Millenium - Season 3 DVD Review:

After tragically losing his wife to a mysterious plague, Frank Black (Henriksen) tries to put his life back together by throwing himself back into work for the FBI…

The Innocents
The Marburg virus has apparently run its course. Several months after the death of his wife and a nervous breakdown, Frank rejoins the FBI and investigates a plane crash with a new partner.

Exegesis
Frank and Emma investigate a family of identical women who are apparently being killed off.

TEOTWAWKI
Frank and Emma investigate a survivalist group worried about the Y2K bug.

Closure
Emma is haunted by memories of the death of sister while she and Frank hunt a spree killer.

...Thirteen Years Later

Frank and Emma investigate murders on the set of a movie based on one of Frank's former cases.

Skull And Bones
Frank and Emma investigate a mass grave that may have links to the Millennium Group.

Through A Glass, Darkly
The disappearance of a child leads a town to accuse a recently released sex offender who may or may not be guilty. Frank and Emma arrive to determine the truth.

Human Essence
Emma tries to help her drug addicted sister and learns that local addicts are exhibiting strange mutations linked to tainted heroin.

Omerta
On Christmas, Frank and Jordan go one vacation in Vermont. Unexpectedly, they get involved with a supposedly dead Mafia hitman who appears to be living in the woods with a number of mysterious women.

Borrowed Time
Frank and Emma investigate a number of apparent drownings that occurred on dry land.

Collateral Damage
Peter's daughter is kidnapped by a Gulf War veteran who hopes to force the Millennium Group into admitting their crimes. Frank and Emma attempt to help, but Peter seems determined not to betray the secrets of the Group.

The Sound Of Snow
Frank receives a mysterious cassette tape filled with white noise and a visit from beyond the grave.

Antipas
Lucy Butler returns to torment Frank. This time she is a nanny for a powerful Wisconsin politician.

Matryoshka
Frank and Emma investigate the suicide of a former FBI agent and discover links between the FBI, the Millennium Group, and the Los Alamos nuclear research centre.

Forcing The End

A fundamentalist Jewish sect abducts a pregnant woman hoping to raise a pure child for the priesthood and force the coming of the Messiah.

Saturn Dreaming Of Mercury
When a new family moves into town, Jordan is filled with the uneasy knowledge that the devil is near.

Darwin's Eye
Frank and Emma attempt to locate a girl who escapes from a mental institution while Emma's father grows ill.

Bardo Thodol
Emma and Frank investigate the mysterious biological research conducted by a former Millennium Group member who is dying from a mysterious disease.

Seven And One
Frank receives a series of Polaroid photographs showing the face of a drowning victim. The face is his own.

Nostalgia
Frank and Emma investigate a murder in a small town where Emma spent part of her youth.

Via Dolorosa
Frank investigates a series of murders that replicate a serial killer case from his past while Emma moves closer to the Millennium Group.

Goodbye To All That
Frank is held responsible for a man's death while Emma joins with the Millennium Group.

Millennium (The X-Files Cross-over)

As the year 2000 draws closer, the agents are up against a man from the Millennium Group who believes that he can bring about the end of the world on the 31st of December if he resurrects 4 former members from the dead. To gain more insight into the group and its practices, Mulder and Scully enlist criminal profiler Frank Black to assist them in the investigation.

After a dramatic end to the second season, a devastated Frank Black tries to cope without his beloved Catherine and put his life back together in the third and final series of Millennium.

Chris Carter’s second most success show loses faith with the network and its battle with cancellation by the end of its third run but this is still a fine season for the under appreciated show. After hovering on the bubble for most of the second year, the third run throws Frank Black back into the FBI but he is still drawn to the darkness that has plagued his career for its entirety. Even with the changes, the third season of Carter’s extremely dark and gritty show keeps to the origins that made it so enthralling in the first place.

Moving away from the Millennium group and its agenda for most of the season, the group is still the intriguing threat that ran so rampantly through the first two runs of the show. The ticking clock that was pulling the show to its inevitable conclusion is still there but just doesn’t have the same threat as it did in the earlier seasons. The show really transforms into a darker, more realistic version of The X-Files and loses that initial connection with the millennium that had served it so well.

Frank Black is arguably now an even more complex character. Catherine was the person that pulled him back into reality as he became more and more engulfed by the evil around him. Without her he sets out on a path of self-destruction with his only shining light in his life been his daughter Jordan. Henriksen responds to this acting challenge superbly creating even more depth to an already complex character. Joining him this season is Klea Scott as Special Agent Emma Hollis, Frank’s rookie partner who discovers that the world that Frank inhabits is more disturbing than anything she could have ever imagined. It is always hard for a new actor/actress to join an established show but Scott does an excellent job creating a character that you never quite trust but are instantly drawn to.

The third season saw series creator Chris Carter take more of a hold on the show and this led to a return to the darkness and serial killer element that had drawn you to the series in the first place. The second season had seen the show become more obsessed with the Millennium Group, the plague and the group’s agenda than what the show had become know for in the first season, looking at the evil of man. Carter brought this back and the Millennium again became the show he set out to make. This wasn’t enough save the series however.

In their infinite wisdom, the network cancelled the show just as it was starting to regain its stride. With many stories still to be told and the lack of conclusion to the Millennium saga, Chris Carter and his team tried to clear up many of the hanging storylines in a one-off X-Files episode entitled “Millennium”. While this did allow fans to find out what happened to Frank Black, it wasn’t the conclusion that the fans would have hoped for leaving Millennium as another great show that wasn’t truly allowed to finish.

Millennium was an example of how television should be made and should be regarded as one of the best investigative dramas to ever grace the small screen. The third season captured many of the aspects that drew viewers into the show in the first place by returning to showing the evils of man that made the programme so captivating in the first place. As the clock finally stopped ticking on the show, we should remember Millennium for the great characters and thrilling storylines that gripped you from the start. Frank Black will be sadly missed.

Season Star Rating = * * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in full frame 4:3 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack, the transfer is very good. The picture quality is extremely sharp throughout and it has to be so it can convey the dark world that Frank Black inhabits. The sound quality is good, emphasising the dialogue and Mark Snow’s haunting theme tune.

BONUS FEATURES

‘The Innocents’ audio commentary by Lance Henriksen and Klea Scott
Five years after making the episode the stars of season three of Millennium get together for a chatty and informative commentary track. The pair discusses the new direction of the show and reveal how they brought Frank Black back after the traumatic end to the second season. They then talk about what it was like working on the show and what it was like for Klea Scott to join an established cast and crew. This is a good commentary from the two stars who look back fondly at their time on the show.

End Game: The Making of Millennium (38.12 mins)

Series creator Chris Carter, writer/producer Michael Perry, co-executive producer John Kousakis, cinematographer Robert McLachlan, director Thomas J. Wright, co-producer Ken Horton, writer/producer Chip Johannessen, composer Mark Snow, production designer Mark Freeborn, writer/producer Frank Spotniz and stars Lance Henriksen and Klea Scott talk about season three of Millennium. The cast and crew discuss the changes made to the show after the second season that accompanied Chris Carter’s return as show runner. He highlights his desire to return to the original premise of the show and to include more grizzly storylines that look into the darkness of man. Klea Scott reveals how she was cast and that she was not the network’s ideal choice. The assembled group then highlight some of their favourite episodes from the season including ‘The Innocents’, ‘…Thirteen Years Later’, ‘Skull & Bones’, ‘Omerta’, “Borrowed Time’ and ‘Goodbye to all that’ and then reveal their reasons as to why they think the show was cancelled. This is an interesting documentary that answers many of the questions raised by the series and its cancellation.

Between the lines (12.41 mins)

The Millennium Group of the series was originally based upon a real group of ex-law enforcement professional called The Academy Group (They had no evil or apocalyptic intentions however). Group members Peter A. Smerick and Roger L. Depue talk about and demonstrate how handwriting, text analysis and e-mail tracking are successfully used by the group in their investigations.

Inside Look (6.47 mins)

Director/Producer John Cassar takes you behind the scenes of episodes 5 and 6 of season 3 of the hit show 24.

Trailers

Previews of Alien vs. Predator and Godsend

OVERALL

Fox has done another splendid job in bringing a classic series to DVD. The presentation of the episodes is first rate and the bonus features are of a very high calibre. The inclusion of the X-Files episode “Millennium” is very welcome edition to the box set as it adds some conclusion to a series that ended far too early. This is a must buy for fans and a good opportunity for people who haven’t seen the show to discover what they missed out on.

DVD Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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