I wanted to share some of the notes I took while I was reading the script - basically just copying down parts I thought were cool.
(I'm an aspiring screenwriter, and it's so cool and helpful to see what a fantastic episode like Clyde Bruckman looks like on the page. And for as good as the episode turned out, the script is really astounding.)
...
Suddenly, a man, heading the opposite direction, walks in front of Bruckman. The two men then engage in the one-two-synchronous-side-step-shuffle-avoidance routine. They finally stop and CHUCKLE.
BRUCKMAN
Sorry.
The other man steps around Bruckman, spinning as he passes, revealing himself to be a lanky, amiable goodfball (yet, not overtly goofy, you understand), hereon called THE PUPPET.
...
A disquiet, quiet pause ensues, before - with an alarming burst of speed and power- The Puppet lunges across the table. Just before his hands reach her throat, CUT TO:
CRYSTAL BALL
MOVE IN ON CRYSTAL BALL, until and image begins to appear within -- the inverted, concave image of the Palm Reader bering strangles by The Puppet.
FADE OUT.
END TEASER
...
PHOTOGRAPHER
They say the eyes capture the last image a murder victim sees before they're killed.
CLINE
What do they say about the entrails?
PHOTOGRAPHER
"Yuck."
...
MULDER
What is it? What do you see?
BRUCKMAN
He's having sex with her. There.
SCULLY
Is he raping her?
BRUCKMAN
Oh, not at all. In fact, she's instigating the whole thing. She's very... rambunctious.
MULDER
Then what's wrong?
BRUCKMAN
Oh, it's just... sometimes it seems that everyone is having sex except for me.
MULDER
(pause)
Mr. Bruckman, can you tell us why the murderer is killing these people in the way that he is?
BRUCKMAN
Why does anyone do the things they do? Why do I sell insurance? I wish I knew. Why... did this woman collect dolls?
Bruckman casually inspects some of the doll collection.
BRUCKMAN (CONT'D)
What was it about her life -- was it one specific moment where she suddenly said: "I kn
Throughout the episode, it's very clearly explained that Clyde Bruckman can't predict the future, he can only see how people are going to die. He's pretty much proven to be correct time and time again throughout the episode.
Then, he has the vision of Mulder stepping in the pie, etc., and we are led to believe that this is how Mulder will die (throat slit from behind). The scenario does happen, but Mulder doesn't die. So, in this one case, Bruckman's ability was more of a general "see the future" kind.
Do you think this is significant in any way? Does it add to the discussions of fate vs. free will that are had throughout the episode? Bruckman's world view was that he couldn't have his visions if the future wasn't already written, so why bother to do anything... which is ultimately what made him depressed and suicidal. Do you think this shows that the future CAN be changed? Was it a message of hope from the writer? Was that actually how Mulder was meant to die? (Assuming the autoerotic asphyxiation line was just a joke.) Or do you think it was just an oversight on "the rules" and included for dramatic effect?
I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts!
I've been watching them from the beginning for the first time and this episode was just phenomenal. I was a little jaded by Season 2, which I personally didn't like.
Original Airdate: October 13, 1995
Written by: Darin Morgan
Directed by: David Nutter
Mulder and Scully receive help in the investigation of a murder case from a reluctant psychic.
Those are on gfycat, so I can't link to one album.
