MILLENNIUM-SEASON THREE-THE INNOCENTS, EXEGESIS, TEOTWAWKI

 

MILLENNIUM-SEASON THREE-THE INNOCENTS, EXEGESIS, TEOTWAWKI

 

 


 












































46   1      "The Innocents"       Thomas J. Wright     Michael Duggan        October 2, 1998       3ABC01        5.17[17][nb 1]

Frank Black teams up with an intuitive FBI agent named Emma Hollis to probe a plane crash linked to the spread of a deadly plague.

 

 

No wonder the first FINAL DESTINATION film (and all the others, which are great horror movies) seemed so familiar. Australia had a 1981 slow horror movie called THE SURVIVOR which is about a haunted man who survived a plane crash. THEN, in 1984 a movie called SOLE SURVIVOR came out about a girl who survived a plane crash and is haunted by something that kills or wants to kill her. THEN, a mini series (for TV) had SOLE SURVIVOR in 2000 about a man who survived and is helping a young girl that also survived the plane crash as forces are out to kill her. WTF? ALL of these are very well done. But really? Morgan and Wong stole these ideas from those movies for the first FINAL.

 

So here we have the same plot AGAIN (but before Morgan and Wong’s script for FINAL) and…somehow, for me anyway and maybe only me (no one else seems to like this two parter), it works.

 

LOVE Emma from the start. I have the feeling if they introduced Emma from season one’s first episode, the show would have been even better than it was and more stable. She’s warm, caring, and relatable. Pity they later make her a dupe for the MILLENNIUM GROUP but even that’s shaking things up.

 

I do have a few questions though: the two Millennium men? Are they taken into custody? Are they still down there? Did Peter get them out? And the assassin who works for Millennium Group, is he let off the hook and gets away, too?

 

While on the idea of Peter, his resurfacing in the second episode to this is totally shocking. He’s a shadowy, shady menace here. We never find out what happened when he went to get Lara or why Frank is now so upset with him. Does Frank know something we not privy to? Did Peter cooperate with the Group?

 

A fan on FB suggested this but as far as I know we never see this or haven’t yet: The Millennium Group grabbed him and presumably put him through some "conditioning" to make him loyal again.

 

 There is also this 1964 movie to consider: a lot of the imagery and especially the focus on the dead children comes from here: Fate Is the Hunter (film) - Wikipedia

 

47   2      "Exegesis"   Ralph Hemecker     Chip Johannessen     October 9, 1998       3ABC02        4.47[18]

The probe of an aircraft disaster leads Frank and partner Emma Hollis to an extraordinarily gifted psychic who is on the run from the menacing Millennium Group.

 

Exciting stuff really. Lots of action but not sure about the resolution and climatic battle. The assassin could have and should have shot Emma but didn’t and failed to stop Frank and the old woman from getting up and out; Emma and the younger woman also escape. Did Peter do away with the assassin and the two men from the MILL group? Is he on their side? He seems happy the four got away. What’s happening?

 

Either way I like this episode. The two parter is not without faults and not the best of episodes but not the worst. How does Frank know definitely the Group caused the viral outbreak? Now less people have died from it than previously reported at the end of last season’s mess?

 

the base the women fled to reminded me of the Montauk Project base. It looks almost the same.

 

Exegesis - Wikipedia

 

 

 

48   3      "TEOTWAWKI"  Thomas J. Wright     Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz  October 16, 1998    3ABC03        4.77[19]

An investigation of a deadly shooting spree at a high school is mysteriously tied to a powerful group of citizens setting its own agenda for the year 2000.

 

Robert Wisedon strikes again but he’s better here. At first, I thought the message: concerns about the end of the world and the Y2K bug thing were interesting and took a turn when the show seemed to be claiming that it’s not worth killing your own sons over or making them kill others over but then Frank goes and reads that book the other kid Carlton left for the girl he liked (who died in the school gym shooting).

 

That’s only the books POV but Frank, who seemed to be implying that it’s not worth saving a world if you have to kill your own children to do so, reads the opposite: that those who survive will have to have less a conscience and more grit to survive. It’s an awful message vs the warmer message that if we all go, we should all go together, weak and strong, because a world where you have to do that to survive is not worth surviving in.

 

I DO appreciate this for presenting both sides of this issue but to finish on that downbeat ending. Eeek.

 

Nice to see Giebelhouse back and alive! Not much to say between Frank Giebs though so it feels like a wasted opportunity. He will only appear one more time. Jordan seems more self aware in these three episodes.

 

TEOTWAWKI is an acronym for "The end of the world as we know it".

 

 

So, the trio of episodes that start off season three do so well, if not perfect. We meet Andy, the new boss of Frank who is down to earth and tries to keep Frank out of Frank’s own head and grounded. We meet Barry who is smarmy  antagonist to both Frank and Emma played well by Peter. And we find out the creepy Peter Watts is still alive and somewhat stalking Jordan AND Frank. How long before he gets to Emma?

 

We also meet Emma who is played wonderfully by Clea Scott, perhaps the warmest actress to grace MILLENNIUM ever.

 

 Millennium – TEOTWAWKI (Review) | the m0vie blog

 

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