Season 5, Episodes 6 and 7: “Christmas Carol”/“Emily”
Original Airdates: December 7 and December 14, 1997.
Was there ever a character so abused by her writers as Dana Scully? In tribute to the character's fortitude, the Internet used to call her Saint Scully—overlooking, of course, the fact that saints tend to be dead. Scully's not dead, but Scully does suffer, over and over, as though the show's writers believe that the character couldn't exist without depression dogging her heels. Just a handful of episodes after she survives cancer, along come “Christmas Carol” and “Emily,” a bleak pair with angst in mind.
[Medicinal or recreational?]