"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" has been critically lauded. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book "Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen", gave the episode a full five stars and called it "a little slice of genius". The two applauded the episode's rich humor, as well as its exploration of extremely dark themes in a lighthearted way. Shearman and Pearson concluded that "the troubled questions Morgan poses here" about free will and death "are best answered by the writing of the episode itself … an episode like this isn't random—it's finely wrought, and thoughtful, and compassionate, and is a triumph of individualism." Author Phil Farrand rated the episode as his third favorite episode of the first four seasons in his book "The Nitpickers Guide to the X-Files". Both Paul Cornell and Keith Topping, in the book "Extreme Possibilities" applauded the episode; Cornell called it "an extraordinary piece of work" and altogether gorgeous", whereas Topping labelled it a "little gem". Conversely, Martin Day, in the same book, wrote a negative review, calling it "duller than a dull thing with dull knobs", despite noting that it was "clever and well-acted".