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Just started the X-files Millennium ep (spoilers)

posted 13 years ago by DingusStudley
8 replies | jump to latest

Hope I don't regret this TOO much. More in an hour...

Not a bad ep. I used to have a fairly strong dislike of it, mainly because its tone and plot was sooooo unlike the show Millennium. I can forgive that now, as it IS an X Files episode, it's understandably going to go with the more outlandish, outright paranormal storyline.

My only complaint really, other then my still slight aversion to it being so heavily drenched in the supernatural, is that it seemed fairly pointless when it comes to its connection and significance as it relates to the Millennium show itself. I've heard a few people suggest that it offers a little bit more closure to things then what the Millennium finale left us with. I strongly disagree with that. It really brings nothing new to the table nor does it provide anything significant to the Millennium story.

The plot itself doesn't even involve the millennium group as a whole. It's just 4 former group members who came up with this bizarre plan to bring about the end of the world. We know the Group is a vast, shadowy organization, so the fact that just 4 guys made this attempt doesn't really say much for what the Group itself is up to.

Yes, the year 2000 comes and goes without the world ending, but i never felt like that was the end all outcome or point of the show. Scully herself mentions that 2001 technically is the start of the new millennium. The fact that 2000 comes and goes really doesn't provide any closure. Various members of the group still likely are planning things or believe the end is still near. Not to mention, the show was about something bigger then a mere doomsday prophecy, it merely used this as an interesting backdrop to explore the nature of evil, among a slew of other scary crap.

The only new thing is that Frank Black says he's trying to put the Group behind him and move on. Given what we know of the character and the Groups power and reach, even this hardly serves as genuine closure. It didn't for me at least.

As mere Millennium fan service, this ep is entertaining enough. It, as always, was awesome seeing Lance Henrikson deliver the goods as Frank Black. But i wouldn't give it any more cred or props then that. Anyone looking for something providing a significant amount more to the Millennium story or the character of Black, don't get your hopes up, you won't find it here. Perhaps that's for the best though, as i don't think anyone really wants X-Files attempting to deliver full on closure or revelation to this show.

Oh and on a note unrelated to the show Millennium, i didn't like the kiss. It's been over 6 seasons, it's become clear mulder and scullys relationship is NOT a romantic one and will never be that. It's more meaningful that their level of care and love for one another is NOT born out of any romantic relationship or feelings. The writers teasing viewers with something like this does nothing for me, and sorta annoys me a bit.

[–] SilentDues 13 years ago

My only complaint really, other then my still slight aversion to it being so heavily drenched in the supernatural, is that it seemed fairly pointless when it comes to its connection and significance as it relates to the Millennium show itself. I've heard a few people suggest that it offers a little bit more closure to things then what the Millennium finale left us with. I strongly disagree with that. It really brings nothing new to the table nor does it provide anything significant to the Millennium story.

You're right in that this crossover doesn't really offer so much closure to the Millennium series, given many loose threads were left over, the biggest thing unexplored is we don't know what happened with Peter and Emma's whereabouts are unknown. I think the best way to look at it is as a coda/wink to the Black characters, as Frank is finally able to seemingly stop running from the Group while his obsession over them and the coming year is behind him, able to live a normal life with his daughter. All that's really delved into about the Group is they disbanded six months prior (thus one month after the series finale) while we see at least one more schism, apparently separate from the Owls and Roosters, with an obsession to end the world and they are stopped.

So yeah, I just look at is as aa coda/wink, a little extra something for Frank and Jordan. Alive or dead, I like to think Peter had valid enough closure by the end of the third season that an appearance by him wasn't necessary, while I honestly don't give a crap about Emma after her betrayal. Any primary aftermath with the Group itself, the Legion demons, and/or any uncaught killers like Avatar, I think that would be best explored in a movie continuation. Well, at least we're getting a book!

"Just tell the minister, I'm gonna be a few minutes late". *Cue John Williams' Superman theme*

[–] DingusStudley 13 years ago

Been a longgg time since i watched the Millennium finale, but i'm pretty positive i remember peter died.

[–] SilentDues 13 years ago

It was left a bit vague, we weren't truly shown if that bloodied pair of legs by his desk was in fact Peter's or someone he killed in self defense, so nobody can say for fact what his fate was.

"Just tell the minister, I'm gonna be a few minutes late". *Cue John Williams' Superman theme*

[–] Sanpaco13 13 years ago

I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I am going to try and do this review in two parts. One part as a fan of the show Millennium, and the other part as a fan of The X-Files.

As far as I understand from interviews with Chris Carter, this episode was originally supposed to be an homage to Frank Black and the fans of Millennium who were left at the end of Season 3 with an unresolved pseudo-cliffhanger pseudo-ending without any real closure to the series. That's what it was supposed to be. But then Chris Carter gave the assignment of writing and directing to people who were not involved with Millennium and who hadn't even really seen the show and who decided to make the show about zombies attacking on New Year's Eve 2000. Frank Black is hardly even in the episode let alone his daughter Jordan. On a defensive note to anyone who might be upset about Frank being in a mental institution, this is something that is hardly uncharacteristic for Frank. He was in an institution before Season 1 of Millennium we know and then between Seasons 2 and 3 he also went through a "recuperation" period after his wife's death via the chicken plague that was let loose by Executive Producers Morgan and Wong as a goodbye note. Anyway, so as an episode that was supposed to provide some kind of closure and pay homage to the show Millennium, this episode completely misses the mark and would receive a rating of probably a 4 or 5 from me out of 10.

Now hold on just a second. As an episode of The X-Files, ignoring all the homage to Millennium stuff, the episode is actually quite entertaining. The teaser is one of the better teasers with the creepy necromancer chanting scriptures as he gets naked with a corpse. Flashbacks to "Irresistible" anyone? It is the only zombie episode (at least that I can think of at the moment) and it is the first official on screen kiss of Mulder and Scully. The guest star acting by both Lance Henriksen as Frank Black and Holmes Osborne as Mark Johnson the Necromancer is superb. Frank Black is the character Lance Henriksen was born to play and no matter what I see him in he will be Frank Black. This is the first thing I had seen Holmes Osborn in but I have since seen him in other shows but I always think of him as the necromancer. The most notable other role for him in my mind was as Donnie Darko's father which he also did a wonderful job as. With just these two roles he has left an impression enough on me that if I were to ever make a movie, I would write a character for him. The zombie portion of the episode is admittedly a little weak but the end of the world cult story works well. As an X-File episode I would probably give a rating of 8 or 9 out of 10.

That being said, I have to average out the ratings for each therefore the episode gets a 6 out of 10.

"There is no pizza god." - Hal

[–] DingusStudley 13 years ago

"who decided to make the show about zombies attacking on New Year's Eve 2000. "

I didn't get the feeling that anybody was trying to say what the entire show of Millennium was about. This X-Files episode felt just like a one off event in the Millennium universe to me, not the be all end all, this is what it was allll about, type of deal.

I think we should all be thankful that it didn't provide any closure, given the supernatural elements driving the story are pure X-Files rather then Millennium.

"On a defensive note to anyone who might be upset about Frank being in a mental institution, this is something that is hardly uncharacteristic for Frank"

I def agree with this.

[–] Sanpaco13 13 years ago

I didn't get the feeling that anybody was trying to say what the entire show of Millennium was about. This X-Files episode felt just like a one off event in the Millennium universe to me, not the be all end all, this is what it was allll about, type of deal.

I think we should all be thankful that it didn't provide any closure, given the supernatural elements driving the story are pure X-Files rather then Millennium.

However this is essentially what Chris Carter himself has said about the episode, at least from my perception. I believe he talks about it either in the season 7 special features or on the Millennium special features DVD set which includes the episode.

"There is no pizza god." - Hal

[–] DingusStudley 13 years ago

What he says his intention was and how the ep actually plays out are 2 different things. I couldn't care less if zombies are in fact what he truly fully desired for Millennium to all boil down to, which of course is laughably dumb. The episode never feels like it's establishing that, it's an ep where what, 4 former Millennium members, concoct this plan to use zombies to bring about the end of the world. As immense as the group is/was, and we get a story focusing on just 4 former members. That hardly spells, "this is what it's allllllll about!" to me.

Same goes for any desire he had for it to provide any significant closure. It flat out doesn't.

[–] Sanpaco13 13 years ago

I understand what YOU are saying and that is perfectly fine with you having an alternate perception of the episode, but I'm also trying to show you why my perception is perfectly valid as well and comes from more than just my baseless assumptions.

You said "I didn't get the feeling that anybody was trying to say what the entire show of Millennium was about." responding to my comment about "Chris Carter gave the assignment of writing and directing to people who were not involved with Millennium and who hadn't even really seen the show and who decided to make the show about zombies attacking on New Year's Eve 2000." Whether you "got the feeling" or not, my point and argument is that Chris Carter with his own words said in an interview I watched that the episode was intended to provide closure to Millennium fans and tie off loose ends, but that the episode ultimately ended up being something completely different from that. Here are Lance Henriksen's comments about the episode.

"Chris Carter called me and said he wanted to tie up all the Millennium loose ends in The X-Files, and would I do it? And I said great, send me the script. [...] And then it came through… and it’s about zombies! I was like, how is this any kind of ending to Millennium?! It had nothing to do with anything. It’s a reasonable X-File but it’s not Millennium." - Lance Henriksen

So from that and my own perception based on interviews of those involved, it seemed to me like Chris wanted something with more closure but left it up to the writers to decide. Vince Gilligan and John Shiban then took over and did the best they could. They had no experience writing for Millennium, so they wrote a very good episode of X-Files. In THEY'RE interviews they have said as much.

"We realized that the story needed to be an X-File and that any Millennium ending we came up with had to come second. We needed to do what we always do, which is to follow Mulder and Scully through their case." - John Shiban

"It wasn't about the plot as much as getting [Mulder and Black] down in the basement of this creepy old house with these zombies climbing up out of the ground, and having to [shoot them] in the head." - Vince Gilligan

To conclude I'll summarize what my original post says. As a Millennium episode this was awful, as an X-Files episode it was great. Let's read Lance's quote again. He was told by Chris Carter that the episode was "to tie up all the Millennium loose ends in The X-Files". But when Lance got the script he reacts, "I was like, how is this any kind of ending to Millennium?! It had nothing to do with anything. It’s a reasonable X-File but it’s not Millennium." That's ALL I'm trying to say. I had the exact same experience as Lance upon seeing the episode. Not Millennium at all but a decent X-File.

"There is no pizza god." - Hal