Talk about a busy week for Scully! She goes home for the holidays with the intention of having a nice, relaxing vacation, only to become embroiled in a murder investigation, get phone calls from her dead sister, and learn that she is the mother of a three-year old girl. Whew! Not exactly your typical Christmas, but then again, this is "The X-Files" - a world of paranormal possibilities, where anything and everything can happen.
I think Gillian Anderson did a wonderful job in this show. I have been a big fan of hers since the beginning of the series. I think she is a great actress, worthy of every award given to her thus far. Her performance during "Christmas Carol" only strengthened that belief. Not only did she pull off the entire show by herself, her first truly solo venture, but she made everything seem real. I could easily believe that she was an actual person with actual emotions, and when you are able to believe the characters, the strange cases they investigate are somehow easier to swallow.
Although I loved Gillian Anderson's performance, and think she is the best actress around, "The X-Files" doesn't seem to work as well without the presence of both Mulder and Scully. One of the best parts of "The X-Files" is the chemistry between the two of them, the ability they have to bounce ideas off each other, making a quick, interesting show. Otherwise, the show may fall into the trap of becoming too serious. Let's face it - Scully has NO sense of humour. Anyone who does autopsies for a hobby can't be that cheery. That's fine, however, and I admire Scully's character anyway. These single character based shows are nice to have, but after a while they begin to lack something. Not to say that I don't like character driven shows. Actually, I love any show that gets into a character's head, and shows us what makes them tick. Heaven knows Scully deserves her own episode for once. Mulder has been in at least three shows without her, but this is her first time by herself. With all her tremendous acting over the years, I'd say she definitely earned this moment in the spotlight.
With the absence of Mulder (in case you're wondering where he was, he
was doing the talk show circuit to promote "Playing God"), the traditional
role of skeptic and believer was shifted. In this
episode, Scully was the one who believed in the impossible without
any scientific evidence to back her up her theories. She had no proof
that the phone calls she received were anything more than pranks, or any
reason to speculate about Emily's parentage other than her own gut instinct.
"It sounds like something that partner of yours would say." Not only
is she opening up her mind to extreme possibilities, but it seems Scully
is picking up Mulder's sleeping habits as well! Since when has it
been proper to make house calls at 3:30am? Because Scully was not
the skeptic in this episode, that role was passed on to her brother.
He was the one who questioned the fact that their dead sister had been
the woman on the phone, and tried to show her what she couldn't bring herself
to consider. He reminded her that her desire to believe in those
phone calls to fulfill her dream of being a mother was casting all of her
scientific reasoning aside. However, I'm glad Scully went with her
spiritual inclinations in this instance. Because, in the end, that's
what brought her to the truth.
There were a few little things worthy of mention that caught my attention in this episode. It was great to see Scully's glasses back again, as she hasn't been wearing them for a while. It was also nice to see her call Danny for help. Not only does this prove once and for all the he is not Pendrell (not that I ever doubted it), but it also gave us a little bit of continuity in the seriesas a whole. There were a few weird parts in this show, though, namely the one and only Mulder scene. I didn't understand the point of it, except that we were supposed to be seeing a more independent Scully who didn't need Mulder's help to solve a case. I thought it was quite unnecessary. Besides, if we're only going to see Mulder once in an episode, at least give him a decent hat to wear! One last thing - I thought the choice of Emily's name was right on the money. Emily means "work" or "industrious", something her mother is very dedicated to. If I had had to pick a name for a daughter of Scully, that would have been my first choice.
The ghosts of Christmas past came back to haunt Scully as she relived her past experiences in order to understand the her present situation. In the first Christmas flashback, we got a glimpse of Scully's life as a teenager, and also a crossing of storylines. In "Ascension", Scully's mom told Mulder that she gave Scully the cross necklace as a present for her fifteenth birthday, not as a Christmas present. *sigh* Unfortunately, these little discrepancies in the plot seem to happen all the time in "The X-Files" mythology. While I'm on the topic of the cross, as sweet as I thought it was of Scully to give her necklace to Emily, I was also greatly disturbed by this gesture. Ever since the symbolism of the cross was pointed out to us during "Ascension", I have come to closely associate Scully with that necklace. Her neck seems so naked now without the familiar cross, but more than that, it seems as if a part of her character is missing as well. In the second Christmas flashback, Scully is getting ready to enter the FBI. As her sister predicted, the choice definitely changed her life, and changed the lives of many others she has come into contact with. During this Christmas past, joining the FBI felt so right to Scully. I don't think it's feeling so right anymore. Scully seems to be getting more and more unhappy with the way her life is now, and I have a feeling she may try to leave the FBI at some time to find something that does make her feel right again.
To echo the words of Martin Luther King Jr., Scully had a dream. That dream was to have a child. This fact was quite plainly shown throughout the episode. In fact, I would say the heart of this episode lies with children, and Scully's desire to be a mother. There were babies everywhere. The very first shot in the episode is of a baby Jesus being placed in a manger. Not only does her pregnant sister-in-law have to rub it in about how great it is to have kids, she sticks Scully in the nursery to stay during her visit. As we found out during "Memento Mori" Scully is barren, and now it is apparent that she knows this as well. I really felt sorry for her during the show. It was obvious by the way she looked at Emily, and acted around the social worker, how desperately she wanted to be a mother, and how unhappy she is becoming with her current life. I just hope she gets what she dreams of, and isn't hurt once again. Scully is a fighter, but a person can only fight so many battles before they start to lose hope.
"I just never realized how much I wanted it until I couldn't have it."
After seeing this show, I couldn't stop my mind from whirling, thinking of all the possibilities that next week's episode might have in store. My first question is - how is it possible that Emily is Scully's child? She must not have been conceived in any ordinary way, since Scully was abducted in November of 1994, and Emily was born that very same month. (Ironically, Gillian Anderson's daughter was born in this time frame as well, so she technically was having a child at that time.) I am guessing that Emily is a clone, similar to the Kurts we saw in "Memento Mori." I believe that Emily was cloned from one of Scully's eggs, and raised to babyhood in one of those human tanks we have seen in such episodes as "The Erlenmeyer Flask." I also think Emily's doctor is part of the conspiracy surrounding her, and he, along with some of the other evil government men, are using her as a lab rat to conduct experiments on. However, I have a bad feeling that Emily may not make it through these experiments, causing Scully to experience even more pain and suffering. I don't see any way that Scully could allow for anyone else to take care of Emily, but then again, there's no way that Scully could care for her either. A domestic Scully wouldn't fit into the type of show "The X-Files" is. Hopefully, this predication will prove to be wrong, but we'll just have to wait until next week, because this week left us with one of those dreadfully tortuous endings-
"To Be Continued"