"The X Files" Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (1996)

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Director:

James Wong

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Glen Morgan (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

17 November 1996 (Season 4, Episode 7)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Mulder and Scully are called to meet with The Lone Gunmen. It is there that Frohike reveals an uncovered history of the infamous Cigarette-Smoking Man...

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Conspiracy | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder (voice)
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dean Aylesworth	...	Young Bill Mulder
Tim Bissett	...	Agent Cook
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
David Fredericks	...	The Director
Peter Hanlon	...	The Aide
Jerry Hardin	...	Deep Throat
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers (voice)
Paul Jarrett	...	James Earl Ray
Laurie Murdoch	...	Lydon
Chris Owens	...	Young Cigarette Smoking Man
Donnelly Rhodes	...	General Francis
Morgan Weisser	...	Lee Harvey Oswald
Dan Zukovic	...	Agent

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Dealey Plaza - 500 Main Street, Dallas, Texas, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

When CSM is out on the street looking for the magazine that published his work, there is another white magazine that references Darin Morgan on the shelf.

Quotes:

The Cigarette Smoking Man: Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you're stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there's a peanut butter cup or an English toffee. But they're gone too fast and the taste is...

Movie Connections:

Features War Is Hell (1963)

internal continuity

I enjoyed this episode - a nice view of the hollow nature of CSM's life - which was also shown in a previous show when Mulder tracks down CSM's apartment. "Look at me. No family, no life, a little power." he says then, and looked pathetic saying it.

My issue with this is that it contradicts a previous ep. (forget which, sorry) when we see a flashback to Roswell, 1947. CSM and Papa Mulder are already FBI agents then. It's clear from this ep. that CSM was still very young in the early 60s - so these two narratives are at odds.

Nitpicky, I know - but writers should try to keep the story internally consistent if possible.