Things Are Getting Strange

It was, perhaps, inevitable that The X-Files would do an episode on the chupacabra at one point. Only, El Mundo Gira isn't really about the chupacabra. Its not really a telenovela either - not outright weird or dramatic enough!

We wind up contrasting the episode oddly to F. Emasculata and Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' for previous examples of some of the episode's narrative bits and pieces.

Leonard Betts is a particular favourite of Kim's - Nick gets a little hung up on some existential questions, but we can both agree that Scully really does get to kick ass in this episode for a change - somewhat unrealistic defibrillator usage non-withstanding.

The most polite X-Files vampire so far...

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Terma somewhat disappointed after such a strong opener in Tunguska. We're not sure if the writers quite understand how vaccines work (like at all). Nor are we sure how and when and especially how Krycek can be some cunning master manipulator and still wind up losing an arm in a hilariously unconvincing sequence.

Maybe Mulder's been reading the script. Or maybe he's psychic. He kind of deserves his own X-File given how Paper Hearts goes:

Paper Hearts is a stand-out episode - and fan favourite - and Nick has only one real complaint about it (two if you include how Mulder avoided getting fired over the events therein). Easily haunting and enthralling and uncomfortable, everyone gives this one their all.

And hey, maybe Mulder is psychic. And while he might have forgotten, we're going to insist he might be because of being present at Samantha's abduction. And that proximity giving people weird abilities was spelled out all the way back in Conduit...

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The shocking truth about Cancer Man's past and how he killed significant people! Or Cancer Man's thinly veiled autobiography passed off as fiction? You decide with regards to Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man.

We note how the episode is both plausible as backstory for the nemesis figure within the series, but also how it largely steers around most of the detail relating back to the main series' conspiracy. The how and why CSM got embroiled with aliens is mostly skipped... but we do learn he's allegedly keen on fixing sporting events from time to time.

Tunguska is the next conspiracy two-parter and a triumphant return of the black oil! Bit odd it seems to behave differently but there are possible reasons. A fun episode with some great portents for the future of the series and the usual crop of returning faces.

The most important question the episode prompts is, how at risk is the Syndicate's conspiracy to overzealous customs agents? Based on this episode, it seems the answer is very!

Can the episode hold up in part 2? Find out next week...

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Content Warnings - themes of abuse against women and children, gore, fear of doctors/medical procedures.

The Field Where I Died is a very polarising episode in the fandom. As such we get into why and the arguments from both sides - and its all connected back to whatever stance you might hold on the Sculder ship.

We navigate some inconsistent hypnosis and some curious historical goofs in an episode we can pretty much all agree looks really good.

Sanguinarium is a weird and unsatisfying trip ultimately. The presence of a Twin Peaks cast member can't quite overcome the needless gore and nastiness, nor the somewhat confusing nature of the villain's plan.

It is fun to see Mulder contemplate rhinoplasty however...

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Content warning - potential racial insensitivity, discussions centred around lobotomy.

In both episodes!

We're not sure Howard Gordon was really the right person to pen Teliko. Also odd how its similarity to Squeeze seems to escape both Mulder and Scully's attention. Definitely not one of the series' better vampires all things considered.

Still, for the Sculder shippers, their bond is sufficiently strong that Scully can read Mulder's facial expressions in critical moments. We also speculate on how Mulder should contact Marita instead of freaking her out when its late outside the UN building in New York.

Unruhe also has a spike as a central point and what the villain of the week is up to is potentially completely unrelated to the how and why Mulder and Scully are caught up in this case. We make a note of how many Scully kidnap's this is (the fifth) versus Mulder's instances (one).

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Content Warning for Home - Abuse, incest, infant death are all fundamental aspects of the episode plot.

There are no easy answers for Mulder in Herrenvolk. The conspiracy does shift forward with some interesting reveals, but Jeremiah Smith does seem to correspond to the typical alien response to Mulder (ie, lying) regarding Samantha.

Somehow Kim gets away with saying 'Deadly Bee Weapon' a lot, but this ties into the series pulling a few elements together around smallpox of all things.

Home is absolutely notorious and grisly and an episode we would tend to avoid previously. Rewatching surprised us with the amount of jokes it contained and how and why those jokes were used to undercut the extremely dark subject matter.

Also notable for being the return of Morgan and Wong to the series. We get into the multiple inspirations for the episode and how it stakes up against those influences.

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Wetwired feels a whole lot like a re-do of Blood (from Season 2) with a bit of Ghost in the Shell eye-hacking on top. Not that it is anime-style eye-hacking.

We discuss Mulder's strange inability to emphasise with Scully's paranoid turn in this episode as well as how knowing Dutch could give the game away right at the start.

Talitha Cumi is the big season ender with Biblical overtones. Quite why Mulder gives this case the time of day is unclear. We discuss the weirdness of both Jeremiah Smith and the Alien Bounty Hunter's behaviour - as well as how finnicky their weaponry appears to be.

Also - given this is the end of Season 3, we get into our 5 Favourite episodes, our least favourite episode(s) and our preferred villain of the season.

Next time: Season 4!

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Content warning - Animal Death in Quagmire

The first of this week's episodes doesn't involve war in Ba Sing Se. Or Unobtainium on other planets. Instead we get a weird hybrid monster of the week/conspiracy episode where the forces of the supernatural help Skinner in perhaps the least helpful way.

This is Avatar apparently.

We discuss the curious merits of framing Skinner and getting him fired after the attempted murder back in Piper Maru.

Quagmire also seems to be an episode struggling with its premise; part lake monster story and part intense Mulder and Scully character relationship piece. Where Mulder completely flubs his empathy on numerous occasions.

Still, at least Stoner and Chick are back.

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We would (quite seriously) love to see James Hong be cast as a CSM equivalent or just be a member of the syndicate in general, but in the likely absence of that, we will take his fantastic turn as the Hard Faced Man in Hell Money. Which features a good number of actors who have also been in Mulan.

We discuss the episode's kind of back-door pilot feel and why the body-part lottery supernatural cover-story feels kinda redundant in the end.

The X-Files has dabbled a few times by this point with implying alien abductions are in truth covers for some other shady goings on by the government. Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" offers the wonderfully silly next step by asking what happens if, mid-faking an alien abduction, an actual (stop-motion looking) alien showed up and captured the disguised air-force pilots and their would be teen abductees?

If only the story could be remotely as simple and not make everyone look very, very silly. We find it tremendously hard not to gush about all the surreal comedy this episode provides, the assorted guest stars and cinematic flourishes to sell the unreliable narrators.

Fear not though! Even with this episode Nick manages to come up with some complaints and nuisance slips on the part of the episode.

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Pusher is that rare thing - an episode Nick is unable to find much of a fault with at first.  Blackly comedic and engaging, this cat and mouse encounter between Mulder and the titular Pusher is so good.

We do get into Mulder's pretty incredibly specific knowledge of the Japanese language and how this episode might have damaged whatever burgeoning relationship Mulder and Scully have been building.

We struggled to say much about Teso Dos Bichos ultimately. Other than we could totally watch The Relic (the 90s monster movie, not the more recent housebound horror about dementia) for a similar (very similar) setup and have a far better time.

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