CHRISTMAS CAROL

                                                                                                                                                     

 

     This is Roberta Sim. Age 40, suicide. She's been dead at least 3 hours.

 

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her mother visit her brother Bill and his wife Tara, who is expecting, around Christmas time. Scully answers the phone, and the person on the other line, who sounds just like her dead sister Melissa, tells her that someone needs her help. Scully traces the call to a nearby home in San Diego where local police are investigating the suicide of a woman, Roberta Sim. Kresge, the lead detective on the case, tells Scully that it was impossible for Roberta to have dialed, as she died before the telephone call was made. That night after dinner Scully reveals to her mother that due to her abduction and cancer she is unable to bear children. Scully flashes back to when as a child, she hid her pet rabbit from her brother in a lunchbox, only for it to suffocate and die. Scully receives another telephone call from the same person on her cell phone, which was once again made from the Sim home. Roberta's husband, Marshall, is meeting with two dark-suited men inside his house and has no desire to listen to and help Scully figure out what is going on.

Scully visits Kresge, wanting to look further into Roberta Sim's suicide, despite the fact that the police think it is a simple suicide. Scully finds a striking resemblance between the Sims' daughter, Emily, and her sister Melissa from when she was that age. Scully flashes back to a funeral she attended when she was a little girl but imagines Marshall Sim holding her hand. Scully insists on performing an autopsy on Roberta, thinking that she was murdered. Scully finds a needle puncture in Roberta's foot, causing her to believe that she was anesthetized and her suicide was staged. The police search the Sim's house and find a used hypodermic needle, which Marshall claims was used for injecting the anemic Emily with treatment. Scully spots the dark-suited men watching from a nearby car. Scully receives DNA data on Melissa, and matching it up to Emily's finds them nearly identical, causing her to believe that Emily is Melissa's daughter. Scully believes that Melissa gave birth to her while on the west coast and gave her up for adoption without ever telling the rest of the family. Scully flashes back to when she and Melissa were teenagers and were given cross necklaces from their mother for Christmas.

Kresge comes to see Scully, telling her that the Sims received several large payments from a pharmaceutical company, Prangen Industries. The two visit Dr. Calderon, who tells them that Emily was part of clinical trials and that Roberta was paid the money to keep her from pulling Emily from the program. Marshall Sim is arrested for the murder of his wife. Scully visits Emily and gives her the cross necklace. Marshall confesses soon after, but is found dead in his cell shortly after being visited by the two dark-suited men. Bill shows Scully a photo of Melissa, who is clearly not pregnant, shortly before Emily was born, which he thinks proves that she isn't Emily's mother. Scully meets with someone from an adoptive agency, wanting to adopt Emily. The woman is very hesitant considering Scully's job and the fact that Emily is a special needs child. Scully flashes back to talking with Melissa around Christmas time shortly before she joined the FBI. On Christmas morning Scully receives the results of a DNA test from the FBI proving that Melissa is not Emily's mother—she is

 

 

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Episode no.
  Season 5
Episode 6
Directed by
Peter Markle
Written by Vince Gilligan
John Shiban
Frank Spotnitz
Guest Stars
  • Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr.
  • Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
  • Karri Turner as Tara Scully
  • John Pyper-Ferguson as Detective Kresge
  • Rob Freeman as Marshall Sim
  • Lauren Diewold as Emily Sim
  • Melinda McGraw as Melissa Scully
  • Original Airdate
    December 7, 1997
    Theme(s)