Millennium - The Complete First Season

Starring:Millennium
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Millennium marked the second major television series created by Chris Carter, who'd already made his name as the brains behind The X-Files. And, like its predecessor, it shares a lot of the same themes--it's a crime thriller that gradually unfolds into a grand conspiracy involving the government and the fate of the entire world.

Amazon.com

Millennium marked the second major television series created by Chris Carter, who'd already made his name as the brains behind The X-Files. And, like its predecessor, it shares a lot of the same themes--it's a crime thriller that gradually unfolds into a grand conspiracy involving the government and the fate of the entire world.

Description

Retired serial-profiler Frank Black has moved his family to Seattle to escape the violence and horror he dealt with while working for the FBI in Washington, D.C. Although his uncanny and often unsettling ability to see into the twisted minds of serial killers has caused him much inner torment, Black knows his "gift" can still be used to help protect and save others. For that reason he has joined the mysterious Millennium Group, a team of underground ex-law enforcement experts dedicated to fighting against the ever-growing forces of evil and darkness in the world.

Customer Reviews:

4.5. Twisted stuff, but I like it.......2007-06-14

I remember watching the "Millennium" premiere way back in `96. I would've had to have been twelve at the time, and though I'd watched "The X-Files" from the very beginning and had long had a predilection for horror-oriented entertainment, "Millennium" proved a bit much. The pilot. . .disturbed me. As did the next episode. And the next, and pretty much every episode I watched of it at the time. Nothin' but serial killers, so it seemed, and the lead was apparently dead as well. It was all just too damned depressing, and I watched it less and less over time. Nevertheless, it did make a strong impression on me, and I never forgot it. Still, I didn't think about "Millennium" too much for many years, but with the recent DVD revolution, nothing is going to be forgotten or unavailable for very long, and I recently got through my long-overdue viewing of the first season. I must say, I'm quite impressed. At nearly twice my prior age, it doesn't even have a shadow of the original impact, but "Millennium" is still an impressively dark, gruesome TV show, particularly in its first season. And, more to the point, it's just flat-out good.

"Millennium" focuses on one Frank Black and his family as they move to a new home in Seattle. Frank is a former profiler for the FBI, and this move represents a new beginning for him, his wife Catherine and their young daughter Jordan. They live in a cute little yellow, suburban house in a picturesque neighborhood with friendly neighbors seemingly transplanted from a `50s sitcom. Still, as a killer-hunter, Frank is intuitively in tune with the darker side of life, and he can't escape it. He hasn't really abandoned his old occupation anyway, and he now works as a consultant with the Millennium group which basically amounts to continuing work as a serial killer profiler, but with a, well, millennial bent. They think that the increase in violent, disturbing crime a symptom of the impending apocalypse, though we don't hear too much more about this during this season. As it turns out, these elements work best when they're just under the surface, adding a subtle, binding element to the season as a whole.

It's difficult to define just what makes "Millennium" so effective and so different from most everything else on TV. It's not one thing, but rather just the overall milieu of the show, an accumulation of a thousand different details. "Millennium" is an admitted "Seven" cash-in, and it generates the bleak tone in much the same way, with darkened corridors and endless rain, with biblical and general religious themes, both overt and covert, with a contrast between an idealized, middle class life and the degeneracy of the world as a whole etc. This final contrast is an aspect which I particularly enjoy. For whatever reason, the ideas of both utter purity and total depravity particularly intrigue. Perhaps we don't have much of either in day to day life, at least not in suburban, middle-class American life, but that just makes it all the more interesting I guess. Still, when it comes to looking at light vs. dark, "Millennium" is much more intimate with the dark. While it's not shocking the way it once was, "Millennium" still proves to be easily the darkest show I've ever seen on network television or non-premium cable. Though we don't get to see most of it it in much detail, we've got plenty of bad stuff: eyes and mouths are shown shut while the victims are still alive; families are slaughtered while the children are forced to watch; clergyman are burned and tortured alive; teens forced to drink the blood of others; organs are stolen from still-conscious victims etc. And that's just a small taste of the unremitting grisliness of the show.

Lance Henriksen's performance as Frank Black is the key to "Millennium". Henriksen doesn't seem to have a whole lot of range, but what he does he does well, and this show contains some of the best work I've seen of his. He has to walk a thin line, since Frank is a quiet, largely humorless and cold figure, but Henriksen still imbues him with a certain amount of life, and never makes him seem bored or indifferent. He isn't dull, but intense and thoughtful Megan Gallagher is Frank's wife Catherine, and she's not as good, though still adequate. Her relative weakness is probably more a fault of how her character was written than how she was performed, but it's a concern either way. She's just a bit of a drag and a worry wort, frankly. I'm not sure what Frank sees in her, honestly, though it may have something to do with her being 20 years younger than him. (Way to go Frank! Put those psychic profiling powers to good use!) Still, even if I don't especially care about her as a character, I buy that Frank does, and that's good enough. The other recurring characters are mostly cops, of sorts, and most of them don't make too strong of an impression other than Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts, Frank's major contact in the Millennium group. He's not as prominent this season as he'd become, but he O'Quinn still gives nuanced, sympathetic performances which adds a bit more life to the show.

Truth be told, I have a hard time coming up with specific standout episodes. They are all pretty similar, for the most part. And no, not every episode deals with a crazed killer of some sort, but most of them do. The "Pilot" is still particularly effective, with plenty of nasty ideas, though it is perhaps a bit too obviously derivative of "Seven", even as this show goes. I also especially like "The Wild and the Innocent", one of the more unique, episodes, involving a young couples murderous trek across the south in search of their stolen child, and "Lamentation", an episode which initially looks like a typical "Silence of the Lambs" knockoff, but which moves in unexpected directions and helps bolster the supernatural angle of the show which steadily comes into greater play as the season progresses. On the plus side, part of the reason why there aren't many particular standouts in my book is because there are no obvious dud episodes either.

On the downside, "Millennium" doesn't maintain this quality forever. Season 2 sees Carter cease to be much involved, and the show moves in a less bleak, more conventionally "X-Files"-esque direction with some rather bizarre plot developments. It's far from bad, and perhaps this formula would wear thin after a while, but season 2 is still not as good as the first. Still, this is what we've got, and it's more than good enough. Hell, it's pretty surprising that they were able to keep it this unrelenting morbid for as long as they did, so we should consider ourselves lucky to have this much. Anyway, it you're a fan of pitch-black, horror themed entertainment, you'd be pretty damn stupid not to check out "Millennium"

One of the best in its genre!.......2007-06-02

Having been a longtime fan of the ground-breaking series The X-Files, it was only natural that I watched another of Chris Carter's shows, Milennium. The show centers around Frank Black [played consummately by Lance Henricksen, who had supporting roles in movies like Aliens]a former FBI agent who leaves the bureau to spend more time with his young family, comprising his wife Catherine [Megan Gallagher] and his young daughter Jordan [Brittany Tiplady]. They move to Seattle but a peaceful existence is made difficult by Frank's talents in solving serious crimes, often involving serial killers and even otherworldly phenomena. He finds himself drawn into helping the secretive Millenium group, comprising former officers and federal agents. Terry O'Quinn plays Peter Watts, Frank's main link to the group. The show is really dark and each episode provides viewers a glimpse into the dark recesses of the human soul, and brings the fight between the forces of good and evil to play...the season ends with Frank's wife being kidnapped by a guy who had been stalking Frank's family but whose identity remains unknown. It is a truly gripping series!

Too heavy.......2007-05-17

Well, the movie indeed made me feel but feel sick. Don't take me wrong - this is a very good piece of work, great acting, music, atmosphere but it's just too heavy for my taste. Well maybe I shouldn't have watched it every night... If CSI and other standard criminal series are too light-hearted for you and you crave for gore not only physical but deeply psychological this one will be just it. For me there's too much suffering and problems in the real world to watch this series as "entertainment". It's just too real and horrifying.

Good beginning..........2007-05-14

Good beginning series. It sets the tone (very dark) early and sets up teh characters well. Unfortrunatley the series just meanders mostly through unconnected episodes for far too long and only comes back on track right at the end.

Good Partner to the X-files.......2007-05-09

I never watched a single episode of Millennium while it was on TV but recently finished my collection of The X-Files and was looking for more Chris Carter, so I picked up the 1st season of Millennium. It did not blow me away at first, but I was certainly intrigued. As I watched I found that I did enjoy this series, though not quite as much as the X-Files. The reason for the 3-star rating is mainly because while I enjoy the one-off, serial killer of the week, format, I am a big fan of mythology arcs. If this season had focused a bit more on mythology it would have earned another star. That said, the few episodes that were hinting at an underlying, connected story we among my favorites, and the episodes leading up to the finale were quite good. I have season 2 ready to go and am excited to check it out, espeically since I have heard that it is more focused on the mythology of the Millennium Group. If you like Chris Carter or the X-Files, give this show a shot.

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