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". 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 Smoking Man. Fellow A.V. Club writer Todd VanDerWerff has also been positive towards the Well-Manicured Man, feeling that the series would have benefited from making more use of the character. The San Francisco Chronicle's Bob Graham has praised Neville's portrayal of the character in the feature film, calling his expository monologue "a Wagnerian demonstration of the art of declamation". Writing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Michael Liedtke and George Avalos described the character as "white-haired, urbane, genteeland 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". 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. Speaking of how the role eclipsed his other acting work, Neville has been quoted as saying "It's OK, though. gave me a kind of profile that I didn't have before, and one shouldn't grumble about that".
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