Millennium is one of my favorite shows ever since I first watched it. I was initially drawn to it because I am an X-Files fan and remembered it being on back in the day. I had never watched it though because it seemed a lot scarier than X-Files and I was scared enough as it was by that show. But years and desensitization later I decided to give the show a try.
The Pilot episode is possible one of the most memorable pilots I have ever seen. It immediately lets you know that this is nothing like The X-Files. This show is going to be much darker and scarier. Frank Black is an ex-FBI profiler, who works as a consultant for the Millennium Group, providing profiles on criminal cases, especially serial violent offenders. The idea for the show, as explained by Chris Carter, came from three concepts. The episode "Irresitible" from The X-Files second season, the movie "Se7en", and an actual group of ex-law enforcement who actually do profiling consulting called Academy Group Inc. This show exposed me to many things that have since become part of my wide spectrum of interests, including true crime, science fiction, horror, and psychology. The production history of the show was somewhat disjointed and had some controversial drama behind the scenes. As such I think the show really needs to be judged by each season individually rather than as a whole.
Season 1 was very dark and followed a SKOTW (Serial Killer of the Week) format. It was similar to the show Criminal Minds with a bit of a paranormal twist, and was an early precursor to many of the true crime shows that are so popular today. The main character, Frank Black, is masterfully played by Lance Henriksen, and his friend and group mentor is Peter Watts, played by the wonderful actor Terry O'Quinn. Season 1 takes some time to build any deeper story arc but does introduce the audience to the recurring character Lucy Butler who will feature prominently in the series as Frank's nemesis, as well as involving an arc about a stalker who sends Frank candid Polaroids of his family. The highlights of season 1 for me are the Pilot, Blood Relatives, Force Majeure, and Lamentation. Chris Carter was originally closely involved in season 1 and his desire for the series was never to have much of a deep arcing story, but to keep the show more episodic and to focus on Frank's "ability" which is a physic/not-psychic ability to see into the mind of the killer through a series of flashes or visions.
In season 2, Chris Carter was taken away from the show to focus on The X-Files: Fight the Future movie and left the show in the care of Executive Producers Glenn Morgan and James Wong, two of my favorite tv developers. The pair had already been heavily involved in The X-Files and are responsible for some of the more memorable episodes, including the banned from television episode "Home". They have a dark sense of humor and are also known for including references and easter eggs that leave viewers always paying attention and guessing. In an attempt to spark more interest in the show and in response to complaints that season 1 was too dark for some viewers, they decided to delve deeper into the history of the MIllennium Group and began to set up a very interesting mythology based on religious philosophy surrounding the end of the world and the nature of good and evil. Season 2 produced some of the better episodes in my opinion, however, ratings dropped and they were under the impression that the show was going to be canceled. There were also rumblings that Chris Carter was displeased with they way they had gone against his vision to keep the show less about conspiracy and more about Frank's ability. Because of such they decided to end the season with an end of the world plague and then quit as show runners, which left the show in a strange position going into season 3. A few of my favorite episodes from season 2 are ones that get deeper into Frank's character and also added some sense of humor to the show such as Monster, The Curse of Frank Black, Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense (a sort of twin/crossover episode with The X-Files' Jose Chung's From Outer Space), Luminary, A Room With No View, and Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me.
Season 3. Morgan and Wong had now left the show and Chris Carter came back having little to no idea what kind of mythology they had been building or what their plans had been with it. Unfortunately this led to a lot of confusing and even boring plot lines. The plague that had supposedly killed most of humanity, was change into a minor outbreak in a remote area of Washington and an attempt was made to switch the show back to the SKOTW format. While this did produce some great episodes in the third season, including some very creepy Lucy Butler centric episodes, unfortunately the show suffered from a sporadically changing mythology. Frank's attempts in the third season at investigating and exposing the Millennium Group are mostly just frustrating and at times very uninteresting. The show ends on a cliffhanger type ending as Frank and his daughter drive off to who-knows-where leaving "all that behind". The end left this viewer quite dissatisfied and wanting a better wrap up or closure. Some of the better episodes of Season 3 are ...Thirteen Years Later, Antipas, and Saturn Dreaming of Mercury (an episode that actually gave me nightmares).
An attempt was made to conclude or pay homage to the series through a cross-over episode of the X-Files entitled "Millenium" in season 7. But despite having one of the show's better writers on the case (Vince Gilligan) he had no experience with the Millennium series. The co-writer Frank Spotnitz did but apparently not enough to realize that this was a poor homage to Frank Black. It works quite well as an X-Files episode. But it is terrible as a Millennium episode.
The hope among many fans at one time was that Millennium would get a movie tribute, especially after the resurgence of The X-Files: I Want to Believe and seasons 10 and 11, but despite interest from fans and cast members, it doesn't appear that Chris Carter has been interested in taking on such a project. I would have been very interesting to see both franchises get a movie in 2012, each to explain and wrap up their end of the world mythologies in accordance with the ending of the Mayan calendar, but the opportunity has passed. Even with its flaws and tragic history that led to its demise after three short seasons, this is a show worth checking out and has a very strong cult fan-base that make learning more about the show very interesting and rewarding. I give the series a 10 out of 10.
The Pilot episode is possible one of the most memorable pilots I have ever seen. It immediately lets you know that this is nothing like The X-Files. This show is going to be much darker and scarier. Frank Black is an ex-FBI profiler, who works as a consultant for the Millennium Group, providing profiles on criminal cases, especially serial violent offenders. The idea for the show, as explained by Chris Carter, came from three concepts. The episode "Irresitible" from The X-Files second season, the movie "Se7en", and an actual group of ex-law enforcement who actually do profiling consulting called Academy Group Inc. This show exposed me to many things that have since become part of my wide spectrum of interests, including true crime, science fiction, horror, and psychology. The production history of the show was somewhat disjointed and had some controversial drama behind the scenes. As such I think the show really needs to be judged by each season individually rather than as a whole.
Season 1 was very dark and followed a SKOTW (Serial Killer of the Week) format. It was similar to the show Criminal Minds with a bit of a paranormal twist, and was an early precursor to many of the true crime shows that are so popular today. The main character, Frank Black, is masterfully played by Lance Henriksen, and his friend and group mentor is Peter Watts, played by the wonderful actor Terry O'Quinn. Season 1 takes some time to build any deeper story arc but does introduce the audience to the recurring character Lucy Butler who will feature prominently in the series as Frank's nemesis, as well as involving an arc about a stalker who sends Frank candid Polaroids of his family. The highlights of season 1 for me are the Pilot, Blood Relatives, Force Majeure, and Lamentation. Chris Carter was originally closely involved in season 1 and his desire for the series was never to have much of a deep arcing story, but to keep the show more episodic and to focus on Frank's "ability" which is a physic/not-psychic ability to see into the mind of the killer through a series of flashes or visions.
In season 2, Chris Carter was taken away from the show to focus on The X-Files: Fight the Future movie and left the show in the care of Executive Producers Glenn Morgan and James Wong, two of my favorite tv developers. The pair had already been heavily involved in The X-Files and are responsible for some of the more memorable episodes, including the banned from television episode "Home". They have a dark sense of humor and are also known for including references and easter eggs that leave viewers always paying attention and guessing. In an attempt to spark more interest in the show and in response to complaints that season 1 was too dark for some viewers, they decided to delve deeper into the history of the MIllennium Group and began to set up a very interesting mythology based on religious philosophy surrounding the end of the world and the nature of good and evil. Season 2 produced some of the better episodes in my opinion, however, ratings dropped and they were under the impression that the show was going to be canceled. There were also rumblings that Chris Carter was displeased with they way they had gone against his vision to keep the show less about conspiracy and more about Frank's ability. Because of such they decided to end the season with an end of the world plague and then quit as show runners, which left the show in a strange position going into season 3. A few of my favorite episodes from season 2 are ones that get deeper into Frank's character and also added some sense of humor to the show such as Monster, The Curse of Frank Black, Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense (a sort of twin/crossover episode with The X-Files' Jose Chung's From Outer Space), Luminary, A Room With No View, and Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me.
Season 3. Morgan and Wong had now left the show and Chris Carter came back having little to no idea what kind of mythology they had been building or what their plans had been with it. Unfortunately this led to a lot of confusing and even boring plot lines. The plague that had supposedly killed most of humanity, was change into a minor outbreak in a remote area of Washington and an attempt was made to switch the show back to the SKOTW format. While this did produce some great episodes in the third season, including some very creepy Lucy Butler centric episodes, unfortunately the show suffered from a sporadically changing mythology. Frank's attempts in the third season at investigating and exposing the Millennium Group are mostly just frustrating and at times very uninteresting. The show ends on a cliffhanger type ending as Frank and his daughter drive off to who-knows-where leaving "all that behind". The end left this viewer quite dissatisfied and wanting a better wrap up or closure. Some of the better episodes of Season 3 are ...Thirteen Years Later, Antipas, and Saturn Dreaming of Mercury (an episode that actually gave me nightmares).
An attempt was made to conclude or pay homage to the series through a cross-over episode of the X-Files entitled "Millenium" in season 7. But despite having one of the show's better writers on the case (Vince Gilligan) he had no experience with the Millennium series. The co-writer Frank Spotnitz did but apparently not enough to realize that this was a poor homage to Frank Black. It works quite well as an X-Files episode. But it is terrible as a Millennium episode.
The hope among many fans at one time was that Millennium would get a movie tribute, especially after the resurgence of The X-Files: I Want to Believe and seasons 10 and 11, but despite interest from fans and cast members, it doesn't appear that Chris Carter has been interested in taking on such a project. I would have been very interesting to see both franchises get a movie in 2012, each to explain and wrap up their end of the world mythologies in accordance with the ending of the Mayan calendar, but the opportunity has passed. Even with its flaws and tragic history that led to its demise after three short seasons, this is a show worth checking out and has a very strong cult fan-base that make learning more about the show very interesting and rewarding. I give the series a 10 out of 10.