How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
Original air date: December 13, 1998
One of my most favorite episodes of The X-Files (season 6, episode 8).
Sounds more like a Halloween story:
It kinda is, but it happened on a Christmas eve
So what’s it about?:
Mulder wants to stake out a reputed haunted house, on the evening before Christmas, just because he’s Mulder. What, you don’t know he’s crazy?
Why did Scully tag along? Isn’t she supposed to be the rational one?:
Well, she doesn’t want to admit it, but she is totally in love with Mulder and will do whatever he says, no matter how silly. Really. I bet she’s even thrilled that he stole her car keys.
What’s the deal with the ghosts?:
Legend has it, a couple of star-crossed lovers during a war-torn era made a pact to never be separated by illness or by the consequences of war, by killing themselves. Their ghosts haunt the house every Christmas eve.
But wouldn’t haunting on Halloween make more sense?:
Well, as the lady ghost, Lyda, said, “who is filled with hopelessness and futility on Halloween?” She agreed to a murder-suicide; you have to think she’ll make one twisted ghost.
Are those the ghosts in the picture above? Why are they old?:
Well, they died young. Why they aged, I don’t have a freakin’ idea.
Does Scully believe in ghosts?:
She doesn’t, or so she says. But she got scared anyway. Not that she can’t explain why she felt that way:
Scully: These are tricks that the mind plays. They are ingrained cliches from a thousand different horror films. When we hear a sound, we get a chill. We see a shadow and we allow ourselves to imagine something that an otherwise rational person would discount out of hand.
The whole idea of a benevolent entity fits perfectly with what I’m saying. I mean, that a spirit would materialise or return for no other purpose than to show itself is silly and ridiculous. I mean, what it really shows is how silly and ridiculous we have become in believing such things. I mean, that… that we can ignore all natural laws about the corporeal body that we witness these spirits clad in their own shabby outfits with the same old haircuts and hairstyles never ageing, never… never in search of more comfortable surroundings — it actually ends up saying more about the living than it does about the dead.
I mean, Mulder, it doesn’t take an advanced degree in psychology to understand the… the unconscious yearnings that these imaginings satisfy. You know, the longing for immortality the hope that there is something beyond this mortal coil that we might never be long without our loved ones. I mean, these are powerful, powerful desires. I mean, they’re the very essence of what make us human. The very essence of Christmas, actually.
Ok, I get what she means. Sounds totally in character. What about Mulder? Was he scared?:
Well, it’s not just old light fixtures that turn on and off; they did see dead, decomposing replicas of himself and Scully beneath the floor, so yeah he must have been. Plus, the ghost of Maurice started to psychoanalyze him and was spot-on.
Maurice: Narcissistic, overzealous, self-righteous egomaniac.
Mulder: That’s a category?
Maurice: You kindly think of yourself as single-minded but you’re prone to obsessive compulsiveness, workaholism, antisocialism… Fertile fields for the descent into total wacko breakdown.
Mulder: I don’t think that pegs me exactly.
Maurice: Oh, really? Waving a gun around my house? Huh? Raving like a lunatic about some imaginary brick wall? You’ve probably convinced yourself you’ve seen aliens. You know why you think you see the things you do?
Mulder: Because I have seen them?
Maurice: Cause you’re a lonely man. A lonely man, chasing paramasturbatory illusions that you believe will give your life meaning and significance and which your pathetic social maladjustment makes impossible for you to find elsewhere. You probably consider yourself passionate, serious, misunderstood. Am I right?
Mulder: ‘Paramasturbatory’?
Maurice: Most people would rather stick their fingers in a wall socket than spend a minute with you
Heh. But, wait, dead replicas? What’s that about?:
Well, the ghosts’ agenda is to push a couple who will live or wander into that house to commit a murder-suicide, just like they did. They showed things (more tricks of the mind) to the FBI couple, err partners, so they will be forced to kill each other.
Kill each other? That’s not possible. They’re Scully and Mulder; Mulder and Scully:
Well, you have to watch this episode if you haven’t already. If anything, and more so if you’re lacking in holiday cheers, it will probably make you feel great about how you celebrated your holidays. Sit back, relax, and let schadenfreude kick in.
this is one of my favorites too. i think it helped that lily tomlin and ed asner played the ‘ghost couple’ — they were great. and i’ve never really seen scully as scared as she was (in this episode) when it slowly dawned to her that ghosts were real
what a hoot those two were (lily tomlin and ed asner)! You know, I’m not very fond of the horror genre even till now but the X-Files has that blend of paranormal/scifi/realism that works perfectly for my tastes. I especially love the comedic episodes such as this one.