10 TV Questions That STILL Have You Confused

4. How Did The Smoking Man Survive? - The X-Files

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20th Century Fox

Throughout The X-Files, Mulder and Scully have encountered aliens, shapeshifters, vampires, bile mutants, fire-conjurers, haunted dolls, and evil cats. And since the two FBI agents have walked away from certain death on countless occasions, it's obvious this is a show that heavily relies on the suspension of disbelief.

Having said that, the resurrection of the Cigarette Smoking Man is a step too far. 

When The X-Files was revived in 2016, it was decided to bring back the nefarious chain-smoker, since he was the primary antagonist. The only problem was, there is no way in Hell the Smoking Man could still be alive. Last we saw him, he was caught in the heart of a missile explosion! There's no walking away from that.

The revival feebly tries to explain this away, showing how the bombing left the mysterious agent horrifically scarred (and missing a nose), but, c'mon, he didn't just suffer a few burns. The fire melted the flesh off his bones, until there was nothing left but a charred skeleton.

Even though The X-Files isn't known for its realism, Smoking Man's return can't be taken seriously.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows