Millennium - Series 1-3 [DVD] [1996]

Chris Carter concieved MILLENNIUM to be like the feature films SILENCE OF THE LAMBS or SEVEN but on a weekly format. No aliens or govermental conspiracies like his X-FILES, but a psychological exploration of the nature of evil, of one man's ability to see into the thought processes of the worst of humanity. Frank Black's gift was not psychic in nature but an accute understanding of the heart of darkness: "I become capability. I become the horror -- what we know we can become only in our heart of darkness. It's my gift. It's my curse. That's why I retired."

Lance Henrikson plays ex-FBI agent Frank Black perfectly, a man who was driven to a nervous breakdown when he realized he could no longer keep his family safe from the evil he was helping to fight. He only returns to work with the help of the Millennium Group and the support of his wife, who realises he can't just sit back and wait for a happy ending. Their symbolic yellow house becomes not just a sanctuary but a fragile treasure in Franks mind, one that is threatened as his investigations continue. Evil takes a personal interest in him, tempting him to join it, and we see the toll his resistence to that evil has on his life.

The psychological aspect is what I believe Chris Carter was more interested in, however when Season two began and X-Files script writers/producers Morgan and Wong took over, they changed the focus away from that aspect and more on the supernatural, and mythological nature of the Millennium Group itself. Over that one season (instead of five whch would have been more believable as a narrative) the Group turned from a noble company of ex-law enforcement agents (like the real life Academy Group) into a fractured quasi-religious cult, founded at the time of Christ's crucifixtion, with an agenda to not just wait for an apocalypse but to pre-empt it. At the end of the second season, the writers introduced a deadly ebola-type virus, supposedly manufactured by the group itself, that apparently wipes out half the world, including claiming the life of Franks wife. At the end of that season, the world has ended, and the writers effectively ruined concept of the show.

Season three, back now in the hands of Chris Carter, starts off without making any real reference to the virus outbreak, with Frank back atthe FBI, until a few episodes in when its revealed it was only a media panic over a few isolated cases rather than the real apocalypse. The SOUND OF SNOW is particulary a heart-wrenching episode where Frank finally deals with his wifes death. Try as they might, despite some exceptional work, the show never recovers from the loss of the Catherine Black character, the loss of the symbolism of the yellow house, or the change of Millennium Group to religious conspiracy cult. After the Group begin to execute those members deemed too dangerous to their agenda, Frank goes on the run with his daughter Jordan. And the less said about the X-Files crossover episode the better.

These DVD's are still a must buy for any fan of dramatic storytelling, because even the worst episodes are better than 90% of current tv. If you like CSI, 24 and all of the other procedural shows, you'll like this. They're excellently put together with commentaries and documentaries, which especially give you a palpable sense of the frustration felt by the actors and Chris Carter of how great the show could have been if allowed to grow at its own pace. Regardless of its faults, MILLENNIUM is a special show, the level of acting and production elevating it over any inconsistancies of series narrative.

As Lance Henrikson says in the documentary, about missed opportunities, MILLENNIUM still haunts him.

So will this, but for all the right reasons.