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'Millennium' reference in 'Paranormal State'?

posted 15 years ago by Alan Smithee
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When my wife and I need to put our brains to sleep at the end of the day we go looking for mindless entertainment with just a hint of titilation.

The myriad of Blair-Witch-Project-'reality'-ghost-hunt shows tend to fit the bill.

Our favorite is 'Paranormal State' which purports to be about a group of college students who try to help people who are being haunted. It divirges from other ghost-shows I have seen by actually attempting to have some pretense of a story and even season or multi-season arcs of repeating locations/ghosts.

At some point it dawned on me, to use the idiom of Detective Bob Giebelhouse, that the whole thing seemed vaguely "millenniumistic." The show makes a big deal about demons and occult knowledge/religion and particularly how the group's leader (who happens to have a deep, sonorous voice) is plagued by evil spirits. The atmospheric sound effects and low-key music are very much like Millennium (although with decidedly less budget), plus the group keeps bringing in consulting investigators, psychics and other technicians. If Peter Watts delivered a briefing or Lara Means showed up saying "here's my thing" I would not be surprised at all.

Like many Millennium episodes, Paranormal State's protagonists often find themselves wrestling with the concept of evil and where it comes from, and how to protect homes and families from that evil.

With all this going in the peepers and ending up in the neurobiology, I was intrigued to see a very familiar-looking ouroboros crop up tacked over a calendar in a client's house (Seas. 3 Ep. 12 "The Soul Collector" at about 08:40; you can find it at this link http://www.hulu.com/watch/143103/paranormal-state-the-soul-collector).

It is not identical to the Millennium ouroboros, but who wants to get sued by Fox? I can't help but feel that it is an inside joke, a way for the makers of Paranormal State to pay a little homage to Millennium.

My wife has never seen Millennium, and after I told her about it (following the ouroboros spotting) she was interested & I dug out my old dvd's.

Guess what, so far (in season one) she likes it! My wife normally can't stand the movies and t.v. shows I like, and I was sure Millennium would be way too dark for her, but she really likes Frank Black and the depth of the show.

EDIT: I just figured the ouroboros in that Paranormal State ep. out- it is actually the cover art for an album called "Snakes and Arrows" from the band "Rush." The story of how they came by their ouroboros is here: http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/tourbook-snakes-and-arrows.php (towards the middle of the page. No Millennium connection mentioned.

I still think there may be more than coincidence that the ouroboros reared its head. Time to ask Peter what is really going on.

[–] sisterdebmac 15 years ago

Your wife may enjoy Season 2 better than Season 1, like me.

I love Paranormal State. I can't prove it, but based on a couple of the producers being named Auerbach, I have a suspicion that the show may be based on the paranormal adventures of Loyd Auerbach. He was progeny to a showbiz family, but he ended up a paranormal researcher. He investigated the case that the film The Entity is based on. Based on having read Loyd's book on the subject, I think that Ryan is playing a riff on him. Ryan Buell himself may really be who he claims to be, but I think he and the others were "cast" to fit certain paradigms. I also love Chip Coffey and Michelle Bellinger. They're very entertaining. I don't think it's all fake, but it is very stagey. Doesn't matter, I still love it.
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[–] Alan Smithee 15 years ago

Season 2 is my favorite, too.

I've come to see Millennium as a trilogy. In season 1 the Devil realizes Frank exists and starts making offers. In season 2, especially after the "Curse of Frank Black" the Devil does not seem to know what to do with Frank, and season 3 is an all-out war between the Devil & Mr. Black.

That is the only unifying arc (other than Frank's family story) I can really see in all three seasons. One man's struggle with evil incarnate. Like most wars, battle lines and allegiances shift frequently.

You speak of the "stagey" nature of Paranormal State... like I said in my first post, that is what I like about it, that there is more going on than just a normal ghost-hunt show.

Just as in seasons one and three the hint of the paranormal kept Millennium from being a standard cop show (of course, in season two Millennium blew any genre definition out of the water).

[–] sisterdebmac 15 years ago

I like that. Very well said.
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