‘Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose’ is the best X-Files episode?

Digital Trends compiled a list of 10 episodes that best exemplify why the series is so beloved by those who know it. After considering all 218 episodes across 11 seasons, the best installments of The X-Files is ‘Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose’ (Season 3, Episode 4).

Peter Boyle took home a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as the cynical psychic Clyde Bruckman, recruited by Mulder and Scully to help solve several murders. The brilliance of this episode transcends the X-Files to be regarded by many critics as one of television’s most excellent episodes in any show. Writer Darin Morgan won an Emmy for his part in the project. The episode explores life and death through a variety of story elements in a remarkable narrative and aspects of the human psyche’s reaction to such heavy subjects.

TV Guide ranked 25 best episodes, from underrated favorites to Emmi-winning standouts. And the winner is ‘Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose’.

The extraordinary episode won The X-Files its first two major Emmys for a reason. One of those awards went to writer Darin Morgan, who turns out a darkly comedic script that bends the rules of TV storytelling and makes it look easy. The other went to guest star Peter Boyle for his benevolent, dryly funny performance as a psychic with exactly one gift: the ability to tell how people are going to die. Like all of Morgan's episodes, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is also a comment on The X-Files, a show that cared a lot about "the truth" but ultimately cared very little about answers. Nobody really wants to find out what Bruckman knows about their future, least of all Bruckman himself. It's a sweetly philosophical story about how destructive obsession can be and how vital it is to counter it by connecting with other people — which turned out to be the point of the whole show.

According to Decider, 25 years ago, X-Files fans probably didn’t know they were in for an hour that would completely reframe how American audiences view science fiction.

It’s an existential crisis in the form of a spooky mystery. It will make you stare into the abyss—or, since you’re watching this in 2020, further into the abyss. It’s an overused term, but, yes, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” is a rumination on the meaning of life. But—and this is what makes the episode truly special—it’s not a dirge. There’s a gleeful glint in these dead eyes, a bit of joy in the despair. Life ends in death for everyone (well, maybe not everyone), so why not just live a little? “Clyde Bruckman” walks a tightrope, knowing that even if it falls, it can cackle on the way down.