User Reviews

731 is the first complete episode I saw of the X-Files. It's as good today as when I saw it for the first time. Wonderfully written by Frank Spotnitz and directed by Rob Bowman, this episode is a rip-roaring adventure. The suspense is kept at a maximum throughout the entire episode as Mulder is aboard a train with a bomb on it. The music by Mark Snow in 731 is excellent, especially when Scully views the pit of bodies at the research facility. With Bowman's superb direction, you feel as if you are on a moving train with Mulder. A great guest star appearance is given by Stephen McHattie as the assassin Red Haired Man. Ruthlessness exudes from him. Stephen Williams as X, Don S. Williams as First Elder, & Brendan Beiser as Agent Pendrell are all worthy of mention here. The first hints of Agent Pendrell's crush on Scully are shown in this episode. The show keeps you guessing whether Mulder and Scully are seeing aliens or just lepers being used as test subjects. When I saw Nisei, I knew I had to see the continuation of that episode 731, to find out what happens. But after viewing 731, I was officially hooked on the x-files and the rest is history.

I've been recently reminiscing on this great series, and saw this episode (and its first part brother) yesterday. For those who are not yet quite familiarized with it, this is a kind of series in which you have very specific main characters, Mulder and Scully, two FBI agents in charge of the most peculiar investigations that come across the FBI. Each episode of the series deals with a different subject, but every now and then (or every five or six episodes ) you have what you might call continuity episodes, witch deal with that same subject and are often called by its creators and fans as mythology episodes. They are in deed a good change of pace in the series, as most of the other episodes, for as good as they are, don't quite grab you as the mythology episodes do. One might say they are the "back bone" of the show!

This one, "731", starts where "Nisei" left of, that is when Mulder jumps on to the train with the mysterious Alien-human hybrid and the government killer on its heels. What makes this episode so interesting to me is how Chris Carter develops the story in such a way that you are getting answers _ like Scully was in deed abducted by men working for the government with a particular agenda in mind_ but in fact you are left with much more questions in the end, particularly the ambiguity between what Mulder uncovers on the train and what Scully is told in the abandoned Lepers colony. You can't help to feel lost between the plausible and logical explanation by Scully, and Mulder's instinct about the alien hybrid plot.

Rob Bowman's directing is worth mention. He had already proved himself capable to tackle the difficult subject of the mythology episodes in "End Game", witch justifies Carter's decision of putting him behind the cameras for the first X-Files movie. The way in witch the action and suspense revolves around the confinement of a train car is worthy of such masters as Alfred Hitchcock.

Watch out for X's role in this episode. That particular finale is a classic X file bit and gives Steven Williams character a much more interesting depth as Mulder's ambiguous helper than Deep throat ever had.

You know, if you're an X-Files fan, you have to do a little homework at times to figure out what the titles of the episodes were about, especially in Season Three with names like 'Oubliette', 'Nisei' and the one offered here - '731'. It turns out that it was explained in the story without actual reference to the number itself. It stands for Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army which committed war crimes conducting illegal research and experiments on prisoners of war and civilian subjects. Always a cool thing to know when playing World War II trivia.

So even though prior episodes in the series established some credibility for the existence of extraterrestrials and alien abductions, the basis for that belief gets murkier and murkier with Scully's coming to grips with the idea that Japanese war criminal, Doctor Shiro Zama/Ishimaru (Robert Ito) was the one who operated on her during her abduction experience. As one of the '731' doctors, he participated in infecting patients with various diseases and used radiation on test subjects to find out what would happen to them after a period of time. This could not be good news for Scully, in light of the fact that the group of women she encountered in the prior episode were now being diagnosed with cancer, perhaps an offshoot of the implants found in the back of their necks courtesy of Dr. Zama.

Now what's with the assassin called the Red Haired Man (Stephen McHattie)? I observed him carefully in this episode and I didn't get the impression his hair was red, certainly not even close to Scully's. But we won't have to worry about it thanks to Mr. X (Steven Williams) making the save on Mulder's butt to close out the story. We all thought he bid Mulder a bitter farewell earlier in the series, but I guess you can't keep a good FBI agent down.

You have to love the way this story closed out, as it only added more question marks to the mythology arc, with Smoking Man (William B. Davis) positioned as the cat who ate the canary, while a Japanese translator was busy at work rewriting the history of 731, a la George Orwell's "1984". Hey, there's another number.

One of the best, most gripping and story developing Mythology episodes yet.

It carries on what happened in the first part, but adds so much more to the story. Scully's part in this episode involved a camp very similar to the Hitler camps of WW2 where people with leprosy and alien-hybrids were held and executed. The most disturbing part of the episode was that big death hole full of alien bodies. The reason why it disturbed me was because it looked pretty real. Scully's story is also developed as she believes to have been abducted by the crazy Asian doc.

Mulder's part in this episode was very tensed and action-packed as he gets locked in with a killer that almost strangled him. Although it is obvious that they weren't gonna kill him, you can't help but to feel nervous and hoping that he will get out alive. I really like the way X was used in this episode, as he comes to save Mulder's butt at the end of the episode.

There's a very cool explosion and some great character bits. FIVE stars for this excellent Mythology episode.

731 the Limerick:

Mulder gets locked in a cart

With one who in the cover-up takes part

He gets the door code

Before the cart will explode

Then X saves Mulder from being blown apart

The second episode in the two parter with Nisei being the first. I don't quite understand the title and I'm not sure if its explained in the episode but I know that I missed it if it is. We rejoin our friend Mulder just after he has jumped onto a moving train and for some reason decided to do so with his cell phone in his hand and so he loses it off the side. I like this episode because of the suspense of being stuck on the train car with a bomb with the NSA guy. It gives the episode a kind of "The Phone Booth" feel to it. I also love X in this episode as I do in pretty much every episode. But I love first of all how quickly and easily he slaps the pistol out of Scully's hand at the beginning. C'mon Scully you do NOT mess with X. Then of course he saves Mulder from being blown to bits at the end. And of course there are the important mythology facts that become known to us. Such as the "aliens" being results of human experimenting and they are just deformed lepers. The tests on abductees taking place on these train carts. I think this is the only time the First Elder of the syndicate makes contact with either Mulder or Scully but we are glad he does because it helps Mulder to believe that there is a bomb actually on the train and saves him from blowing himself to bits. I also really like the teaser with the execution of all the mutant alien human leper things. Very graphic. Oh yeah and don't forget this is another good one for all you Pendrell fans. Anyway all in all 9/10.

The consortium of global interest are on a cover up spree. It seems with the death of Mulders dad and the reveal of the Top secret Alien files they are doing everything they can to bury any history of alien /human experimentation.

Scully has now been fed their lies and she has readily refused the reality of the supernatural or aliens. Hard skepticism or full out denial? I'm not sure at this point.

Nevertheless her cancerous fate is sealed. I wonder how this will pan out in future episodes.

I'm glad in the last two episode they explored the Frankenstein doctors involved in the world wars besides the Germans. I imagine it was a secret global interest to have the most capable hybrid soldiers. So the extermination of these doctors meant that they became a liability somehow.

Overall I feel like the information presented by the fat cat leper colony guy to scully was unsatisfactory and probably a cover up. And mulder no longer has any tangible evidence to continue his investigation. The viewers and mulder are back at square one.

There are a couple of ways of looking at this show. It's certainly a show that is about entertaining its audience and the mysteries are perfect fodder for the hungry people watching the TV every night to get some good storytelling and some nice narratives, which this show has in big amounts. However, there's also a way of looking at this show as a show that deals with the possibility of facing the truth and getting a chance to face the government and what they're doing. We know that there are a lot of secret projects about bioweapons and chemical experimentation of regular people. It's not a big secret. There are even world leaders who have used these weapons against their own people. It feels like Chris Carter is trying to take up these issues and ask us what we would do in order to actually achieve some sort of clarity about what is going on under our noses. We are all supposed to be in the shoes of Mulder, and while we may not necessarily believe that aliens and spaceships are actually a real threat to us, it covers the larger truth under a sci-fi blanket that we can all watch and have fun with. This episode, in particular, puts that aside to give us an hour of intense storytelling that always feels like it's a run against the clock and an impending doom that will prove difficult for our protagonists to get out of, while they continue to uncover the conspiracy they're facing.

The writing for this episode is particularly terrific, because it knowingly splits up the episode in two narratives that both compliment the sensibilities of our lead characters. Mulder is caught on a train with a possible otherworldly being and an assassin, while Scully is presented with evidence of what is actually going on in the form of something that she would be able to understand. It would have been interesting to see what they would have done had their places been reversed, but it feels like the episode is specifically designed to adhere to the beliefs of these two characters.

However, the episode is also meant to set back the audience in their expectations of what is actually going on. It's clear that Mulder is facing an existential crisis here as he is approached by facts that contradicts his own struggle to find the answers that he truly believes he's going to find. Watching characters have these crisis of faith moments are always heartbreaking, but Mulder is both strong and stubborn, so it's clear that he will get back on the horse again and go forward still trying to convince us (and himself, maybe) about the existence of otherworldly beings.

The conception of this episode is really impressive and how Rob Bowman handles directing duties is honestly quite inspiring. There is a race happening against the clock, and Bowman finds ways to make the episode feel tense, and all the slow moments feel like a waste of time for the characters as well, which only makes us worry about the possible outcome even more. We know that nothing is going to happen to our leads, but we've also seen things occur that set them back, and Bowman directs this episode as if we should hold out for another big tragedy.

It leads the mythology of the show in a very interesting direction, and a darker one as well. None of what we've seen really supports the idea that this is not somehow connected to extraterrestrial beings, but the episode is very clear in its distinction from that, and therefore, the mythology feels vastly changed afterwards. And that is in a good way, because to trick us and take us along for the ride like that is always a plus for me, so it's going to be extra special to see what they'll do to get this train back on track.

"731" puts a new spin on the show and brings a new side of the mythology to life; one that may be darker than ever. It's full of great tension and features some iconic character moments, as well as being one of the more interestingly made episodes in terms of its approach to the narrative.

This episode feels, almost personal. It's that insulting to the intelligence of the viewer.

To add to our story we are shown a summer camp in West Virginia where aliens are being kept. Evil soldier goons show up and execute them.

Back to our heroes, Mulder tries to find a Japanese doctor so he can get into a train car with an alien on it, but then an assassin finds the doctor first and kills him, but then the assassin leaves the door to the alien train car open, but then the assassin was hiding in the wall and is strangling Mulder to death, but then the train guy has a gun and he makes the assassin quit killing Mulder.

Meanwhile Scully goes to the summer camp and is literally shown a mass grave filled with alien grays, literally filled with their recently murdered corpses, but after being captured by a group of unknown soldiers who murder the last of the camp survivors, a fat guy explains to Scully they were just experimented on medically with radiation and diseases, and it made their heads all big and inhuman, and they all shrank like two feet in height, and had four fingers instead of five, and were silicone based instead of carbon.

Because she's a medical doctor Scully immediately recognizes all of this as true. Also she has proof that it's true, the President issued a vague, non-specific apology for government testing in the 70s that involved radiation (no I'm not making that up or even misstating it for comedic effect, that's literally what she says). So you see Mulder, it was all just the Japanese perpetrating a hoax on the American public to cover their tracks by pretending to be aliens. How do I explain the Japanese having anti-gravity utilizing space ships, the technology to read people's minds, the ability to abduct me from the side of a mountain without use of a manmade flying machine on a rendezvous set up using telepathy with a crazy man, I'm sorry Mulder you'll have to repeat all that, sssscrrrrrr, ssssscrrrrr, I'm sorry Mulder there's so much static right now I can't hear you, bye.

Oh, she also claims Mulder's train will explode with the "totally human test subject" which will expose tens of thousands of people to hemorrhagic fever---let me just stop you right there, doctor. Of all the ways you might realistically spread any kind of virus, or of all the ways you might unrealistically spread any kind of virus that a regular person may still just go with, exploding a patient infected with it using 50lbs of C4 is not one of them. Viruses have shown a remarkable irresilience to being exploded.

Anyhoo, nothing else really happens but we're expected to be super, super, duper worried that Mulder might finally die in a midseason episode of season 3 of a very popular television show because of that bomb. Fortunately Scully helps Mulder open the door, although the assassin, who Mulder has had his back turned to for most of the half of the episode he has him captured, without any restraints whatsoever, somehow manages to sneak up and knock Mulder out before kicking him repeatedly for good measure.

But then Mr. X shows up, shoots the bad guy, and carries Mulder off the train. The end. Oh except Scully shows up one more time to berate Mulder for even believing in aliens when clearly this can all be neatly explained by a rogue Japanese scientist giving people small pox or something.

And I'm quite sure as a kid I was left wondering if I had missed some episodes that retconned seasons 1 and 2, or was I misremembering a different television show about FBI agents who look for aliens as being The X-Files, or hmmm...

I hate the conversation between Mulder and Scully on the phone when he was locked in the train car. Instead of giving the message as fast as possible, no, the lengthy unnecessary questions and answers like "What are you talking about?"

I really hate the writing that does not realistic like this - just to add thrilling-curious-drama element into the story when the situation is really not suitable.