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You Know What I Like: The 30th Anniversary of Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (& Fic Recs!)

Happy 30th birthday to Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, which aired thirty years ago today on the auspicious date of October 13, 1995. It's sort of appropriate that it aired on Mulder's and CC's birthday, as it's probably one of the best single episodes of the show.

I love many episodes of TXF, but I would call Clyde Bruckman practically perfect. I'm hardly alone in this, right? it's on nearly everyone's top ten list. There is some remarkable chemistry that happens in this; it’s special even for a Darin Morgan episode. In other episodes Morgan veers more extravagantly self-referential, but here he’s more tightly focused. With beautiful results. So you've got Morgan's absurdist humor and Peter Boyle's depressive twinkle, smart development of Mulder and Scully's already established character vulnerabilities, and the whole thing draped in a truly creepy aura of horror. Not to mention it's an episode all about some weighty philosophical themes--free will vs. determinism, the meaning of any of our choices--but it treats these subjects in a down-to-earth, clear-eyed style that never fails to skewer pretentiousness and platitude. Like I said, practically perfect.

If there is any imaginable flaw in Clyde Bruckman, it's that it doesn't directly generate a ton of fanfic.

I do understand why. It's not very shippy, which I think speaks to what a perfect episode it is because it is still one of my favorites anyway lol. It focuses on questions about the nature of life and living and dying, and also on the inner struggle of a character who dies by the end of the episode. All of which are usually niche fic interests. I also think sometimes when an ep is so well-constructed and complete-feeling it’s almost harder to find a way in as a fic writer … whereas when a canon storyline has holes or didn’t resolve in an entirely satisfying way, it attracts LOTS more fic (see: Emily storyline, Diana storyline, IVF, William storyline, season 8/9, MSR as a whole, I could go on).

We do learn some potentially interesting new tidbits about Mulder and Scully in this episode, which sometimes intrigue authors. But some of them (e.g. Scully's new dog ownership) have an unhappy ending within the season, and some of them (e.g. Mulder's possible kinky and dangerous autoerotic sex behaviors and Scully's possible immortality) seem like they may or may not really be true. Not to mention they're unpleasantly dark in implication.

That said, I have a brief list of fic recs related to this episode for you!

Clyde Bruckman Fics:

Chokehold - akaJake A dark, psychologically rich character study that uses both Oubliette and Clyde Bruckman as a springboard. This takes Mulder’s supposed cause of death seriously, TW for attempted strangulation / autoerotic asphyxiation.

If I Should Die Before I… - spinner_atropos Mulder has some anxiety about Clyde Bruckman’s suggestion of how he dies. He asks Scully for help. This is short but brilliant; it absolutely nails Scully’s voice.

The Men In Her Life - Queequeg_Scully In a slightly AU version of events where there is no sad Quagmire end for Queequeg, Mulder finds himself feeling somewhat pathetically in competition with a territorial Pomeranian.

The Ineluctable Tendencies of Tumbling Toast - Aloysia_Virgata After the events of the episode, there’s conversation about dog care and the possibility of foreknowledge in the universe. The kind of brainy banter you love from this author.

Jackson Van de Kamp’s Not-so-Final Repose - me, me (cecilysass) My own work, and okay, I’m going to admit it outright now, I do seem to always include my own work on rec lists. This one is a particular weirdo favorite of mine. Jackson Van de Kamp unexpectedly meets Clyde Bruckman in a cafe, which is hard to explain, because he’s dead, and it's not really AU. (TW for mention of some very popular IP that I try not to engage with any more because of the author. It’s not really glorified in the fic—more mentioned as something that affected the character’s childhood—but I did want to flag it.)

I'm also including here some Scully immortality fics. These are not necessarily Clyde Bruckman fics per se--the episode might not even be mentioned--but by nature of immortality coming up, they do relate indirectly, right? Age Cannot Wither by ML This fic weaves together Scully’s immortality and the Requiem cliffhanger. It has a melancholy taste but it’s also unabashedly romantic, almost like a fairy tale. Just absolutely lovely.

X-Tropy by Deadcanons Detailed, careful worldbuilding, a post-apocalyptic ghost story that is also MSR. Weird and wonderful.

Fathoms Five by Penumbra This is a fandom classic. An absolutely brilliant and tragic take on Scully’s immortality.