Random Waves of Insight

Last night I saw the latter half of an episode of "The X-Files" about a man who cannot lose. I had seen the beginning years ago, but never got a chance to finish the episode until last night.

The Mr. Lucky needs money for his young friend, who is very sick and needs and organ transplant. So the guy goes gambling, and the criminals he plays Poker with get upset when he wins. They accuse him of cheating. Of course, he doesn't need to cheat. He wins in everything. But like some criminals, they simply make up their minds to kill him.

He gets chased out a window, and falls 3 stories (I believe). A the last second, a gust of wind picks him up and places him gently on the ground. He runs off.

The criminals keep trying to off him, until the FBI becomes involved. Basically, everyone and everything in his life becomes a cog in a huge causality machine in which the end outcome of every situation is designed for the greater good.

This leads to a few doubts at certain points, like when the guy is hit by a truck, but it turns out that even that served a purpose. The end of the episode is a happy one, as the kid finds a donor and gets healthy, and the lucky man outlives all the criminals.

This episode made me wonder if there's actually someone like that out there. If you could always win without trying, it would probably be like that "Twilight Zone" episode where the gambler goes to a Hell in which he always wins, and it drives him nuts because there's no longer any challenge or variation. But still, the guy in the "X-Files" episode had to contend with the fact that good luck for him meant bad luck for others.

If you were him, you could try to fix things so that what's good for you is good for your friends, your country, and even the whole world. I wonder if it would be possible, given the rules that were established in that episode, for the guy to return and bring about world peace and global salvation from the alien threat? Mulder said the invasion doesn't begin until December 22, 2012, so there's still time. It would be neat to see Mr. Lucky in the second X-Files movie, even in a minor role. But...I doubt it will happen.

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