The X-files
Christmas Carol
Episode: 5X05
First aired:12/07/97
Written by: John Shiban, Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Peter Markle
A mysterious phone call and an apparent suicide leads
Scully to a young girl who she suspects is her sister Melissa's
daughter.
Scully visits her brother's house for
Christmas with her mother. Scully answers the
telephone and on the other line is a woman that sounds exactly like
Melissa, Scully's dead
sister. The woman tells her that "she needs your help." Scully traces the call which leads her to The Sim's house where a crime scene investigation is underway. She is allowed onto the scene and is shown that Mrs. Sim has committed suicide in her bathroom.
Scully sees Mr. Sims and his three year old
daughter, Emily. Scully is intriguied by the daughter. Scully asks about the phone call, but apparently no calls were made to her brother's house from the Sim's
house.
Back at the house, Scully tells her
mother that she can not have
children because of her
abduction. Later that night, she has a dream from her childhood where her young brother kills her pet rabbit. In the same dream she encounters Emily. She is awoken by another call from the same
mysterious woman telling Scully to "go to her."
The call is traced again to the Sim's house. The next day Scully requests all information on the case and then calls the
FBI to get all information on her sister's case. Scully performs an
autopsy on Mrs. Sims and discovers an absence of
medicine tablets in her
stomach. She also finds a
puncture wound on the heal of her foot. She has the Sim's house searched and they find a
hyperdermic needle in the trash. Mr. Sim claims that Emily suffers from
amnemia and requires daily injections.
With
PCR results, Scully finds that Emily is infact Melissa's daughter. There is also an undeniable
physical resemblance between Emily and young pictures of Melissa. Scully speculates that Melissa had hidden the pregnancy and had given up Emily for abdoption.
Scully finds out that Mr. Sims had made large bank deposits over the previous 18 months. The money came from a
pharmaceutical company, Prangen Industries. Scully interviews a doctor who works for the company who explains that Emily was participating in a clinical trial. The doctor also says that he prescribed Mr. Sim's
sumatriptan injections after he complained of
migraines. They arrest Mr. Sim's is arrested for his wife's murder and Emily is placed in the care of social services. As the girl is driven away, Scully gives her her
gold cross necklace.
Mr. Sim confesses to the murder and commits
suicide himself. Scully believes, however, that it was a murder. Scully applies to adopt Emily but is denied becuase of her profession but the worker promises to review Scully's final application.
On
Christmas morning at her brother's house, Scully recieves a package from an
FBI courier. The final
DNA test results reveal that Scully is Emily's mother.
Important Quotes:
Detective -- "
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are you?"
Scully -- "Scully,
FBI. Can you tell me what's going on here?"
Detective "Well, no offense, Scully, FBI, but what's it to you?"
Bill -- "She called you from beyond the grave to tell you that? Sounds like something your partner would say."
Scully -- "According to this... I am Emily's mother."
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