MovieChat Forums > Millennium (1996) Discussion > How Ungrateful!

How Ungrateful!

posted 16 years ago by So_In_Love
7 replies | jump to latest

Ok, I'm going back to the finale of Season 1 when Cathrine was kidnapped.

Still, I have no reason to understand why she separated from Frank after he killed the stalker/kidnapper. I mean, what was Frankie to do? The kidnapper attacked Frank and tried to kill him as well as Cathrine!

I would be actually touched if I was kidnapped and my husband risked his life to come to my rescue when no one else would do anything. That is "real love" there!

Hell, if I were Frank in that situation, I would have done that for my wife, killing the man that stalked my family, drugged and kidnapped my wife in an airport, and tried to kill the both of us.

Cathrine sure was one ungrateful jerk! LOL!

Hell, had Lara Means not gone wacko, I'd sure have like to see them together. Come on, you all cannot deny the chemistry that oozed from your television screens! She wanted Frank and she wanted him bad! LOL

Always an active duty Jr. American Gladiator!

[–] jpoo 16 years ago

Funny, I just watched that episode a few weeks ago and was kind of thinking the same thing. I wasn't totally clear on why they separated. The only thing I can come up with is that Frank was so violent when he attacked and killed the kidnapper ... it's like he went mad and psychotic on him. It's kind of confirmed in "The Curse of Frank Black", where the ghost talks to him about being damned and says something like "the way you gutted that guy who took your wife, you're just about set to come here ..."

So I don't know, it's like Frank almost lost himself when he attacked the kidnapper. Maybe Catherine could put up with his work because he always managed to not lose himself in it, stay sane and calm in spite of all of it. And now he had snapped, even temporarily. It wasn't very well explained, but that's kind of par for the course with Millennium.

Another weird thing too ... they separated, but it did not seem like they were doing anything to work through it. There was no attempt at therapy, counseling, anything. It's almost like they were waiting for everything to fix itself, or for things to suddenly go back to the way they were.

JP

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cherubim1 16 years ago

Frank became unhinged when he killed the Polaroid Man. His mental breakdown and protective instinct forced him into circumstances which he had no control over. Catherine could see that Frank was changing because of the Group - they were exploiting him for their own purpose and that was something Catherine could not accept or deal with.

[–] akammrath 15 years ago

Frank didn't strike me as particularly 'unhinged' at that point. No one else was doing anything, he knew where his wife was and he was the only one who would/could save her, so he did. Stabbing a guy who's actively and energetically trying to kill you and will most likely kill your wife as soon as he's done killing you doesn't seem especially crazy or over the top.
I also don't see Frank 'changing' because of the group. All through season 2 he has a very healthy skepticism about their motives and purpose. As for using his gift to solve horrible crimes, I don't think that is because of Millenium so much as to protect his family in the broader sense by making the world a safer place. That's fundamental to his character.
Here are the things that bother me about Catherine's attitude in the second season.
They make a point that Millenium didn't want Frank to rescue Catherine from polaroid man. So by doing that he was going directly against Millenium, not slavishly going along with them. (Granted Catherine may not have realized this.)
Frank leaves because Catherine says she needs to be apart from him for a while. That makes it really strange that in almost all of the episodes after that she's accusing him of keeping the family apart. Related to this, I don't quite understand why she thinks Millenium is trying to isolate him from his family.
The way she behaves about Jordan's gift. Sure. Traumatize your little girl by telling her she's hallucinating. That'll make her stop seeing visions. (Though I do understand why it would freak her out.)
Frank worries about everyone. It seems like one of the reasons he sticks with Millenium as long as he does is because an organization like that offers a chance to help in a big way rather than a small way--if helping is really what it's about. He had to be sure before completely turning his back on it. Also because by staying in he had a better chance of finding out if it was something he ought to fight against or merely leave alone. Nothing like this even seems to occur to Catherine. She has so little faith in Frank that she never even sits down and asks calmly why he hasn't ditched the group. She always gets confrontational about it.
I understand that protecting Jordan is her first priority, and especially after Bletcher getting killed in their house and her getting kidnapped that it's really brought home to her that she and Jordan are going to be in danger because of Frank and his gift. But if Frank continues in law-enforcement of any kind, she and Jordan will continue to be in danger because they're known as his wife and daughter, even if they are separated. She would at least have to move out of town for 'separation' to be any kind of protection. The gesture probably makes her feel better, but she's a psychologist, for crying out loud, and oughta be able to see what she's doing.

Okay, this has turned into a long, jumbled post. Sorry about that. I was hoping it'd be easier to define what bugged me about her. Cuz really about all I can think everytime she opens her mouth in the second season is something along the lines of 'ungrateful/selfish/thoughtless b***h!' Unreasonable, maybe, but that's my gut reaction to her character.

[–] DingusStudley 15 years ago

I agree 100% with topic creator and meant to make a topic like this mayself, except I was going to say, "Catherine is SUCH a bitch!". Frank saves her life and waht does she do? She leaves him!

That said, if you think about it, it actually does make sense why she might leave, the writers on this show just explained it and handled it in the worst way possible haha. I have no idea why or how they botched this up so bad.

"Frank leaves because Catherine says she needs to be apart from him for a while. That makes it really strange that in almost all of the episodes after that she's accusing him of keeping the family apart."

It's made pretty clear that his "gift" and his job creates a tremendous strain on the relationship. Catherine knows this. I think that was the issue. Millenium group requires him to continue on working these horrible serial killer cases, using his gift, becoming more and more distant(at least that's her fear, which is understandable). Not to mention, as I'll get to, it requires him to keep secrets from her. It all around poses numerous problems to the family.

"The way she behaves about Jordan's gift. Sure. Traumatize your little girl by telling her she's hallucinating. That'll make her stop seeing visions. (Though I do understand why it would freak her out.) "

You're exaggerating quite a bit. When did she react this strongly towards Jordan's gift? Traumatizing her?

I think the main reason she leaves, at least as far as the show explains it(which as we know is not much), is that she was scared by Frank's reaction to the kidnapper. I'm pretty sure I remember episodes where he has convos with Catherine about the criminals he goes after, about what separates him from them. I think on some level Catherine is scared of Frank, I mean who wouldn't be, he's a damn creepy guy. Then she sees him go ape shat and disembowel a guy 3 feet away from her haha, it is somewhat understandable that she'd be a little freaked. This wouldn't justify leaving immediately though, at worst it'd simply put a strain on the relationship, something they'd have to work through.

The FAR more sensible reason, and I know this was touched on in one or two season 2 episodes, is that she was pissed that Frank and the group knew about the stalker, but hid it from her. That's the biggie right there I believe. During the whole "owl, rooster, etc." story arc(maybe some other season 2 episodes as well?) Frank is STILL withholding pretty important info from her, stuff that does involve her or at least the family. Given all that, it is perfectly understandable that she would split.

I guess her fear or dislike of what she saw in him when he was stabbing the kidnapper was what made her leave initially. And then the trust issues and Millinium group strife are what kept her away(and what led to her blaming HIM for keeping family apart).

Of course the problem is the show never makes ANY of this TOO clear. They throw some minor mentions and bits of dialog out there, but we never get a full on, "here is why I left, here is the problem" sitdown between Catherine and Frank. I don't think it would have mattered much if they had made the split a more gradual process. As I said before, it was clear his job put a strain on the relationship, if over time she became more and more fed up and then decided to leave, it'd be fine. We wouldn't even need some precise explanation, we have more than enough to go on when it comes to seeing that they are having difficulties.

What makes it bad is the suddenness of her departure. He saves her, brings her home, she IMMEDIATELY packs her bags. HUH??? It's just so weird and inexplicable. If they would have said right then, "you knew about the stalker but didn't tell me? how could you!!?!?", BOOM it all would have made sense. But they didn't. Instead, she goes on some nonsensical whine fest about how she saw a different side of him tonight, how he scared her or whatever. Phhhh, he was fighting for his life ya dumb bitch.

Bahh, I guess I ended up ranting massively too. Katherine is a pretty poorly written character. Being pissed that Frank saved her life is just mindblowingly absurd, and flatout stupid. The writers should have cut that crap out, and just focused on the group and the witholding of info from her. It's perfectly understandable how that could lead to a split.

[–] akammrath 15 years ago

I think you're right. It's more bad scripting than anything else that makes it hard to sympathize with Catherine's point of view and behavior.
I admit I'm really bad at analysing this stuff. I dislike her character in the second season, but have a really hard time defining why, since as pointed out there are some pretty good justifications for her behaviour.
And you're right. I was exaggerating a bit about her reaction to Jordan's gift. I think her trying to tell Jordan she's imagining this stuff bugs me more because I remember how upset I was as a kid when grownups would tell me I was making something up when it was actually true. Again, though, there's very good justification, cuz she feels she's lost Frank because of his gift and now Jordan's developing a similar gift, she's probably afraid of losing her too.

[–] alcibiades-3 15 years ago

There's a scene (I'm pretty sure it was in Gehenna) where Frank is taking a phone call about business; he has his back to Catherine and she looks subdued or worried, but the moment Frank turns round to her she puts on a smile. There were other times in season 1 where she showed that not only was she aware of the horrendous things that happen to people and how that affects them and their families, but also indicated how supportive she has been to Frank for a long time. The about-face that she does in The Beginning and the End seems to be out of character, because there was no signalling prior to that that she would react that way. She changed from being an understanding person because of her profession and her experience to someone who didn't even seem to be prepared to sit down and talk with Frank about her feelings or his. Maybe she was suffering PTSD and needed time for herself, but her comments were that they needed time and distance to see if they could get back together again, yet she should know that distance is the last thing they both needed. For the rest of season two, as it played out, it became pretty obvious that there was to be no possibility for a reconciliation, or indeed much talking things through in a constructive way.

My own personal take on this is that it's a case of a writer's prerogative to draw from his/her own personal feelings in crafting a dramatic point. There was an article written by Paula Vitaris, who wrote many for Fantastique, which included this (I cannot find it online, but I have had a copy saved here for a long time):

Morgan was also going through some personal changes. His marriage, which had been unhappy for a long time, finally failed, and he became embroiled in divorce and custody proceedings. Morgan's regrets about the divorce and loss of everyday contact with his children were reflected in his scripts, as far back as SPACE's "The Angriest Angel," which revealed that McQueen felt he had once been married, to the enraged James Horn, suffering the guilt of a custody battle in MILLENNIUM's "Dead Letters," to the tormented Ed Jerse of "Never Again," first seen signing divorce papers in court.

In the episode Dead Letters, James Horn's wife arrives at his office, with their son, when photographs of the crime scene are pinned up on the wall. She complains that she insisted their son never see photographs of that kind, yet she had arrived early, bringing her son to an office where such photographs were usually to be seen. That's a most unreasonable attitude on her part. The wife's first name was Cindy, the same as Morgan's ex-wife.

I have in the past wondered if the re-writing of Catherine into the non-supportive wife she became in season two was just a little too much of a case of real life intruding into the show. Whilst I like Lara, and Kristen Cloke does well in her portrayal, I do think the substitution of Lara for Catherine doesn't work the way I'd have liked to see. The one thing Frank needed was a touchstone, someone to keep him grounded. It might be dramatic to take that away from him, but it puts Frank in the position of having no-one he can go home to at the end of the day. That diminishes what the character was originally about because it takes away much of the reason why he went back to work.