28 Years Ago Today, The X-Files Released Its First Real Christmas Episode (With Two Major Dana Scully Surprises)

The content of a typical episode of The X-Files largely confined the series to horror and science fiction stories, which meant that it almost never had a chance to really celebrate real-life occasions like other TV shows. Though Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas episodes are staples for sitcoms, cartoons, and even other genre dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files never really saw fit to acknowledge major holidays in the same way; when your lead character is Spooky Mulder, no sense in calling out Halloween, right? That said, the series didn’t skip over the holidays entirely as they rolled around on the calendar, but it was a very rare thing considering the over 200 episodes of the series.

Though they’re rare, holiday episodes of The X-Files do exist. Technically, there are only a few in total, including only two Christmas-themed episodes of the entire series. Funny enough, it took until Season 5 of The X-Files for the series to finally acknowledge the Christmas season, and it actually did so 28 years ago today with the sixth episode of Season 5, “Christmas Carol.”

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The X-Files Celebrates Christmas Like Only It Can

The opening minutes of “Christmas Carol” make it seem like this episode of The X-Files might actually be different from what fans are expecting. Dana Scully and her mother have arrived to celebrate Christmas with her brother, Bill Jr., and his pregnant wife, Tara. Though they exchange pleasantries and seem to be on track for a normal family gathering, the phone rings. When Dana answers it, a voice on the other end tells her that someone needs her help, which would normally be enough for Dana to throw away her plans to start an investigation, but this has an extra layer; the voice on the other side of the phone sounds like her dead sister, Melissa.

After tracing the call to a nearby home, Scully discovers a woman who has taken her own life, learning she’s left behind a husband and daughter, Emily, who bears more than a striking similarity to her deceased sibling. Scully gets pulled into a bizarre investigation of her own making, convinced that the young girl is somehow actually the daughter of her dead sister. Scully’s investigation into Emily’s origins is juxtaposed with the confession to her mother that her abduction back in Season 2 had left her unable to have children of her own. It’s a throughline in the larger narrative that makes her obsession make sense, as she not only wants to have a piece of her sister back but also is eager to maintain some control over her life despite this development.

As Scully’s work continues, she orders an autopsy on the dead woman, discovering a small wound that leads her to believe her suicide was staged, and she was actually murdered by her husband. The arrest of the husband only leads Scully further down the rabbit hole as a DNA test reveals identical DNA results to both Emily and her sister, Melissa. Convinced that her sister had a daughter and gave her up for adoption at some point, Scully tries to dig up more on this mysterious little girl and her origins, going so far as to try and adopt the girl herself. It’s a heavy episode for Scully, especially considering that David Duchovny doesn’t appear as Mulder at all and Gillian Anderson is in almost every scene.

The story concludes with a shocking cliffhanger, that Emily is not the daughter of Melissa, but is actually the biological daughter of Scully herself. The episode then ends with an X-Files rarity, the “To Be Continued” title card. The next week’s episode, “Emily,” picks up the torch and runs with it. Since Christmas Day itself happens at the end of the episode, the holiday setting is only seen in the margins and backgrounds of the follow-up. Though “Emily” premiered just a week later and still aired in December, it’s pretty far from being a Christmas episode in the same way that “Christmas Carol” clearly is. That said, they’re a dynamic one-two punch in terms of the larger X-Files mythology, so even though it may be light on Holiday cheer, it’s essential to watch both episodes.

The X-Files’ First Christmas Episode Uses the Holiday Correctly

The Christmas setting for this episode of The X-Files may seem like window dressing at a glance. It’s possible that the production team would know that this episode was set to air on television during the holidays, and thus, including the season itself in the plot would be something fans might just appreciate. The Scully family attends a few different holiday parties with guests throughout the episode, with decorations and welcomes aplenty, not to mention the many hospital settings that also have lights and trees throughout the episode

When accounting for the plot itself, though, there’s no other time of year that “Christmas Carol” could be set. Though depressive episodes are known to happen around the holidays, that’s not what makes the setting the right time for this story. At the core of “Christmas Carol,” the plot is quite literally about a miracle birth, not only in terms of Scully fully believing that Emily is the daughter of her sister, but the reveal at the end that Emily is actually her own child. Either scenario is improbable for Scully to wrap her head around, but the fact that a child was born from her despite being told it was impossible is the exact reason why this major mythology episode actually had to be a Christmas episode.

The X-Files Stays in the Family for Its Dana Scully Flashbacks

There’s another Dana Scully-themed surprise hidden within the first Christmas episode of The X-Files, and it’s one that you could easily classify as “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.” Throughout the episode, flashbacks to Dana’s early life are littered throughout the narrative, showing off key moments of her childhood and her relationship not only with her brother Bill Jr. but her sister, Melissa. Naturally, in these sequences, different actors take on the role of Dana Scully and her siblings, but one of them is the most interesting.

In the quickest flashback sequence, Dana and Melissa are shown on Christmas Day opening up two mysterious presents that contain their trademark golden cross necklaces. For the sequence, though, yet another new actor takes on the role of Dana Scully, with one Zoe Anderson filling the role. If that name made you raise an eyebrow, yes, it’s true, Gillian Anderson’s actual younger sister played her sibling’s most famous character in an episode of her most high-profile TV series. The role marked Zoe Anderson’s first and only acting credit, but there’s no denying that it was a piece of casting that gave the episode an extra surprise, and one where the resemblance is uncanny.