How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
From X-Files Wiki
| |
| Series: | The X-Files |
| Original Airdate: | 12/13/98 |
| Production Number: | 6ABX08 |
| Date(s): | December 24-25, 1998 |
| Written by: | Chris Carter |
| Directed by: | Chris Carter |
On Christmas Eve, Mulder and Scully go ghost-hunting in a supposedly haunted house full of Christmas spirit.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Mulder calls Scully on Christmas Eve to check out a mansion, which Scully grudgingly obliges to do. Mulder tells Scully that they are there for a stake out. Through constant questioning, Scully finds out that Mulder is here, not on FBI matters, but to investigate ghost activity. He tells Scully that every Christmas, a couple is said to be living in the mansion. They agreed to a lover's pact, one killing the other and remaining one committing suicide. He explains that they couldn't stand the thought of being alone after the other died and during the afterlife, so they wanted to experience it all together. That was 81 years ago. Now, Mulder explains, they want to make couples who venture into their mansion have the same fate.
Scully is hesitant and not interested in exploring the house because it's Christmas Eve and she has wrapping to do. Mulder then decides to go alone. Feeling guilty, Scully leaves his car and attempts to open her car door. However, she can't find her keys. She runs up to Mulder to ask him to give them back to her. He insists he doesn't have them. Strange things happen: The door to the mansion slams shut, preventing them from leaving, there are creaks heard in the ceiling from the upper floor, there are gusts of wind, indicating that a door or window is open, a shadow in the form of an old woman in a nightgown, and a clock which keeps perfect time starts dinging at exactly midnight.
They fearfully and hesitantly decide to investigate the floor above them. Scully call their fear an irrational fear that all humans face. She explains that people who go in haunted houses and try to find ghosts are not afraid of death, but rather, afraid of life. Death is the only thing we as humans know will happen. It is inevitable, inescapable. So going after ghosts "says more about the living than it does about the dead." Our whole life has been tainted and influenced by scary movies. We magnify ever little detail, like a creak or howl or gust of wind. They're cliches that have been programmed into our brain, thereby making us scared of something that won't and can't happen. Mulder isn't listening to Scully's analytical view of Halloween; instead, he's trying knobs to see which will open. One finally does.
Scully marches bravely into the room to discover a massive library room full of book shelves, a lit fire place, and lights on. "Have you ever considered that someone may actually be living here?" asks Scully.
Mulder and Scully investigate the room, along with its eccentric features. The floor boards start shaking, and upon cracking open a few boards, they discover that "they" are in there. The two figures witnessed have on their same clothes and hairstyles, along with two gun shot wounds. It is made to look like a "lover's pact." This only frightens them. They decide to go search other rooms, only to find that every door they walk through is the same library room they first entered into. They then decide to split up, hoping to figure out a way out of the room, since the staircase mysteriously disappeared during a time of intense lightning.
While separated, they meet the inhabitants of the mansion -- Maurice and Lyda. They both have a conversation with one of the two agents, revealing to them their darkest secrets and desires. The two state that they are indeed alive and not ghosts, just for the record of course. Maurice tells Mulder that he is very egotistical, needing validation, even when he is absolutely; that is why he depends and thrives off of the company of Scully. He states, in so many words, that she is a "turn on" for his sexual desires and that he is very narcissistic. Lyda tells Scully that she enjoys debating Mulder and his theories because she likes to prove him wrong. That is the only reason she spends her time with him. The two inhabitants tell the agents that they (the agents) are afraid to be alone, and that's why they came to the mansion: To die together and save each other from the depressing world. They are lonely and very much attracted to each other. Both, in a small way, believe what they are being told.
Mulder realizes that the man is a ghost because every door he tries to walk through is suddenly transformed into a wall of bricks.
Scully is then confronted by the two ghosts. She doesn't believe they're ghosts, despite what Mulder says. She tells them to put their hands up. They do, only to reveal their wounds. Maurice has a hole in his head, which was covered by his hat. And Lyda has a hole in her stomach. Scully then passes out, realizing Mulder was right. They did a lover's pact.
Mulder and Scully try their hardest to find each other by pounding on doors and yelling. However, the ghosts are turning them against each other. Scully is told that Mulder will kill her, just like her future self seen in the floor boards. She is told that Mulder is lonely and that he can't go on. Scully at first doesn't want to believe this, but she can't help but be hesitant when Mulder pounds on a nearby door to let him in.
Scully does let Mulder in, only to find that once he is inside the room, he pulls out a guns and starts shooting at her.
Mulder starts behaving bizarrely. He cries out that there's no way out and that they should just die there. One of the bullets hits Scully in the stomach (just like the "Scully" in the floorboards). She lies down on the floor, writhing in pain.
"Merry Christmas Scully... and a happy new year," said Mulder as he towers above Scully. He then points the fun at his head. Scully is completely confused and beginning to lose consciousness.
In another room, Lyda is seen saying the exact same words and using the same gestures. Maurice attacks Lyda so that she won't pull the trigger. It is implied that the ghosts control the actions of the agents.
Mulder doesn't shoot Scully again or himself. But Scully does. She shoots Mulder in the stomach as well, blood gushing out of his hands as he tries to stop the bleeding.
While they both lie on the floor covered in blood, they hear Christmas music being played. They both stumble down the stairs in hopes of just getting outside to die. Mulder and Scully meet up by the door, both crawling on the floor, covered in massive amounts of blood. Scully claims he shot her, while Mulder claims she shot him. Mulder realizes that that couldn't have happened. They would be dead already.
Upon realizing that, Mulder stands up, realizes that the blood drenched in his white shirt isn't his. He tells Scully to stand up, for it didn't happen. It was a trick. She slowly stands up and realizes she isn't wounded either.
Opening the door to the outside, they examine themselves, and then run out for their cars to get away as fast as possible.
Maurice and Lyda sit by the fire, holding hands, saying that they almost had the two agents. Had they stayed on the ground believing that they were indeed shot by the other, then they would've died. Maurice remarks that they really are lonely and sad. He wishes that they would've just scared them, rather than use the "psychology crap."
Late at night, Scully knocks on Mulder's door. He opens it, surprised that she is there and not wrapping presents with her family. She wonders whether anything they experienced actually happened that night. Mulder says he doesn't believe so.
Scully tells Mulder that, despite what she was told, it isn't her desire to prove Mulder wrong. Mulder says he really is narcissistic. "Maybe I really did want to be with you," claims Scully. Meaning that she does enjoy his company. They both smile and then exchange gifts even though they told each other they wouldn't.
The episode ends watching them open their gifts from the perspective of outside. A Christmas song is playing and it is snowing.
[edit] Background Information
- A clock at the end of this episode is inscribed with the words "J Cameron & Sons Kilmarnock" on its dial. As was common practice with timepieces, clocks and other similar items of this vintage, this was a retailer's name, not the manufacturer's. J Cameron & Sons existed in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock as a jewelers, until the mid- to late-20th Century.
[edit] Links and References
[edit] Guest Stars
- Ed Asner as Maurice
- Lily Tomlin as Lyda
[edit] References
1501 Larkspur Lane; R. Grimes; J. Cameron & Son, Kilmarnock; Maryland
| Previous episode: Dreamland II | The X-Files Season 6 | Next episode: Terms of Endearment |
