"I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen."
-W. H. Auden
Anyone reading this blog can tell that I am a big fan of The X-Files. Millennium was a sister-show to that seminal piece of television brilliance, intended by creator Chris Carter as an exploration of a "more mature" version of the Mulder character. Enter Lance Henricksen, playing behavioral profiler Frank Black. Black has a gift: the ability to see inside the minds of killers. His work terrifies his wife, Catherine (Megan Gallagher), and the both of them struggle to keep their young daughter, Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) away from Frank's work. At the beginning of the series, Frank, following a nervous breakdown, moves his family back to Seattle to an idyllic yellow house and begins working for the Millennium Group, a consulting agency for law enforcement. Black's contact with the Group comes mostly through Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn), and in the first season, we learn very little about the Millennium Group's motivations, only that they are more than meets the eye. Frank is called to consult for a number of bizarre, sexual and religious crimes in the first season, and usually Frank's profile subjects are deranged, violent men... but in the first season there are a few excursions into the supernatural, which culminate in the murder of Frank's best friend, Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich), by a demonic entity in Frank's own home. Shortly after his encounter with the demon, who takes the form of an attractive woman, Lucy Butler (Sarah Jane Redmond), Frank begins to perceive events around him differently than others. He becomes aware of cosmic evil, and of a struggle between evil and good that is being played out around him.
Henricksen delivers a strong performance as the quiet, capable, focused Frank Black. Black is not your typical TV hero. He is middle aged, retired, and while quite capable of action, his primary talent is intellectual or spiritual in nature. He sees into the minds of killers, rapists, and other criminals, catching fleeting glimpses of their skewed realities which help him to catch them in the end. Another part of the strength of this show is its frayed, apocalyptic setting. Watching Frank Black solve the mysteries put to him by the Millennium Group, one really gets a sense of society on the edge. The quote for this post, displayed at the beginning of the first episode, says it all: "I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen." Buried in the mythos of Millennium is the nugget of an idea that as the apocalypse approaches, and society degrades and devalues itself, a new generation of killers are rising to prominence.
Bob Bletcher's death at the hands of a supernatural, demonic entity shifts the show in a direction more familiar to X-Files fans: from this point on, Frank becomes aware of great evil, in a way he couldn't have known it before. The second season, which I plan on reviewing separately, takes this evil presence and runs with it, featuring a plethora of demons set loose upon the Earth by powerful forces barely comprehensible to most men. Frank, because of his gift, is able to see these demons (and angels) as they truly are.
Millennium is a noir, nineties detective/supernatural drama featuring top-grade acting and excellent scripts. Some of the episodes, particularly in the first season, can be slow, but when Millennium is on its top game, it really shines.
Henricksen delivers a strong performance as the quiet, capable, focused Frank Black. Black is not your typical TV hero. He is middle aged, retired, and while quite capable of action, his primary talent is intellectual or spiritual in nature. He sees into the minds of killers, rapists, and other criminals, catching fleeting glimpses of their skewed realities which help him to catch them in the end. Another part of the strength of this show is its frayed, apocalyptic setting. Watching Frank Black solve the mysteries put to him by the Millennium Group, one really gets a sense of society on the edge. The quote for this post, displayed at the beginning of the first episode, says it all: "I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen." Buried in the mythos of Millennium is the nugget of an idea that as the apocalypse approaches, and society degrades and devalues itself, a new generation of killers are rising to prominence.
Bob Bletcher's death at the hands of a supernatural, demonic entity shifts the show in a direction more familiar to X-Files fans: from this point on, Frank becomes aware of great evil, in a way he couldn't have known it before. The second season, which I plan on reviewing separately, takes this evil presence and runs with it, featuring a plethora of demons set loose upon the Earth by powerful forces barely comprehensible to most men. Frank, because of his gift, is able to see these demons (and angels) as they truly are.
Millennium is a noir, nineties detective/supernatural drama featuring top-grade acting and excellent scripts. Some of the episodes, particularly in the first season, can be slow, but when Millennium is on its top game, it really shines.