"How The Ghosts Stole Christmas"

"What's waiting for us? More loneliness! And then 365 more shopping days till even more loneliness!"
Originally Aired 12/13/98

Don't give this man a gun or he'll make googly eyes.

With so many high concept episodes in a row, there had to be one that was a miss, and unfortunately it's "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas." However I don't think it's a waste of an hour of The X-Files. Other than the season premiere, this season has been about stretching outside of the series' formula, so I appreciate the effort. "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas" has several concepts- first, its a "bottle" episode, which is an episode that utilizes minimal sets. In this case, Mulder convinces Scully to investigate a haunted house with him. Other than the opening and closing of the episode, it's mostly set in the house's large library. That brings us to concept number two, which is a Christmas episode, and also the second season in a row to feature this holiday.

Besides the minimal sets, there are also a minimal amount of actors; only David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and it's two guest stars, Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner. In order for the episode to work, it actually depended on the casting, and Tomlin and Asner make for a great pair of spooks. Instead of the typical ghostly activities like rattling chains, walking through walls, and levitating objects, these two ghosts actually try to get under the skin of Mulder and Scully by using psychology. It's another way for the writers to examine the relationship of Mulder and Scully, as the ghosts separate the two so they can turn the agents against each other. That's where the episode fails; well, partly fails. The dialogue from Chris Carter seems overly wordy and long-winded, but maybe that's the point, since the ghosts bicker over their methods of haunting their guests. I felt the best part is not Mulder and Scully being tormented by ghosts, rather it's an unseen participant in this episode, the music of Mark Snow. This is by far his best work, which reminds me of classic horror movies that would feature the Wolf-Man or the Invisible Man, while also being as light as the comedy within the episode.

The ghosts accusing Mulder of being lonely actually shows continuity between this season's standalone episodes. Last week, when Mulder was inside the body of Morris Fletcher and separated from Scully, he wasn't just fighting to get back to his body, but also Agent Scully. We already know his whole life is investigating X-Files cases which has now been taken away from him from the FBI, so all he has is convincing her to join him on stake outs and wild trips to Area 51. Scully isn't going anywhere though, since shes had numerous opportunities to leave yet remains by his side, so Mulder has nothing to fear. How many people would show up at their co-worker's door after midnight on a holiday?