Chinese puzzles and body parts

In my belief, death is nothing to be feared. It's merely a stage of transition but life without hope-- now, that's living hell. So, hope was my gift to these men. (SCULLY sighs angrily) I don't expect you to understand.
Once again, the X Files makes the existential-esque character a dealer in death!
There is cause to argue with an assessment of the 'Hard-faced Man' as existentialist. Primarily because his victims are so fatalistic. Hsin definitely displays fear when his sigil is called. He even contemplates running away. He goes to the table because he has to, not as an accepted consequence of a choice he made. So, yes, hope is offered, but it's hope gift-wrapped in fear.
A true existentialist must accept the choices made in life and live with the consequences gladly, knowing that s/he has only her/himself to hold responsible for how things turn out. Hsin is not existentialist. He does what he thinks he must do if he is to have any chance of saving his daughter. He doesn't freely choose his actions, he feels compelled to do what he does. He chooses out of guilt. Who is to blame, he asks?
Apparently, American culture isn't as litigious as common folklore would have us believe. (Cf. America’s ‘litigious society’ is a myth’) It may be true that only 10% of Americans file a claim, with only 2% filing a lawsuit and that America comes in at fifth, after Germany, Sweden, Israel and Austria, as most litigious countries. (cf. Clements & Co) But America makes movies and sells its TV rights around the world. Check out the News channels on TV next time you're in a hotel anywhere in the world. You'll find American News and maybe the BBC but you won't find News from Germany, Switzerland, Israel or Austria. Unless your hotel happens to be in one of those countries, of course. (I really didn't want to write that last sentence, but even we existentialists must beware Smart Alecks.)
The point here being that we do seem to live in a culture that seeks to apportion blame. And it is generally seen to be America's fault. I remember watching TV in the U.K. without advertisements for InjuryLawyers4U every commercial break. We don't tend to blame the Swiss for their prevalence.
Few of us these days take responsibility for the choices we make and the actions we take. If I choose to take part in a game that requires me to relinquish a body part if I lose, whose fault is that? If I choose to place my wet poodle in the microwave, whose fault is that? (The last being a damn good story, if not actually true.)
Hard-faced man is both right and wrong. He plays with death and invites others to join him. If they choose to do so they must accept the consequences. No good blaming Smith & Wesson because you lost a game of Russian roulette! He is right in that he offers them hope - and what is life without hope?
He even gives Hsin the opportunity of dying for his daughter - there is no greater love. (Jn. 15:13)
Truth be told, Hsin wants the two million dollars without the consequences. He wants to cheat the game. And he has Lucy Liu sick at home, so we want him to succeed.
Everyone feels justifiably horrified when it is discovered that the game has been cheating them. And who doesn't feel relief when Mulder and Scully arrive in the nick of time to prevent Hsin's heart being harvested? Ultimately, Hsin does cheat the game, but only because others intervene on his behalf. At no time is he in control of what happens. At no time does he take control of what happens. He allows others control over his life.
Hard-faced man has existential qualities. He presents mortality as an inevitability - every game can be lost. I'm a Liverpool fan, I know the truth of this. But, in facing one's mortality there are riches to be had, other lives that could be saved.
This episode demonstrates the dichotomy between those who take control and those who allow control to be taken. It's a dichotomy that is being lived out under the present American administration. At some point, you can only be judged a human being if you are willing to accept that your next action may be your death knell and ring it loudly for all to hear.
It is better to die a man or woman than to live a coward.

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