Case 04, File 11: El Mundo Gira

AKA: This Episode Is Named After A Soap Opera

Part of what makes The X-Files unique is its ability to come up with bizarre new concepts and ideas. Even when it indulges in existing concepts or folktalkes, it usually manages to find a unique spin on them. Sometimes this can be good, like when one episode decided to spend a Loch Ness Monster episode working on Mulder and Scully's relationship. Sometimes it's bad, like when they decided to make the Jersey Devil a goddamn caveman. But overall, it's definitely exciting to get to see where the writers take a concept.

Our episode kicks off with a pair of brothers, Eladio and Soledad, in an migrant worker camp. Soledad is dating a woman named Maria but Eladio is also in love with her.  That swiftly stops mattering though, because when Eladio and Maria chase some goats over a hill, there's a flash, some yellow rain and when everything is clear, Maria and the goat are dead with their eyes missing and Eladio is missing.

Mulder and Scully show up because Mulder thinks that aliens are involved but swiftly starts getting interested in this chupacabra idea that the migrant workers are floating. Scully goes to examine Maria's body and finds it significantly more fungus than corpse, while Mulder teams up with an INS Agent named Lozano and they find Eladio in custody who claims that he didn't kill Maria. Before they can go any further, he gets taken off to see the judge. But before THAT can happen, the driver of the bus he's on succumbs to a fatal case of ultra-fungus and everyone on the bus escapes.

Scully at this point is convinced that there's something weird going on with the fungus and is determined to track Eldaio down. So she heads off to check out the fungus with a Mycologist, who tells her the fungus is just standard Athlete's Foot but that something in Eladio is acting as a catalyst, causing fungus to go haywire. We get confirmation of this when we get to see Eladio, who is trying to flee the country, try to do a day of quick construction work and ends up accidentally killing his new boss. Via fungus.

"Okay, so this is the body discovered in the cocoon in northern Washin-oh wait, no, wrong case."

Mulder and Lozano are, at this point, trying to track Eladio down, but keep running into the brick wall that everyone is avoiding Eladio because they think he's the chupacabra (and given his face is getting more and more fungus-y, it's hard to argue), and because Soledad is trying to find Eladio to kill him. After searching around for him, nearly catching him and interrogating his cousin Gabrielle, they track him to a grocery store. He's not there but Soledad, who has been following him looking for revenge.

But, surprise, Lozano takes Soledad to where he thinks Eladio is to help him get revenge. That doesn't come out of nowhere in the episode, but the line setting it up goes by so fast I failed to mention it earlier. We get a Rashomon ending where the old lady who lived near Eladio and Soledad claims that other chupacabra came and took them both (actually aliens but actually ACTUALLY government agents) while Gabrielle claims that Soledad changed his mind about revenge and killed Lozano, but turned into a fungus conduit himself, and the episode ends with them on the run and Skinner annoyed that no one can find them.

El Mundo Gira is polarizing among fans and critics, and it's easy to understand why. It's basically a litmus test for your priorities as an X-Files fan. It's not a particularly great episode by any means but if the things you're looking for out of an episode are plot and theme, then you're probably not going to enjoy it much. But if you're more focused on weird creepy ideas and gross setpieces then this episode might have enough to skate by.

"I swear! I am the guy from Breaking Bad!" 

The big issue with the episode is that it doesn't have very strong structure. From about the end of the first act on, the episode is basically a lengthy game of tag, with everyone chasing Eladio, which isn't terrible, but limits the number of ways the story can play out, and cuts deep into our time with the secondary characters. Soledad in particular, for being such an important part of the story, spends most of the 1st and 2nd acts off screen, only wandering back in when the episode needs him, which feels like a missed opportunity.

If it feels like a missed opportunity it's because the characters are generally pretty engaging and I'd like to get to see more of them. All of the supporting actors are giving great performances, especially Lozano and Eladio, and I'd like to see more of them. Lozano gets a decent amount of screen time, and Eladio gets a few scenes to himself, but Gabrielle barely says three lines, and I don't think the old lady's name even gets mentioned, even though she's theoretically the framing device.

It also has a few attempts to engage with a real theme, the theme of how immigrants are ignored by society, but its a theme that comes up so rarely that it feels abrupt (its mostly confined to a few lines of dialogue here and there) and doesn't actually matter at all the mystery going on. Maybe they could have tied it more into the story, but the episode isn't great at depicting the reality of how undocumented immigrants (they live in a literal shanty town) so maybe it's good they didn't double down on that.

"They're afraid of me because they think I killed Maria!"
"No dude, they're afraid cause your face is like 80 percent fungus at this point."

Still, the primary reason this episode works is the interesting concept and the gross setpieces. Making fungus an engaging...I guess monster is the word, even if it feels imprecise, is difficult, but some really great makeup and body effects do the work to make it freaky. And while I am disappointed we didn't get a real chupacabra, shifting the focus from that to fungi is a pretty neat trick, and I'll never get tired of the mycologist's little lecture about how Athlete's Foot is one of the hardest to exterminate things in the world.

Honestly, I can't totally decide how much I like this episode, I feel like my opinion could go either way. There's a lot of stuff I like in the episode, but it also feels like its weakly put together and doesn't make the best of its potential. Maybe it's because it comes at the end of such a string of great episodes, that a flawed, but enjoyable, episode feels like a step down. After all, poor structure isn't a deal breaker, and it is a very engaging watch, and sometimes, that's enough.

Case Notes:

• The X-Files does framing devices pretty rarely, so it's interesting they did 2 (this and Musings) quite so close together.
• I feel like there's something a little racist about depicting the immigrants as living in a literal shanty town.
• This episode is pretty eager to get to the good bits, so its explanation for what's going on is literally "Radioactive meteor." Is Eladio the new member of the Fantastic Four?
• The effect on Maria post fungal death is pretty gross, good job X-Files.
• Wait, the goat has been dead for three days? Why is it still just lying out in the field? Why the hell haven't you done something with it?
• I love Scully asking Mulder why they're out in a field looking at a dead goat. She's so fed up. In fact Scully is pretty fed up with everyone this episode, I like it.
• The fungus hit body in the body bag is pretty gross too. This is a good episode for gross props.
• Eldaio is giving a damn fine little performance, from his grief at what happened to Maria to his horror at what he's causing. He's a pretty vital part of the episode, so it's good that he's got some believable emotions at the core.
• I just realized that Mulder and Scully are basically never in danger this episode. That's a bit of a shame.
• I like how Scully just drops the skepticism immediately once she realizes the gist of what's going on and gets into "We have a problem, fix it," mode. I like when Scully just decides to get serious.
• I'm not gonna tell Lozano how to do his job but maybe, as a law enforcement officer, "Don't stand in the way of family vengeance," is an opinion you shouldn't have, or at least broadcast.
• I totally buy the fungus guy as a fungi nerd. I like him talking about Athlete's Foot, it feels like the kind of thing an actual fungi nerd would talk about.
• I'm not totally clear on why, after stealing a truck, Eladio doesn't just bolt for the border himself. 
• I love the look Lozano gives Mulder when Mulder starts talking about Aliens to Scully on the phone.
• I feel super bad for the convenience store clerk. Dying at a minimum wage job seems like an awful place to go.
• The dueling framing devices is a good idea (indeed, it's one a Season 5 episode will do a lot with) but it comes right the fuck out of nowhere and feels like a leftover from an earlier draft of the script.
• I really like the transition from the alien graffiti to Skinner's head.
• I get what they're going for in the final scene with nobody caring about migrants, but sorry, they have giant grey fungus heads, people are gonna notice them.
• As always, these reviews are supported by Patreon. My X-Files: Resist or Serve stream is going to be starting soon, so support my Patreon for updates on that..

Current Celebrity Watch:

Lozano is played by Ruben Blades, who is not only a well known actor (he's currently a main character on Fear the Walking Dead) but also a very famous singer and songwriter, who has been releasing albums consistently since the 70s, including as recently as last year.

Future Celebrity Watch:

Eladio is played by Raymond Cruz, who was on The Closer (which I've never seen) and, perhaps more well known, on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as Tuco. Remember him, he was in Season 1?