By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 6 seconds ago
Everybody (even those who have never even seen the show) knows that the Big Bad of The X-Files is the Cigarette Smoking Man, the shady nicotine fiend played by William B. Davis. This character has been in the show since the pilot episode, so many assume that he was always meant to be Mulder and Scully’s archnemesis. But in a twist worthy of this conspiracy-obsessed show, Davis was originally hired to be an unspeaking menace, and he wasn’t firmly established as the show’s archvillain until the excellent Season 2 episode “One Breath.”
Let’s start from the beginning; in this case, the very first episode of The X-Files. William B. Davis appears in this episode but never says anything. In the scenes where Scully is meeting with her superiors at the FBI, the Cigarette Smoking Man just lurks in the background, forcing the audience to wonder what the heck this creepy guy’s deal is.
Evil Finds Its Voice
The character didn’t speak until the Season 1 episode “Tooms,” which effectively cemented his identity as the CSM. This is important because Davis previously appeared as a CIA agent in “Young At Heart,” making it appear like the actor was little more than a glorified extra!
Because of this, the director of the Season 2 episode “One Breath” (Robert Goodwin) was worried because the script gave William B. Davis more to do on The X-Files than he had ever done before. Others on the production team shared his concerns that the actor wouldn’t be up to the task, and episode cowriter Glen Morgan had to convince the director that Davis (then a drama teacher) knew how to deliver a good performance. This was enough to mollify Goodwin, who was ultimately impressed by the actor’s performance.
The Truth Is In Here
But why, specifically, was Goodwin so concerned about whether Davis had the acting chops for this episode? The short answer is that “One Breath” firmly established the Cigarette Smoking Man as the show’s ultimate villain, someone willing and able to toy with the lives of our favorite FBI agents whenever he wanted to. In this episode, Mulder deduces that the CSM was behind Scully’s recent abduction and is doubly angry at him because she is currently in a comatose state; after convincing Deputy Director Skinner to give him the man’s address, Mulder actually ambushes the Cigarette Smoking Man at his own home.
Despite being held at gunpoint, the Cigarette Smoking Man is quite relaxed, informing his would-be killer that he likes Mulder and Scully, which is the only reason that Scully was returned to Mulder after her previous abduction. Even as he admits that he’s starting to respect Mulder, the CSM claims the other man won’t pull the trigger because it would mean killing the one man who knows the truth. He claims this is why he will always win, and a defeated Mulder ends up leaving the house, no closer to saving Scully or learning anything about who took her.
Mulder’s Dark Reflection
This X-Files scene is relatively short, but it positions Cigarette Smoking Man as the ultimate villain: he knows the elusive truth Mulder is always seeking and can have him and Scully killed whenever the mood strikes him. Adding insult to injury, he also points out that the only reason these two pesky FBI agents aren’t already dead is that he likes them. Just like that, Mulder learned that his fate is in the hands of a ruthless murderer who is starting to become his number one fan!
As director Robert Goodwin later noted, William B. Davis does an amazing job in this scene, presenting the Cigarette Smoking Man as a mirror image of Mulder himself. He, too, “wants to believe” and has dedicated his life to a cause that he thinks is righteous, one that he’s willing to kill in order to protect. Davis’ performance gives the character both steely menace and even a brief glimpse of vulnerability, emphasizing him as a very human threat that is nonetheless more dangerous than all the aliens and monsters on the show combined.
From here on, the Cigarette Smoking Man would appear in more and more X-Files episodes, including the series finale, the first movie, and even the show’s controversial revival. This would never have happened if William B. Davis hadn’t demonstrated his ability to bring TV’s scariest villain to life. In this sense, he owes both his fame and his character’s popularity to “One Breath,” an overlooked tale that is secretly one of the most important episodes in X-Files history.