"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files.

Directed by David Nutter and written by Darin Morgan, the installment serves as a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, that is, a stand-alone plot unconnected to the overarching mythology of The X-Files.

Originally aired by the Fox network on October 13, 1995, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" received a Nielsen rating of 10.2 and was seen by 15.38 million viewers.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who work on cases linked to the paranormal called X-Files.

The two are assisted by Clyde Bruckman (Peter Boyle), an enigmatic and reluctant individual who possesses the ability to foresee how people are going to die.

In Saint Paul, Minnesota, Clyde Bruckman (Peter Boyle), an insurance salesman, buys scotch, a tabloid and a lottery ticket from a liquor store.

Outside, he narrowly avoids colliding with an inconspicuous man (Stuart Charno), who heads to palm reader Madame Zelma (Karin Konoval).

FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are called in to assist the local police, who are also aided by an eccentric psychic: the Stupendous Yappi (Jaap Broeker).

After examining the tea reader's body, Scully discovers a key chain that she manages to link to an investment company owned by Claude Dukenfield.

Bruckman guides Mulder and Scully to a nearby forest where he believes Dukenfield's corpse to be buried; as they tromp through the woods, Bruckman explains that following the deaths of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper in a plane crash, he began obsessively thinking of the chain of events that led to the crash, which resulted in his developing psychic abilities.

Mulder and Scully are soon called to investigate the murder of another tarot card reader (Alex Diakun), and so a detective named Havez (Dwight McFee) takes over as Bruckman's guard.

Morgan had previously written the second season episode "Humbug", which was a stylistic break from the series' norm, being more overtly humorous.

[6] The tone of the episode was also affected by Morgan suffering from depression, which led to him developing a plot in which the main character kills himself in the end.

"[4] While working on the script, Morgan realized that while Mulder is supposed to be intelligent, were he to talk to a "normal person" in real life, he would come across as paranoid or insane.

[8] Frank Spotnitz later argued that this sub-plot was bookended by the sixth-season episode "Tithonus," which showed Scully starting to die, only to have her come back, fulfilling Bruckman's prophecy.

The name "Clyde Bruckman", for instance, is a direct reference to a writer and director of classic comedies who died by suicide in 1955.

[4][6] Although Chris Carter preferred to hire lesser-known individuals for the show, he believed Boyle to be "such a gifted character actor" that he made an exception.

The character of the Stupendous Yappi, whom Morgan described as a cross between Uri Geller and the Amazing Kreskin, was specifically written for Jaap Broeker, David Duchovny's stand-in.

[15] Visual effects producer Mat Beck and Toby Lindala created the elaborate dream sequence in which Bruckman's body decomposes.

[4] This version was originally 10 minutes over the time limit, resulting in multiple scenes featuring Bruckman and Scully being excised from the episode.

Robert Shearman, in his book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, gave the episode a full five stars and called it "a little slice of genius".

"[14] Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a rare "A+", writing, "Boyle gets lots of help from another superlative, laugh-a-minute script [which] nicely captures one of the overarching themes of the show: fate and man's isolation.

Rolling Stone put it at #1 in the article "The X-Files: Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best," calling it "heart-breaking," a "masterpiece," and "television perfection.