medelste
Just a couple of thoughts to add to the other reviews.It's been a few years since I watched my DVD set from start to finish. I gave up on the series after the infamous Kiss Halloween episode "Thirteen Years Later" in October of 1998. Even so, Millennium will always represent a unique time of change in my life /sappiness alert, when my wife and I first began dating and living together. So when the DVD sets came out, I figured it was my chance to finally finish the series, as well as fill in any episodes from Season 1 that I had missed.I've always been of the school who considers Season 2 far and away the best. 15 years later, I still feel the same way. It was among the gutsiest, most riveting seasons of television I can ever remember. Sometimes a serialized work of art just hits its stride, and that happened with Millennium, especially during the second half of Season 2. Somewhere around "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me", Millennium really became can't-miss television, and kept it up right until the season finale. I will never forget the end of "The Fourth Horseman", in which Peter Watts (the wonderful Terry O'Quinn, since graduated to "Lost" stardom) predicts a 4:13 AM earthquake to the stunned Frank Black. Then it happens! HOW??? To say I was salivating for Season 3 would be an understatement. Then the series let me down, as it seems to have let down many commenters. But an episode like "Satan" still stands on its own, and would probably make my list of Greatest Television Hours Ever. (Others, in case you care: Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise"; UFO's "Mindbender"; Star Trek's "Doomsday Machine".) One last anecdote. When I was looking up the DVD sets to purchase, I found a Millennium cancellation rant (since gone missing) in which the writer said that he still misses Frank Black as a person and friend. So much so, that every time he spots a red Jeep Cherokee on the road -- especially the mid-90s model Frank drove -- he would say out loud, "I miss Frank Black", and mean it with all his heart. To this day, I still do the same thing.
SilentDues
Millennium. A dramatic-thriller series which delves into a multitude of genres from serial killer investigations, government conspiracy, biblical prophecy, and even some supernatural elements. A quite dark series on top of that, created by Chris Carter and aired by Fox, a small-yet-incredible piece of The X-Files universe that stands on its own. Starring Lance Henrikson, his show differs from its sibling series' long run, being cut short at three seasons (with a 'coda' crossover episode). In its entirety, this is the story of Frank Black and his daughter Jordan. And you know what...I absolutely love this show! I've only recently gotten into Millennium, with big thanks to the Chiller cable channel, and am now proud to say I own the series DVD set (showing both my love for the series and support for a future feature film). This mark in thriller television history took some most interesting and unexpected turns, overseen by different writers and figure-heads, but always given the blessing and support of its creator. Millennium is, as I view it, unique in that it's primarily a "family show" which happens to involve serial killer investigating and some rather blunt violence & realism, forcing me to suggest it just for adults.As I'm quite sure others have pointed out, each season clearly has its own distinctive style and scope. Season 1, being the first year where the cast and writers have to find themselves, serves as a pure gritty (and at times shockingly violent) 'serial killer investigation' drama, being mostly stand-alone "killer of the week" while also supplying an underlaid over-all arc with a certain stalker of Frank's. Season 2 kicks things up a huge notch by exploring the mythology of the show's namesake Group in near-epic ways, where the conspiracy and biblical material the show can be known well for brings out all the stops. Then with Season 3, Millennium's main city venue makes the move from Seattle, Washington to Quantico, Virginia where Frank gets back to his roots and lets his feelings for the Group be very clear as he starts working with a new partner.While I love Seasons 1 and 3, Season 2 may in fact by my favorite of the show. I know the story heads and main writers, Morgan & Wong, get a heck of a lot of flak for their new direction to the show, but dang... The stakes to Frank's journey are raised so considerably and the turns Millennium takes in its mythology exploration are downright breath-taking, displaying its best overall season arc IMHO. I'm not gonna knock off Season 3 though, while its own new direction may take some getting used to at first, it continues to elevate the rising stakes in a more subdued and yet continually intriguing manner as the clock to the year 2000 seriously ticks down. I also get a joy out of the complex Emma, whom while I don't like as much as Frank's wife Catherine, becomes a great partner to Frank and thus holds quite a shock in the series finale.Other pivotal characters include, as already mentioned, Frank's wife Catherine. A more stunning and brilliant actress couldn't have been selected, 'nough said. The character of Peter Watts, whom ultimately goes from Frank's liaison to the group to his best friend, is in my view the most fascinating character of the series. While there's a considerable gap to his character development between the second and third seasons, his development and evolution proves to be extraordinary and for where his story ultimately ends up, it doesn't disappoint IMO. Frank and his perfectly-cute daughter, Jordan, serve as the two main characters from the very beginning to the very end, therefore I'd argue Millennium is just as much their story as anybody's, I'd say their relationship is one all fathers to young girls could admire.On the whole and in the end, Millennium is a very dark series that like other fantastic shows such as Angel, Firefly, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, was canceled in its prime long before its time. It really wasn't afraid to hold anything back, pulling no punches if ya' wanna put it that way, as any character could die. I am absolutely in love with it and would be on cloud 9 if a feature film were made, as there's always more room to explore. I always somehow get tears in my eyes, and yes I'm a guy, when watching the last few minutes of the series finale, "Goodbye to All That". Even though the show finishes months before the year 2000, "May 21st, 1999" to be exact, it's just such a poignant and beautiful moment during the final exchange between Frank and his little girl.Luckily, while there aren't yet any feature film plans, we did get a sort of continuation and conclusion beyond the series finale. The X-Files Season 7 episode, appropriately titled "Millennium", features the return and final appearances of Frank Black (and his daughter Jordan, though really only a cameo in her case) approximately 7 months after the finale as the year 2000 is finally reached, a 'coda' crossover that's beautifully enough included on Season 3's last disc. Now this episode gets more than its fair share of flak IMO for how matters with Frank, or rather the Group mostly, are handled. However, I was surprisingly pleased, enjoying the episode on more than one viewing, even if it may be on a X-Files level of weirdness. It offers some decent enough closure beyond the show's finale in my view and that final scene between Frank and Jordan... it's just absolutely perfect to finally see them together, without the threat of the Group on them, and no longer having to go on the run.The saga of Frank Black is not to be missed if you value unbelievably profound, beautiful, & gripping story telling. I fully recommend it, 10 stars~
soulassassinx
Basically this is about code breaking. All religions are the mother of theology is about breaking the codes. This is a show about breaking the codes shown in the cracks between profane life, the soul and the scrapheap antimatter in between.It is a pity that this show followed after The X-Files and was compared to it. Most criticism this show has gotten comes from people who don't seem to understand it. It's one of those shows you understand very little of if you don't see all episodes and that is just great.Personally I can't stand TV-series with one evening resolutions like that godawful CSI or relentless crap like "lawyer shows".Apart from all the brilliant TV-series made by HBO Millennium is one of those shows I real hate not being able to watch anymore. In fact it's so good and one of those shows you wish you never saw so you could see it anew.I am a high school teacher and teach religion, I spent three and a half years in the theological faculty and wrote me bachelors degree about the end of the world, i.e. apokalytica. The studies about the myths of the end of the world. Millennium digs down in the huge pile of myths and present a true and horryfying version of it set in modern society and really makes me remember the collective anxiety regarding the coming of the new millennia. The illness of the world and what aisle the human psyche is constant in the show and it makes you feel uncomfortable. TV4 in Sweden, like most of the time managed, to screw this show up, by airing it on different times or around midnight workdays and changing the airing days - their trailer for the show said it was about a former cop hunting serial killers. It's not, it's about the hunt for the truth in the obscure and sometimes the bizarre. The Swedish public expected to see a cop show and soon turned away thus banning it to airing times 2 o'clock in the morning between a Monday and tuseday.There are some episodes and elements that'll stick to you. As many others have said the episode namned The Curse of Frank Black is amazing. The scene in the lodge when the plague hits is also very good. Legion is a scary figure and sometimes it's presence makes me think of the best show ever on TV Twin Peaks.The Millennium group and the webs of conspiracies leaves the viewer with intellectual speculation and that is how I want to be left after viewing a show and not with some damn fingerpointining and sugarcoated morality Hoartio Caine style.Why this show was canceled is a damn shame but it's understandable. Most people are not into active viewing, they want sitcoms, reality shows and cop shows, but I tip my hat to the creators of Millennium and celebrate their work because we, who like to think for ourselves, should have som shows to watch too.
