The X-Files can count a lot of classic episodes on its roster, but one of the best of the best is an episode that is low-key a Christmas episode, which also happens to feature a horror movie icon. Those aren’t the only novelties: this same episode of the X-Files was also a nice low-key flip on the Freaky Friday premise, giving actors David Duchovny (Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Scully) a unique chance to have some fun with their performances.
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That would be “Beyond the Sea”, Episode 13 of Season 1 of The X-Files, which aried on January 7, 1994. It was titled after a song largely made famous by singer Bobby Darin, but featured so many deeper, richer Easter eggs than that.
The X-Files’ “Beyond the Sea” Episode Is a Christmas Story
One detail that a lot of X-Files fans forget about “Beyond the Sea” is that the story is set at Christmas time. The beginning of the finds Scully hosting an overdue get-together with her parents, Captain William Scully (Don Davis) and Margaret Scully (Sheila Larken), just after Christmas. That night, as Scully is passed out on her couch, she wakes to find her father sitting across from her, speaking silently; he vanishes when she answers a phone call from her mom, telling her that her dad just died.
Although the Christmas holiday isn’t a direct part of the episode, “Beyond the Sea” does evoke some Dickensian themes, as it features a motif of Scully having visions of her father that influence her choices. A Christmas Carol famously puts Ebenezer Scrooge through being haunted by ghosts (and the Grim Reaper), to challenge his bent mortality; this episode of The X-Files sees Scully commune twice with a ghost (her dad) and a human embodiment of death to challenge her skeptical world view.
Unlike Scrooge, however, Scully ultimately sticks to her guns and won’t be shaken by the challenge. Like the best X-Files stories, whether or not an actual psychic or supernatural phenomenon is taking place isn’t ultimately the point; it’s how the lead character (Scully) navigates the situation mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually that’s the heart of the story.
X-Files‘ “Beyond the Sea” Features A Horror Icon
The traumatic death of Scully’s father gets sidelined by a case in which a couple has been kidnapped by a man impersonating a police officer. One of Mulder’s old nemeses, serial killer Luther Lee Boggs, claims to have psychic visions of the kidnapped couple and can possibly decipher where they are being held – information he will only provide in exchange for canceling (or “commuting”) his imminent death penalty execution. Mulder won’t make any deals with the devil, vowing to solve the cae through other means; another ghostly vision of her father makes Scully consider the killer could be capable of something extraordinary, and delves deeper into who Boggs is, and if he’s telling the truth.
Luther Lee Boggs was played by actor Brad Dourif, who is nothing less than one of horror’s biggest modern icons. In fact, X-Files was doing a playful flip on Dourif’s iconic dual as serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who is supernaturally reincarnated as the murderous toy doll, Chucky, in the Child’s Play films and their Chucky movie successors. Unlike those scene-chewing maniac Chucky performances, Dourif got to make Luhter Lee Boggs unnervingly cunning and conniving, but still charming enough to go toe-to-toe with Scully intellectually, when she was stuck in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life. It also was a great showcase for Dourif’s larger range, which would eventually help land him the pivotal role of Grima Wormtongue in Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings movies The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
“Beyond the Sea” Was A Freaky Friday Story Few Fans Noticed
The earliest framework for The X-Files was the odd-pairing of Mulder (a passionate believer in the supernatural and extraterrestrial) with Scully (a science-driven skeptic). That dynamic would drive the series much of the time in the early seasons (before the series mythology became far too complex and convoluted); however, “Beyond the Sea” is the rare episode that flipped the Mulder/Scully personalties around completely.
The event of Scully’s father’s death isn’t used as an excuse to make Scully go on some dark emotional arc; instead, writers Glen Morgan, James Wong, and director David Nutter used Scully’s time of deep emotional vulnerability and grief, as well as her introduction to Boggs, as disruptive forces that shake her rigid skepticism, if only for a moment. Scully is willing to at least consider that Boggs could be psychic, and responds to clues of his “visions” being true because she, on some level, wants to believe death isn’t the end for her relationship with her dad. Meanwhile, Mulder, who is normally open to believing extraordinary occurrences are possible, refuses to even consider Boggs’ claims because of their contentious history.
“Beyond the Sea” is deeply intriguing in how it resolves this strange personality switch between Mulder and Scully, by taking both of them to the brink. Because Mulder won’t believe Boggs’ visions and tries repeatedly to trick him, he ends up getting shot and wounded by the kidnapper when the FBI uncovers where he’s hiding, and is left on bed rest in the hospital. Scully, meanwhile, is nearly seduced by Boggs’ promise to share her dead father’s last words to her, if she’ll lend him the emotional support of attending his execution. Scully ultimately emerges with the mental and emotional “victory” of denying Boggs his request; she doesn’t need the false hope of supernatural connection, because her real connection to her dad lets her know intuitively what he would’ve said to her.
It was rare for The X-Files to get so personal with its lead characters – especially the reliably stoic and rational Dana Scully. It’s also just one great showcase of talent that proves why actress Gillian Anderson is still a major TV and movie star, to this day.
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