Nisei

An alien / human hybrid undergoes some treatment from its creators.

TITLE INFORMATION
A "NISEI" is an American citizen who was born to immigrant Japanese parents in the United States, as well as educated in the United States.

TAG LINE
The Truth Is Out There.

SYNOPSIS

After Mulder buys a mail order videotape which supposedly contains an actual alien autopsy, he views it and discovers that the tape shows a team of Japanese surgeons who are performing the procedure. The tape ends in snow when a group of armed soldiers storm into the operating room. Mulder and Scully trace the tape’s origin to a video piracy operation in Allentown, Pennsylvania. When they arrive at the scene, they find the body of a dead man - Steve Zinnzser - with a pillowcase tied over his head. Mulder chases a Japanese man fleeing the scene and takes him into custody. Skinner, at the jail, reveals to Mulder and Scully the suspect is a man named Kazuo Takeo, and that he is a high-ranking government official from the Japanese diplomatic corps. Mulder searches Takeo’s leather satchel which he stole, and he uncovers satellite photos and a list of names containing members of a UFO group known as MUFON - the Mutual UFO Network. Mulder learns that the satellite photos contain images of a salvage ship named the Talapus, which spent months searching for a Japanese sub which sank during World War II. The ship made port in Newport News, Virginia, leading to speculation that the Talapus may have found something other than the downed sub - a crashed UFO. The list of MUFON members leads the agents to a group of women named Lottie Holloway and Penny Northern. They instantly recognize Scully when she shows up at the door. They tell her that she is one of them, and they know that she is an abductee. Scully is confused and she insists that she is conducting an FBI investigation into the murder of Steve Zinnzser. The women tell the agents that Zinnzser was a member of their group. They also tell them of their experiences in a "bright white place," which partially triggers Scully’s memories of what happened during her disappearance. The women display small pieces of metal which were surgically removed from the backs of their necks. They bring Scully to the hospital, where another member of their group named Betsy Hagopian is dying of an undiagnosed and incurable cancer ailment. Penny claims everyone who was abducted will die in the same fashion, and that it can not be prevented. Meanwhile, Mulder travels to Virginia where he discovers the Talapus hidden between some much larger vessels. Nearby he discovers an airplane hangar that houses a large circular object … the object which the Talapus must have dredged from the bottom of the sea. Skinner informs Mulder that the Japanese diplomat was found murdered. Later, Mulder visits Senator Matheson, who requests the return of the satellite photographs. Mulder believes that doing so would entangle him in the murder investigation. In a cryptic gesture, Matheson gives Mulder a list containing the names of four murdered Japanese scientists. Scully and Mulder meet at the FBI headquarters where Mulder displays a photograph of Japanese medical officers taken during World War II. Four of the men are the same surgeons found murdered the previous day. Mulder suspects that the scientists were trying to create a human / alien hybrid, a continuation of their work, and similar work done by the Nazis carried out during World War II. He hypothesizes that the United States government may be the group behind the murders. Mulder also shows Scully a photo of train cars which he believes are part of the government’s secret railroad. One of which, he says, was used to carry out the alien autopsy. Mulder then travels to Quinnimont, West Virginia, where he discovers train cars from the satellite photos. As Mulder prepares to jump onto one of the moving cars, Scully contacts him on his cellular phone. She passes on information, given to her by X, that his life is in great danger. Nonetheless, Mulder jumps on top of the train car. X informs Scully that the metallic implant removed from the back of her neck is the key to all the answers she’s been searching for. To be continued ...

MY THOUGHTS

I really liked this episode.
The scene where Scully met the MUFON group was pretty eerie. I was a bit confused at the end, but the second part cleared it all up.
Oh, by the way, X is a welcome return as usual.

MY RATING
8.5/ 10.0