Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
Encyclopedia
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files
television series
. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fourth season. "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" features Frohike finding a magazine story that he believes reveals the history of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
and surveillance
equipment, spies on a meeting between Fox Mulder
, Dana Scully
, and the Lone Gunmen. Frohike
claims to have discovered information about the Smoking Man's mysterious past, stating that his father was an executed communist spy and that his mother died of lung cancer
, causing him to be raised in various Midwest orphanages.
The narrative changes
to 1962. The Smoking Man is an Army captain stationed at Fort Bragg
in North Carolina
. He talks to a friend and fellow soldier, Bill Mulder, who shows him a photo of his infant son, Fox. The Smoking Man is summoned to attend a meeting with a general and several strange men in suits. They assign him to assassinate President John F. Kennedy
. In 1963, posing as a "Mr. Hunt", the Smoking Man frames Lee Harvey Oswald
and shoots Kennedy
. Oswald kills J. D. Tippit
and is arrested in the Texas Theatre
as the Smoking Man watches.
In 1967, the Smoking Man writes a novel entitled Take a Chance: A Jack Colquitt Adventure, using the pen name
"Raul Bloodworth." After hearing Martin Luther King, Jr.
give a speech criticizing America's attitude towards the distribution of wealth at home and social revolutions abroad, the Smoking Man meets with a group of men, including J. Edgar Hoover
. He convinces them to have King assassinated and volunteers to perform the task. In April 1968, he frames James Earl Ray
and shoots King
in Memphis, Tennessee
. Shortly thereafter, a publishing company rejects his novel.
In 1991, the Smoking Man meets with subordinates, discussing his orchestration of the Anita Hill
controversy and the Rodney King
trial. He orders that the Buffalo Bills
not win the Super Bowl
. He further reveals his drugging of a Soviet goalkeeper
to ensure the outcome of the "Miracle on Ice
" hockey match. Before leaving the meeting, he surprises his subordinates by giving them Christmas presents. One of the Smoking Man's subordinates invites him for a family dinner. Although flattered, the Smoking Man declines the invitation and states that he is scheduled to visit family. He is next seen walking past Fox Mulder's office.
Later, while at home, the Smoking Man receives an urgent phone call from Deep Throat, who meets him near the site of a UFO wreck. An alien from the UFO is alive. Deep Throat and Smoking Man reminisce about the multiple times they changed the course of history. As per an agreement, they are required to immediately terminate the alien. However, neither wish to perform the act due to a crisis of conscience. They flip a coin
over who is tasked to kill the alien survivor. Deep Throat loses, and thus reluctantly shoots the alien.
A few months later, in March 1992, the Smoking Man attends the meeting where Scully is assigned to the X-Files and eavesdrops on the agents' first meeting. In 1996, he receives a letter telling him that his novel will be serialized in the magazine Roman a Clef. He types up a resignation letter, and excitedly finds the magazine at a newsstand. However, he finds that the ending has been changed. Bitter, the Smoking Man sits on a bench with a homeless man, giving a monologue
that puts a nihilistic
spin on the "life is like a box of chocolates" line from Forrest Gump
. He tears up his resignation letter and leaves the magazine at the bench.
Back in the present, Frohike tells Mulder and Scully that what he's told them is based on a story he found in a magazine he subscribes to. He leaves to verify the story. As he leaves, the Smoking Man has a clear shot. However, he decides not to kill him and quotes the last line from his unpublished novel: "I can kill you whenever I please, but not today."
Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography. Glen Morgan
stated that he wanted the episode to show that the Cigarette Smoking Man
(William B. Davis
) was the most dangerous human being alive. The episode was the first in the series for which Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) did not appear on screen, and featured Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) only in archival footage from the "Pilot". The episode was not intended to give the actors a week off, but ended up that way, which Duchovny was very pleased with. Davis was happy to have an episode of his own, but was puzzled at some of the contradictions in the script, such as having him assassinate John F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther King, but being concerned with something as minor as keeping the Buffalo Bills
from winning the Super Bowl
. Chris Carter
said "I had to speak with Bill several times; I spent hours with him on the telephone talking about the character something that it wasn't. I tried to explain to him, as I think Jim and Glen were trying to express, that even if your mission in life is a destroyer, that you still have some hope in the back of your mind that you can be a creator - and that this all of a sudden, this vanity, is his vanity. And we see that so clearly here and it makes him sort of a silly person." Davis said of James Wong
's direction, "Jim Wong's direction was a big help, too. A lot of the stage directions point toward farce, but Jim told me to play against that and just let the situation play out. The Forrest Gump
scene was difficult, too. When I prepared it and did it the first time, I was almost Shakespearean in my approach. Jim made me toss it off more, and it worked fine." Chris Owens
who portrayed the Young Cigarette Smoking Man spent time watching how Davis smokes to ensure that he did it just like him. Owens later appeared as a young version of the Cigarette Smoking Man again in the episode "Demons
" and as his son Jeffrey Spender
.
The episode contains several references to Morgan and Wong's former series Space: Above and Beyond
including the name of the Cigarette Smoking Man's novel, Take a Chance, the reference to "classified compartmentalized" and the name Jack Colquitt. In addition, Morgan Weisser
, who played Lee Harvey Oswald was an actor who appeared on that show. U.N. Resolution
1013, quoted by Deep Throat, is a reference to Carter's birthday and production company. Walden Roth, the editor who buys the Cigarette Smoking Man's novel, is a reference to 20th Century Fox
executives Dana Walden and Peter Roth. The Cigarette Smoking Man's ambition to be a novelist was based on Howard Hunt.
Producer J.P. Finn coordinated the sequence where the Cigarette Smoking Man assassinates John F. Kennedy. It was filmed in a downtown Vancouver, Canada location doubling for Dealey Plaza
. The show's costume designer contacted the costume designer for the film JFK
and borrowed a reproduction of Jackie Kennedy's pink suit used in the film. The Lincoln Continental limousine ridden by Kennedy was created by picture vehicle coordinator Nigel Habgood. The episode was originally intended to end with the Cigarette Smoking Man killing Melvin Frohike
, but the show's executive staff vetoed the idea.
said "In the closing scene Frohike tells Mulder and Scully that the whole story was something he read in a crummy magazine. A lot of people didn't pick up on that subtlety. They thought that this was indeed the factual history of the CSM. As far as I'm concerned, it's not. Some of it may indeed be true, and some of it may - well, never mind."
James Wong
earned the show's first ever Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
for this episode.
Author Phil Farrand was critical of the episode, rating it as his fifth least favorite episode of the first four seasons. He criticized the episode for being uninteresting in the first half, the usage of the John F. Kennedy assassination
being cliche, and the fact that viewers didn't have any way of knowing whether the content of the episode really happened.
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fourth season. "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" features Frohike finding a magazine story that he believes reveals the history of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
Plot
The Smoking Man, armed with a sniper rifleSniper rifle
In military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight and chambered for a military...
and surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
equipment, spies on a meeting between Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
, and the Lone Gunmen. Frohike
Melvin Frohike
Melvin Frohike is a fictional character in the television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, played by Tom Braidwood.Frohike was born circa 1953 in Pontiac, Michigan. Prior to joining The Lone Gunmen, he was an acclaimed tango dancer in Miami...
claims to have discovered information about the Smoking Man's mysterious past, stating that his father was an executed communist spy and that his mother died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, causing him to be raised in various Midwest orphanages.
The narrative changes
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to 1962. The Smoking Man is an Army captain stationed at Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg (North Carolina)
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...
in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. He talks to a friend and fellow soldier, Bill Mulder, who shows him a photo of his infant son, Fox. The Smoking Man is summoned to attend a meeting with a general and several strange men in suits. They assign him to assassinate President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. In 1963, posing as a "Mr. Hunt", the Smoking Man frames Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
and shoots Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
. Oswald kills J. D. Tippit
J. D. Tippit
Tippit attended a Veterans Administration vocational training school at Bogata, Texas, from January 1950 until June 1952. He was then hired by the Dallas Police Department as a patrolman on July 28, 1952...
and is arrested in the Texas Theatre
Texas Theatre
The Texas Theatre is a movie theater and Dallas Landmark located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. It gained historical fame for being the place Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy and Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit, was arrested after a brief fight...
as the Smoking Man watches.
In 1967, the Smoking Man writes a novel entitled Take a Chance: A Jack Colquitt Adventure, using the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"Raul Bloodworth." After hearing Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
give a speech criticizing America's attitude towards the distribution of wealth at home and social revolutions abroad, the Smoking Man meets with a group of men, including J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. He convinces them to have King assassinated and volunteers to perform the task. In April 1968, he frames James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray was an American criminal convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....
and shoots King
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr., a prominent American leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39...
in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. Shortly thereafter, a publishing company rejects his novel.
In 1991, the Smoking Man meets with subordinates, discussing his orchestration of the Anita Hill
Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hill is an American attorney and academic—presently a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she alleged that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had...
controversy and the Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
trial. He orders that the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
not win the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. He further reveals his drugging of a Soviet goalkeeper
Vladislav Tretiak
Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM is a former goaltender for the Soviet Union's national ice hockey team. Considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport, he was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation's Centennial All-Star Team in a...
to ensure the outcome of the "Miracle on Ice
Miracle on Ice
The "Miracle on Ice" is the name in American popular culture for a medal-round men's ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, on Friday, February 22...
" hockey match. Before leaving the meeting, he surprises his subordinates by giving them Christmas presents. One of the Smoking Man's subordinates invites him for a family dinner. Although flattered, the Smoking Man declines the invitation and states that he is scheduled to visit family. He is next seen walking past Fox Mulder's office.
Later, while at home, the Smoking Man receives an urgent phone call from Deep Throat, who meets him near the site of a UFO wreck. An alien from the UFO is alive. Deep Throat and Smoking Man reminisce about the multiple times they changed the course of history. As per an agreement, they are required to immediately terminate the alien. However, neither wish to perform the act due to a crisis of conscience. They flip a coin
Coin flipping
Coin flipping or coin tossing or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties...
over who is tasked to kill the alien survivor. Deep Throat loses, and thus reluctantly shoots the alien.
A few months later, in March 1992, the Smoking Man attends the meeting where Scully is assigned to the X-Files and eavesdrops on the agents' first meeting. In 1996, he receives a letter telling him that his novel will be serialized in the magazine Roman a Clef. He types up a resignation letter, and excitedly finds the magazine at a newsstand. However, he finds that the ending has been changed. Bitter, the Smoking Man sits on a bench with a homeless man, giving a monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
that puts a nihilistic
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
spin on the "life is like a box of chocolates" line from Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
. He tears up his resignation letter and leaves the magazine at the bench.
Back in the present, Frohike tells Mulder and Scully that what he's told them is based on a story he found in a magazine he subscribes to. He leaves to verify the story. As he leaves, the Smoking Man has a clear shot. However, he decides not to kill him and quotes the last line from his unpublished novel: "I can kill you whenever I please, but not today."
Production
The episode was inspired by the DC Graphic NovelDC Graphic Novel
DC Graphic Novel was a series of graphic novel trade paperbacks published from 1983 to 1986 by DC Comics.DC also published from 1985 to 1987 a second, related line called DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel. Rather than being original stories, the graphic novels of this line were instead adaptations...
Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography. Glen Morgan
Glen Morgan
Glen Morgan is an American television producer, writer, and director.-Biography:Morgan is best known for his screen work with long-time writing partner James Wong, including The X-Files, Millennium, Space: Above and Beyond, the Final Destination series, The One, Willard, and the 2006 remake of...
stated that he wanted the episode to show that the Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
(William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
) was the most dangerous human being alive. The episode was the first in the series for which Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) did not appear on screen, and featured Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) only in archival footage from the "Pilot". The episode was not intended to give the actors a week off, but ended up that way, which Duchovny was very pleased with. Davis was happy to have an episode of his own, but was puzzled at some of the contradictions in the script, such as having him assassinate John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Martin Luther King, but being concerned with something as minor as keeping the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
from winning the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
said "I had to speak with Bill several times; I spent hours with him on the telephone talking about the character something that it wasn't. I tried to explain to him, as I think Jim and Glen were trying to express, that even if your mission in life is a destroyer, that you still have some hope in the back of your mind that you can be a creator - and that this all of a sudden, this vanity, is his vanity. And we see that so clearly here and it makes him sort of a silly person." Davis said of James Wong
James Wong (producer)
James 'Jim' Wong is a Cantonese-American television producer, writer, and film director notable for his screen works of The X-Files, Space: Above and Beyond, Millennium, Final Destination 1 & 3, The One, and the remakes of Willard and Black Christmas along with writing partner Glen...
's direction, "Jim Wong's direction was a big help, too. A lot of the stage directions point toward farce, but Jim told me to play against that and just let the situation play out. The Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
scene was difficult, too. When I prepared it and did it the first time, I was almost Shakespearean in my approach. Jim made me toss it off more, and it worked fine." Chris Owens
Chris Owens (actor)
Christopher Bradley "Chris" Owens is a Canadian actor.Owens was born in Toronto, the son of Jeannette, a jazz singer, and Garry Owens, a jazz drummer....
who portrayed the Young Cigarette Smoking Man spent time watching how Davis smokes to ensure that he did it just like him. Owens later appeared as a young version of the Cigarette Smoking Man again in the episode "Demons
Demons (The X-Files)
"Demons" is a 1997 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the twenty-third episode broadcast in the show's fourth season. "Demons" features Mulder waking up in a hotel with blood all over him and no memory how it happened...
" and as his son Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
.
The episode contains several references to Morgan and Wong's former series Space: Above and Beyond
Space: Above and Beyond
Space: Above and Beyond was a short-lived mid-90s American science fiction television show on the FOX Network, created and written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Originally planned for five seasons, it ran only for the single 1995–1996 season. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Saturn...
including the name of the Cigarette Smoking Man's novel, Take a Chance, the reference to "classified compartmentalized" and the name Jack Colquitt. In addition, Morgan Weisser
Morgan Weisser
Morgan Weisser is an American actor and the son of German born actor Norbert Weisser.-Movie career:He is probably best known for his role as Lt...
, who played Lee Harvey Oswald was an actor who appeared on that show. U.N. Resolution
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
1013, quoted by Deep Throat, is a reference to Carter's birthday and production company. Walden Roth, the editor who buys the Cigarette Smoking Man's novel, is a reference to 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
executives Dana Walden and Peter Roth. The Cigarette Smoking Man's ambition to be a novelist was based on Howard Hunt.
Producer J.P. Finn coordinated the sequence where the Cigarette Smoking Man assassinates John F. Kennedy. It was filmed in a downtown Vancouver, Canada location doubling for Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza , in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas , is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
. The show's costume designer contacted the costume designer for the film JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
and borrowed a reproduction of Jackie Kennedy's pink suit used in the film. The Lincoln Continental limousine ridden by Kennedy was created by picture vehicle coordinator Nigel Habgood. The episode was originally intended to end with the Cigarette Smoking Man killing Melvin Frohike
Melvin Frohike
Melvin Frohike is a fictional character in the television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, played by Tom Braidwood.Frohike was born circa 1953 in Pontiac, Michigan. Prior to joining The Lone Gunmen, he was an acclaimed tango dancer in Miami...
, but the show's executive staff vetoed the idea.
Reception
This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.7, with a 15 share. It was viewed by 17.09 million people. Few viewers picked up on the notion that the events of this episode were not necessarily factual. Story editor Frank SpotnitzFrank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
said "In the closing scene Frohike tells Mulder and Scully that the whole story was something he read in a crummy magazine. A lot of people didn't pick up on that subtlety. They thought that this was indeed the factual history of the CSM. As far as I'm concerned, it's not. Some of it may indeed be true, and some of it may - well, never mind."
James Wong
James Wong (producer)
James 'Jim' Wong is a Cantonese-American television producer, writer, and film director notable for his screen works of The X-Files, Space: Above and Beyond, Millennium, Final Destination 1 & 3, The One, and the remakes of Willard and Black Christmas along with writing partner Glen...
earned the show's first ever Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series is an Emmy presented to the best directing of a television drama series.-Best Direction of a Single Program of a Drama Series:*1959: Jack Smight – Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre ...
for this episode.
Author Phil Farrand was critical of the episode, rating it as his fifth least favorite episode of the first four seasons. He criticized the episode for being uninteresting in the first half, the usage of the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
being cliche, and the fact that viewers didn't have any way of knowing whether the content of the episode really happened.