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{{short description|Fictional character from the X-Files franchise}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox character
| series = [[The X-Files]]
| name = Well-Manicured Man
| first = "[[The Blessing Way (The X-Files)|The Blessing Way]]"
| last = ''[[The X-Files (film)|The X-Files]]''
| nationality = British
| occupation = 
| portrayer = [[John Neville (actor)|John Neville]]
| lbl1 = Duration
| data1 = 1995—98
| lbl21 = Affiliated with
| data21 = [[Syndicate (The X-Files)|The Syndicate]]
| lbl22 = Status
| data22 = <span style="color:#C40233;">Deceased</span>
| gender = Male
| creator = [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]]
}}

The '''Well-Manicured Man''' is a fictional character in the American [[science fiction]] [[television series]] ''[[The X-Files]]''. He serves as an antagonist to FBI special agents [[Fox Mulder]] ([[David Duchovny]]) and [[Dana Scully]] ([[Gillian Anderson]]), being a member of the sinister [[Syndicate (The X-Files)|Syndicate]] the agents seek to foil. Introduced in the [[The X-Files (season 3)|third season]], the Well-Manicured Man served to highlight discord within the ranks of the Syndicate, and ultimately betrayed them by leaking information to Mulder before committing suicide in the series' [[The X-Files (film)|first feature film]].

The Well-Manicured Man was portrayed by [[John Neville (actor)|John Neville]] in all of the character's appearances (eight episodes, and the feature film). According to the series' writers, the character represents a non-violent "voice of reason" amongst the series' antagonists. Neville's portrayal of the Well-Manicured Man has been positively received by critics, who have noted his "moral ambivalence" and "unnervingly genteel" manner.

==Character arc==
Introduced at the beginning of the third season, the Well-Manicured Man is a British member of the Syndicate, a shadow organization within the [[Federal government of the United States|United States government]] that exists to hide from the public the fact that [[Colonist (The X-Files)|aliens]] are planning to colonize the Earth. He is an important member of the Syndicate, along with [[The Smoking Man]] ([[William B. Davis]]) and [[List of The X-Files characters#First Elder|The Elder]], and was a friend of [[List of The X-Files characters#Bill Mulder|William Mulder]] earlier in his life.<ref name="The Blessing Way">{{cite episode| episode-link=The Blessing Way (The X-Files) | title=The Blessing Way | series=The X-Files | series-link=The X-Files |credits = [[R.W. Goodwin]] (director); [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] (writer) | network = [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] | season = 3 | number = 1 |airdate=September 22, 1995}}</ref><ref>Lowry, pp. 231–233</ref>

The Well-Manicured Man prefers subtlety to brute force, and will attempt to manipulate those in his way before using physical violence. Although the Syndicate's goals are opposed to those of [[Fox Mulder]] ([[David Duchovny]]) and [[Dana Scully]] ([[Gillian Anderson]]), the Well-Manicured Man will, at times, aid them with clues or information, believing that letting out a certain amount of information would help to keep the two close, and consequently allow for them to be controlled.<ref name="The Blessing Way" /> The Well-Manicured Man openly despises [[The Smoking Man]], seeing him as impulsive and unprofessional. The two maintain a bitter relationship within the Syndicate throughout the series. The Well-Manicured Man is instrumental in the Syndicate's secondary agenda, to develop a vaccination against the [[Colonist (The X-Files)#Black oil|black oil]] used by the aliens as a means of mind control.<ref name="tunguska">{{cite episode| episode-link=Tunguska (The X-Files) | title=Tunguska | series=The X-Files | series-link=The X-Files |credits =[[Kim Manners]] (director); [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] & [[Frank Spotnitz]] (writers) | network = [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] | season = 4 | number = 8 |airdate=November 24, 1996}}</ref><ref name="terma">{{cite episode| episode-link=Terma (The X-Files) | title=Terma | series=The X-Files | series-link=The X-Files |credits =[[Rob Bowman (filmmaker)|Rob Bowman]] (director); [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] & [[Frank Spotnitz]] (writers) | network = [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] | season = 4 | number = 9 |airdate=December 1, 1996}}</ref><ref>Meisler (1998), pp. 95–110</ref> To this end, he works with Russian double agent [[Alex Krycek]] ([[Nicholas Lea]]) to develop a vaccine, eventually testing it—successfully—on a Syndicate [[Mole (espionage)|mole]], [[Marita Covarrubias]] ([[Laurie Holden]]).<ref name="redblack">{{cite episode | episode-link=The Red and the Black (The X-Files) | title=The Red and the Black | series=The X-Files | series-link=The X-Files |credits =[[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] (writer and director); [[Frank Spotnitz]] (writer) | network = [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] | season = 5 | number = 14 |airdate=March 8, 1998}}</ref><ref>Meisler (1999), pp. 187–196</ref>

In the 1998 feature film ''[[The X-Files (film)|The X-Files]]'', when Scully is infected with the black oil and taken to [[Antarctica]], it is the Well-Manicured Man who, having grown disillusioned with the Syndicate, gives Mulder the coordinates needed to find her and a sample of the vaccine needed to cure Scully. The colonists had kept secret a secondary characteristic of the black oil—that those infected with it for prolonged periods would gestate a new colonist lifeform, killing the host. Upon discovering this, the Syndicate vowed to work more closely with the colonists in the hope of being spared this fate, while only the Well-Manicured Man wished to continue working on a vaccination for resistance. This rejection led to his betrayal of the Syndicate, and to him committing suicide by [[car bomb]] before his duplicity was discovered.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=[[The X-Files (film)|The X-Files: Fight the Future]] |people=[[Rob Bowman (filmmaker)|Rob Bowman]] (director); [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] & [[Frank Spotnitz]] (writers) |medium=Motion picture |publisher= [[20th Century Fox]] |date=June 19, 1998 }}</ref><ref name="moviecomm" />

==Conceptual history==

John Neville has stated that he was originally hired for just two episodes of the series, but that his character "was regularly brought back, because the audience simply doesn't know if he stands for good or evil".<ref name="independent">{{cite news |title=The one that got away |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4962950.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126022015/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4962950.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 26, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=March 8, 1999 |access-date=April 14, 2012 |first=Daniel |last=Rosenthal}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Series creator [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] has described the character in terms of his relationship with the [[Cigarette Smoking Man]], noting that the two characters can be seen as "differing in approach, differing in philosophy and differing in personality".<ref name="delete">{{cite video |people=[[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] (narrator)  |title=Deleted Scenes: Tunguska |medium=DVD |publisher=[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] |location=[[The X-Files (season 4)|The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season]]}}</ref> Writer [[Frank Spotnitz]] has described the Well-Manicured Man as "sort of the white knight to the Cigarette-Smoking Man's black knight in this chess game that we were playing".<ref>Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 73</ref>

The character has also been described by Carter and Spotnitz as the "voice of reason" within the [[Syndicate (The X-Files)|Syndicate]], who "believes that violence is the wrong way to protect the secret" which they guard.<ref name="moviecomm">{{cite video |people=[[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] & [[Frank Spotnitz]] (narrators) |title=''The X-Files'': Commentary |medium=DVD |publisher=[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] |location=[[The X-Files (film)|The X-Files]]}}</ref> The Well-Manicured Man's suicide scene in the series' [[The X Files (film)|film adaptation]] went through several conceptual iterations, with outcomes being considered including an imploding car or suicide by [[concussion grenade]], although ultimately a [[car bomb]] scene was decided upon.<ref name="moviecomm" />

==Reception==
The character of the Well-Manicured Man has been positively received by critics. [[MTV]]'s Tami Katzoff has called him a "legendary TV character", noting his "moral ambivalence about the work of his shadow organization" and his ability to show "empathy for Mulder and Scully".<ref name="mtv">{{cite web |url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/22/x-files-actor-john-neville-dies-remembering-the-well-manicured-man/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125004124/http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/22/x-files-actor-john-neville-dies-remembering-the-well-manicured-man |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 25, 2011 |title='X-Files' Actor John Neville Dies: Remembering The Well-Manicured Man |publisher=[[MTV]] |first=Tami |last=Katzoff |date=November 22, 2011 |access-date=January 7, 2012}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', Sean O'Neal praised the character's "unnervingly genteel" manner, noting that he represented the polar opposite of the [[Cigarette Smoking Man]].<ref name="avc1">{{cite news |url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-john-neville-star-of-the-adventures-of-baron-m,65510/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123202600/http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-john-neville-star-of-the-adventures-of-baron-m%2C65510/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 23, 2011 |title=R.I.P. John Neville, star of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen |newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]] |first=Sean |last=O'Neal |date=November 21, 2011 |access-date=January 30, 2012}}</ref> Fellow A.V. Club writer Emily VanDerWerff has also been positive towards the Well-Manicured Man, feeling that the series would have benefited from making more use of the character.<ref name="avc2">{{cite news |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-x-files-tunguska-millennium-the-well-worn-loc-1798166510 |title="Tunguska"/"The Well-Worn Lock" |newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]] |first=Emily |last=VanDerWerff |date=November 13, 2010 |access-date=January 7, 2012}}</ref> ''The [[San Francisco Chronicle]]''{{'s}} Bob Graham has praised Neville's portrayal of the character in the feature film, calling his expository monologue "a [[Richard Wagner|Wagnerian]] demonstration of the art of declamation".<ref name="sfgate">{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1998/10/16/DD87903.DTL |title=Conspiracy Marks the Spot / 'The X-Files' proves an intriguing thrill |first=Bob |last=Graham |newspaper=The [[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=October 16, 1998 |access-date=January 7, 2012}}</ref> Writing for the ''[[Los Angeles Daily News]]'', Michael Liedtke and George Avalos described the character as "white-haired, urbane, genteel[—]and dangerous", noting that he was "equally at ease in Virginia's horse country, the tony rooms of Manhattan's Upper West Side and the antiseptic halls of facilities that house bizarre medical experiments".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83827130.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329105829/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83827130.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 29, 2015 |title=Who's Who in 'X' World |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Daily News]] |first1=Michael |last1=Liedtke |first2=George |last2=Avalos |date=June 14, 1998 |access-date=June 23, 2012}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Den of Geek's countdown of "The Top 10 X-Files Baddies" described the Well-Manicured Man as a "super-smooth, super-creep Brit", noting that he served as "a 'boss' of sorts" for the Smoking Man.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/21209/the-top-10-x-files-baddies |title=The Top 10 X-Files Baddies |publisher=Den of Geek |date=July 20, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2012}}</ref> Speaking of how the role eclipsed his other acting work, Neville has been quoted as saying "It's OK, though. [''The X-Files''] gave me a kind of profile that I didn't have before, and one shouldn't grumble about that".<ref name="lat">{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/24/local/la-me-passings-20111124-28 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127194404/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/24/local/la-me-passings-20111124-28 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |title=Obituaries: John Neville, George Gallup Jr., Irving Geller |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=November 24, 2011 |access-date=January 30, 2012}}</ref>

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Cite book |title=The Complete X-Files |first1=Matt |last1=Hurwitz |first2=Chris |last2=Knowles |publisher=Insight Editions |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-933784-80-9 }}
* {{cite book | year=1996 | last=Lowry |first=Brian | title=Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files| url=https://archive.org/details/trustnooneoffici00lowr | url-access=registration |isbn=0-06-105353-8|publisher=Harper Prism}}
* {{Cite book |last= Meisler |first= Andy |year= 1998 |title=I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3 |publisher= Harper Prism |isbn= 0-06-105386-4 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/iwanttobelieve00meis }}
* {{cite book| year=1999| last=Meisler| first=Andy| title=Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 4| publisher=Harper Prism| isbn=0-06-107309-1| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/resistorserve00meis}}

{{X-Files}}

[[Category:Fictional English people]]
[[Category:Fictional members of secret societies]]
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1995]]
[[Category:The X-Files characters]]

[[he:תיקים באפלה#דמויות מרכזיות]]