Millennium - Series 2 [DVD] [1996]

With season one, Carter successfully created a murder-mystery show that was dark, could be disturbing and had a real sense of evil. Unlike "The X-Files", there wasn't anything 'unusual' about the show. Frank was not supposed to be a psychic, nor was his gift a form of telepathy - he was simply a very talented serial profiler who could put himself in the killer's head. However, for season two, Carter was a little too busy with the X-Files to take the same hands-on approach. As a result, Glen Morgan and James Wong were brought in as Executive Producers - the pair also wrote a substantial part of the season and changed the focus of the show entirely. If anything, season two became exactly what season one wasn't : rather than the dark murder-mystery show it had been, it morphed into a conspiracy-based, X-Files clone.

As the show's central character, these changes have a direct impact on Frank - one of the key changes centres on his ability. With season two, Frank's gift becomes firmly established as some form of psychic ability that can be passed from one generation to another. Frank's thoughts and comments are, at times, so surreal that he almost becomes Fox Mulder with wrinkles. It's also revealed that he's a big fan of Bobby Darin. This wouldn't have been a problem, only for Morgan and Wong's insistence on including Darin's songs in the show - a distracting and slightly irritating decision. However, it's what Frank did at the end of the season's opening episode - "The Beginning and the End" - that really had me scratching my head. His actions, in my opinion, simply didn't tie up with the character that was established in Season One - most obviously when compared with his behaviour in Season One's "The Thin White Line".

Season Two does reveal a great deal more about the Millennium Group. However, its role in providing consulting expertise to various law enforcement agencies now appears to be a front and it becomes a devious, manipulative organisation. As the season progresses, it focuses more on the Group's internal politics, and less on actual investigations - although, thankfully, Peter Watts now plays a greater role. A couple of new characters are also introduced. One, Lara Means, is essentially a female version of Frank - she is a Millennium Group candidate and has visions. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that none of the writers really had much of an idea what to do with her. Brian Roedecker, meanwhile, was an unnecessary and irritating addition and one that computer geeks everywhere will find offensive - think Jar Jar Binks without the merchandising potential.

While Season One was consistently excellent, I could only describe Season Two as patchy. I enjoyed some of the episodes a great deal - "The Curse of Frank Black" and "Midnight of the Century" take a peek into Frank's past, the former also having a nice Hallow'een twist to it. "Owls" and "Roosters", which deal with a near-civil war within the Group, are two very good conspiracy-driven episodes. Some episodes could've been just as good, but were let down by slightly weak endings - for example, "The Hand of Saint Sebastian" (an episode also hampered by Roedecker) and "The Mikado" (at last - a serial killer !). Others, however, seem like scripts intended for The X-Files, with only minor changes being made for this show. "Sirens" sees Frank behaving like Mulder, with Lara Means playing the Scully role. Lara subsequently switches sides, playing the Believer in "Anamnesis", while Catherine plays the Sceptic. (First broadcast five years before a famous bestseller by Dan Brown was published, it avoids beginning with a list of 'facts'. Brown's fans should enjoy it, all the same). A word of warning though - "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defence" and "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" are abysmal and are best avoided.

Overall, I'd have to say I was a disappointed with season two. Morgan and Wong turned down an invitation to contribute to the 'making-of-season-two' documentary - a shame, as that might have helped me understand why the show changed so dramatically. Perhaps unfairly, I couldn't help comparing it with Season One. While "this is who we are" seems to have become a catchphrase for the Group's members, at times I couldn't help thinking "but this is not who you should be". If your likes include conspiracies and the X-Files, there'll probably be enough here to keep you happy. If, on the other hand, you're hoping for a continuation of the very dark murder-mystery show, you'll be disappointed.

However, once you've grown accustomed to the marginally lighter mood and the sporadic shifts in tone (as good as the comedy episodes are, they simply feel out of place), this is a highly commendable season. More time is taken to explore the shadowy motives of the Millennium Group that Frank Black consults for. Terry O'Quinn's character Peter Watts takes a more prominent role, and the edition of Kristen Cloke as Lara Means is welcome. Though Megan Gallagher is still on the opening credits for every episode, her appearances are few and far between this season.

The highlights in Millennium's middle season for me are "The Mikado" (a deeply suspenseful and nerve-shredding tale of how the internet can be abused), "A Room With No View" (the chilling return of evil-incarnate Lucy Butler), the "Owls" / "Roosters" two-part story (which explores a divide within the Millennium Group) and the climactic two-parter "The Fourth Horseman" / "The Time Is Now" (in which a lethal plague looks set to trigger the apocalypse).

For all of this season's strengths however, I felt that there were slightly more episodes that fell flat than in the first season. "The Pest House" has none of the show's usual intelligence or realism and "The Hand Of St. Sebastian" left me completely cold. But on the whole, once the initial uneasiness toward the show's new direction has worn off, Millennium Season Two is well-worth your money if the first season had you enthralled at all. It remains one of the most cinematic television shows ever made. Always, always beautiful, despite the frequent ugliness of it's content.

Unfortunately Glen Morgan & James Wong are noticeably absent from the Season Overview featurette, and neither of the commentaries are particularly enthralling.