Wow, where's everybody ...
Anyway, I thought it was funny that Mr. Lapier said "that's a good show" referring to the Harsh Realm episode he was watching. That was the first episode right?
I wonder what will happen in the next episode. Is the story going to be that Samantha was a victim of a kidnapping Santa? Gee, hope not 'coz then all of Mulder's effort would have been for nothing. Can't wait for the next episode.

Kept wondering if Skinner's noon deadline was EST or PST.

Well, now we know why they usually don't take Skinner with them - if you're gonna guard the door, man, guard the door! Otherwise what was he doing outside?

Scully is lucky that road map had special attractions listed on it.

Interstate 74 cannot be a north-south highway. Odd numbered routes are north-south, while even numbered routes are east-west.

Just because this wasn't supposedly an x file case shouldn't necessarily prevent Skinner from assigning Mulder to the case. Mulder is/was, a behavioral profiler.

I'm surprised that the FBI would let Mulder take the original note to see the convinct. What if she tore it up? Do they really trust Mulder that much?

I was totally confused during this whole episode.
Everyone seemed to be losing their minds except Scully and Skinner. Everyone else was having visions, out of their minds with grief, comitting suicide, or donning santa suits.
Can't wait for more.
BTW, I know it's silly, but "did they, or didn't they?" (you know to what & to whom I'm referring).

From: Accounting
To: AD Skinner
Subject: Expense irregularity

Please explain why you sent an agent clear out to California at the Bureau's expense, instead of just calling him on his phone. The agent's expense reimbursement is being charged against your personal budget until you do. Thanks.

==================================

The phone call from Mulder's mom, before they "explained" it, struck me as the most honest piece of writing this show has ever done. His mom has lost one child. Now some other family has lost theirs. My mom might call me just to make sure I'm okay. "Just checking to make sure you're still safe, son."

Rather a goofy gag with the "Harsh Realm" reference--and it created a nit, too. Mr. Lapierre says he went to check on Amber-Lynn around 9:30. Trouble is, the snippet of "HR" we saw before then happened at the end of the pilot episode, not the middle(as would have had to happen if it was at 9:30, since "HR" ran from 9 to 10.)

In a scene outside the Lapierre house, we see sunshine on the right side of Scully's and Skinner's faces in one set of shots, but in the reverse angles on Mulder there's no light. (Yes, it's the kind of little thing that happens naturally when shooting outdoors, but hey, grungy nitpicking is still nitpicking.)

Skinner's chase after Serial Santa had a clasic horror movie blunder, in reverse. We see Skinner gaining pretty rapidly on SS in one scene, then in the very next one SS has magically stretched out his lead. Usually, in a horror movie it's the frightened teenager running from the lumbering killer, but never seeming to get any farther ahead despite covering three yards to the villain's one.

MISC. POINTS
*Great to see Mitch Pileggi as Skinner is a large role again.
*For some reason, I always love the "X-Files" episodes that feature Mulder and Scully doing real bureau work. This one felt like a supernatural "Dragnet" at times (or like a first or second season episode), with little interludes.
*That guy cannot have been doing this for forty some years. He only looks thirty right now! And wouldn't he have been caught with the same M.O.?
*This episode reminded me of "Paper Hearts".

We had a reverse 47 in this episode. when the little girl's ghost said 74. I hope TPTB are not going to pull a Gimbaum on Mulder and take away the core of the show.

Good episode.
But they haven't explained yet how this Santa guy found the children's homes, entered, and made the women write the notes. Is he the Anti-Santa?
Hope they address it next week.

Speaking of expense reports. That was an awful lot of bouncing back and forth between DC and California and Idaho. A couple times each.

So is CSM an Evil Elf of the Anti-Santa?

Or is the Anti-Santa one of CSM's Pawns?

Did anyone recognize the woman convict Mulder talked to? Miri herself, Kim Darby! Here's where you can find some info on her, but it needs updating. Turns out she was actually when she played Miri in TOS. I thought she was about 15 or 16. It's hard to believe she'll be 52 this year.

I meant to say, "Turns out she was actually 18 when she played Miri in TOS."

>>Scully is lucky that road map had special attractions listed on it. >>

Not really...They were in a rental car so its not unsual to have a map with attractions on them.

In what states did this episode take place? The Santa Claus Village reminded me of Santa Claus, Indiana (which you take Interstate 64 to get to). Another missed opportunity for an X-File to take place in Indiana.

Washington DC; Sacramento & Redding, CA; Idaho.

Oh, I forgot Alexandria, VA (Mulder's place).

So, is the Santa Claus Village supposed to be in Idaho? Is there anything in real life like it in Idaho? Just curious - if anyone knows.

I believe the Santa Claus village was supposed to be in the vicinity of Redding.

"Is there anything in real life like it in Idaho?"

Nope, just potatoes and manure (to fertilise the potatoes; it is shipped in from other States).

There used to be a little Santa's Village amusement park on Highway 17 just north of Santa Cruz, CA. I know, cuz I was born in Santa Cruz. Sad to say but it's since been torn down and office buildings or something have taken its place. It's a sad thing when childhood memories are destroyed like that but that's life. Nothing lasts forever.

Was it Interstate 74 or Route 74? If it's Route 74 then it's also a nit, because Route 74 runs from San Juan Capistrano to Idyllwild in SOUTHERN California, nowhere near Sacramento.

MarkN, I went to UC Santa Cruz! Go Slugs!

We know for certian it wasn't US 74. It's a 100+ mile bypass of US 19 that runs trough the mountains of North Carolina (and runs 3 miles from my aunt's house).

Well, then what the heck is it?

It isn't I-74 because I-74 runs E/W
It isn't US 74 because US 74 is in NC
It isn't CA 74 because CA 74 is in Southern Cal.

It could be a county road of some type.

In CA, county roads have a letter prefix. For example, N9.

This is a sort of nit, because it could be explained, but in the videotape of Mulder's regression in 1989 his hair looks fairly normal and modern right? But in the one episode (blanking on name) when they showed how Mulder met the Lone Gunmen in 1989 his hair looked really 80s right? (Or was it the other way around??) Not sure if it's a nit because he could of gotten a hair cut. Still...

Re: "I'm surprised that the FBI would let Mulder take the original note to see the convinct."

I'm sure Mulder said it was a copy of the note.

Seind in actuality is Latin for being. Additionally, und just might be Latin for and.

No, "Sein und Zeit" is German.

For "[something] and time."

"Sein" means here "to be" (existence, being), like in "to be or not to be"="Sein oder Nichtsein".

Hey, we had this discussion already on the pre-show board. ;-)

MikeC: That guy cannot have been doing this for forty some years. He only looks thirty right now!
He looks at least late thirties, but no he couldn't have been doing that long. Wasn't Samantha taken in 1973? Where do you get forty some years?

As we find out in the next ep, this guy didn't take Samantha or the La Pierre girl, so why her spirit, or whatever, say something about 74? It's implied that Anna Bell(?) would've been abducted that way had the "walk-ins" not intervened, and that was a pretty bad guy, but he had nothing to do with any of the abductions being investigated on these eps.