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Millennium (season 2)

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Millennium season 2
MillenniumSeason2DVDContest-300.jpg
Season 2 DVD cover
 
Country of origin
United States
No. of episodes
23
Broadcast

Original channel
Fox
Original run
September 19, 1997 – May 15, 1998
Home video release
DVD release
Region 1
January 4, 2005
Region 2
September 27, 2004
Season chronology

← Previous
Season 1
Next →
Season 3
 
The second season of the serial crime-thriller television series Millennium commenced airing in the United States on September 19, 1997, concluding on May 15, 1998 after airing twenty-three episodes. It tells the story of retired FBI Agent Frank Black (Lance Henriksen). Black lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) and daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady). He works for a mysterious organization known as the Millennium Group, investigating murders using his remarkable capability of relating to the monsters responsible for horrific crimes. After killing a man who stalked and kidnapped Catherine, Black faces tension within his family while simultaneously being drawn deeper into the sinister Group.
The season began with "The Beginning and the End", which marked the first episode of the series helmed by new co-executive producers Glen Morgan and James Wong, who would remain in charge for the full season. Accolades earned by the season include a Bram Stoker Award nomination for Darin Morgan's "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" guest star Charles Nelson Reilly and a Young Artist Award win for Tiplady.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Production
2 Cast 2.1 Starring
2.2 Recurring cast 2.2.1 Also starring
2.2.2 Guest starring

3 Reception 3.1 Accolades
3.2 Critical reception
4 Episodes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References
6 External links
Production[edit]
The second season saw series creator Chris Carter step down as executive producer, being replaced by the team of Glen Morgan and James Wong.[1] Morgan and Wong had previously written episodes for the series in its first season,[2] and had worked with Carter on his first television series The X-Files.[3] Morgan and Wong left similar positions on The X-Files to take up the Millennium roles, with Fox president Sandy Grushow saying that "with Chris writing and producing X-Files' fifth season, as well as the feature film, it was critical that we identify exec producers who could enable Millennium to grow".[4]
Discussing plans for the season, Morgan noted that "the Millennium Group is a much deeper organization" than seen in the first season, adding that "they're considering [Frank Black] for a candidate for the group (and) trying to show him that at the millennium there's going to be an event - either fire and brimstone or harmonic convergence". Wong spoke about how the character of Catherine Black, saying "there's a different relationship between Frank and his family this season because of the separation ... I think that will not only bring some kind of heartfelt drama but humor into it".[1] Wong also stated "we don't want to have the audience expect to see a serial killer every week. ... We would like to make it so that it's a surprise to them, just like it is a surprise when you watch The X-Files".[5]
Producer John Peter Kousakis has noted that the first and second seasons, and the third season after those, were markedly different, crediting each season's differing approach to the changes in leadership behind the scenes; Kousakis felt that the character of Frank Black remained the main constant throughout the series.[6] Fellow producer Ken Horton felt that the change in focus for season two arose as the first season's focus on serial killers had "overpowered" its storytelling, making it necessary to focus attention elsewhere instead; the focus switched from external forces and villains to the internal workings of the Millennium Group.[7] The series' musical supervisor Mark Snow found that Morgan and Wong brought another new element to the series—the music of Bobby Darin, which has been a hallmark of the duo's work. Darin's music accompanied Snow's scores in a number of episodes, often as diegetic music being listened to by Lance Henriksen's character. Snow believed this gave the character a down-to-earth, everyman feel.[8]
Cast[edit]

A man with white hair, wearing glasses

 Series star Lance Henriksen
Starring[edit]
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Recurring cast[edit]
Also starring[edit]
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Guest starring[edit]
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Peter Outerbridge as Barry Baldwin
Stephen E. Miller as Andy McClaren
Reception[edit]
Accolades[edit]
See also: List of accolades received by Millennium
The second season earned several awards and nominations for those associated with the series. Tiplady and "Monster" guest star Lauren Diewold earned nominations at the 1998 Young Artist Awards, with Tiplady winning in the category Best Performance in a TV Comedy/Drama – Supporting Young Actress Age Ten or Under.[9] Henriksen earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama, losing out to Anthony Edwards as ER's Mark Greene[10] At the Primetime Emmy Awards, the series earned two nomination. Charles Nelson Reilly earned an acting nod for his guest role in "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", losing out to The Practice's John Larroquette.[11] Millennium also earned a nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series, losing the award to ER.[12] The season also produced a Bram Stoker Award nomination in 1999, for Darin Morgan's episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"; the award was won jointly by Bill Condon for Gods and Monsters and Alex Proyas, David S. Goyer and Lem Dobbs for Dark City.[13]
Critical reception[edit]
Writing for Slant magazine, Keith Uhlich gave the season an overall rating of three-and-a-half stars out of five, finding that the appointment of Morgan and Wong was "an inspired choice that led to, arguably, the finest episodic run ever produced under [series creator Chris] Carter's Ten-Thirteen Productions banner". Uhlich found that the season was torn between episodes remaining true to the Carter-led first season's "serial killer of the week" format and make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach to storytelling", and Morgan and Wong's attempt to introduce a continuous story arc which lent a "sealed-off feel" to the season, finding that the latter approach lead to a "compulsively watchable" but largely dated end result.[14] DVD Talk's Bill Gibron rated the season overall four-and-a-half stars out of five, finding that the new thematic direction was "right on the money". Gibron felt that the season "was truly ahead of its time. It predates and predicts such fashionable fads as The Da Vinci Code, the omens of terrorist evil and the slow erosion of the citizenry's faith in the Federal Government".[15] Todd VanDerWerff, writing for The A.V. Club, wrote that "the second season of Millennium is some sort of work of weird genius". VanDerWerff added that the season "moves like a series with a new purpose, with a new sense of meaning. Morgan and Wong start tossing ideas at the wall with a thrilling abandon, almost as if they were pretty sure they’d never work in Hollywood again".[16]
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated several episodes across the season highly, awarding five stars out of five to "The Curse of Frank Black", "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", "Midnight of the Century", "A Room With No View", "The Fourth Horseman" and "The Time Is Now". However, several episodes rated poorly, with "Beware of the Dog", "A Single Blade of Grass", "The Hand of St. Sebastian", "Roosters", "In Arcadia Ego" and "Anamnesis" being seen as particularly poor. In all, Shearman singled out the season's climactic two-part episodes "The Fourth Horseman" and "The Time Is Now" as the highlight of the season, finding that Morgan and Wong took a considerable risk with the storyline as they believed the series would be cancelled at the end of the season, but believing that the episodes gained from this additional level of attempted closure.[17]
Episodes[edit]
See also: List of Millennium episodes
Millennium season 2 episodes

No. in
 series
No. in
 season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
Production
 code

23
1 "The Beginning and the End" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong September 19, 1997 5C01
After Catherine Black goes missing in the Seattle Airport in the previous episode, Frank Black desperately searches for his wife, who has been abducted by a cunning stalker who is luring him into a trap. 
24
2 "Beware of the Dog" Allen Coulter Glen Morgan & James Wong September 26, 1997 5C02
As Frank's marriage begins to crumble, a pack of vicious dogs terrorises a small town, and as Frank investigates he discovers several truths about the Millennium Group. 
25
3 "Sense and Antisense" Thomas J. Wright Chip Johannessen October 3, 1997 5C03
Frank aids in the search for a man who is supposedly carrying a highly contagious virus and discovers the secret behind the Human Genome Project. 
26
4 "Monster" Perry Lang Glen Morgan & James Wong October 17, 1997 5C04
In rural Arkansas, Frank investigates the owner of a daycare center accused of child abuse, only to be accused himself. 
27
5 "A Single Blade of Grass" Rodman Flender Kay Reindl & Erin Maher October 24, 1997 5C05
In Manhattan, Frank Black and an anthropologist link a bizarre, ritualistic slaying to a lost tribe of Native Americans who follow apocalyptic prophecies. 
28
6 "The Curse of Frank Black" Ralph Hemecker Glen Morgan & James Wong October 31, 1997 5C07
On Halloween, Frank experiences eerie visions and strange events that spark flashbacks to his youth—and a telling encounter with a troubled World War II vet. 
29
7 "19:19" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong November 7, 1997 5C06
In southeastern Oklahoma, Frank races against time to locate a busload of abducted children, whom a crazed visionary has entombed in an abandoned quarry. 
30
8 "The Hand of St. Sebastian" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong November 14, 1997 5C08
In Germany, Frank Black and his driven companion Peter Watts seek the Millennium Group's secret origins, which are steeped in dark intrigue dating to the first millennium. 
31
9 "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" Darin Morgan Darin Morgan November 21, 1997 5C09
An apostate member of a pop religion is murdered, leading Frank to co-investigate with a flamboyant writer. 
32
10 "Midnight of the Century" Dwight Little Kay Reindl & Erin Maher December 19, 1997 5C11
Eerie visions that haunt Black at Christmastime hark back to his troubled youth and lead to a fateful reunion with his estranged father. 
33
11 "Goodbye Charlie" Ken Fink Richard Whitley January 9, 1998 5C10
Serial murders in the guise of assisted suicides stymie Frank, whose primary suspect is a charismatic hospice nurse. Frank and Lara investigate to determine if it's murder. 
34
12 "Luminary" Thomas J. Wright Chip Johannessen January 23, 1998 5C12
In defiance of the Millennium Group, Frank Black sets off on his own into the Alaska wilderness to search for a missing teen who may have gotten in harm's way. 
35
13 "The Mikado" Roderick Pridy Michael R. Perry February 6, 1998 5C13
Frank Black, Peter Watts, and Brian Roedecker track a possibly long-dormant serial killer who is now broadcasting his murders over the Internet. 
36
14 "The Pest House" Allen Coulter Glen Morgan & James Wong February 27, 1998 5C15
Gruesome slayings linked to urban myth are committed near a psychiatric hospital, where Frank and Peter conduct an intensive investigation that yields multiple suspects. 
37
15 "Owls" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong March 6, 1998 5C14
Mystery and murder surround a search for a piece of the Crucifixion cross that sparks infighting among the Millennium Group. 
38
16 "Roosters" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong March 13, 1998 5C16
A venerable Millennium Group member links the schism within the organization to the actions of an underground Nazi clique. 
39
17 "Siren" Allen Coulter Glen Morgan & James Wong March 20, 1998 5C17
The seizure of a ship smuggling Chinese immigrants draws Frank Black into a mystery surrounding another passenger: an enigmatic seductress. 
40
18 "In Arcadia Ego" Thomas J. Wright Chip Johannessen April 3, 1998 5C18
In Idaho, Black tracks two escaped female prisoners, one of whom is pregnant and believes it to be an immaculate conception. 
41
19 "Anamnesis" John Peter Kousakis Kay Reindl & Erin Maher April 17, 1998 5C19
A sensitive high-school girl in Washington state claims to have religious visions in a case that raises controversial issues and builds to violence in a classroom. 
42
20 "A Room With No View" Thomas J. Wright Ken Horton April 24, 1998 5C20
Clues in the disappearance of a bright, outgoing teenage boy point to Frank Black's nemesis: the unearthly, seductive woman who killed Bob Bletcher. 
43
21 "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" Darin Morgan Darin Morgan May 1, 1998 5C21
Four demons assemble in the predawn at a doughnut shop and reflect on the havoc they've wreaked on humanity. 
44
22 "The Fourth Horseman" Dwight Little Glen Morgan & James Wong May 8, 1998 5C22
Frank Black takes a stand against the Millennium Group over its intensified secrecy and its involvement with a deadly contagion to which he's been exposed. 
45
23 "The Time Is Now" Thomas J. Wright Glen Morgan & James Wong May 15, 1998 5C23
The spread of a virulent disease coupled with mysterious Millennium Group operations kindle crises that beset Frank Black's friend Lara Means and his own family. 
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved July 10, 2012. (subscription required)
2.Jump up ^ David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Harry Longstreet (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (September 24, 1993). "Squeeze". The X-Files. Season 1. Episode 3. Fox.
4.Jump up ^ Flint, Joe (July 11, 1997). "On the Air: July 11, 1997". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Owen, Rob (July 29, 1997). "ABC Encourages Us to Open up and Love Television". Albany Times Union. Retrieved July 10, 2012. (subscription required)
6.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 01:02–01:54
7.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 04:10–05:20
8.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 15:01–15:35
9.Jump up ^ "19th Annual Awards". Young Artist Foundation. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
10.Jump up ^ "HFPA – Awards Search – Best Actor Television Series Drama". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ "John Larroquette | Emmys.com". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ "Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for 1998 – Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ "Horror Writers Association – Past Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners". Horror Writers Association. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Uhlich, Keith (January 12, 2005). "Millennium: The Complete Second Season". Slant. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
16.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (March 19, 2011). ""Redux"/"The Beginning and the End" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
17.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 145–163.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
Chris Carter, John Peter Kousakis, Lance Henriksen, Michael R. Perry, Ken Horton, Thomas J. Wright, Mark Snow, Chip Johannessen, Kristen Cloke, Megan Gallagher, Frank Spotnitz, Mark Freeborn (2004). The Turn of the Tide: The Making of Season 2 (DVD). Millennium: The Complete Second Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: MLM Season 2
Season 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
Millennium at AllRovi

[hide]
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Millennium

 
­Awards·
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 ­Emma Hollis·
 ­Millennium Group)
 
 
­Chris Carter·
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 ­James Wong·
 ­Chip Johannessen·
 ­Lance Henriksen·
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 ­Terry O'Quinn·
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Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1997 television seasons
1998 television seasons



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The Beginning and the End (Millennium)

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Jump to: navigation, search

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"The Beginning and the End"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 1
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C01
Original air date
September 19, 1997
Guest actors

Doug Hutchison as Polaroid Man
Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker
Norman Armour as Suited Man
Mitchell Kosterman as Sheriff
Judith Maxie as Finley
Drew Reichelt as Dicky Bird Perkins
Alan Robertson as Elderly Man
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Paper Dove" Next →
 "Beware of the Dog"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'The Beginning and the End" is the first episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on September 19, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "The Beginning and the End" featured a guest appearance by Doug Hutchison as the Polaroid Man.
In this episode, Millennium Group profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) must track down the man who has kidnapped his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher). During his hunt, Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) reveals that the Group is much more secretive and mysterious than Black had ever known.
"The Beginning and the End" marks the first episode produced with Morgan and Wong as co-executive producers; their tenure in charge of the series would last the entirety of the second season. Guest star Hutchison was a frequent collaborator with the writers, having worked together in several other series. The episode was seen by approximately 7.15 million households in its original broadcast, and has received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
The episode begins in media res from the ending of the preceding episode, "Paper Dove", showing Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) returning by plane to Seattle with his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) and daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady). As Black takes Jordan to their car, Catherine is drugged and kidnapped by a strange man (Doug Hutchison). The abductor—the Polaroid Man—hides Catherine in his car and escapes with her to the mountains overlooking the city.
Black's fellow Group members arrive to help, though he had not yet contacted any of them. They set up roadblocks throughout the city but are unsuccessful in finding Catherine. Black returns home, where his colleague Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) tells him about trying to conceive a son with his wife. Watts had once been assigned to a child-murder case in which the dismembered infant's body had been found in a cooler. He believed that God would reward him with his longed-for son if he could find the killer—years later, he still only has his three daughters, which has caused him to realize it is impossible to sacrifice one thing to gain another. Watts then has a Group member install software on Black's computer, allowing him access to sensitive documents—Black comments that he thought he already had full access before. Watts also explains that the Group's interest in Black is the reason for the Polaroid Man's actions. Elsewhere, the Polaroid Man ties up Catherine in a dark room.
Black struggles to find anything useful while investigating the abduction. However, he begins to experience seemingly-psychic visions which lead him to believe she is being held in their former home. The police raid the address but find it empty; Black finds a polaroid of another house inside. He is able to track down the address of this house, but goes alone this time. Reaching it, he finds Catherine in the basement, bound to a rafter. He goes to untie her but is blinded by a camera flash. He struggles with the Polaroid Man, which we see through a series of photographs taken during the struggle by the man's camera. Black is able to draw a knife, and stabs the Polaroid Man several times, killing him.
Returning home, Catherine packs a suitcase for Black, telling him that she cannot have him in their home for the time being, believing that he sacrificed a part of himself in killing her attacker. She hopes that time apart might help him recover what he is missing inside; he takes the case and drives off.
Production[edit]

 

 "The Beginning and the End" features the song "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads (pictured 1978).
"The Beginning and the End" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. Wright had previously directed five episodes of the first season—"Dead Letters", "The Wild and the Innocent", "The Thin White Line", "Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions" and "Paper Dove"[1]—and would go on to direct a further twenty episodes over the series' run.[2][3] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[4] The episode was the fourth to have been written by Morgan and Wong, after "Dead Letters", "522666" and "The Thin White Line" in the first season.[1] The duo would go on to pen a further eleven episodes over the course of the second season,[2] having taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[5]
Doug Hutchison's character, credited here as "Polaroid Man", had previously appeared in the first season finale "Paper Dove". In that episode the character was credited as "The Figure", and been portrayed by Paul Raskin.[6] The character had been a presence in the series since "Pilot", but had often merely been alluded to without being seen.[7] Hutchison had worked with Morgan and Wong several times before; they had first met during production of "Squeeze", an episode of Millennium's sister show The X-Files,[8] and again on Morgan and Wong's short-lived series Space: Above and Beyond.[9]
Discussing plans for the season, Morgan noted that "the Millennium Group is a much deeper organization" than seen in the first season, adding that "they're considering [Frank Black] for a candidate for the group (and) trying to show him that at the millennium there's going to be an event - either fire and brimstone or harmonic convergence". Wong spoke about how the character of Catherine Black, saying "there's a different relationship between Frank and his family this season because of the separation ... I think that will not only bring some kind of heartfelt drama but humor into it".[5] The episode makes use of the Talking Heads song "Life During Wartime", taken from their 1979 album Fear of Music.[10]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Beginning and the End" was first broadcast on the Fox network on September 19, 1997.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 7.3 during its original broadcast, meaning that 7.3 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 7.15 million households, and left the episode the fifty-third most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1]
The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Writing for The Buffalo News, Alan Pergament rated the episode three stars out of five, describing it as "moody" but "muddled and confusing". Pergament noted that "the suspense of the premiere actually is enhanced by all the summer speculation about the future role of Gallagher", and felt that Morgan and Wong were "trying to bring "Millennium" into "X-File" territory".[13] The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a A−, finding that it allows the series to "[turn] a corner, from a serial killer show with stained-glass window overtones, to a show that revels in those overtones, a show that plays in age-old symbols with a decided taste of the weird". VanDerWerff also felt that a monologue delivered by O'Quinn was an example of Morgan and Wong's best writing, and that the actor's delivery was the key to keeping the scene serious in tone.[10] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4.5 out of 5, noting that it "starts Season 2 off in high style". Gibron found that the episode "has a nice sense of internal adventure to it, giving us a chance to learn more about our main players while setting the groundwork for some certified surreality to come".[14] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Beginning and the End" two-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt that the episode had "an overwritten quality", citing the Polaroid Man's dialogue as the main example of this; he also believed that the development of Catherine Black as a character seemed poorly executed, with the character lacking enough depth to "retain the audience's sympathies".[11]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–1998 television season.[12]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
6.Jump up ^ Genge 1997, p. 110.
7.Jump up ^ Storm, Jonathan (October 25, 1996). "Anxiously Awaiting the 'Millennium': Chris Carter Anticipates the Hysteria". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved July 4, 2012. (subscription required)
8.Jump up ^ Lowry 1996, p. 105.
9.Jump up ^ Charles Martin Smith (director); Richard Whitley (writer) (March 24, 1996). "Pearly". Space: Above and Beyond. Season 1. Episode 18. Fox.
10.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (March 19, 2011). ""Redux"/"The Beginning and the End" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 145.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (September 25, 1997). "NBC Holds off Charge By CBS". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 5, 2012. (subscription required)
13.Jump up ^ Pergament, Alan (September 19, 1997). "Time for 'Simpsons'; Forget 'Timecop'". The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 5, 2012. (subscription required)
14.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
References[edit]
Genge, N. E. (1997). Millennium: The Unofficial Companion Volume Two. Century. ISBN 0712678697.
Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-105330-9.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1997 television episodes



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Beware of the Dog (Millennium)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Jump to: navigation, search

This is a good article. Click here for more information.

"Beware of the Dog"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 2
Directed by
Allen Coulter
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C02
Original air date
September 26, 1997
Running time
42 minutes
Guest actors

Randy Stone as Michael Beebe
R. G. Armstrong as The Old Man
Brent Butt as Short Order Cook
Ralph J. Alderman as Nate
Anita Wittenberg as Cora
Arnie Walters as Paul Lombardo
Margaret Martin as Mary Anne Lombardo
Sally Stevens as Radio Singer
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Beginning and the End" Next →
 "Sense and Antisense"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'Beware of the Dog" is the second episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on September 26, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Allen Coulter. "Beware of the Dog" featured guest appearances by Randy Stone and R. G. Armstrong.
Millennium centers on offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), who investigates unusual crimes as part of the private investigative organisation the Millennium Group. In this episode, when Black investigates several killings by a pack of savage dogs, he discovers a strange old man who teaches him more than he ever knew about the Group.
Guest star Armstrong would reprise his role later in the season, while Stone was the casting director for both Millennium and its sister show The X-Files. "Beware of the Dog" received mixed reviews from television critics, and was viewed by approximately 6.37 million households during its original broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References
6 External links
Plot[edit]
A couple in a camper van get lost along a country road. They stop near a small town to read their map, but a pack of dogs break into their van, mauling them to death.
Meanwhile, Millennium Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) tries to convince fellow Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) to investigate the case. Black is experiencing a separation from his wife and daughter after killing his wife's kidnapper; he initially refuses the case but Watts' insistence sways him. Black arrives in the isolated town of Bucksnort, and visits a local diner. Standing out amongst the residents is Michael Beebe (Randy Stone), who has moved there from Los Angeles. Beebe believes his elderly neighbour may be responsible for the attack and asks Black to investigate.
Black instead examines the crime scene. At sunset, he sees a group of five dogs beginning to follow him. He returns to his hotel, but when he discovers he is locked out the dogs attack him. He fights them off, killing one, and flees to a hospital where he is refused entrance. An elderly man (R. G. Armstrong) drives past, stopping to pick up the dead dog, and drives off again. The remaining dogs follow his pickup truck. Black passes out and is helped into the hospital. The locals believe he is unconscious and discuss the "situation"; however Black is awake and overhears everything, realising there is a greater threat than savage dogs at hand.
The next day, Black finds a group of obelisks in the woods. He is about to examine one when Beebe appears, chased by dogs. The Old Man also arrives, and Black asks him to call off his dogs. The Old Man denies the dogs are his, but they retreat regardless. Black then sees that the obelisks all bear an ouroboros, the symbol of the Millennium Group. He visits the Old Man's home, where the two speak about the Group and its symbolism, and the coming millennium. The Old Man then brings Black to a clearing full of the wild dogs, where the latter realizes they are embodiments of the evil in the world. He approaches them as stands his ground, being struck by several visions as he does so. The Old Man then explains that the world's balance between good and evil is being lost as the millennium approaches, and that Beebe's home, built on sacred ground, is one of the many small things upsetting this balance.
Black rushes to Beebe's home, knowing the dogs will attack it. Beebe refuses to leave, but the house has been surrounded by five dogs; as they are killed they are seemingly endlessly replaced by others. The Old Man arrives, and insists the only way to rid the town of the dogs is burn down Beebe's house, which the trio do before fleeing. Back home in Seattle, Black refuses to sell his own home, telling his wife that they will move back into it together when their problems are resolved.
Production[edit]

 

 Director Allen Coulter would return to direct another two episodes of the series.
"Beware of the Dog" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Allen Coulter. The episode was Coulter's first credit for the series, and he would return to helm "The Pest House" and "Siren" later in the second season.[1] "Beware of the Dog" was the fifth episode to have been written by Morgan and Wong, after "Dead Letters", "522666" and "The Thin White Line" in the first season;[2] and the second season première "The Beginning and the End". The duo would go on to pen a further ten episodes over the course of the second season,[1] having taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3]
Guest star Randy Stone was the casting director for Millennium and its sister show The X-Files.[4] Stone was responsible for the casting of Henriksen in the role of Frank Black, and of the two lead roles in The X-Files.[5] "Beware of the Dog" features the first appearance by R. G. Armstrong as The Old Man, a recurring character who would reappear in the two-part episodes "Owls" and "Roosters".[6][7] Armstrong has been described as "a long-time favorite" of Morgan's.[8]
The episode makes use of Bobby Darin's song "As Long As I'm Singing" in a diegetic manner. Darin's music has been noted by Millennium's resident composer Mark Snow as a hallmark of the works of Morgan and Wong. "Beware of the Dog" marked the pair's first use of the singer in Millennium, but his music would later feature in the episodes "Sense and Antisense", "Monster" and "Goodbye Charlie".[9]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Beware of the Dog" originally aired on the Fox network on September 26, 1997.[10] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.5 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6.5 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 6.37 million households, and left the episode the sixty-ninth most-viewed broadcast that week.[11][nb 1]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen gave the episode a B+, finding it "endearingly batshit".[12] Handlen felt that the episode was not entirely cohesive and that its ending was somewhat disappointing, but felt that overall the episode's imagery made up for this—summing up this idea by saying "Millennium often seems to be at its best when sense is a secondary consideration".[12] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3.5 out of 5, noting that its "atmospheric elements do not quite add up to a cohesive whole". Gibron felt that this resulted in "an episode that feels like the first half of a bad b-movie".[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, awarded "Beware of the Dog" one-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt the episode was so similar to The X-Files that it gave the impression that Millennium had "lost its own identity". He found that the script contained "enough wit in the dialogue" but that its plot seemed too "vague and elliptical".[10] Writing for the Star Tribune, Bill Ward felt that the episode featured a "lighter" tone than usual, comparing it to The X-Files. Ward described the episode as taking "some nice turns en route to an ambivalent semiresolution".[14]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[11]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–1998.
2.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–1997.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". Boston Herald. Herald Media Inc. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Variety staff (February 15, 2007). "Casting director, producer Stone dies". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Harada, Wayne (March 22, 2007). "Randy Stone, award-winning producer, 48". The Honolulu Advertiser. Black Press. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
6.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (March 6, 1998). "Owls". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 15. Fox.
7.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (March 13, 1998). "Roosters". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 16. Fox.
8.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 16.
9.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 15:01–15:35
10.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 146.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (October 2, 1997). "'ER'. 'Seineld' Help NBC Remain on Top". Rocky Mountain News. Denver Newspaper Agency. Retrieved July 16, 2012. (subscription required)
12.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (March 26, 2011). ""Redux, Part 2"/"Beware of the Dog" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk, Internet Brands. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Ward, Bill (September 26, 1997). "Critic's Choice". Star Tribune. The Star Tribune Company. Retrieved July 16, 2012. (subscription required)
References[edit]
Chris Carter, John Peter Kousakis, Lance Henriksen, Michael R. Perry, Ken Horton, Thomas J. Wright, Mark Snow, Chip Johannessen, Kristen Cloke, Megan Gallagher, Frank Spotnitz, Mark Freeborn (2004). The Turn of the Tide: The Making of Season 2 (DVD). Millennium: The Complete Second Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
""Beware of the Dog"" at the Internet Movie Database
"Beware of the Dog" at TV.com

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1997 television episodes



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Sense and Antisense (Millennium)

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"Sense and Antisense"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 3
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Chip Johannessen
Production code
5C03[1]
Original air date
October 3, 1997
Running time
43 minutes
Guest actors

Ricky Harris as Gerome Knox
Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker
Badja Djola as Lacuna
Clarence Williams III as Zero/Kramer
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Beware of the Dog" Next →
 "Monster"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'Sense and Antisense" is the third episode of the second season of the crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1997. The episode was written by Chip Johannessen and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "Sense and Antisense" featured guest appearances from Clarence Williams III and Ricky Harris.
Millennium centers on offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), who investigates unusual crimes as part of the private investigative organisation the Millennium Group. In this episode, Black aids in the search for a man who is supposedly carrying a highly contagious virus and discovers the secret behind the Human Genome Project.
Johannessen has described "Sense and Antisense" as having suffered from extensive script re-writes; his original version dealt more strongly with racial issues but was rewritten at the behest of the network's broadcast standards office. The episode earned a mixed reception from television critics, and was viewed by approximately 6.57 million households upon its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 References 5.1 Footnotes
5.2 Bibliography
6 External links
Plot[edit]
Patient Zero (Clarence Williams III) tries to hail a taxi on a busy street, but is continually ignored. He is eventually picked up by Gerome Knox (Ricky Harris), but suffers a seizure in the back of the taxi, raving about a threat against his life. Knox takes him to hospital, where he is diagnosed as a drug addict. Zero is sedated, but becomes agitated when two men enter the hospital lobby; Knox helps him escape, believing his life is in danger. The two men, Wright and Patterson, quarantine the area, as Zero is carrying a highly contagious disease.
Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is contacted for help in finding Zero, and travels to a briefing on the situation. It is explained that Zero is carrying a disease ordinarily confined to the Congo. Meanwhile, Zero and Knox are attempting to have a local newspaper run Zero's story, believing he has been infected in a racially motivated conspiracy akin to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Police locate and apprehend Zero, who manages to smear blood on Black's shirt.
Black has the blood tested, and finds it free of any pathogen; meanwhile, the government center running the earlier briefing has vanished. Black realizes he was tricked into finding Zero for an ulterior motive, eventually learning that the organisation responsible is carrying out medical experiments on the homeless, and may be tied to the Millennium Group. Elsewhere a homeless man, acting similarly to Zero, attacks two policemen, and is killed in response. Black and fellow Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) investigate, but are clearly not welcome. Black manages to obtain a blood sample from the dead man, and finds a stretcher tag which he believes is connected to the United States Department of Energy.
Further examination of the blood of both Zero and the dead man reveal that their condition has been induced through gene therapy. Watts and Black theorize that the DOE is developing a biological weapon which would incite violence and rioting in a targeted population; they learn that the research is being conducted by scientists involved in the Human Genome Project. Later, the body of Knox is found at a nearby morgue. Later, Black and Watts, assisted by local police, raid an office building connected to the project, which they believe is using homeless shelters to test their pathogen. They hope to recover Zero in the raid, but find him cogent and working for the project—his real name is Dr. William Kramer, and he denies any knowledge of the incident. Black believes Kramer was accidentally infected during his work, and finds a photograph in the man's office, showing him in military uniform, taking part in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
Production[edit]
"Sense and Antisense" was written by Chip Johannessen, who went on to write a total of twelve episodes across all three seasons, including the series' final episode, "Goodbye to All That".[2][3][4] The episode was directed by Thomas J. Wright; Wright had directed six episodes previously and would helm a further nineteen over the series' run.[2][3][4] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[5]
Johannessen was ultimately unhappy with how the episode turned out, believing that it suffered as a result of frequent re-writes to the script. Johannessen's original draft focused more heavily on racial issues, which Fox's broadcast standards office objected to.[6] The episode makes use of Bobby Darin's song "Gyp the Cat" in a diegetic manner. Darin's music has been noted by Millennium's resident composer Mark Snow as a hallmark of the works of executive producers Glen Morgan and James Wong, and would also appear in the episodes "Beware of the Dog", "Monster", and "Goodbye Charlie".[7]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Sense and Antisense" was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1997.[8] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 6.59 million households, and left the episode the seventy-second most-viewed broadcast that week.[9][nb 1]
The episode generally received mixed reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a C+, finding that it to be ambitious but ultimately feeling that it attempted too much at once. VanDerWerff found the episode "entertaining", but added that it "feels like something that’s been rewritten at least one time too many, to incorporate more and more ideas until the center cannot hold".[10] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4 out of 5, praising Williams' guest appearance. Gibron also felt positively about the episode's complexity, feeling that it displayed "a certain intelligence" in assuming such a pace.[11] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Sense and Antisense" two stars out of five, describing it as "too thin and too obvious". Shearman praised Williams' guest appearance, but felt that the episode seemed too close thematically toThe X-Files to work well on its own.[12]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[9]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Millennium (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
2.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
6.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 19.
7.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 15:01–15:35
8.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 146.
9.^ Jump up to: a b "Nielsen: Big Three nets each say goodbye to 1 million viewers". San Francisco Chronicle. October 8, 1997. Retrieved August 25, 2012.}
10.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (April 2, 2011). "'Unusual Suspects'/'Sense and Antisense' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2". DVD Talk. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 146–147.
Bibliography[edit]
Chris Carter, John Peter Kousakis, Lance Henriksen, Michael R. Perry, Ken Horton, Thomas J. Wright, Mark Snow, Chip Johannessen, Kristen Cloke, Megan Gallagher, Frank Spotnitz, Mark Freeborn (2004). The Turn of the Tide: The Making of Season 2 (DVD). Millennium: The Complete Second Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
"Sense and Antisense" at the Internet Movie Database
"Sense and Antisense" at TV.com

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1998 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes



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Monster (Millennium)

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"Monster"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 4
Directed by
Perry Lang
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C04
Original air date
October 17, 1997
Running time
43 minutes
Guest actors

Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Mary Gillis as Penny Plott
Robert Wisden as Gordon Roberts
Lauren Diewold as Danielle Barbakow
Chris Owens as Deputy Bill Sherman
Gillian Barber as Mrs. Barbakow
Fred Keating as Mr. Barbakow
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Sense and Antisense" Next →
 "A Single Blade of Grass"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'Monster" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on October 17, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong and directed by Perry Lang. "Monster" featured guest appearances from Kristen Cloke, Robert Wisden and Chris Owens.
In the episode, Millennium Group profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) travels to Arkansas to investigate allegations of child abuse in the community, meeting fellow Group member Lara Means (Cloke). They soon discover that the abuse may actually be the work of another child.
"Monster" introduces the recurring character Lara Means, who would appear throughout the second season. The episode also features music by Bobby Darin, a hallmark of Morgan and Wong's work. The episode has been well received by critics, and earned guest star Lauren Diewold a nomination at the 1998 Young Artist Awards.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) travels to Arkansas to investigate charges of child abuse brought against a daycare owner, Penny Plott (Mary Gillis). Before he leaves Seattle, he takes his daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) shopping, but chastises her when she begins acting out for attention.
In Arkansas, sheriff's deputy Bill Sherman (Chris Owens) discovers bite-marks on his son's skin after he returns home from the daycare. When his son refuses to discuss what happened, Sherman is convinced of the rumours about Plott. Black arrives in town, and pretends to be a local parent interested in using the daycare. His visit is interrupted by Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), who is investigating for Plott's defence. However, the two are forced to work together when one boy, Jason Wells, stops breathing. Despite attempts to revive him, the boy dies. Meanwhile in Seattle, Black's wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) takes Jordan to the dentist, who suggests the girl may have had her lip cut by being harshly disciplined. Catherine dismisses the idea outright, but Jordan mentions Black losing his temper during the shopping trip.
An autopsy reveals Wells' death was the result of an asthma attack. However the district attorney, Gordon Roberts (Robert Wisden) believes Plott is somehow responsible. The investigation stalls until another child, Danielle Barbakow (Lauren Diewold), mentions overhearing Wells being physically abused by Plott. Plott is arrested by Sherman, who she reprimands sternly, reminding him that she looked after him as a child too, and has never been accused of anything in three decades of childcare work. Sherman sees she is incapable of what she has been accused of.
Black and Means discover that they have both been sent to investigate by the Group, realizing that this is some kind of test for them. They both come to believe that Berkabow is responsible for Wells' death, and visit her home. Means speaks to Berkabow's mother while Black interviews the child. As they speak, Berkabow begins screaming and accuses Black of harming her; he is arrested for assault. While Black is in custody, Roberts also reveals that Black is under suspicion for possibly harming Jordan. Means has ultraviolet photographs taken of Berkabow's injuries, learning that the girl was injured with an angel statue from her room. Means realizes that Black could not have wielded this statue, and Berkabow's mother admits to having heard her daughter causes herself the injuries. Black is released, and the Seattle investigation against him is dropped when Catherine defends him.
Production[edit]

A black-and-white picture of a man smiling, his arms folding

 "Monster" features music by Bobby Darin.
"The Beginning and the End" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Perry Lang. The episode was the sixth to have been written by Morgan and Wong, after the duo had penned "Dead Letters", "522666" and "The Thin White Line" in the first season,[1] and "The Beginning and the End" and "Beware of the Dog" in the second.[2] The pair would go on to script a further nine episodes over the course of the second season,[2] having taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3] "Monster" saw director Lang's only contribution to Millennium.[1][2][4]
The episode makes use of Bobby Darin's song "Goodbye Charlie" in a diegetic manner; the song would also be put to use in the later second season episode "Goodbye Charlie". Darin's music has been noted by Millennium's resident composer Mark Snow as a hallmark of the works of Morgan and Wong, and would also appear in the episodes "Beware of the Dog" and "Sense and Antisense".[5] "Monster" opens with a quote from William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2—"First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".[6]
"Monster" marked Kristen Cloke's first appearance in the series as Millennium Group member Lara Means. Cloke would make several further appearances as the character, with the last of these being the second season finale "The Time Is Now".[7] Guest stars Robert Wisden and Chris Owens both appeared in Millennium's sister show The X-Files—Owens first appeared in the Morgan and Wong-penned "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man",[6] before taking on the recurring role of Jeffrey Spender in that series' fifth season;[8][9] while Wisden appeared in "Pusher".[6] Wisden would also reappear in Millennium's third season, acting in an unrelated role in "TEOTWAWKI".[10]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Monster" was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 17, 1997.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.88 million households, and left the episode the seventy-second most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1] Guest star Lauren Diewold received a nomination for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series – Guest Starring Young Actress at the 1998 Young Artist Awards for her role in "Monster", losing out to Cara Rose for Touched by an Angel.[13]
The episode received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode B+, finding that it has "impressive ambition" but "doesn't really work". Handlen found the episode "immensely fun to watch", and was pleased that the series had departed from the sexually-motivated serial killings of past episodes; however, he felt that the plot was "muddled" and found Black's personal involvement in the case to be unnecessary.[6] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4.5 out of 5, calling Cloke "an amazing addition to the series". Gibron also felt positively about the increasingly plot-driven nature of the series, describing Morgan and Wong's developments as a "complex, completely innovative mythology".[14] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Monster" four stars out of five, describing it as "a brave story well told". Shearman praised Diewold's guest appearance, and felt that the introduction of Lara Means was a positive addition, although it caused the character of Catherine to seem increasingly needless.[15]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–1998 television season.[12]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Turn of the Tide, 15:01–15:35
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d Handlen, Zack (April 9, 2011). ""Detour"/"Monster" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (May 15, 1998). "The Time Is Now". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 23. Fox.
8.Jump up ^ Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (March 1, 1998). "Patient X". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 13. Fox.
9.Jump up ^ Meisler 1999, pp. 173–184.
10.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (October 16, 1998). "TEOTWAWKI". Millennium. Season 3. Episode 3. Fox.
11.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 147.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Associated Press (October 23, 1997). "Game 2 of Series Slides into Top 10". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 11, 2012. (subscription required)
13.Jump up ^ "19th Annual Awards". Young Artist Foundation. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 147–148.
References[edit]
Chris Carter, John Peter Kousakis, Lance Henriksen, Michael R. Perry, Ken Horton, Thomas J. Wright, Mark Snow, Chip Johannessen, Kristen Cloke, Megan Gallagher, Frank Spotnitz, Mark Freeborn (2004). The Turn of the Tide: The Making of Season 2 (DVD). Millennium: The Complete Second Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1998 television episodes



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A Single Blade of Grass

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"A Single Blade of Grass"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 5
Directed by
Rodman Flender
Written by
Kay Reindl
Erin Maher
Production code
5C05[1]
Original air date
October 24, 1997
Running time
42:00
Guest actors

Amy Steel as Dr. Liz Michael
Michael Greyeyes as Joe Reynard
Floyd Red Crow Westerman as Old Indian
Garry Chalk as Richard Powell
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Monster" Next →
 "The Curse of Frank Black"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"A Single Blade of Grass" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on October 24, 1997. The episode was written by Kay Reindl and Erin Maher, and directed by Rodman Flender. "A Single Blade of Grass" featured guest appearances by Floyd Red Crow Westerman and Michael Greyeyes.
Millennium centers on offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), who investigates unusual crimes as part of the private investigative organisation the Millennium Group. In this episode, Black investigates the murder of a native American man, finding a cult who wish to bring about the end of American civilization.
"A Single Blade of Grass" was the first episode of the series to have been penned by Reindl and Maher. It received mixed responses from critics, and was viewed by approximately 6.57 million households upon its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
In New York City, a young native American man is forced by several others to ingest snake venom. The venom causes him to hallucinate, and one of the men, Joe Reynard (Michael Greyeyes) asks him to describe his visions. However, the poisoned man screams in agony and dies. His body is later found when a construction site is being excavated by archaeologists. A mummified body from centuries earlier is also found; when Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) arrives to investigate, he notices similarities between both corpses. The archaeologist in charge of the dig, Liz Michaels (Amy Steel) is adamant that the site should stay intact for further excavation, but foreman Richard Powell (Garry Chalk) and his mostly native American crew insist building must continue.
Black believes the killing took place in a hotel basement; finding the crime scene, he consults Michaels, who notes that symbols painted on the walls come from several different native cultures but all concern communication with the spirit world. Black visits a bar frequented by the native construction workers and their elderly mentor (Floyd Red Crow Westerman). Reynard is among their number; Black asks him about one of the symbols, and is told by the old man that the symbol is an ominous warning. After Black leaves, Reynard tells the others that he "is the one".
The dead man is autopsied; his corpse had been dismembered and reconstructed. Michaels notes that this is a Seneca ritual aimed at reviving the dead to learn of spiritual matters. Later, Black and Michaels are called the construction site, where Powell is attempting to package and remove the ancient remains. Reynard and Powell begin fighting; the latter soon dies of a heart attack. When Black returns to his car, he finds a native face mask placed inside; Michaels explains that it represents the ability to cross from the material world into the spirit world. Black believes a secret native tribe is awaiting the downfall and apocalypse of the society of the white settlers; he theorizes that they believe his abilities are key to their prophecies of the end of the world.
That night, Black is kidnapped by the group of natives. He is taken to the sewers and forced to consume snake venom; he sees visions, but insists they are from his psychic gift rather than from the venom. He predicts that the native tribes will reunite and that the buffalo will return to New York. However, he is soon rescued by Michaels and a group of police, who place Reynard and his tribe under arrest. As the tribe—now reunited in police custody—are led away, a travelling rodeo loses track of four buffalo, which run free through the city streets.
Production[edit]
"A Single Blade of Grass" is the first episode of Millennium to have been written by Kay Reindl and Erin Maher; the pair would pen two further episodes in the second season,[2] and another in the third season.[3] The episode was the only contribution to the series by director Rodman Flender.[2][3][4]
The episode featured the return of Black's near-psychic visions; a phenomenon which had been used with much less frequency in the second season. Executive producer Glen Morgan begrudgingly allowed Maher and Reindl to show the ability in this episode, saying "I felt last year those visions were a cheat. The camera would go to a coffee cup and Frank would say, 'The murderer used a coffee cup.' It drove me nuts. What we were trying to do this year was elevate Frank's visions to a dream-like state, so he would have to interpret what he's seeing. There would be more mystical, symbolic imagery that might give him more of a sense of what's going on. I had wanted to strip away the gift for a long time and see if the show really played without it. But we got back into that".[5]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"A Single Blade of Grass" was first broadcast on the Fox network on October 24, 1997.[6] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 6.57 million households, and left the episode the sixty-seventh most-viewed broadcast that week.[7][nb 1]
"A Single Blade of Grass" received mixed reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a A−, calling it "yet another adventure in weird, Native American mysticism from the folks at 1013 Productions".[8] VanDerWerff felt that although the episode contained several plot holes, it worked with "a kind of dream sense, following its own weird, nightmare logic".[8] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3.5 out of 5. Gibron found that the episode contained several overly-unbelievable moments but was overall "another great episode, even with some rather minor flaws".[9] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "A Single Blade of Grass" one star out of five. Shearman felt that the episode was "tedious", citing a lack of any real action and a "banal" ending which he described as having been poorly foreshadowed. However, Shearman felt positively about the episode's attempt to stand on its own rather than imitating sister show The X-Files, which he saw several prior episodes as having done.[6]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1987–98 television season.[7]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Millennium (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Media notes). Fox. 1998–99.
4.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–97.
5.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 20.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 148.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (October 31, 1997). "Strong Series Finish Boosts NBC". Rocky Mountain News. E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
8.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (April 16, 2011). ""The Post-Modern Prometheus"/"A Single Blade of Grass" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Internet Brands. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1997 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes


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The Curse of Frank Black

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Jump to: navigation, search

"The Curse of Frank Black"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 6
Directed by
Ralph Hemecker
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Original air date
October 31, 1997
Running time
43 minutes
Guest actors

Dean Winters as Mr Crocell
A. J. Adamson as 5-year-old Frank
Lachlan Murdoch as Hobo
Kett Turton as Ghost Storyteller
Shaun Toplass as 14-year-old Frank
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "A Single Blade of Grass" Next →
 "19:19"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'The Curse of Frank Black" is the sixth episode of the second season of the crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on October 31, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. "Sense and Antisense" featured a guest appearances from Dean Winters.
Millennium centers on offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), who investigates unusual crimes as part of the private investigative organisation the Millennium Group. In this episode, Black tries to spend Halloween with his daughter, but is continually reminded of a figure from his past.
"The Curse of Frank Black", which was inspired by the 1964 Japanese horror film Kwaidan, has received positive reviews from critics, with its minimalist plot being seen as its main strength.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 References 5.1 Footnotes
5.2 Bibliography
6 External links
Plot[edit]
On Halloween, Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is carving a jack-o'-lantern while preparing to take his daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) trick-or-treating. As he leaves to collect her, he notices a demonic figure watching him from across the street. That night, Jordan deliberately passes by one house, telling Black that it is haunted. Black tells her there are no such thing as ghosts, but is reminded of a moment from his past. In a flashback, we see a five-year-old Black being dared by his friends to knock the door of the same house; a man named Crocell (Dean Winters) answers and invites Black inside. Crocell is a Second World War veteran, and he explains the meaning of Halloween to Black, telling the boy that it is the one night of the year that ghosts walk among the living. Crocell hopes that it is his chance to commune with the friends he lost in the war, and is dismayed when the young Black dismisses the possibility of ghosts.
After bringing Jordan back to her mother, Catherine (Megan Gallagher), Black is driving home when he notices several youths egging a house—the house he once shared with Catherine and Jordan, and in which his friend Bob Bletcher was killed. He goes inside, and overhears several teenagers gathered in the basement trying to scare each other with the story of Bletcher's murder. Black interrupts, scaring off the youths—and is again reminded of his past, recalling his reaction when Crocell was found to have committed suicide. As Black leaves the house, he picks up an egg carton discarded by the fleeing teenagers and throws the remaining eggs at the walls.
When Black arrives home, he leafs through the day's post, finally noticing that the numbers "268" and the letters "ACT" have been appearing to him throughout the day, including Crocell's door number being 268. Black takes these coincidences to be pointing him towards a bible verse; Acts of the Apostles 26:8—"why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?". Black then hears something moving in his attic, and investigates. He discovers Crocell's ghost, who claims to have been sent back to warn Black that he should abandon his work with the Millennium Group, and return to live with his wife and child instead. Crocell warns that Black will end up as lonely as he did, but when Black dismisses this, the spirit vanishes. The following day, Black returns to his old house to clean up where it was egged. As he cleans, he momentarily glimpses the same demonic figure as the day before, but he ignores it and continue his work.
Production[edit]
"The Curse of Frank Black" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. Hemecker had previously helmed the first season episode "The Well-Worn Lock",[1] and a further three in the third season.[2] and would return for the third season episode "Exegesis".[2] Morgan and Wong had previously collaborated to write several episodes of the first season.[1] The duo would go on to pen a number of episodes over the course of the second season,[3] having taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[4]
Morgan and Wong's script for the episode was influenced by the 1964 Japanese horror film Kwaidan, and features very little dialogue. Morgan felt that Henriksen was the right actor for such a script, describing him as "so great with looks".[5] Morgan also credited Hemecker with "a lot of the episode's tone", finding the director's work to have been "beautiful".[5]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Curse of Frank Black" was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 31, 1997.[6] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.59million households, and left the episode the eighty-fourth most-viewed broadcast that week.[7][nb 1]
The episode received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode an A, calling it "the best episode of Millennium yet, by a long chalk".[8] Handlen felt that the episode effectively scaled the series' grandiose apocalyptic tone down to one man's struggle, making both the series and Frank Black more understandable to viewers.[8] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4 out of 5, "moody, bamboozling" and "truly creepy"[9] Gibron also felt that the episode's structure, based on "hidden hints and secret connections", foreshadowed Morgan and Wong's later work on the film Final Destination.[9] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Curse of Frank Black" five stars out of five, feeling that "it's simple, and it's brave, and it's curiously moving". Shearman felt that the episode's minimalism—its paucity of dialogue and music—were key to its tone, and praise Henriksen's expressiveness for helping to shape this.[10]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[7]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–1998.
4.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". Boston Herald. Herald Media Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2013. (subscription required)
5.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 20.
6.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 148.
7.^ Jump up to: a b "'Cinderella' sizzles on ABC". San Francisco Chronicle. November 5, 1997. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (April 23, 2011). "'The Curse of Frank Black'/'Christmas Carol' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2". DVD Talk. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
10.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 148–149.
Bibliography[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
"The Curse of Frank Black" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Curse of Frank Black" at TV.com

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1998 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes


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19:19

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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For other uses, see 1919 (disambiguation).
This is a good article. Click here for more information.

"19:19"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 7
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C06
Original air date
November 7, 1997
Guest actors

Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Christian Hoff as Matthew Prine
Steven Rankin as Sheriff John Cayce
Colleen Rennison as Jessica Cayce
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Curse of Frank Black" Next →
 "The Hand of St. Sebastian"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'19:19" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on November 7, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "19:19" featured guest appearances by Kristen Cloke and Christian Hoff.
Millennium Group offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) investigates the abduction of a bus full of schoolchildren, requiring the help of fellow Group members Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) and Lara Means (Cloke) as he tracks a man preparing for a third world war.
"19:19" featured several minor guest stars who would later return to the series, as well as the second appearance by recurring actor Cloke. The episode was viewed by approximately 5.98 million households in its initial broadcast, and received a mixed response from television critics.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
Matthew Prine (Christian Hoff) intently watches several televisions simultaneously, scrawling his reactions across every inch of his floor. As he finishes writing, he experiences a vision of the future—nuclear war and its barren aftermath.
Later, Millennium Group offender profilers Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) investigate the disappearance of a bus full of schoolchildren. They believe the driver was also a victim, and not responsible; they meet with the local sheriff, John Cayce (Steven Rankin), who has dredged the bus from a lake. It is empty, but inside, Black experiences the same vision as Prine. He also finds paint transfer on the exterior, indicating the perpetrator was driving a white van. A false positive results as police apprehend storm chasers in a different van, who warn that a violent tornado is approaching.
Prine is behind the kidnapping, and forces the children and driver into an underground bunker. He and his accomplice count the hostages, realizing that there is one less child than they had anticipated. Black and Cayce realize this too, and race to the home of the child who had not taken the bus that morning. They arrive in time to apprehend Prine as he attempted to snatch the child, and take him into custody.
Black believes Prine is not driven by malice; he and Watts use the resources of the Millennium Group to find his home, discovering the dense writings across his floors. They learn that Prine believes a third world war is imminent, and took the children as he believes one of them is destined to bring peace during this time, wishing to protect this child when he learns which one it is destined to be. Black seeks aid from another Group member, Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), who is able to observe Prine's behavioural tells for clues when interviewing him. This, coupled with analysis of soil from his clothing, points to the children being held in an aluminium quarry. The investigators rush to the quarry, where Prine's accomplice engages them in a firefight. However, the advancing tornado forces them to take cover; it kills Prine and lifts the roof from the entombing bunker. It subsides as quickly as it arrived, and the children emerge safely from the wreckage; Black senses that Cayce's daughter may be the prophesied peacemaker.
Production[edit]
"19:19" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong. The duo would pen a total of fifteen episodes throughout the series' run.[1][2] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3] "19:19" was directed by Thomas J. Wright, who helmed a total of twenty-six episodes across all three seasons.[1][2][4] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[5]
The episode features the second appearance of Kristen Cloke as Millennium Group member Lara Means. Cloke had first portrayed the character in "Monster",[6] and would last appear in the second season finale "The Time Is Now".[7] Several of the episode's minor guest stars would appear again later in the series. Bill Marchant, who portrayed Prine's accomplice, reappeared in an unrelated role in the third season episode "Collateral Damage",[8] while Kurt Evans, who played a sheriff's deputy, resurfaced in "Darwin's Eye", also in the third season.[9]
Broadcast and reception[edit]


"I ... wish that one of these episodes would eventually make every idea in its head come together, instead of seeming like a random collection of interesting facts and cool knowledge, like one of those old Reader’s Digest "fun facts" compendiums, assembled into TV episode form".
–The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff[10]
"19:19" was first broadcast on the Fox network on November 7, 1997.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.1 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6.1 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.98 million households, and left the episode the eighty-fourth most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1]
The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a "B", finding its final act to be powerful and entertaining. However, he believed that the episode suffered from a poor opening act, and was critical of what he saw as a poor performance by guest star Steven Rankin.[10] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3 out of 5, feeling that the episode's police procedural elements did not mesh well with its theological themes. Gibron felt that the plot's resolution was overly contrived, but praised the chemistry between the lead actors, highlighting Henriksen and Cloke in particular.[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "19:19" three-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt the episode was a successful blend of the investigative plot structure used in the first season with the themes of religious eschatology introduced in the second season; however, he believed that the plot "ran out of steam" by the final act, sacrificing engaging drama for accurate but dry psychology.[14]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[12]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–97.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Media notes). Fox. 1998–1999.
5.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
6.Jump up ^ Perry Lang (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (October 17, 1997). "Monster". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 4. Fox.
7.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers) (May 15, 1998). "The Time Is Now". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 23. Fox.
8.Jump up ^ Michael R. Perry (writer); Thomas J. Wright (director) (January 22, 1999). "Collateral Damage". 3. Episode 11. Fox.
9.Jump up ^ Patrick Harbinson (writer); Ken Fink (director) (April 16, 1999). "Darwin's Eye". 3. Episode 17. Fox.
10.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (April 30, 2011). ""Emily"/"19:19" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 149.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (November 13, 1997). "'Angel' Helps CBS Tie in Ratings Race". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved October 8, 2012. (subscription required)
13.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 156.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

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1997 television episodes



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The Hand of St. Sebastian

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"The Hand of St. Sebastian"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 8
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C08
Original air date
November 14, 1997
Guest actors

C. C. H. Pounder as Cheryl Andrews
Philip Baker Hall as Group Elder
Gottfried John as Josef Heim
Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "19:19" Next →
 "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"The Hand of St. Sebastian" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It originally aired on the Fox network on November 14, 1997. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "The Hand of St. Sebastian" featured a guest appearance from C. C. H. Pounder.
Millennium Group offender profilers Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) travel to Germany to locate a preserved relic of Saint Sebastian, unintentionally discovering cracks within the unity of the Group.
"The Hand of St. Sebastian" was inspired by Wong's research into Freemasonry and the Knights Templar; Wong wanted to replicate the disharmony of these societies within the Millennium Group. The episode has received mixed responses from critics, and was viewed by approximately 6.7 percent of the available audience in its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
In 998, a monk is betrayed by his compatriot, and shot to death by archers. As they search his robe to find their objective—the mummified hand of Saint Sebastian—they notices a tattoo on the man's body; an ouroboros, symbol of the Millennium Group.
In 1998, modern Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) asks his colleague Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) for help with a case the Group have not authorized; he remains cryptic as to what it is. They travel to Germany to investigate the murder of a Dr. Schlossburg, whose lab is found to house a mummified body. The two are arrested by German police, but when the police realize they have apprehended fellow investigators they promise cooperation. However, the pair learn that Schlossburg has already been cremated; later they narrowly escape death when their rental car has been rigged to explode.
Black connects the carbomb attempt to Schlossburg's murder. He demands the details of the case from Watts, who explains that the mummy found earlier dates to early Christianity, the time when the Millennium Group first convened. However, they realize they are being tailed by two men, and return to their hotel. There, they are met by Cheryl Andrews (C. C. H. Pounder), a fellow Group member who has worked with them in the past. She offers her help but Watts declines it. Watts is later able to access Schlossburg's computer files; meanwhile, the doctor is found to be alive, regaining consciousness in a hospital bed and telling police his assailant was Watts.
Andrews tells Black she has been sent to prevent Watts acting outside the Group's remit; she gives Black a contact number and leaves. Later, Black returns to Schlossburg's lab and finds Watts, who explains that a knightly order, the Knights Chroniclers, had possessed the relic of Saint Sebastian at the turn of the second millennium; the hand imparts knowledge to its possessor that will help to overcome the evils associated with the turn of the millennium. Watts reveals that Schlossburg had uncovered the order's burial ground.
Black and Watts learn that Schlossburg is alive and visit him; the doctor does not recognize Watts, but insists that his attacker identified himself as "Peter Watts". He reveals the locations of the burial ground, in a peat bog. Black and Watts leave to reach it; Schlossburg is murdered shortly afterwards. At the bog, the pair find a mummified corpse clutching the relic; however, they have been followed, and Watts is immediately arrested for Schlossburg's murder. Black tracks down Andrews at the storage building where the relic has been taken. They are ambushed by two assassins, and during their escape, Black mentions where the relic is hidden. Andrews immediately turns on Black; the ambush was a trick to draw the information out of Black, while she had engineered events to use Watts as a fall man to discredit the Group. However, the police are able to intervene, hearing everything and rescuing Black. Later, Watts and Black study the relic, but Black is convinced that their own convictions will be more important to them than mystical artefacts.
Production[edit]
"The Hand of St. Sebastian" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong. It was the ninth episode to have been written by the pair, who had penned several across the first and second seasons.[1][2] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3] "The Hand of St. Sebastian" was directed by Thomas J. Wright; Wright had directed eight episodes previously and would helm a further seventeen over the series' run.[1][2][4] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[5]
The episode was driven by Wong's desire to write an episode focussing on Watts, as he wanted to showcase O'Quinn as an actor. Wong also felt "that by revealing that the Millennium Group had existed for centuries and setting the episode overseas, that would give the story greater scope and weight".[6] The introduction of schisms within the Group was inspired by Wong's research into the Knights Templar and Freemasonry, as he considered these secretive organizations to have mirrored the way he wanted to present the Group, and he felt each contained factions or reactionary elements which he wanted to recreate.[6] The episode features the penultimate appearance by C. C. H. Pounder as pathologist Cheryl Andrews. Pounder portrayed the character in four other episodes, appearing across all three seasons.[7][8][9][10]
Broadcast and reception[edit]


We've watched Frank Black struggle with human monsters and monster monsters, with forces beyond his control and almost certainly beyond his understanding, at the behest of the Millennium Group, whose true motives remain largely a mystery [...] Anyone, after all of that, would be looking for something to hold onto, for some sign or proof that his efforts were pointed in the right direction.
The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen[11]
"The Hand of St. Sebastian" was first broadcast on the Fox network on November 14, 1997.[12] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 6.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 6.566 million households, and left the episode the eightieth most-viewed broadcast that week.[13][nb 1]
"The Hand of St. Sebastian" has received mixed responses from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a "B+", finding it to contain an entertaining mix of mysticism and espionage. However, he considered the revelation that Andrews was a turncoat within the Group to be confusing, finding it unclear how a human villain could be defined within a series already making use of demons and theological evil.[11] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4.5 out of 5, praising the guest performances by Pounder and Hall. Gibron wrote that the episode had a "feature film" feel, and described it as one of the best episodes of the season.[14]
However, Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Hand of St. Sebastian" one star out of five. Shearman felt that by this point, the series no longer resembled what it had been in its previous season, derisively comparing it to the Indiana Jones film series. He wrote that Henrisken's portrayal of Frank Black seemed "weakened" in the episode, as the actor had built a credible and deep character who now seemed entirely unlike his former self.[15]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[13]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 22.
7.Jump up ^ Genge 1997a, p. 34.
8.Jump up ^ Genge 1997a, p. 102.
9.Jump up ^ Genge 1997b, p. 2.
10.Jump up ^ Paul Shapiro (director); Chip Johannessen & Ken Horton (writers) (November 6, 1998). "Skull and Bones". Millennium. Season 3. Episode 6. Fox.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (May 7, 2011). ""Kitsunegari"/"The Hand of St. Sebastian" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 150.
13.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (November 20, 1997). "CBS Squeals Past NBC". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved October 6, 2012. (subscription required)
14.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 150–151.
References[edit]
Genge, N. E. (1997a). Millennium: The Unofficial Companion. Century. ISBN 0-7126-7833-6.
Genge, N. E. (1997b). Millennium: The Unofficial Companion Volume Two. Century. ISBN 0712678697.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1997 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes



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Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense

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"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"
Millennium episode
SelfosophyOffice.jpg
Frank Black and Det. Geibelhouse interview the head Selfosophist in his office.
 
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 9
Directed by
Darin Morgan
Written by
Darin Morgan
Production code
5C09
Original air date
November 27, 1997
Running time
43 minutes
Guest actors

Charles Nelson Reilly as Jose Chung
Patrick Fabian as Ratfinkovich
Richard Steinmetz as Mr. Smooth
Alec Willows as Detective Twohey
Sandra Steier as The Feminist
Scott Owen as Nostradamus Nutball
Murray Rabinovitch as Juggernaut Onan Goopta
Dan Zukovic as Robbinski
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Hand of St. Sebastian" Next →
 "Midnight of the Century"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" is the ninth episode of the second season of Fox's Millennium. Controversial writer Jose Chung (portrayed by Charles Nelson Reilly, reprising his role from The X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space") comes to the aid of criminal profiler Frank Black and the Millennium Group when a bizarre religious group known as Selfosophy (a parody of real-world Scientology) targets him for harassment because of his authorship of a short story concerning the cult. The question becomes, as Frank puts it, "What the hell is going on here?"

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot synopsis
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
Plot synopsis[edit]
As a series of still photographs pass into view, author Jose Chung describes the life of Juggernaut Onan Goopta, who went to college hoping to become a famous neuroscientist and instead was overcome by dementia and institutionalized. During his hospital stay, Goopta decided to become a writer. His first literary works were so incompetent they were mistaken for "brilliant parodies." Chung met Goopta when his stories were published in a detective magazine.
When that publication folded, a desperate Goopta "changed the course of human history" when he published the first in a series of highly successful self-help books and founded the "Institute of Selfosophy," which taught members how to shed negative thoughts. It was an enormous success. Anyone responsible for internal criticism of the organization was reprogrammed, and if that failed, dubbed a "Ratfinkovitch" and excommunicated from the institute.

Selfosophy1.jpg


Selfosophy2.jpg

While performing research on "the newly arising belief systems at the end of the millennium," Chung encountered Joseph Ratfinkovitch, who was excommunicated for reading Chung's most recent fiction. Ratfinkovitch's body is discovered inside his apartment, the victim of an electrocution. Giebelhouse contacts Frank, hoping he can shed some light on the case. As the group examines the crime scene, Chung steps forward and claims that he is responsible for Ratfinkovitch's death. He explains that when Playpen magazine ran an excerpt from his short story, the Selfosophist Institute grew offended. They instructed members to buy up all existing copies. However, Ratfinkovitch read, and enjoyed, the story.
Ratfinkovitch was then approached by Mr. Smooth, a fellow Selfosophist. Using a device called an Onan-o-Graph, Smooth attempted to recounsel Ratfinkovitch. According to Chung's version of events, the device malfunctioned and Ratfinkovitch was inadvertently electrocuted. When Chung admits he made the whole thing up, Frank and Giebelhouse meet with a Selfosophist spokesman, Robbinski, who insists his fellow members are incapable of murder. Despite this, Mr. Smooth attempts to control his homicidal rage after reading — and being offended by — Chung's story. He sends Chung a clown doll impaled with a variety of knives. Chung contacts Frank with the news. He explains that the antagonist in his story sends similar threats before committing murder. At the conclusion of the story, Chung states, the "Selfosophist Psycho" confronts and kills the author.
Chung accompanies Frank to the scene of a (seemingly unrelated) murder on a college campus. The victim is Professor Amos Randi, a Nostradamus scholar. Frank concludes that the perpetrator is targeting victims he considers to be Nostradamus' Three Anti-Christs — and will attack two more authority figures. But Chung does some profiling of his own. He determines that the killer, who was fulfilling self-interpreted prophecies, targeted his ex-girlfriend's teacher. The trail, Chung believes, leads to a Hollywood movie theater. The next victim, it turns out, is a ticket girl at a Hollywood movie theater. Frank realizes that Chung's profile predicted the murder, and later concludes that Chung is the killer's third Anti-Christ. He, Watts and Geibelhouse race to Chung's hotel. Smooth, however, arrives first. He pulls out a gun and berates Chung for ridiculing the institute's beliefs.
Frank suddenly bursts through the door. Smooth takes a shot at Chung, misses, then sprints from the room. Frank follows Smooth onto the rooftop. Smooth convinces himself he can leap onto a neighboring building and escape. But all the positive thoughts in the world cannot save him, and he plummets downward to his death. Meanwhile, the "Nostradamus Nutball" surprises Chung and murders him with a pick axe. Later, Frank begins reading one of Chung's books, entitled Doomsday Defense. In it, Chung predicts the millennium will bring forth "one thousand years of the same old crap."
Production[edit]
The Spotnitz Institute is a reference to writer Frank Spotnitz.
Reception[edit]
Charles Nelson Reilly was nominated for an Emmy for his depiction of Jose Chung in this episode. Matt Roush of USA Today wrote that the episode was "written with the density of a Simpsons cartoon. You'll scream till you laugh, or laugh till you scream."[1] According to The Hollywood Reporter the "studio had taken concerned calls from within the Scientology organization and from reps of industry people who belong to Scientology, as one studio individual described it."[2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ USA Today, Roush R., 20 Nov 1997
2.Jump up ^ Hollywood Reporter, September 1997 mention, p. 18

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The Mikado (Millennium)

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"The Mikado"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 13
Directed by
Roderick J. Pridy
Written by
Michael R. Perry
Production code
5C13
Original air date
February 6, 1998
Guest actors

Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker
Greg Michaels as Captain Bachman
Gillian Carfra as The Web Girl
Micah Gardener as Brandon
Tony Sampson as Anthony
Justin Wong as Danny
Rachel Hayward as Angela
Eileen Pedde as Pain Victim
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Luminary" Next →
 "The Pest House"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'The Mikado" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on September 19, 1997. The episode was written by Michael R. Perry and directed Roderick J. Pridy. "The Mikado" featured a guest appearance by Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker.
After a group of boys witness a murder via a live webcam feed, Millennium Group profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) realizes that the culprit is an old adversary who has learned to exploit the internet to continue his killing spree while avoiding capture.
Perry was inspired to write the episode after considering the "dark side" of the internet, drawing influence from Jennifer Ringley's JenniCam website. Avatar, the episode's antagonist, was based on real-life murderer the Zodiac Killer. "The Mikado" was seen by over five million households in its initial broadcast, and has received positive reviews from critics.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
A group of friends browse the internet for pornography, finding a live stream of a woman bound to a chair. Behind her a number is painted on the wall; when the feed's web counter reaches the painted figure, a masked man appears and cuts the girl's throat. The boys quickly print an image of the feed as proof of what they have seen.
Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) finds that police across the United States have received calls from witnesses to the killing. The police believe it to be a hoax but Black is convinced of its authenticity. He and fellow Group member Brian Roedecker (Allan Zinyk) identify the victim as Rebecca Damsen. Damsen's email correspondence leads them to a San Jose address; they find the bodies of both the owner and Damsen in a nearby graveyard. By the bodies is another number, which they determine to be an IP address.
The IP address leads to another live feed similar in nature to the first one. However, the chair is empty this time. There is another number painted on the wall, which Black recognizes as a case file number from his time in the FBI—the case concerned Avatar, a serial killer who was able to evade all attempts at capture. Avatar sends Black a coded message twice, and places a woman in the chair on the feed, keeping her face hidden. Roedecker realizes that, through image differencing, the two messages contain additional information—a sound clip from The Mikado, known to be Avatar's favourite operetta.
Black determines that another set of numbers visible on the feed are latitude and longitude co-ordinates for San Francisco. The San Francisco Police Department are uncooperative, however, and the second girl is murdered when the feed's counter again reaches the allotted number. Avatar leaves another clue after the killing, which leads to two further video feeds—one shows a third set like the others, again with an empty chair; the other shows the exterior of a mobile home. Police are able to locate the mobile home, but an officer is killed by a booby trap upon entering it. Black travels to San Francisco, finding an abandoned theatre whose marquee is displaying The Mikado. He hears gunfire and takes cover from a masked gunman; however, he soon sees that the gunner is another kidnap victim, a gun tied to her arm in an attempt to trick Black into shooting her. Avatar has, by this time, escaped.
Production[edit]

 

 Perry based the killer Avatar on the Zodiac Killer (police sketch pictured).
"The Mikado" is the first episode of Millennium to have been written by Michael R. Perry,[1] who would go on to pen a further four episodes in the third season.[2] The episode is the final one helmed by director Roderick J. Pridy, who had also taken the reins on "Covenant" in the first season.[3]
Perry was inspired to write the episode upon wondering whether the internet, about which he had only head positive remarks, had a "dark side". He was shown Jennifer Ringley's JenniCam website, which provided a constant webcam view of her daily life, and wondered what sort of investigations would arise if a murder were witnessed on a similar broadcast.[4] The other main inspiration for the episode was the real-life Zodiac Killer, who formed the basis for the fictional Avatar.[5] Perry's script was later given a "polish" by executive producer James Wong, with Perry stating that roughly ninety percent of the material is his own work.[6] Several women in the episode, including possible murder victims investigated by Black and Roedecker, are named after Perry's sisters.[7]
After principal photography had finished for the episode, additional inserts were shot to add more variety to scenes featuring a lot of dialogue; Perry noted that this was something he had learned about from Wong and felt the technique was put to "great use".[8] Filming several of the episode's scenes, including the webcam feeds and footage Black watches of police officers investigating suspects was filmed in a deliberately low-resolution manner, on handheld cameras, as Perry felt footage that was too clean and high-quality would lessen the episode's tension, citing The Blair Witch Project as an example of how this approach has later been put to use.[9] "The Mikado" featured Allan Zinyk's last appearance as Group member Brian Roedecker. Wong and fellow executive producer Glen Morgan wanted to sign Zinyk on for further appearances, but actor declined in order to pursue a career in the theatre in Toronto.[10]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Mikado" was first broadcast on the Fox Network on February 6, 1998.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.4 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.4 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.29 million households, and left the episode the seventy-eighth most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1]
The episode received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a A−, calling it "one of the strongest episodes of the season".[13] VanDerWerff felt that the episode accurately depicted the general unease about the growing role of the internet in the late 1990s; he also reflected that it follows the "serial killer of the week" formula of the series' first season while retaining the second season's "more mystical, supernatural bent".[13] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4 out of 5, calling it "very compelling".[14] Gibron compared the episode to the films Seven and 8mm; he also felt that the unresolved plot helped to temper concerns about Black's seeming infallibility.[14] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Beginning and the End" three-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt that although the episode's details seem dated, its verisimilitude and enthusiasm helps to overcome this; he noted that the episode "turns us all into spectators, and turns death into performance art".[15]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–1998 television season.[12]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
4.Jump up ^ Perry, 01:10–03:32
5.Jump up ^ Perry, 20:10–21:26
6.Jump up ^ Perry, 03:50–04:09
7.Jump up ^ Perry, 05:40–05:54
8.Jump up ^ Perry, 00:09–00:52 & 07:45–07:56
9.Jump up ^ Perry, 09:30–10:50
10.Jump up ^ Perry, 14:30–15:43
11.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 154.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (February 13, 1998). "Olympics are Gold for CBS". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 7, 2012. (subscription required)
13.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (June 18, 2011). ""Patient X"/"The Mikado" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
14.^ Jump up to: a b Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 154–155.
References[edit]
Perry, Michael R. (2004). Audio commentary for "The Mikado" (DVD). Millennium: The Complete Second Season: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

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1998 television episodes



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The Pest House

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"The Pest House"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 14
Directed by
Allen Coulter
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C15
Original air date
February 27, 1998
Guest actors

Melinda McGraw as Dr. Stoller
Justin Louis as Edward
Michael Massee as Purdue
Darcy Laurie as E. Jacob Woodcock
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Mikado" Next →
 "Owls"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'The Pest House" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on February 27, 1998. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Allen Coulter. "The Pest House" featured guest appearances by Melinda McGraw, Justin Louis and Michael Massee.
Millennium Group offender profilers Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) investigate a series of murders mimicking urban legends. The case soon leads them to a psychiatric hospital for violent criminals, where all is not as it seems.
"The Pest House" marked the second of three contributions by Coulter, and saw past Morgan and Wong collaborator McGraw once again work for the writing duo. The episode received positive reviews from critics, and was viewed by approximately 5.59 million households in its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References
6 External links
Plot[edit]
A young couple sit in a car, sharing a story of a serial killer from the area. They hear sounds outside, and the boyfriend steps out to see what they are. He does not return, and his girlfriend leaves to investigate—finding him hung, dead, from a nearby tree.
Millennium Group members Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) examine the crime scene. Black is skeptical when Watts notes that similar killings have occurred in the past, believing it is simply an urban legend. However, an inmate at the psychiatric hospital nearby was committed for similar murders. Unconvinced that he could have escaped, the pair nevertheless visit the facility. They meet Dr. Stoller (Melinda McGraw), who assists them in interviewing their suspect, E. Woodcock. Woodcock admits the killing fits his methods, but denies involvement. The interview is terminated when two inmates begin fighting.
That night, another couple is killed on the highway. Black and Watts investigate, but they deem the deaths unconnected. However, Black notices that the newest murders are identical to the prior crimes of "Bear", one of the inmates involved in the previous day's fight. Stoller is adamant Bear cannot be responsible—until she finds the victim's hand in the cafeteria's stew. Bear insists someone took something "from inside" him, but has a seizure before he can explain. Between this incident and Woodcock insisting that Edward (Justin Louis) has stolen his dreams, Black realizes someone in the hospital is causing the deaths.
After seeing a vision of Stoller being stabbed in her car, Black warns her that she may be in danger, which she rebukes. However, she is approached by another patient, Purdue (Michael Massee), who insists that Edward is stealing dreams, but will not steal his. Watts researches the facility's inmates to find who has committed stabbings in the victims' cars, concluding that Purdue is the one this profile fits. Black attempts to warn Stoller, but she has already driven away from the hospital. Black gives chase, scaring her, and she out-paces him before pulling into a filling station. However, the attendant alerts Stoller that someone is hiding in the back seat of her car, and manages to bring her to the safety of his office. Black arrives and finds the car empty. He drives Stoller back to the hospital while the attendant attempts to call the police. However, he is killed before making the call.
Black searches for Purdue in the hospital, but encounters Edward, who tells him a nurse was murdered years before by Woodcock. Edward believes the patients can be cured by having the evil drained from their bodies. The electricity is cut and the lights go off. Black and Stoller roam in the dark, finding the body of another nurse. Purdue's voice is heard over the intercom, and the pair move to the office with the tannoy equipment to find him. Edward attacks with a knife—Stoller sees him shape-shift into Purdue, then Bear, and then Woodcock. However, Purdue attacks and kills him.
Production[edit]

 

 "The Pest House" was the second episode directed by Allen Coulter.
"The Pest House" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Allen Coulter. The episode was Coulter's second contribution to the series—he had previously directed "Beware of the Dog" and would return to helm "Siren" later in the second season.[1] "The Pest House" was the eleventh episode to have been written by Morgan and Wong, who had penned several across the first and second seasons.[2][1] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3]
Guest star Melinda McGraw had appeared in several episodes of Millennium's sister show The X-Files, in a recurring role as Melissa Scully,[4] debuting in an episode of that series also penned by Morgan and Wong. McGraw had also worked with the writers on The Commish.[5]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Pest House" was first broadcast on the Fox network on February 27, 1998.[6] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.59 million households, and left the episode the seventy-fifth most-viewed broadcast that week.[7][nb 1]
The episode received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode an A−, finding it "is, like many episodes of this season before it, a bit of mess, a melange of concepts which don't always taste so great together".[4] Handlen felt that the episode began with an "iffy" premise which more closely resembled an episode of The X-Files, but by its end had managed to make it something more distinct and separate.[4] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3.5 out of 5, writing that it was "an episode that pays lip service to the Group's interest in this case to merely go back to the same old "killer of the week" conceit".[8] However, Gibron felt that "the acting is wonderful, and the actual story very moody and atmospheric".[8] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Beginning and the End" three-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman praised guest star Massee's performance, and felt that the script was "great fun", noting that it worked as a more serious version of the 1996 film Scream.[9]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[7]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.Jump up ^ David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved May 19, 2012. (subscription required)
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Handlen, Zack (June 25, 2011). ""The Red And The Black"/"The Pest House" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Lovece 1996, p. 130.
6.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 155.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (March 6, 1998). "CBS' Grammys Show Gives NBC a Good Run". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 16, 2012. (subscription required)
8.^ Jump up to: a b Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 155–156.
References[edit]
Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1745-X.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.
External links[edit]
"The Pest House" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Pest House" on Millennium: This Is Who We Are

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1998 television episodes



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Owls (Millennium)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Jump to: navigation, search

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"Owls"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 15
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Production code
5C14
Original air date
March 6, 1998
Guest actors

Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Kimberly Patton as Clear Knight
R.G. Armstrong as The Old Man
Malcolm Stewart as Mr. Johnston
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Pest House" Next →
 "Roosters"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"Owls" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It originally aired on the Fox network on March 6, 1998. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "Owls" featured guest appearances by Kristen Cloke, R. G. Armstrong and Kimberly Patton.
Millennium Group offender profilers Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) become embroiled in a growing schism within the Group, prompted by the discovery of the True Cross. "Owls" is a two-part episode, with the story continued in "Roosters".
"Owls" was inspired by the earlier second season episode "The Hand of St. Sebastian", with Morgan wishing to introduce secular beliefs within the Millennium Group. The episode has received positive responses from critics, and was viewed by approximately 5.5 percent of the available audience in its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
In Damascus, Syria, a team of men excavate a piece of petrified wood—the True Cross. They are interrupted by the arrival of two armed assailants; one of the excavators clutches the wood as a shield, and the attackers' guns jam when they attempt to fire on him. However, when the bearer attempts to smuggle the wood out of the country, he is attacked in airport and the cross is taken by a man named Gunsche. Gunsche later calls his employer, Axmann, to inform him of the theft; Axmann's cufflinks bear a Germanic rune.
In Seattle, Washington, Catherine Black (Megan Gallagher) meets Clear Knight (Kimberly Patton), an executive at Aerotech International. Knight offers Black a position as a counsellor for the company, which she accepts.
Millennium Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) meets several other Group members to discuss the competing factions within the Group—the Owls believe that the coming millennium will trigger a theological apocalypse, while the Roosters believe the end of the world will be a secular, material disaster. The discovery and theft of the True Cross threatens to tip the internecine conflict in the favor of the Owls, leaving them in control of the Group; the assembled members are Roosters and wish to stop this.
Meanwhile, Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), another Group member, sees a vision of an angel. She begins researching her visions, and is scouted by a Mr. Johnston who asks her to work with the Owl faction. Meanwhile, Catherine's husband Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) returns home to find Watts in the house. Watts explains that Black's modem has been bugged; the two begin to argue heatedly and Black declares he is done with the Group.
Watts and Means discuss the theft of the Cross; Watts explains that it is fabled to grant its possessor invulnerability, and that Nazi German officers had attempted to find it to turn the tide of the Second World War. Means believes that the Owls would not have stolen it, as they would not wish to risk sparking a civil war within the Group. Elsewhere, Catherine leaves work at Aerotech one evening, and finds that her car will not start. She is met by Knight, who invites the Black family to her home; it is seen that she wears the same Germanic rune cufflinks as Axmann.
Johnston is driving along a quiet road, when his car is overtaken by Gunsche. Gunsche forces Johnston off the road, knocks him unconscious, and places a piece of wood—meant to resemble the Cross—inside Johnston's car, before setting him and the car ablaze. The remains are later examined by Watts and Means; they cannot determine if the wood is the Cross or not. However, Watts finds Johnston's partially burnt diary, and reads an entry about his contacting Means. He expels Means from the Group immediately.
Meanwhile, Black realizes that a painting he has seen in Knight's office was a watercolor by Adolf Hitler. He then notices two men watching his house from a car. He approaches them, and they identify themselves as Group members; however one of them is readying a pistol.
Production[edit]
"Owls" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong. It was the twelfth episode to have been written by the pair, who had penned several across the first and second seasons of the series.[1][2] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3] "Owls" was directed by Thomas J. Wright; Wright had directed eleven episodes previously and would him a further fourteen over the series' run.[1][2][4] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[5]
Morgan has noted that the plot for "Owls", and the concluding two-part episode "Roosters", grew out of the internecine conflict seen within the Millennium Group in "The Hand of St. Sebastian", an earlier second season episode he had penned with Wong.[6] Morgan had wanted to introduce secular elements to the series' focus on eschatology, after the theological focus of the earlier episode; he began focussing on ideas such as biological warfare as a possible way of depicting the end of the world—an idea which would later play out in the two-part episodes concluding the second season, "The Time Is Now" and "The Fourth Horseman".[6]
Guest star Kimberly Patton had worked with Morgan and Wong on several occasions prior to this episode, appearing in "Blood", an episode of The X-Files they had written,[7] as well as acting in Space: Above and Beyond, the pair's short-lived science fiction series.[8]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Owls" was first broadcast on the Fox network on March 6, 1998.[9] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.5 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.5 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.39 million households, and left the episode the seventy-ninth most-viewed broadcast that week.[10][nb 1]
The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode an "A", finding it "exhilarating" despite its seemingly nonsensical plot. However, VanDerWerff felt that the episode moved at a constant and entertaining pace, and that it and "Roosters" never felt stretched out longer than they should have been.[11] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 5 out of 5, writing that it "poses amazing questions while precisely and purposefully offering up the answers". Gibron felt that the episode was a perfect summation of the themes which had been hinted at in the earlier episode "Beware of the Dog", and would set the tone for the season.[12] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Owls" three-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt the episode was entertaining and fun, but that its plot was confusing and cluttered. However, he felt that the episode served as a better version of "The Hand of St. Sebastian", with the slower pace of a two-part episode allowing for greater "gravitas" to be given to the storyline.[9]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[10]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved October 8, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 22.
7.Jump up ^ Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers); David Nutter (director) (September 30, 1994). "Blood". The X-Files. Season 2. Episode 3. Fox Broadcasting Company.
8.Jump up ^ Glen Morgan & James Wong (writers); Charles Martin Smith (director) (October 8, 1995). "The Dark Side of the Sun". Space: Above and Beyond. Season 1. Episode 3. Fox Broadcasting Company.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 156.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (March 12, 1998). "WB Beats Its Own Record". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved October 5, 2012. (subscription required)
11.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (July 2, 2011). ""Travelers"/"Owls" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1998 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes



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Anamnesis (Millennium)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Jump to: navigation, search

This is a good article. Click here for more information.

"Anamnesis"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 19
Directed by
John Peter Kousakis
Written by
Kay Reindl
Erin Maher
Production code
5C19
Original air date
April 17, 1998
Guest actors

Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Gwynyth Walsh as Emma Shetterly
John Pyper-Ferguson as Ben Fisher
Genele Templeton as Clare McKenna
Garry Davey as Ray McKenna
Brendon Fletcher as Alex Hanes
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "In Arcadia Ego" Next →
 "A Room With No View"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'Anamnesis" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on April 17, 1998. The episode was written by Kay Reindl and Erin Maher, and directed by John Peter Kousakis. "Anamnesis" featured guest appearances by Kristen Cloke and Gwynyth Walsh.
In this episode, Millennium Group member Lara Means (Cloke) teams up with Catherine Black (Megan Gallagher), the wife of a fellow Group member, to investigate the possibility that a schoolgirl experiencing visions may be biologically descended from Jesus Christ.
Reindl and Maher based their script on their research into the role of women in the Bible, and compared the pairing of Lara Means and Catherine Black to that of the lead roles in The X-Files, Millennium's sister show. "Anamnesis" earned an audience of approximately 5.2 million households in its initial broadcast, and received mixed responses from television critics.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
Social worker Catherine Black (Megan Gallagher) arrives moments too late to prevent a shooting in a school prayer group.
Several days earlier, Black meets Emma Shetterly (Gwynyth Walsh), the school's vice-principal. Shetterly explains that five students have claimed to be experiencing visions of Saint Mary; she believes the girls involved are unlikely candidates for divine visions, particularly the trouble-making Clare McKenna (Genele Templeton). Black speaks to the girls, who claim to have had visions during a sermon by Reverend Hanes; Hanes' son Alex refutes this. Black returns to Shetterly's office, and is met by Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), who works with her husband in the Millennium Group. Means explains that the Group has explored many such reported visions.
Later, Means and Black listen to McKenna reading a passage from the Bible. Afterwards, McKenna reveals that she knows a great deal about the Polaroid Man who kidnapped Black weeks earlier. Means receives a vision herself during the conversation, and becomes convinced that McKenna is a prophet of some sort. Black thinks the girl is acting out, but Means reveals that she is reciting passages from the non-canonical Gnostic Gospels, which supposed that Mary Magdalene was the only disciple to fully understand the teachings of Jesus Christ. Means believes the girls are not seeing visions of Saint Mary, but of Mary Magdalene.
Later, Black is informed that the girls are missing. She and Means search the woods, finding the girls in a grotto. They are with a teacher from the school, Ben Fisher (John Pyper-Ferguson) who attacks Means; she subdues him and he is arrested. She later confronts him, and it is revealed he is a former Group member charged with protecting the girls due to their powers. When Black later learns that Fisher has been released, she fears for McKenna's life. She rushes to the school, knowing the girls will be at a prayer meeting. She arrives just too late to prevent Alex from firing upon the meeting; Fisher is killed while shielding McKenna. Later, Means shows Black two sets of DNA test results—one from McKenna, the other from the Shroud of Turin. The profiles seem to prove that McKenna is related to Jesus Christ; Means entrusts them, and the decision as to whether to proliferate them, to Black.
Production[edit]

An oil painting of a pensive woman watching a candle, holding a skull

 Reindl and Maher researched Mary Magdalene (1640 depiction pictured) in writing the episode.
"Anamnesis" is the third episode of Millennium to have been written by Kay Reindl and Erin Maher; the pair had penned two earlier instalments of the second season,[1] and would return for another in the third season.[2] The episode marks the only directorial contribution to the series by producer John Peter Kousakis.[1][2][3]
Reindl and Maher researched early Christianity while writing the episode, learning that the traditional depiction of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute was probably an incorrect interpretation added later. Maher felt that Magdalene and early Christian priestesses were "pretty much weeded out of the Bible" over time, and wanted to explore the reasons why female religious figures may have been seen as threatening.[4] The writers faced difficulty from the network's standards and practices office, who had taken exception to the depiction of Jesus Christ as having had a family. The pair also compared the writing of the episode to Millennium's sister show The X-Files, believing that the dynamic between Means and Black echoed that of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on the latter programme, with one character a believer in the supernatural and the other a sceptic.[4] The episode's opening scene makes use of the song "Dancing Barefoot" by Patti Smith.[5]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Anamnesis" was first broadcast on the Fox network on April 17, 1998.[6] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.3 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.3 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.2 million households, and left the episode the eightieth most-viewed broadcast that week.[7][nb 1]
The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a "B", finding the character of Catherine Black to have been one of its downfalls. VanDerWerff also criticised the holy blood plot line, comparing it to other contemporary takes on the idea such as the computer game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. However, VanDerWerff felt that Cloke and Gallagher worked well on screen together, but ultimately did not believe that Millennium had room for a character like Catherine Black.[5] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3 out of 5, finding it to be "out of step, both with the series and the times".[8] Gibron also felt that the characters of Black and Means were not strong enough to hold an episode together as lead roles.[8] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Anamnesis" one-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt the episode suffered from having set up an interesting and emotive cold open, which he saw as a red herring to the episode's mystical, theological focus. He was also critical of using Means and Black as the episode's lead roles, finding that the lack of Henriksen's character detracted from the episode.[6]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[7]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–1998.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Media notes). Fox. 1998–1999.
3.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–1997.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 21.
5.^ Jump up to: a b VanDerWerff, Todd (August 6, 2011). "'Folie a Deux'/'Anamnesis' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 159.
7.^ Jump up to: a b "Prime time Nielsen ratings". Associated Press. April 22, 1998. Retrieved October 10, 2012. (subscription required)
8.^ Jump up to: a b Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

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1998 television episodes



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A Room With No View

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"A Room With No View"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 20
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Ken Horton
Production code
5C20
Original air date
April 24, 1998
Guest actors

Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Landon Bryce
Chad Todhunter as Ben
Mariangelo Pina as Teresa
Timothy Webber as Mr. Bryce
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Lucy Butler
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Anamnesis" Next →
 "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'A Room With No View" is the twentieth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on April 24, 1998. The episode was written by Ken Horton, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "A Room With No View" featured an appearance by recurring guest star Sarah-Jane Redmond.
Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) learns that a figure from his past has been abducting students, seemingly in an attempt to quash their hopes and aspirations. The episode was Horton's first script for the series, and saw the return of villain Lucy Butler (Redmond), who appeared sporadically throughout the series. "A Room With No View" received positive feedback from television critics, and was viewed by approximately 4.7 million households in its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
A man tunnels out of a farmhouse in Oregon, escaping into the night. He finds an abandoned car and attempts to hot-wire it; someone inside starts the engine and runs over his legs. A woman, face obscured, and her accomplice exit the car and throw the man into its trunk.
In Seattle, two friends argue about applying for college. Landon Bryce (Christopher Kennedy Masterson) tells his friend Howard Gordon (Michael R. Coleman) to apply, but Gordon has been convinced by school counselor Teresa Roe (Mariangelo Pina) that his progress is too mediocre to make it worthwhile. Bryce accosts Roe, calling her a failure. That night, Gordon is killed, and Bryce is kidnapped. Millennium Group criminal profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) learns that Gordon died of a heart attack, which the coroner believes was caused by fear. Black visits the crime scene, and sees visions of Lucy Butler (Sarah-Jane Redmond), a woman who killed a colleague of his. Meanwhile, Bryce is bound and gagged in a remote farmhouse, then left in a room with the would-be escapee. The woman from earlier tells Bryce she loves him.
Black speaks to fellow Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) about his Butler vision. Watts informs Black that a Group member, Olson, has been tasked with monitoring Butler since her release. Watts and Black travel to Butler's last known address and find Olson's long-dead body. They realize Butler had been filing her own surveillance reports in Olson's name. Meanwhile, Bryce attempts to escape, but is subdued and later comforted by Lucy Butler. Black interviews Roe, suspecting her involvement when she continually refers to Bryce in the past tense. He later discovers that in every school she has worked for, students have been kidnapped; all the victims resembled Bryce in being average students who showed signs of promise.
Bryce learns about the tunnel from his cellmate, and the two escape again. Emerging from the tunnel, they are met by Butler and her accomplice. After being brought back to the farmhouse, Bryce is told to accept that he is mediocre and ordinary. Elsewhere, Black and Watts interview Roe again, who seems to espouse the same mindset. Black reveals that he knows Roe was once a promising student, and accuses her of being cowed by a fear of failure. Frightened, she reveals the location of Butler's farm. Police raid the farm, freeing several captive youths, but Butler is nowhere to be found.
Production[edit]
"A Room With No View" was directed by Thomas J. Wright, who helmed a total of twenty-six episodes across all three seasons.[1][2][3] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[4] "A Room With No View" was the first to have been written by producer Ken Horton, and his only solo writing credit. Horton would pen a further two episodes in the third season, both with Chip Johannessen.[2][3]
"A Room With No View" saw the third appearance of recurring villain Lucy Butler, who had previously appeared in "Lamentation"[5] and "Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions",[6] and would return for the third season episodes "Antipas"[7] and "Saturn Dreaming of Mercury".[8] Redmond, a fan of series creator Chris Carter and recurring series director David Nutter, had initially auditioned for another episode of the first season which would have been directed by Nutter. Redmond did not get the part she auditioned for but was instead contacted about portraying a minor recurring role instead, which led to her casting as Butler.[9] The episode features the repeated use of the song "Love Is Blue", performed by Paul Mauriat.[10]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"A Room With No View" was first broadcast on the Fox network on April 24, 1998.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 4.8 during its original broadcast, meaning that 4.8 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 4.7 million households, and left the episode the eighty-second most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1]
The episode has received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode an "A", finding it to be a particularly well-executed version of kidnapping trope in crime thrillers. Handlen also praised the development of the Lucy Butler character, feeling positively that her scenes did not seem like "rote horror" but made use of clear motives and characterization.[10] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4.5 out of 5, praising the dialogue and the use of "Love Is Blue". However, Gibron felt that the episode did little to move the series along, not exploring any of the season's themes or mythology.[13] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "A Room With No View" five stars out of five. Shearman felt the episode was the season's most frightening installment, as it dispensed with the wider theological trappings that he felt lessened the impact of other episodes. He also praised the decision to bring back Redmond as Lucy Butler, finding the character to be a good balance between the different depictions of evil depicted throughout the series.[11]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[12]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. 1996–97.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. 1997–98.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Media notes). Fox. 1998–1999.
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Genge 1997, p. 58.
6.Jump up ^ Genge 1997, p. 70.
7.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (February 12, 1999). "Antipas". Millennium. Season 3. Episode 13. Fox.
8.Jump up ^ Paul Shapiro (director); Chip Johannessen & Jordan Hawley (writers) (April 9, 1999). "Antipas". Millennium. Season 3. Episode 16. Fox.
9.Jump up ^ "Millennium: Lucy Butler". Sarah-Jane Redmond.com. Sarah-Jane Redmond. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (August 13, 2011). "'The End'/'A Room With No View' | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 160.
12.^ Jump up to: a b "Prime time Nielsen ratings". Associated Press. April 29, 1998. Retrieved October 10, 2012. (subscription required)
13.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
References[edit]
Genge, N. E. (1997). Millennium: The Unofficial Companion Volume Two. Century. ISBN 0712678697.
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 
 
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Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me

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"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 21
Directed by
Darin Morgan
Written by
Darin Morgan
Production code
5C21
Original air date
May 1, 1998
Guest actors

Bill Macy as Blurk
Dick Bakalyan as Abum
Alex Diakun as Greb
Wally Dalton as Toby
Dan Zukovic as Waylon Figgleif
Gabrielle Rose as Sally
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "A Room With No View" Next →
 "The Fourth Horseman"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" is the twenty-first episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on May 1, 1998. The episode was written and directed by Darin Morgan, and featured guest appearances by Bill Macy, Dick Bakalyan and Alex Diakun.
In this episode, a group of demons convene in a doughnut shop to share stories of tempting and damning humans. However, their stories all seem to include one mysterious figure who can see them for who they really are—Frank Black (Lance Henriksen).
"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" marks Morgan's second and last script for the series, and parodies his earlier difficulties writing for The X-Files. The episode has received mixed to positive reviews, and earned Morgan a Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay nomination in 1999.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
Four elderly men meet for coffee late at night. The fourth to arrive is hostile to the waiter, who secretly urinates in the man's coffee. The man, Abum (Dick Bakalyan), realizes this, and the group share a laugh over it, during which they are revealed to actually be demons. One of them, Blurk (Bill Macy), complains that there are no strong personalities in this century. He tells a story of Perry, a man he met hitch-hiking, who he molded into a serial killer over encouraging conversations. Perry sought to emulate Johnny Mack Potter, the country's most prolific killer, and to break his record number of murders. As Perry drew level with Potter's figure, Blurk grew bored accompanying him on the "mundane" murders of prostitutes and vagrants. Blurk gave an anonymous tip to the police that leads to Perry's arrest; one of the men present at the arrest—offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen)—seems to see through Blurk's human disguise. In prison, Perry is murdered by his cellmate Johnny Mack Potter, reclaiming his record.
Abum tells another story, which he believes shows that mankind no longer needs demonic temptation to be damned. Abum followed an everyman figure called Brock, watching his grindingly repetitive life. Brock visited a strip club often but without joy, which led Abum to believe he no longer took pleasure from sinning. One day, Abum added an additional irritation to Brock's life, posing as a traffic warden and giving him a ticket. This was enough to drive Brock to suicide. However, during this time, Abum also encountered Black, who again saw his demonic nature.
Greb (Alex Diakun) shares his tale, of a television censor called Waylon Figgleif. Figgleif's overzealous approach to censorship leads Greb to try pushing his limits. Greb assumed the form of a small demonic baby and reveals himself to Figgleif, who breaks down and starts attempting to censor everyday life. Greb repeats this trick, and encourages Figgleif to go on a killing spree—Figgleif takes a gun, bursts onto the taping of a science-fiction show about alien abduction, and kills several actors. Greb's methods and effectiveness are dismissed until he reveals the story's epigram. Figgleif's spree was caught on camera, and broadcast by another network as a found footage special. However, Greb also notes that he too was spotted by Black during this.
The fourth devil, Toby (Wally Dalton), is convinced that Black really does know that they are demons. Toby also recounts his story, in which he begins to feel ennui at his failure to damn humans for some time. He meets and courts an aging stripper, Sally, who falls in love with him. Their relationship blossomed, despite her having seen his true demonic form. One day Toby leads her to believe he is about to propose to her, before instead curtly insulting and breaking up with her. He later visited her home to find police investigating her suicide—a successful damnation. However, he also encounters Black, who sees his true nature. Instead of recoiling or reacting, Black simply tells Toby that he sees how lonely he must be. Toby's story affects all the gathered demons, who realize how lonely they really are. As they get up to leave, Abum praises the shop's coffee and briefly reveals his true form to the waiter.
Production[edit]
"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" is the second, and last, episode of Millennium to have been written by Darin Morgan, who also directed the episode. Morgan had previously written and directed "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" earlier in the season.[1] Morgan also served as a consulting producer for the season, and is the younger brother of Glen Morgan, an executive producer for the series.[2]
Morgan's script contains several references to his time as a writer for Millennium's sister show, The X-Files. One of Morgan's episodes for that series, "War of the Coprophages", had come under heavy criticism by the standards and practices department at parent network Fox, who took exception to the initial script's heavy use of words such as "crap" to refer to the excrement that episode's cockroaches fed upon. Morgan attacked and parodied this approach with one of the tales in "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", with a network censor again targeting the use of the word "crap" and storming onto the set of a show resembling The X-Files being taped, featuring lookalikes of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully with theme music very similar to that series' playing in the background.[3] The episode also contains a version of the dancing baby animation that was popular at the time, parodying its use on the series Ally McBeal.[4]
Guest star Alex Diakun had previously appeared in the first season episode "Lamentation" in an unrelated role;[5] while Dan Zukovic, who played network censor Waylon Figgleif, had also appeared in a small role in "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense".[6]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" was first broadcast on the Fox network on May 1, 1998.[3] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.59 million households, and left the episode the eightieth most-viewed broadcast that week.[7][nb 1]
Morgan's script for the episode earned him a Bram Stoker Award nomination in 1999, for Best Screenplay; the award was won jointly by Bill Condon for Gods and Monsters and Alex Proyas, David S. Goyer and Lem Dobbs for Dark City.[8]
The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen rated the episode an A, calling it "maybe the best hour of television Millennium ever produced". Handlen felt that the episode's "disarmingly simple" premise belied its depth, and praised Morgan's script as perhaps the writer's best work.[4] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 3.5 out of 5, calling it "a very fun, very irreverent respite for the series". Gibron felt positively about the episode's dialogue and humor, and praised it for its self-parodying elements.[9] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" two stars out of five, finding that it fitted poorly with the tone of the series. Shearman felt that the episode was "self-indulgent and irrelevant at worst, and at best only sporadically funny".[3]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[7]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.Jump up ^ Flaherty, Mike (November 21, 1997). "Fluke Man". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 161.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Handlen, Zack (August 20, 2011). ""Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Winrich Kolbe (director); Chris Carter (writer) (April 18, 1997). "Lamentation". Millennium. Season 1. Episode 18. Fox.
6.Jump up ^ Darin Morgan (writer & director) (November 21, 1997). "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense". Millennium. Season 2. Episode 9. Fox.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Bauder, Dave (May 9, 1998). "NBC Pulls a Top-7 'Sweeps' Sweep". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 13, 2012. (subscription required)
8.Jump up ^ "Horror Writers Association – Past Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners". Horror Writers Association. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: Millennium (TV series) episodes
1998 television episodes



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The Time Is Now (Millennium)

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"The Time Is Now"
Millennium episode
Episode no.
Season 2
 Episode 23
Directed by
Thomas J. Wright
Written by
Glen Morgan
James Wong
 
Production code
5C23
Original air date
May 15, 1998
Guest actors

Stephen Macht as Mr. Lott
Glenn Morshower as Richard Gilbert
Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Daryl Shuttleworth as Brian Dixon
David Palffy as Dr. Sorenson
Hiro Kanagawa as Team Member Lewis
 
Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Fourth Horseman" Next →
 "The Innocents"

List of season 2 episodes
List of Millennium episodes
"'The Time Is Now" is the twenty-third episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on May 15, 1998. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "The Time Is Now" featured guest appearances by Kristen Cloke and Glenn Morshower.
In this episode, Millennium Group profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) confronts the onset of an apocalyptic viral outbreak, dealing with the duplicity of the Group's foreknowledge of, and preparation for, such an event.
The episode's script went through several variations, taking shape after series creator Chris Carter suggested killing off the character of Catherine Black (Megan Gallagher). The episode has earned positive responses from critics, and was seen by approximately 4.8 million households during its initial broadcast.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Production
3 Broadcast and reception
4 Notes
5 Footnotes 5.1 References

Plot[edit]
Continuing from "The Fourth Horseman", several Millennium Group members in biohazard suits clear out a house full of bodies, victims of a viral outbreak; outside, dozens of bird corpses litter the ground.
Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) returns home with his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) and daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady). Black realizes that the family home holds painful memories and decides to find somewhere else to settle; the post that day contains a deed from his late father, who had left him a cabin in the woods. Later, Blacks meets with Richard Gilbert (Glenn Morshower), who is trying to convince Black to join his corporate security firm. Black reaffirms his commitment to the Group, however, Gilbert warns that their lives may be threatened by the Group's activities. The next day, Black learns that Gilbert died in a car accident; he believes the vehicle may have been tampered with.
Later, fellow Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) tells Black that he has uncovered computer files from the Group, indicating that a virus discovered by bio-weapons scientists in the Soviet Union has been living dormant in bird species since the end of the Cold War, and may now be making a resurgence in the United States. Watts reveals that a vaccine has been developed by the Group, but only in sufficient quantities for its members; Watts and Black have already been inoculated without having realized at the time. Black tells Watts to locate Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), another Group member, as he hopes to keep them safe in the cabin until the crisis resolves.
Watts arrives at Means' home, but is confronted by other Group members and assaulted. Means is inside, experiencing a prolonged hallucination. She considers suicide, instead writing something and sealing it in an envelope. Black finds her home, accompanied by paramedics who take her away. She gives Black the envelope—containing a phial of vaccine—and he thanks her, unable to discover what happened to Watts.
Black takes his family to the woodland cabin, where he and Catherine decide that the dose of vaccine should be given to Jordan. Black and Catherine discuss how they would handle infection; Catherine asks to be euthanized, Black states he would wander off to die alone. That night, Catherine wakes up, experiencing symptoms of the disease. She quietly leaves the cabin and walks into the forest. The next morning, Black wakes up, and finding blood on Catherine's pillow, realizes she has gone. He cradles his daughter as the screen flashes images of the collapse of society, interspersed with video noise.
Production[edit]
"The Time Is Now" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong. The duo would pen a total of fifteen episodes throughout the series' run.[1][2] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.[3] "The Time Is Now" was directed by Thomas J. Wright, who helmed a total of twenty-six episodes across all three seasons.[1][2][4] Wright would also go on to direct "Millennium", the series' crossover episode with its sister show The X-Files.[5]
The episode's script went through several different versions before a final plot was decided upon, as Morgan and Wong believed the series would not be renewed for a third season and wished to write a suitable ending. The decision to kill off the character of Catherine Black was based on a suggestion by Chris Carter, the series' creator. Morgan and Wong discussed the idea with actress Megan Gallagher, who felt that it was an interesting decision to have Catherine give her life after seeing Frank Black sacrifice so much for their family throughout the previous episodes. The idea of depicting an apocalyptic scenario as being the result of a virus came from Morgan's research into possible end-of-the-world scenarios, and was influenced by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom.[6]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
"The Time Is Now" was first broadcast on the Fox network on May 15, 1998.[7] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 4.9 during its original broadcast, meaning that 4.9 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 4.8 million households, and left the episode the seventy-second most-viewed broadcast that week.[8][nb 1]
"The Time Is Now" received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode—along with the preceding episode "The Fourth Horseman—an "A". VanDerWerff felt that it "may be one of the four or five best cinematic depictions of the end of the world ever filmed", praising the uncommon approach of depicting the word ending, rather than just showing the aftermath.[9] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 5 out of 5. Gibron felt that the two-part episodes were "a one-two punch that many dramatic series would die for", finding the conclusion to have been effectively hinted at throughout the season.[10] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Time Is Now" one star out of five. Shearman felt that the episode would have been "the best end to the show imaginable", had the series not produced a third season.[11] He considered the episode's writing and conclusion to have been a brave decision, potentially alienating its viewers but producing "a thrilling and unforgettable piece of television"; he also considered the season as a whole to be less consistent but more daring than the first season.[12]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.[8]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Nutter, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete First Season (Liner notes). Fox.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Liner notes). Fox.
3.Jump up ^ Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Retrieved October 21, 2012. (subscription required)
4.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright, et al (booklet). Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Liner notes). Fox.
5.Jump up ^ Thomas J. Wright (director); Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz (writers) (November 28, 1999). "Millennium". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 4. Fox.
6.Jump up ^ Vitaris, Paula (October 1998). "TV's Best Kept Secret Improves in Its Sophomore Season". Cinefantastique 30 (7 & 8): 125.
7.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 162.
8.^ Jump up to: a b "Prime-rime Nielsen ratings". Associated Press. May 19, 1998. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
9.Jump up ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (August 27, 2011). ""The Fourth Horseman"/"The Time Is Now" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Internet Brands. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, pp. 162–163.
12.Jump up ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 163.
References[edit]
Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X.

[hide]
­v·
 ­t·
 ­e
 
Millennium episodes

 
­Seasons: 1·
 ­2·
 ­3
 
 
Season 2
­"The Beginning and the End"·
 ­"Beware of the Dog"·
 ­"Sense and Antisense"·
 ­"Monster"·
 ­"A Single Blade of Grass"·
 ­"The Curse of Frank Black"·
 ­"19:19"·
 ­"The Hand of St. Sebastian"·
 ­"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"·
 ­"Midnight of the Century"·
 ­"Goodbye Charlie"·
 ­"Luminary"·
 ­"The Mikado"·
 ­"The Pest House"·
 ­"Owls"·
 ­"Roosters"·
 ­"Siren"·
 ­"In Arcadia Ego"·
 ­"Anamnesis"·
 ­"A Room With No View"·
 ­"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"·
 ­"The Fourth Horseman"·
 ­"The Time Is Now"
 

 

Categories: 1998 television episodes
Millennium (TV series) episodes



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This page was last modified on 4 December 2012 at 01:40.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki