I guess I shouldn't be surprised that most of the reviewers for this episode find it to be their favorite; it's been mine ever since I saw it back when the show was originally airing. The mix of humor, drama and pathos built around the character of Clyde Bruckman is genuinely heartfelt, and Peter Boyle's take on the title character is wonderful. There are times when his morbid death predictions are stated as a simple matter of fact, and others when he's being humorously sarcastic. I got the biggest kick out of him doing the Johnny Carson Karmac gimmick; he actually did it twice, the first time with the piece of blue fabric from Mulder's shirt, and later with the manila envelope with the murderer's message inside. Just great.
I recall how when I first saw this episode, I thought the writers went way out on a limb with Bruckman's forecast of winding up in bed with Scully and how she would get teary eyed about it. In the telling, you could see how Scully got creeped out over the idea with the whole compassion business and how it would be a very special moment for her. Son of a gun, if that isn't exactly the way it played out.
Even Mulder got a taste of Bruckman's insightful expertise when talk turned to autoerotic asphyxiation before changing the subject. The odd thing is, Bruckman's predictive powers only extended to seeing how a person would die, he couldn't parlay his ability to have a lottery ticket come out a winner. And did you notice, after describing the 'romantic' interlude with Scully and foreseeing his own death, the poker hand he held playing against her was a variation of the Wild Bill Hickok 'dead man's hand'. The writers for this episode were firing on all cylinders.
What intrigued me about this episode apart from the main story line had to do with Clyde Bruckman's musings about the randomness of life and how one minor event can trigger an entire ripple effect across one's lifetime. That was during the Big Bopper conversation, the discussion turning to how life or death can sometimes depend on something so mundane as the flip of a coin. The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on the way to their next concert venue on February 3rd, 1959, and it WAS a coin toss that the Bopper tragically 'won' to get a seat on the plane. The story here didn't mention who 'lost' that coin toss - it was Waylon Jennings.
I recall how when I first saw this episode, I thought the writers went way out on a limb with Bruckman's forecast of winding up in bed with Scully and how she would get teary eyed about it. In the telling, you could see how Scully got creeped out over the idea with the whole compassion business and how it would be a very special moment for her. Son of a gun, if that isn't exactly the way it played out.
Even Mulder got a taste of Bruckman's insightful expertise when talk turned to autoerotic asphyxiation before changing the subject. The odd thing is, Bruckman's predictive powers only extended to seeing how a person would die, he couldn't parlay his ability to have a lottery ticket come out a winner. And did you notice, after describing the 'romantic' interlude with Scully and foreseeing his own death, the poker hand he held playing against her was a variation of the Wild Bill Hickok 'dead man's hand'. The writers for this episode were firing on all cylinders.
What intrigued me about this episode apart from the main story line had to do with Clyde Bruckman's musings about the randomness of life and how one minor event can trigger an entire ripple effect across one's lifetime. That was during the Big Bopper conversation, the discussion turning to how life or death can sometimes depend on something so mundane as the flip of a coin. The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on the way to their next concert venue on February 3rd, 1959, and it WAS a coin toss that the Bopper tragically 'won' to get a seat on the plane. The story here didn't mention who 'lost' that coin toss - it was Waylon Jennings.