| "731" | |||
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| The X-Files episode | |||
X saving Fox Mulder's life |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 10 |
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| Directed by | Rob Bowman | ||
| Written by | Frank Spotnitz | ||
| Production code | 3X10 | ||
| Original air date | December 1, 1995 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of season 3 episodes List of The X-Files episodes |
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"731" is the tenth episode of the third season of The X-Files television series. "731" concludes the story begun in "Nisei"; it features Mulder investigating a possible alien-human hybrid held aboard a train car while Scully investigates what happened to her during her abduction.
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In West Virginia, a team of soldiers arrives at an abandoned leprosy research compound, rounding up most of the patients. One patient, Escalante, hides beneath a trapdoor during the arrival and follows the group to a secluded field nearby. He watches as the soldiers shoot the other patients—including apparent alien-human hybrids—into a mass grave.
Fox Mulder loses his cell phone after jumping on top of the moving train, losing contact with Dana Scully. When questioned by Scully, X tells her to analyze her implant, saying that it will give her answers about the train and Melissa's murder. Meanwhile, Mulder enters the train and finds that the secret railcar is quarantined and protected by a security system. He searches for Zama, enlisting the train conductor for help. In Zama's compartment, they find hand-written journals in Japanese. However, elsewhere on the train, the Red-Haired Man intercepts and strangles Zama.
Scully sees Pendrell, who tells her that the implant contains highly advanced technology that can replicate the brain's memory functions and enable someone to know a person's very thoughts. The manufacturer of the chip was Zama, who created the implant at the West Virginia compound. Scully travels there, meeting a group of deformed patients who have eluded the "death squads." Escalante tells her that the patients were experimented on by Zama, who departed long ago; since then, the death squads have set out to massacre them. Escalante shows her the mass grave, but is killed when soldiers arrive to capture Scully. She is brought before the First Elder.
Mulder returns to the railcar, seeing its door ajar; an alien-human test subject is locked in a room inside. The Red-Haired Man attacks Mulder, causing the conductor to lock them both in the car. The Red-Haired Man claims to work for the NSA, and that a bomb in the car was triggered after he gained entry with Zama's pass code. Mulder doesn't believe him, but is called by Scully on the Red-Haired Man's cell phone. Scully—who is with the First Elder in a similar railcar—tells Mulder that unwitting subjects, including herself, were operated on by Zama in the secret railway, with the alien abduction theory used as a smokescreen.
Scully confirms that a bomb is in the car, and believes that the quarantined patient is infected with an extremely dangerous and contagious disease (hemorrhagic fever). She fears that thousands will die from the disease if the car explodes. Mulder finds the bomb in the ceiling. He has the car disconnected from the rest of the train on a remote rail siding. Mulder then questions the Red-Haired Man, who says that the quarantined patient is immune to biological warfare. Zama had tried to sneak the patient out of the country, but the government would rather see it destroyed than let their research fall into Japanese hands; the Red-Haired Man was sent to kill them both. Mulder, however, believes that the patient is an alien-human hybrid.
With the bomb approaching detonation time, Scully is able to determine the railway car's exit code. Mulder successfully unlocks the door, but he is knocked unconscious by the Red-Haired Man. As the Red-Haired Man is about to leave, X appears and shoots him. Realizing that the bomb is about to explode and that there is not enough time to both save Mulder and secure the quarantined patient, X decides to save Mulder. He exits while carrying the still unconscious Mulder shortly before the bomb explodes.
After recovering from his injuries, Mulder attempts to find information on the railway car, but he is unable to do so. Scully returns the journal he found on the car, but Mulder realizes that it is a rewritten substitute. Meanwhile the real journal is translated in a shadowy room as the Cigarette-Smoking Man watches.[1][2]
The scene at the start of the episode with Fox Mulder (portrayed by David Duchovny) on top of the train car was done with a harness cabled across the top of the car that was removed digitally during post production. The producers built train car interiors for the quarantine car where the patient was being kept and the sleeper cars, and floated the train sets on inner tubes to create the feeling of movement. Seven different cameras were used by director Rob Bowman when filming the train car explosion. The train car used was a decommissioned BCRail Budd RDC.[3] 120 black-powder bombs and 45 gallons of gasoline were used for the effect. Steven Williams and Duchovny separately shot a scene against a blue screen which was superimposed over the explosion. 25 masked actors, mostly children, laid over prop bodies for the scene with the mass grave.[4]
The episode's title is a reference to the Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731, which experimented on prisoners of war during World War II. The tagline for this episode was switched to "Apology is Policy".[5]
Director Rob Bowman called the episode one of his all time favorites. Actor Steven Williams felt that his actions in this episode helped endear him more to the show's viewers.[6] Director of Photography John Bartley earned an episodic TV series award nomination by the American Society of Cinematographers for his work on this episode.[2]
This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 12.0, with a 21 share. It was viewed by 17.68 million people.[7]