The X-Files Episode Is A Dark Parody Of Forrest Gump And It’s Excellent

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 31 seconds ago

During its original run, The X-Files daring an unsuspecting public to believe in aliens, government conspiracies, and other monsters that go bump in the night. Lurking behind it all, though, was the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man, who went from Season 1 background to the show’s main villain. According to the Season 4 episode, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” he is also a twisted Forrest Gump, influencing world events not through naive optimism but his own ideas on keeping the world safe.

The Secret History of the Cigarette Smoking Man

“Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” gave fans the best look at the mysterious history of the shadowy masters, skillfully played by William B. Davis, with Chris Owens appearing in the episode as a younger version of the key man behind the plot. Meeting with Mulder and Scully, The Lone Gunman’s Melvin Frohike reveals that he has discovered the true story of the Cigarette Smoking Man, who, incidentally, is listening to the meeting from behind a sniper rifle. In a long series of flashbacks, we see the real story play out, or at least, the show makes us think it’s the real story.

In 1962, we learn that the Cigarette Smoking Man is friends with Mulder’s father Bill and has been tasked by the US Army to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” gives us the origins of his smoking habit, taking a cue from the gift he received from Lee Harvey Oswald after he was framed for the murder. That was just the first example of The X-Files history being shaped by his influence, and his worst actions were yet to come.

From planning the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to organize a “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, and worst of all, prevent the Bills from winning a Super Bowl, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” has fun reimagining world history. . Yet he also makes one of the most callous, clearly evil characters in it sci-fi history out to be strangely sympathetic.

A Frustrated Novelist

In between shaping world events, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” shows him working on a novel, Take a Chance: The Adventure of Jack Colquittand in the present time of 1996, he is ready to quit his job and smoke to celebrate the release of his science fiction novel. Until he discovers that the editor has double-crossed him, and while sitting on a park bench, he gives his own speech about how “life is like a box of chocolates” before resuming his villainous life. It’s a rare moment in The X-Files an original run that humanizes it, but it might not even be true.

In the closing moments of “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” Frohike admits that he made it all up, yet the Cigarette Smoking Man concludes the episode by quoting the last line of his novel, “I can kill you when however I wish. , but not today.” This has led fans to question just how much of the episode is fiction and how much was real secret history The X-File is most mysterious character.

One Of The Best X-Files Episodes

At the time the episode aired, critics and fans were indecisive, but as time went on, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” began to become a fan favorite. Written by Glen Morgan and directed by James Wong, the excellent pair behind most of the best episodes of the show and also the sci-fi series Space: Above and Beyondin fact, it was one of the first episodes they wrote after their other show was cancelled. Although they never intended to say that this was the definitive history of the Cigarette Smoking Man, many fans thought that, looking at the fun the episode was having, it was a re-imagining of world events.

“Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” may not answer any questions, including the most pressing question, when did he go shopping for the beloved log cabin from “The Red and the Black?” The debate over the best episode of The X-Files perhaps endless, and controversial decisions made in the revival series have ruined some of the original run, but the secret history of the Cigarette Smoking Man has only gotten better with time.