AIR DATE:  November 24, 1995
Written by Chris Carter, Howard Gordan & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by David Nutter

	When I was 15 or 16 years old I was flicking through the channels
on the tv set (the old fashioned way, too, I was physically at the tv set) 
and came across the tv show "The Prisoner".  I was like what is this?  I'm
totally confused on what is going on and I loved it.  After that I
returned every week to see if I could quite figure out what was going on.

	This week's X-Files episode "Nisei" continues on the
alien/government/conspiracy storyline, and what happens to Scully during
her abduction. Also, it continues our confusion on what exactly is going
on with this storyline.  I'm still trying to figure out what happened in
the ABC trilogy (Anasazi, Blessing Way, Paperclip) and I loved being
confused like that because what other tv show would dare to confuse its
viewers so much by not handing them everything on a silver platter.  It is
doubtful we will get a full answer to everything in part two next week,
but neither did we ever get the full answer on why No. 6 quit or even his
real name in "The Prisoner".  Let's just hope Chris Carter and Company
know where they are going with this storyline since they got at least
another season or two to drag it out.  Even though I say I love being
confused liked this even I can only take it for so long before I start
demanding some clear answers of some of the things that are going on.

	It is hard to comment on "Nisei" since we don't have the full
picture behind everything that is going on so we don't know the direct
results on everything that has happened in this episode. Nevertheless,
"Nisei" is still an intriguing episode in its own right because of
everything else it brings up.  In "Paperclip" X-Files touch upon how Nazi
scientists were brought over here to continue some of their work, and now
in "Nisei" we have their Japanese counterparts doing the same thing, but
with a difference.  It doesn't appear the secret govt.  likes what these
Japanese scientists are up to and the secret govt. is taking care of them. 
Which only adds to the confusion of everything that is going on.  In
"Paperclip" we saw the government has kept quite a record on thousands of
people with the help of Nazi Scientists though it is never explained to us
why this is being done, and with "Nisei" we see the secret govt. going
after these Japanese scientists who appear to be acting outside their
authority on what they could do in the U.S..  Of course, we don't know for
sure who is being sent to kill these Japanese or exactly why they are
being killed, and it only adds to the confusion of everything which even
Scully and Mulder must be feeling.

	The best part about "Nisei" is it brings up points that were left
hanging from the ABC trilogy such as Scully's implant.  It was freaky when
the women who made up MUFON recognize Scully as an abductee and even
freakier when all the women showed Scully they have had implants taken out
of them, too.  Scully definitely is a woman who is in denial of what
happened to her, and who is damn frightened of actually finding out what
happened to her.  No wonder she has been so gung ho in her job because it
is the only way she can suppress remembering what has happened to her. 
Anderson did a wonderful job in showing Scully's fear and uncertainty
around the MUFON women and around Mulder in his office.  It is as if by
admitting this happened to her then it will show a weakness on her part
which I'm not too certain her character can take.  Scully is most likely
conflicted on wanting to know what happened to her and at the same time
not wanting to know what happened to her. 

	The one thing I'm confused is this the first time Scully has shown
Mulder her implant?  I suppose it could have been though Mulder didn't
seem too surprised by it.  The reason I'm asking this is I can't believe
this is the first time Scully has decided to take it to be looked at by
someone to see exactly what it is made of though this could go back to
Scully being in denial on what happened to her, that as long as she didn't
know exactly what it was then she could continue as if nothing happened to
her.  I did like how when Scully commented to the FBI analyst person "so
it is manmade" and he goes to her "what else could it be."  An interesting
comment from Scully because it seemed as if she was surprised to find out
it was manmade and not alien.

	An interesting interaction between Scully and Mulder was when she
gets back to the office after returning from Allentown and they discuss
what has been going on.  In response to Mulder's asking Scully how she
still can't believe in the idea of a government coverup of an alien/human
experiments after all that she has seen, Scully tells Mulder "believing is
the easy part."  Mulder's response is the most fascinating when he tells
her "you think believing is easy."  This says a lot about Mulder and how
far even he will believe that even he finds it hard to believe everything
he has seen, but he is willing to believe even to the point of dying to
prove everything he has seen and heard.

	In "Paperclip" Mulder was willing to give up everything even his
life just to find out what was on the disk since he believed it held the
answers he has been looking for all these years.  But it was Scully who
wasn't willing to give up everything so Mulder held back from continuing
his search for the truth.  In "Nisei" Mulder doesn't have Scully there to
hold him back so he knowingly risks his life when he jumps onto the train
even after Scully warns him that they know what he is up to and most
likely will kill him if they find him on the train.  Mulder doesn't care
because of what he believes is on that train will give him the answers he
desires so much.  He is willing to believe there is something worth dying
for on that train while Scully isn't quite willing to go that far because
of everything that has happened to her and what it would mean.

	Okay, that is all I can think of to write right now since it is
hard to give a complete review on what is going on until we see part two
next week.  Here are few general comments: 

- Mulder now carries an extra gun on him.  I have to say the second I saw
Mulder go after that Japanese diplomat I was thinking he going to lose
that gun again.  Of course he does and when he pulls out another gun and
says "I'm tired of losing my gun."  I cracked up laughing.  Hmm, seems the
people on X-Files take notice of our comments on Mulder and his gun
holding ability.

- Anyone else find it interesting that all the members of MUFON were made
up on women.  Wonder what that means in the big picture? 

- Is it me or does Senator Matheson give anyone else the creeps whenever
he appears.  He gave me the creeps in "Little Green Men" and it hasn't
changed with "Nisei".  Something about the way he moves and talks just
doesn't seem right.  It is as if he doesn't appear to be who we think he
is.

- It had to be a rainy week when they filmed this episode because every
outdoor scene was wet.  The best one was when Mulder was chasing the
Japanese Diplomat and we can see it is raining hard as they are filming.
In it you can see Duchovny run right into a nice wet puddle in the grass.
Ah, filming in Vancover must be so nice sometimes.

- Mulder's glasses are back!  Gee, I thought he might have had that laser
surgery done between season one and two to explain why we never saw him
wearing them throughout season two. 

- I don't know why this is bugging me, but does Scully have an office
somewhere else in the FBI building.  Why am I asking such a thing? 
Because the fact she had to knock on the door when Mulder had locked it.
If she had a desk down there then she would have had a key to get into the
office.  Maybe that should be an X-File:  where is Scully's desk in the
FBI building?

	We return to the alien/govt/conspicary in "Nisei" so it means we
are returning to a confusing and all over the place storyline where we the
viewers are not too sure what is going on.  It looks like we finally might
get some answers on what is going on in the alien/govt/conspiracy
storyline. Nah, I don't think so, but "Nisei" has to be one of the better
episodes that deals with this storyline because it has been presented in a
more coherent fashion than in previous episodes.

	Well for now I'll give this one an A as part of the overall
alien/govt/conspiracy storyline because it wasn't as confusing as previous
alien/govt/conspiracy episodes have been, but in relation to other
episodes aired so far this year I give it a B+.

Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

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