This Guide is for the television show "Millennium".
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In a frame? Break Out!
Written By: Steve Mount
Source: Episode Viewing, Various Web sightings (esp.
The Television
Program Episode Guide.
Episode order shown is viewing order.
Program Note: Season 3 was Millennium's last. Old episodes are broadcast on US cable on FX.
Key terms and characters
The Pilot
Frank Black, his wife Catherine, and their daughter Jordan move to Seattle.
When Frank reads of the murder of a peep show dancer, he goes to the Seattle PD
to meet with Bob Bletcher - Frank used to work Seattle Homicide with Bletcher
before joining with the FBI. Frank has insight on the case - he has the
ability to place himself in the mind of these killers. When another victim is
found, Frank helps leads them to a buried coffin marked with the word Peste.
Peter Watts, of the Millennium Group, whom Frank is consulting for, examines
the dancer's body and finds a needle prick. Frank analyzes a video tape from
the peep show and is able to pick out the words the killer spoke as he watched
the dancer - verses from Yeats, the Bible, Nostradamus. He believes he is
fulfilling prophecy. Jordan falls and is hospitalized - as the nurse draws
blood, he realizes the killer is testing the victims' blood. A search of all
labs finds that the blood was tested by a lab the police use. Frank finds the
killer in the police pathology lab. As he aims to stab Frank, Bletcher shoots
him. His dying words are "You can't stop it." Frank tells Bletch that he left
the FBI when he got Polaroid photos in the mail of his family - a killer he'd
put away for life earlier had had this M.O. He felt he could not protect them
in D.C., and quit, then joined with the Millennium Group. He gets a packet of
Polaroids in the mail of Jordan and Catherine in Seattle.
Gehenna
When human ashes are found in a San Francisco public garden, Watts calls
for Frank. Analysis shows that there are several bodies in the ashes, with a
lone ear surviving. The ear is tested and found to have LSD and dry cleaning
chemicals in it. Watts and Frank are joined by two other members of the Group.
One, Mike Atkins, helped Frank overcome his morose about the Polaroids and
introduced him to the Group. They go to an old abandoned warehouse that was
the site of a dry cleaning chemical spill. They find several teeth that lead
them to a missing person - the young man had joined a cult. Frank returns to
the warehouse later, and sees another young man dropped off there. He takes
him into custody - high on LSD, he dies, but not until after telling Frank a
little about the cult; he mentions Gehenna, a Hebrew word for Hell. Frank goes
home, and does some research on Gehenna, and finds an international chemical
company with that name, with a plant in San Francisco. He tells Atkins, who
goes to the plant and finds ingredients for Sarin gas and weapons. He also
finds an industrial microwave oven - he is pushed in and exposed, but the
police rush in and barely save him. The leader of the cult, who believe the
calendar to be slightly off, and 1998 to be the year of Armageddon, was
stocking up for the Apocalypse. Frank buys Jordan a puppy and installs
security lights. Catherine gets a job as a social worker.
Dead Letters
Frank and a new candidate for the Group track a killer who leaves
microscopic messages. Frank sees himself in the young recruit, who is
battling many demons of his own, and who almost throws the case due
to his erratic and violent behavior.
Kingdom Come
Frank investigates the death of clergy, killed by means of
medieval torture. Frank realizes the cross-country deaths must be
related, and ties the killings to one man, and his gradual loss
of faith.
The Judge
A self-appointed judge recruits young ex-cons to mete out his version
of justice - avenging the wrongfully accused and abused by killing and
mutilating the "guilty". The Judge's justice backfires on him when one
of his charges accuse and convict him of hypocrisy.
522666
A crazed bomber, who gets sexual pleasure from watching his creations
explode in public places, leaves the phone tones 522666 as his signature.
Frank is called in to help find the bomber, but it is Frank's life that's
on the line as the bomber takes a liking to Frank and works him into
his plan to gain fame.
Blood Relatives
A bizarre grave side murder calls for the talents of both Frank and
Catherine. Frank homes in on a suspect, a recent parolee and victim of
the foster care system; but though he admits to attending funerals, he
contends his innocence. Frank realizes that the boy did not commit
the crimes, but an older boy infatuated with him did.
The Well Worn Lock
Catherine is assigned to a woman found walking in the middle of the
street in a daze. She later accuses her father of sexual abuse, and a
fear that he will soon start to abuse her younger sister. Later, we learn
that the sister is actually the woman's daughter by her father. The
father kidnaps the young girl, but Frank and Catherine (and a platoon of
police) find him before he can harm the girl.
Wide Open
A young girl witnesses the murders of her parents, by man who entered
their house earlier in the day during an open house. When the man kills
a woman by entering her house the same way, the police stake out open
houses to try to find the killer. The killer is found and gives chase,
and almost kills Frank before the pet dog of the killer's latest victims
knocks the killer down a staircase and into a glass table.
Weeds
Frank investigates the disappearance of several teen-age boys in a
high-security neighborhood.
The Wild and the Innocent
A reopened murder case takes Frank to rural Missouri, where he's soon
in pursuit of a different killer who's on the run with a mysterious young
woman on a determined quest.
Loin Like a Hunting Flame
Pharmacist Art Nesbitt gives drugs to a young couple in a dance club,
videotapes them having sex, and then kills them. The bodies are found in an
arboretum by a class field trip. The Millennium Group is called in, and Frank
goes on the scene with Maureen Murphy. Detective Thomas is not too happy to
be working with the Group, least of all with a woman on a sex crime. Nesbitt
peeps in on a wife-swapping party and when two women leave to go to the liquor
store, he follows. Impersonating a cop, he pulls them over. They are later
found dead. Peter arrives with toxicology from the first pair of victims -
the drugs used were of a pharmaceutical quality, not home-made. A search of
DEA records points to Nesbitt. The entourage visits with Nesbitt's wife
Karen, who reveals they have not had sex in their 18 years of marriage; never
consummated, Art has just asked her if she wanted to "try again". Nesbitt
drugs a couple about to be married, and has them act out his fantasy of his
and Karen's ideal wedding night. when Nesbitt cannot be found, they go back
to his home, and in the garage, find a trap door - the newlyweds are in side.
Frank rushes through a tunnel back to the house and stops Art just before he
injects Karen with something. Instead, he injects himself, and dies. He had
hoped to freeze their moment of wedded bliss forever in time.
Force Majeure
The similarity in the suicides of a group of co-eds leads Frank and
Peter to a mysterious group headed by a man in an iron lung. Odder still,
all members of the group appear to be clones of one another.
The Thin White Line
Frank is forced to confront painful memories of his early days in the
FBI, when a jailed killer appears to be committing more crimes from
prison.
Sacrament
The abduction of his sister-in-law embroils Frank in an intensely personal
case that's linked to a vicious sex offender who's been released from an
asylum.
Walkabout
After participating in a bizarre drug trial, which he does not remember,
Frank tries to figure out the connection between the drug and a series of
deaths. He uncovers a devious plan and the motives of the man behind
it.
Covenant
A Utah police chief has been convicted of brutally murdering his wife and
their three children. The man confessed to the crime in great detail. Frank
is brought in to create a profile of Bill Gary, to make an iron-clad case for
the death penalty. But as Frank looks at the evidence, walks through the
house, and speak to the assistant coroner, he is less and less convinced that
Gary killed his family, despite Gary's firm conviction that he did. Frank
clashes with the local prosecutor over his intentions, but finds an ally in
the coroner, who helps him get the family's bodies exhumed. Upon
reexamination, some of the wounds on the wife's hands look less like defense
wounds and more like they were self-inflicted. Frank speaks to the Garys'
marriage counselor, and learns that Mr. Gary had had an affair. He also
learns Mrs. Gary was pregnant. Frank and the coroner are able to convince a
judge that Gary did not kill his family - his wife did. She was unable to
bear that her husband had had an affair, and concerned her "angels" would be
tainted by their father, killed them in their innocence. The story is
confirmed by one of Gary's officers who helped him cover up his wife's
involvement.
Lamentation
Frank is called by the FBI to help find escaped serial killer Ephraim
Fabricant, who Frank helped put away years ago. He was under sedation after
donating a kidney to his sister. Peter Watts helps out and finds that
Fabricant married a pen pal, Lucy Butler. Lucy insists she has not seen
Fabricant. While there, Lucy gets email that contains reference to Frank's
home address -- he calls Catherine, who is safe. He asks her to look in the
mail - photos of an Asian judge are in an unmarked envelope. Fabricant walks
into a hospital drenched in blood - someone removed his second kidney.
Catherine finds it in her fridge. She sees a woman in her house, who looks
like Lucy - Geibelhouse and Bletcher go to the house to search for the
intruder. Geibelhouse finds Bletcher's body hanging from a rafter in the
basement. Fabricant tells Frank that the person who removed his other kidney,
without anesthesia, is the base of evil. The police pick up Lucy in a traffic
violation, but are unable to hold her and she disappears.
Powers, Principalities, Shrines, & Dominions
Peter Watts investigates the death of Eddie Pressman, covered in occult
symbols and markings. He calls Frank for help, though Frank is still reeling
from Bletcher's death. Peter sees a teenager peering through a second-story
window at the crime scene, but when he looks again, the boy is gone.
Catherine convinces Frank to go back to work - Peter shows him crime scene
photos, and they spot Sam staring directly at the camera. It is also the face
Peter saw in the window. Mike Atkins is called in on the case by Frank, but
Frank did not call -- someone synthesized his voice. Police arrest a man named
Martin, but their case is weak, though in court, Martin confesses to killing
Bletcher. Martin appears to kill himself, but examination shows the man died
of an aneurism, the suicide wounds being just superficial. Frank suspects Al
Pepper, Martin's attorney. Peter and Frank are summoned to a motel room where
they find Atkins dead. They chase a man fleeing the scene, who appears to be
Pepper. Stopped in the parking lot by Pepper, Sam shoots lightning bolts from
his hands and kills Pepper.
Broken World
Frank has the opportunity to stop a serial killer before any humans
become involved after a series of horse mutilations tips him off.
Maranthana
Frank travels to New York City, to help investigate the deaths of
Russian immigrants. The investigation leads to a man responsible for
Chernobyl, who many in the community believe is the anti-Christ.
Paper Dove
The Blacks go to visit Catharine's family back east. Frank gets involved
in the case of his father in law's friend's son, who was convicted of
murdering his wife. Frank determines that the woman's murder was the first in
a series of murders that continued past the son's imprisonment, and he is
innocent. He then tracks the killer, who is being directed to kill by another
(apparently Polaroid Man), specifically to get Frank's attention. The man
kills women and removes their larynx's so that he can talk uninterrupted - his
mother is a non-stop talker. As they move in on the killer, he kills his
mother before they reach him. The Blacks return to Seattle. Frank leaves
Catharine alone to get the car, and when he returns she is gone; moments
before, we saw the Polaroid Man watching her.
End of Season 1
The Beginning and the End
Polaroid Man gets out of the airport with Catharine, and through road
blocks Frank had erected, leaving Frank with just a paper dove and a Polaroid
picture of her. The Group comes to his aid, setting him up with some new
computer equipment that gives him access to data the Group feels he is now
ready to see. Included in the data is the life history of Polaroid Man, which
Frank explores in detail - but this man is unlike the serial killers he has
profiled. Polaroid Man locks Catharine in a basement and raves on about the
coming turn of the millennium; he convinces her that he also has Jordan,
though she is safe at home. He is breaking her down. Watts tells Frank that
Polaroid Man is interested in him for the same reasons the Group is, though he
doesn't elaborate. Clues deliberately left behind lead Frank to the hideout,
and a struggle ensues, in which Frank stabs Polaroid Man, partly in self
defense, partly to just have him gone. Together in their home again,
Catharine tells Frank that she feels he has sacrificed something of himself on
this case, and that they need time apart to see if they can get that something
back again.
Beware of the Dog
An older couple stops their RV for the night, and are attacked and killed
by a pack of dogs. The Group sends Frank to investigate - Watts tells Frank
that he is "ready". He finds a town, scared into their homes after dark by
the dogs. An L.A. transplant, Beebe, tells Frank that he just built a house in
town, and an old man living on his property is, well, just odd. Frank pays
the Old Man a visit and discovers he works with the Group. He tells Frank
that as the millennium approaches, the balance between good and evil is
tilting toward evil; for example, dog attacks have gone up throughout the US.
Here, a delicate balance has been upset by the building of Beebe's house.
Frank tries to convince Beebe to move out, but when his house comes under
attack, the Old Man restores the balance by burning down the house. Catherine
tells Frank that they should sell their house, but he is adamant - though
neither of them is living in it, they will again, when their balance has been
restored.
Sense and Antisense
Giebelhouse asks Frank to help with the tracking of a sick man the CDC is
looking for in Seattle. The man, apparently delusional, and with one dilated
eye, rants that the government has made him sick. Frank turns him over to the
CDC. When he goes to the local CDC office he had visited just a few hours
before, the building is empty. A check for "services rendered" is slipped
under Frank's door - he calls Watts, who says that Frank should have told the
group what he was doing; they would not have been interested in the case, but
now, they are. Several John Doe's turns up in the morgue with a dilated eye.
Frank starts to connect the DOE, the Human Genome Project, and as yet
undetermined experiments on these men. He and the Group track down one site
in the Genome Project that might have Patient Zero. The police raid the lab,
but find that Patient Zero is the director of the lab, not a patient. Frank
speculates that he was affected by whatever experiments they are doing there.
Frank is being harrassed by hangup phone calls.
Monster
Frank is sent to Arkansas to investigate a day care center where some odd
things are happening - the son of a local deputy has a bite mark on his back,
for example. While visiting the center, a child dies during nap time. The
day care center director is taken into custody, and Frank and a psychologist,
Lara Means, interview the children. One, Danielle, implicates Penny, the
director. But there is no proof, and she is set loose on bail. Frank and the
Means agree that they have a feeling - Danielle has something to do with this.
They learn that they are both from the Group. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Jordan
has a wound on her inside lower lip. The dentist says it is consistent with
blunt trauma. Frank interviews Danielle, and she is not cooperative. Her
mother goes to her, and her jaw is broken - Frank is taken into custody;
Danielle and Jordan both have similar injuries. But when Frank talks to
Danielle's parents, she says that she heard Danielle break her own jaw - Frank
is released, and the police go to interview Danielle.
A Single Blade of Grass
On the site of some new construction in New York City, an ancient Indian
burial ground is uncovered. The anthropologists uncover the week-dead body of
one of the Indian construction workers. Frank, who was near by, is sent by
the Group to help in the investigation. He finds the site where the man was
killed, and scrawled on the walls are symbols of death and afterlife from
dozens of different Indian tribes. The other Indians on the crew meet with
Frank, and he shows them a symbol important to them, he saw in a vision. They
deny knowledge of it, but they suspect he in "the other one," and when they
throw some Indian talismans, their order confirms their belief. They plan to
get him in on their ritual. Frank and the head anthropologist, Liz Michaels,
guess that there may be a lost tribe of Iroquois, who scattered two hundred
years ago, and have had to make up their own rituals and prophecy from the
tribes that adopted them. Frank is abducted and forced to ingest rattlesnake
venom to enter the spirit world. Michaels and the NYPD find him and free
him.
19:19
Frank and Watts help get to the bottom of an abandoned Oklahoma school
bus, all 17 children, plus the driver, missing. Kidnapped, there is no ransom
demand, no other contact - the childrens' parents are farmers and clerks, with
no wealth to speak of - but they are the only 17 children in the town. Frank
speculates that someone is kidnapping the town's future. The kids and driver
are forced into a hole in the ground. When the kidnappers and the police
realize that one child was not in school, they all race to the child's home.
One of the two kidnappers is caught before he can escape. Frank learns that
the Group keeps a database of all book purchases in the US; using it, they
track down the kidnapper's mobile home. Inside, they find a map to his mind -
Lara Means is called in and she and Frank help determine that the kidnapper
thinks that the savior, as predicted in Revelations, is among the children.
They detect bauxite in his clothing and take him to a local quarry, and watch
his actions as they drive him around. When they reach the site, the accomplice
fires on them, and a tornado touches down, unearthing the bunker and killing
the kidnappers. They learn the school was destroyed by the tornado, so the
kidnapping may have saved the kids' lives.
The Curse of Frank Black
On Halloween night, Frank keeps seeing the word ACTS and the number 268.
And strange things keep happening to him - he recalls going to the house of
the local recluse as a boy; his car dies in front of the unoccupied Black
home; a group of kids are camped out there, telling ghost stories; he keeps
seeing a demon figure, watching him. He finally puts ACTS and 268 together,
and finds a passage in the Bible, Acts 2:68, which pertains to the dead
rising. Frank goes to the attic of the house he is renting and the spirit of
the recluse he visited as a boy comes to him, tells him that the Devil wants
him to lay off his quest, to forget the Millennium Group, and live peacefully
and unawares in his pretty yellow house - "Sit this one out." This, of
course, strengthens his resolve to go on.
The Hand of Saint Sebastian
Watts asks Frank to help him in an investigation in Germany. The
investigation is not authorized by the Group. They go to meet Watts' contact,
Dr. Schlossberg, but he is dead. The Doctor had been studying a body, 1000
years old, preserved in peat. Watts suspects that the body may be connected
to the origins of the Group. The original Group had possession of the hand of
Saint Sebastian, said to allow the holder to understand evil. Watts discovers
that the doctor is not dead, but in a hospital for his own protection. The
doctor tells the police that a man named Peter Watts attacked him. While
Frank diverts the guard, Peter speaks to the doctor and finds out where he
suspects a burial site to be. After Frank and Peter leave, the doctor is
killed. Peter and Frank go to the peat bog and uncover another body; Watts is
taken into custody for suspicion of murder. Cheryl Andrews is helping clear
Peter; Frank asks her to come to a warehouse to see the hand. She turns on
him - she set up the entire affair, implicating Peter. But Frank suspected
her and has the police waiting. Peter asks Frank if the peat mummies knew
something about evil they do not - Frank says that the knowledge is within
us.
Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense
Writer Jose Chung is in Seattle interviewing a member of the Selfology
religion. Chung knew the founder of Selfology, Onan Baloo, when he was
younger, and is fascinated by his old friend's creation. The member has just
been excommunicated, and Chung is curious why. Later, the ex-member is found
dead. Geibelhouse calls Frank Black to help with the investigation. Chung,
returned to the scene, tells Frank that he was not very helpful during the
interview, but he speculates that he was subjected to an onanometer, a measure
of a Selfologist's happiness, and the onanometer electrocuted him. The member
had several copies of Playpen magazine, in which a Chung short story delving
into Selfology appeared. Another man, a professor of Nostradamus, is found
dead. A note found on the scene contains a passage from Nostradamus. Frank
intuits that the next victim is Chung himself. Chung comes to the same
conclusion and is ready when a Selfologist comes to him with a gun. Frank
interrupts the murder and chases the Selfologist, who falls off the roof to
his death. The Selfologist, however, is not the man who left the note, and
Frank finds Chung with a fatal ax wound to the head.
Goodbye, Charlie
Preston Williams is strapped to a suicide machine, while Steven Kiley looks
on - but Williams is not dying by choice. Kiley forces Williams' hand to push
the fatal button. The Millennium Group ask Frank and Lara Means to investigate
the death. Frank notes that Williams was dying from a fatal disease, the
evidence that the suicide was not a suicide in clear in the contusions and
bruises on the arms and wrists. While Kiley looks for his next victim, Frank
and Lara attend the funeral of yet another victim and find an odd sympathy card
from "Dr. Steven Kiley." They find no such doctor in a computer search.
Police staking out the hotel used for the suicide tip Frank and Lara off about
another potential victim - they find one, and are able to save her, but Kiley
is gone. Frank fakes an illness to attempt to flush out Kiley; they learn he
is employed as a nurse at a local hospital - they also realize that Steven
Kiley pseudonym. They take Ellsworth Beedle into custody, but have to release
him for lack of evidence. Frank fears Beedle will kill again and track him
down; they find him, dead, with a group of other people who appear to have been
in a death cult.
Midnight of the Century
Frank recalls drawing a picture of an angel as a boy with his mother.
He learns that Jordan has just recently drawn a similar picture, saying that
her grandmother, 50 years deceased, helped her draw it. The two drawings are
just the first in a series of angel "visions" that Frank has over the course
of the next few days - from Jordan's school play, to storefronts, to an angel
doll in a toy store. Frank asks Lara Means what it might mean, but she can only
relate her experiences to Frank; that her angel only appears to portend death or
to point to evil. Frank visits his father for the first time in years to visit
the room his mother died in - his father relates a story to him. His mother
sensed the death of her brother in the D-Day invasion, and told of how she saw
angels from that day on. Frank's father said that she had a gift, as did he, but
that it scared him - in those days, having visions was a ticket to a mental
institution. When an angel told her it was her time, she died alone, as she'd
wanted. He took Frank's sudden reappearance as a sign from her. When Frank
joins Jordan and Catherine at church, he and Jordan see apparitions moving
toward the church, his father among them.
Luminary
Frank is confronted by the Group about his killing of Polaroid Man. Frank
walks out on them. The parents of one of Jordan's friends asks Frank to help
them find their son, who went to Alaska and has disappeared. Peter Watts
tells Frank that if he goes, he does so on his own. He goes. Alex was last
seen in town giving away all of his material possessions. A body is caught in
a fishing net, and the preliminary report says that it is Alex - but Frank
disagrees, and has himself flown up to a point where Alex might be or have
been. Frank finds Alex's camp, but no Alex - just his journal. He thought he
would die soon, from a broken leg and loss of blood. That night, the aurora
are out, and Frank goes to watch - he finds Alex watching, too. He rushes Alex
back to civilization, but after he heals, Alex leaves the hospital without a
trace. In his journal, he writes that he is looking for something more out in
the wilderness. Watts tells Frank that he passed the first election by the
Group.
The Mikado
A young woman appears to have been murdered in a web cast over the
internet, and the Group is asked to look into it - since there is no crime
scene and no victim, no one else has jurisdiction. Through a missing persons
database, Frank finds the girl. Roedecker is able to hack into her email
account using the Group's computers, and they find her common on-line pals.
After picking one cyberpal as a suspect, Frank leads Peter to a cemetery where
they hope to find him. But they find the woman's head, and that of her pal, on
a table in a shed - the suspect is just another victim. Soon another Web site
goes up. Frank recognizes a clue in the picture as the file number for
Avatar, a Zodiac-like killer from the 80's. An earlier clue is deciphered to
point to San Francisco, Avatar's stalking grounds; and a message is found
hidden in two image files - a sound file containing music from The Mikado,
Avatar's favorite. The Group tries to foil the next planned murder by
intercepting the web cast, but when Avatar discovers the ruse, he kills again
and sets up two sites. Frank is able to find the first; the second is a
mobile home on the coast. The police try to enter the home, and it blows up.
Frank is shot at by Avatar, but dodges the bullets. Frank almost shoots a
figure of Avatar, but realizes it is not him - it is his next victim, dressed
like him. Avatar gets away, with Frank vowing to catch him
eventually.
The Pest House
A series of killings in a small area mimicking urban legends leads Frank
and Peter to a mental institution, a Doctor Stoller, and a patient named
Woodcock. Woodcock's past crimes include killing a couple parked on a bridge,
using his hooked prosthetic hand as a weapon. Woodcock tells Frank that he no
longer dreams. Soon, another couple is ripped to pieces as they change a tire
on their van, a motive similar to that of a patient named Bear. Bear, who
rarely speaks, tells Frank that the killing was his, but not him. A third
killer, Purdue, corners Dr. Stoller and tells her that someone is coming to
steal his dreams, which he does not want. Frank asks Stoller if she's missing
anything - she is, a scarf. Purdue's M.O. is to use an article of his
victim's clothing to subdue them while he stabs them. He does not realize
that Edward, an intern at the institution, is going to each inmate to rob them
of their dreams in an attempt to help[ heal them - but the evil of those
psyches cannot be held in by Edward, and he committed the crimes. Frank and
Purdue rescue Stoller from Edward as he stalks her in the halls of the
institution.
Owls
In Syria, a Millennium Group task force finds and uncovers a piece of
Christ's crucifix. As one of the members tries to transport the piece of wood
through an airport, there is an explosion and the crate the wood was disguised
as is taken. Peter Watts wants to bring Lara Means and Frank in on the case -
a faction in the Group, called the Owls, who do not believe in a religious
upheaval at the end of the millennium, but rather something more secular, have
taken the cross because they know its importance to the Roosters, the other
faction. The Old Man, however, advises Peter that it is not the time to
proceed yet. Lara is visited by an Owl, trying to recruit her to his side.
Frank openly questions Peter about the Group and its mission and motives;
Peter takes him off the case. Meanwhile, Catherine gets a job counseling
employees of a local firm two nights a week. Frank thinks her boss's interest
in him and the Black family is a bit unusual. In her office, he gets flashes
of Hitler's Germany - he focuses in on a painting on her wall, which he later
finds in a database of Nazi art. Someone transporting the cross is burned
with his car, and the cross is badly burned, too. On the man, Peter finds a
marking. He sends an image to the Old Man, who recognizes it as a Nazi
symbol. The Old Man says that now it is time.
Roosters
Frank confirms the painting in Knight's office at Aerotech was painted by
Hitler. Frank confronts people in a car outside his house. They say "this is
who we are", to indicate their membership in the Group, but then they fire on
him. The Old Man visits Lara Means. After the shooting, Catherine comes to
Frank and tells him to "stay with us". She also asks him for the truth, but
Frank says it is too soon. Peter Watts is trying to understand the truth,
too. Is the burned piece of cross a fake? A meeting between the Roosters and
the Owls takes place. The Roosters believe in an apocalyptic religious event
at end of millennium. The Owls believe that a major astronomical event will
occur in 60 years. The two are in a struggle for control of Group. Owls walk
out on talks between two sides. Jim Ford, an employee at Aerotech tells
Catherine the word Odessa. Ford later turns up dead. The Old Man and Lara
visit Frank. The Old Man is a Rooster; he wants to reunite the two sides
before the end. Lara explains the Rooster's view - that a cosmic bubble of
immense size will reach Earth in 60 years. Results may be catastrophic or
inconsequential. They do not believe in a religious apocalypse. Lara feels
that the end is nearer. Frank picks up Catherine, and tells her all he knows.
Odessa was a Nazi project to move SS officials to South America near the end
of the war. That group is now an enemy of The Millennium Group. In Paraguay,
Odessa has the real cross. The Paraguayans are led by Axmann. The Old Man
stays in Franks house, but he is killed by one of Axmann's men. Peter visits,
apologizes to Frank and Lara. The Group buries old man, then they kill the
assassin, and Axmann. By now knowing that the burned cross was a fake, Peter
takes the real one from Axmann. He sends it to the new Old Man.
Siren
A Chinese boat arrives in Seattle with a human cargo. The ship is raided
by customs - they find one young woman in chains, the crew warning the agents
to stay away from her. Jordan sees her in the hospital and tells Catherine
that she will save Frank's life. Catherine brings Frank her file and asks him
to find out about her. To an interpreter, she says she is not of this earth.
Frank is working with Lara Means. They go with Geibelhouse to the ship to look
for evidence. They find several dead bodies - they died of exposure. The
captain says the bodies were packed for the return trip to be buried. The
captain says he found the woman at sea, but one of the ship's mates says no
one was found at sea. Over several nights, the four were found dead, and the
captain locked her up. The Group's computer search turns up the woman's record
- reported dead 10 years ago. Frank sees her in the hospital and she speaks to
him in English. She is here to talk about his future. She tells him to tell
her what he wants, but he is not interested in what she has to offer. Frank
has a flash of what his life could have been, and is found by police on the
side of the road, hypothermic. He goes to see the woman, who has been interred
with the rest of the refugees. He has to know: Has the Group been bringing the
horror into his life or keeping it at bay? He Realizes she was sent to tempt him,
and that she cannot help him.
In Arcadia Ego
Two women, Sonny and Jannie, escape from an Idaho prison. Frank and Watts
come on the scene. Sonny and Jannie take a car and its driver as a hostage.
Jannie is pregnant; the hostage is found and tells the authorities Jannie is
pregnant. One of the guards must the father. Frank finds a guard with a
history of prison rapes who confesses he raped her while she was recovering
from a surgery. Unaware of the rape, Jannie thinks she has conceived
immaculately. Frank goes to a house he has a hunch about, and is nearly run
over by the pair, just as Jannie begins to contract. The reason the women went
to the house is a mystery. Sunny used to work on trains, so Frank goes to the
train yard and finds them, but he is captured. The police arrive and Sunny
demands a doctor - on the phone, the doctor lets slip to Jannie that the baby
is the guard's. They refuse all help, even though Jannie has placenta previa -
Frank convinces them to let him help with the labor. Watts gets a DNA test
that shows that the guard could not be the father. Frank delivers a girl, and
Jannie dies from complications. Sunny is shot. Tests show no guard is the
father - a miracle? Frank brings the baby to the house Jannie and Sunny had
gone to - a young couple who had prayed for the two and other
prisoners.
Anamnesis
Catherine goes back to high school to help an old college friend. Now a
guidance counselor, she has several students who claim to have seen the Virgin
Mary. The girls tell Catherine that she appeared to them during church. The
local preacher and his son claim the girls spoke out to be unruly. Lara Means
is there, too, and interviews Claire, the leader. Catherine confronts Lara and
says that the Group's involvement in the case is not in the girls' best
interests. Catherine overhears Lara and Watts speaking - "she would never
believe in what we know". Claire mentions several things that remind Catherine
of her ordeal with Polaroid Man. Claire also tells Lara something from her
past. Lara tells Catherine that it was not the Virgin Mary the girls saw, but
Mary Magdeline. Claire and her friends disappear into the woods. They find
them with teacher Ben Fisher, about to conduct a sacrifice. Fisher tells Lara
that he is with the Family, which split from the Group 1000 years ago. She
accuses him of manipulating Claire to the Family's objectives. Catherine sees
Fisher follow Claire to school and has a bad feeling. She is afraid Fisher
plans to finish the sacrifice. But it is the preacher's son who tries to kill
Claire, and Fisher who dies when he throws himself in front of the bullet.
Lara says that it is possible that Claire is a descendent of Jesus and Mary
Magdeline. Lara gives Catherine some of the materials she took from Fisher -
she does not think the Group should hold all the cards. Lara implores
Catherine not to leave Frank - his visions are of evil, isolating. He needs
his family.
A Room With No View
A young man is found dead from heart failure - Frank says from fright. His
friend Landon is missing. He is in the trunk of a car, and is taken to a house
and thrown into a dark room. A woman meets him there and tells him to "be
good". Frank tries to get a read on Landon, who is suspected in his friend's
death. He names Lucy Butler, who killed Bletcher a year ago. Watts discounts
Frank, letting him know that the Group maintained surveillance on her for nine
months before giving up on her. But Frank is undeterred. They go to Butler's
farm and find the rotting body of Jon Olsen, who was conducting the Group's
surveillance. Meanwhile, Landon tries to escape, but his attempt is foiled.
Frank speaks to Landon's guidance counselor Theresa Roe and has suspicions of
her. Landon again tries to escape and is caught. It becomes apparent that she
has taken exceptional kids and intends to make them ordinary. In
interrogation, Roe admits a connection to Butler and the police raid her new
house and free all 25 kids inside, but Butler is not found.
Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me
A group of demons meet for breakfast and reminisce. One recounts how he
helped a serial killer almost become the most prolific killer in history,
though he laments the young man's lack of originality. The demon, bored with
his charge, planted evidence that got him caught. Another takes a more laissez
faire approach, allowing mundane lives to run themselves out. A third takes a
more direct approach, manifesting himself to push people over the edge. Each
demon recalls an encounter with Frank Black. The fourth demon recalls a
"personal" contact he had with Frank. He found a soul mate and subsequently
broke up with her. When he went to check on her, to his relief, she had
committed suicide. Frank was there and saw his "true essence". His comment
that he "must be so lonely" makes each demon take pause.
The Fourth Horseman
Frank is recruited by old friend Richard Gilbert for The Trust, a security
agency - they want him to be a full partner. Frank calls Lara for advice, but
can't reach her. A man is found exsanguinated on the bank of a river. Peter
says that he has heard of the dead man's disease - Marburg Ebola. Peter and
Frank and others are quarantined and tested for days. While there, Frank
confronts Peter about the Group. When they are released, Frank agrees to join
the Trust. Gilbert helps him locate Lara. They confirm that Peter knows where
she is. Frank follows him and find them involved in an induction ceremony. A
family in California dies after eating barbecued chicken, bleeding out in
minutes. Frank tells Peter that the Marburg virus is real and they were
infected, too - but inoculated while in quarantine, by the Group. He tries to
have Peter join him in an investigation of the Group but Peter makes a counter
offer - the Group expects an earthquake in Seattle - so says prophecy. Frank
gets a surprise phone call from Lara just before the quake hits. Frank's
father dies. Jordan is having nightmares about monkeys in a jungle, bleeding
out.
The Time Is Now
Frank tells Catherine that despite his misgivings, he is going to stay
with the Group. He also tells Gilbert, who tells Frank to watch his back.
Gilbert dies in a car accident. Peter Watts breaks into a Group storage area
and steals some of the Old Man's effects. He uses a tape to gain access to
file about Marburg. Peter tells Frank that it was developed in the Soviet
Union, Marburg altered to attach to other bacteria and viruses, and finally to
prions, proteins that are difficult to vaccinate against. It escaped, in
birds, and is now starting to spread. The Group does have a vaccine, but not
enough for the whole world or even the families of Group members. Frank
insists Gilbert's death was a real accident - the Group does not have the time
now to deal in such things - the disease is spreading. Frank gets odd calls
from Lara, who Peter says is not adjusting well to the truths she's learned
since her induction. Frank and Peter plan to take their families to Frank's
father's cabin in the woods. When Peter goes to gather Lara, he is
intercepted and presumably shot. He calls Frank who has the call traced.
Lara is the only one there when he arrives, practically catatonic, insane.
She leaves him something. Frank takes the family to the cabin, where he tells
Catherine about the virus and shows her what Lara gave him - a vial of the
vaccine. They give it to Jordan. Catherine awakens in the middle of the
night, symptomatic. She leaves and walks away from her family to die. When
Jordan awakens, Frank is in shock, his hair turned white.
End of Season 2
The Innocents
Some time after Catherine's death and the viral scare in the North West
(with 70 deaths), life has returned to normal... except for Frank Black and his
family. He has returned to Washington to work with the FBI at Quantico, for
Andy McClaren. He is having problems with Catherine's parents, who watch after
Jordan while he works. Her father in particular blames Frank for her death -
why she and not he? His first case involves a jetliner crash - the plane
appeared to be hijacked, but Frank starts to regain some of his lost gift and
sees it as more than just a wreck. He goes to the site and meets Agent Emma
Hollis, a relatively new agent. She tails Frank, asking questions and posing
her own theories. They find a cigarette butt in the lavatory, which triggered
a smoke alarm on board the plane. They also discover that the stewardess being
blamed for bringing a loaded gun aboard and firing it did not smoke - but she
lived in Salt Lake City, as did a passenger who looked just like the
stewardess. Frank goes to SLC; before he arrives, a house explodes with
another "twin" and her daughter inside. In the house, Frank finds supplies and
biohazard containers - he believes the explosion and crash are now related to
the outbreak. The containers, coffin-sized, are empty, and Andy sends him
home. He and Hollis go to talk to the explosion victim, Mary, and she mumbles
that there is another. They track her down, just in time to see her and her
daughter run off the road on a bridge. Rather than have Hollis remove her
child from their truck, the woman, yet another "twin", forces the vehicle over
the side of the bridge.
Exegisis
Frank tries to convince the FBI that the blonde-haired women are not
terrorists. Peter Watts walks into the briefing and asks Frank who he thinks
they are, then? Frank confronts Andy - he does not want to see or work with
Watts, and wonders why the FBI is still using them. Andy tells Frank that the
FBI has been working with the Group for a long time, and they can't drop them
on his say-so. Some more of the women pack up an older woman in a box, hooked
to a ventilator so she can breathe, and pack her in a moving van. The van is
pulled over at a roadblock; the roadblock workers promptly fill the van with
bullets. But nothing is inside - the sisters sent out two vans, one a decoy.
The body of the driver is found and added to the FBI's list of deaths. Hollis
goes to see Mary in the hospital, but they find her dead - a surveillance tape
shows an intern injecting her with a poison. The number 512 has been set on
Mary's clock. Frank tells Hollis that some of the papers from the bombed house
refer to a secret project a friend of his worked on at Stanford. Hollis visits
Dr. Coty who tells her they performed "remote viewer" experiments there. The
best viewer could see into buildings in Russia and read names off of name tags.
No names, her number was 512. Frank and Hollis realize that the women are
512's children, but autopsy shows they are half-sisters, all the same age. The
Pentagon tried to duplicate 512 in rudimentary genetics experiments. Frank
also realizes that the plane crash was a smoke screen - the body of one small
girl is missing, one of 512's grandchildren. Mary was remote viewing when she
died - words captured off the surveillance tape lead them to an abandoned
missile complex. They find 512 and another daughter. Frank gets 512 out of the
complex as a small Group task force homes in on them and starts shooting. As
he leads 512 out, she tells him the Group is intent on seeing the end of the
world. Peter Watts watches from afar as Frank, Hollis, and the sister leave the
silo - 512 is nowhere to be seen. We see her and her granddaughter leave on an
airplane; Frank's report on the incident does not mention 512, the child, or
the Millennium Group.
Teotwawki
Gunshots ring out during a pep rally in Redland, WA. Frank's old friend
Giebelhouse calls the FBI asking for Frank to come investigate the shooting.
But Andy is still not sure of Frank, and sends Baldwin instead; Hollis goes,
too. The agents go to the home of Brant Carmody, son of a wealthy computer
company owner. They suspect him based on the testimony of his class mates.
Shots ring out and they rush to find Brant dead, an apparent suicide.
Thinking the case closed, Baldwin presents the case back in DC, but Frank
offers that the suicide seems too convenient. Hollis, who found a middle-ages
prayer book at the scene inscribed by "Skylark", goes with Frank. Meanwhile,
Carmody meets with his Comlogic execs and says that he's "fixed" things. But
they tell him he should not have told Brant their plans - you can't expect a
kid to learn he's about to lose everything and expect them to deal with it.
Frank and Hollis talk to Cathy, Brant's girlfriend. She says he spoke often
recently about the end of society as we know it. Frank and Hollis go to
Carmody's and read his son's email. In it is mail from Skylark. They also
learn the Comlogic exec have a piece of land in the desert, waiting for them
to move there when the Y2K bug renders society helpless. Carmody confesses to
killing Brant - if he'd lived, he'd have gone to prison and his wife would
have stayed behind to be with him. Another exec's son, Carlton King, takes
Frank and Hollis to the Comlogic hideout where a brief shootout ends with King
telling his son "it will be OK".
Closure
Hollis requests a case, investigating the shooting death of a man in a
flea-bag motel room. She stumbles onto a thrill killer, Richard VanHorn, who,
along with partners Peter Larkin and Joni Williamson, hit an all-night grocery
store next, killing three people inside, including an off-duty cop. Frank
takes an interest in the case, too, but Emma seems determined to do this one on
her own. Frank looks into Hollis's past and learns that every year at this
time, she takes a difficult murder case. Her sister, Mel, was killed in front
of her young eyes 20 years ago by Michael Wynter - Wynter later killed himself
in prison, and Emma was never able to get him to answer "Why?". Frank suggests
she take herself off the case, but she refuses. The trio next kill a mountain
biker in the woods where they are camping out. Joni is captured when she holds
a tow truck operator at gunpoint. VanHorn and Larkin don body armor and hijack
a bus, and demand the people's lives for Joni's release. They storm the jail,
and when Larkin is shot, VanHorn kills him. Running, VanHorn happens upon
Hollis as she drives up and takes her hostage. She asks him why he has done
all he'd done and he refuses to answer, or has no answer. She rams her car
into a bridge; he has no seat belt and flies out the window. Hollis suffers
through another anniversary with no answers to her questions.
...Thirteen Years Later
The star actress and the director of a film chronicling a case Frank
worked on 13 years ago are killed in their hotel room, Psycho-style (in the
shower). Suspects abound, from Hugo, the finance of one of the real victims
who is opposed to the making of the film, to a jealous producer. Frank must
also deal with Mark Bianco, the actor playing Frank Black in the film. One by
one, though, suspects drop off the list as they turn up dead, including the
producer, whose half-chewed remains turn up in a catered lunch. Hollis and
Frank do some research by watching horror movies, since the killer's m.o. is to
copy the acts of murder in one of the films playing on TV during Halloween
week. On the set, Bianco is found cowering - Hugo is found with a
blood-dripping knife, hung. Frank gets a call from the local sheriff that Hugo
did have human remains in his stomach, but as he hangs up with the "sheriff",
the real sheriff's body falls from the rafters, his throat cut. Frank rushes
to the leading lady, who always dies last, but realizes that the leading lady
in this "show" is not the actress, but Hollis. He rushes to her room, and
finds her under attack by Bianco. The two Franks face off, and the "good"
Frank prevails.
Skull and Bones
In Fingus, Maine, while digging a highway, a collection of bones is found.
Peter Watts quickly arrives on the scene. Baldwin, Hollis, et al, arrive soon
thereafter and start to excavate. Several bodies are found, the teeth removed
and the bones stripped. Andy asks Frank to work the case from a different
angle - fifteen years ago, a series of murders were linked by notes from the
supposed murderer; tiny writing described the killings. Andy just got another
such note, mentioning Fingus, before the FBI even knew about the case. Frank
goes to the first murder and sees someone watching him. He chases the man, Ed,
down and has him arrested. He finds dozens of journals in a hidden room in
Ed's apartment. One journal, victim 38, is for Cheryl Andrews, Frank's old
Group colleague. Hollis analyzes one of the skulls and ID's based on surgical
scars - Cynthia Paggett, one of the dead Andy worked 15 years earlier. Emma
gets suspicious of Peter when he says the ID is a good place to start, and
seems less than thrilled. Frank talks to Ed, whom he determines is not the
killer - he just obsessively combs magazines and newspapers and sees
connections between seemingly unconnected deaths, including that of Andrews.
Ed says the Millennium Group is killing them - they asked too many questions.
Hollis goes to the home of Homer Pettey, the last known name linked to Andrews
- his home is in the path of the highway. She finds a surgical table, a bloody
bathtub... and Peter Watts. Peter essentially admits to Emma that all of the
victims were killed by the Group to have them avoid uncovering information that
would have been harmful of American society in one way or another. As he
speaks, the home is demolished, the evidence gone for good. Ed tries to return
home, but a Group operative is there packing Ed's journals. Frank runs him off,
and Ed takes his journals and disappears onto the streets.
Through a Glass Darkly
Frank appears before the parole board of Max Brunelli, who killed a girl 20
years prior and is suspected of trying to kill another. His m.o. was not to
kill the girl but to let her die. The Board overrules Frank's testimony and
sends Max home to Oregon. Within a matter of days, another girl, Shannon, goes
missing, and Max is immediately taken in. With his lawyer Jarret at his side,
Max denies any knowledge of Shannon. As Shannon is abducted, Jordan wakes from
a nightmare and tells Frank "he wants to know why I won't forgive him". Frank
gets a call to come to Oregon. Only circumstantial evidence links Max to
Shannon - but a search of his house finds a piece of Shannon's dress. Frank
goes to speak to Max, and comes away not believing that Max abducted Shannon.
Frank reviews Max's confession from 20 years ago, and determines that he was
taking cues from Jarret. He and Hollis go to his house, but he is gone. Hollis
finds a storm cellar where Shannon had been kept, but it is empty. Jarret
tries to convince Max to take the fall for Shannon - the only way he can save
her is to say he did it. Frank walks in on them though, and disables Jarret.
Max goes for help, and Shannon lives. Max asks Frank if he is now forgiven?
Frank asks Max if Max will forgive him.
Human Essence
Emma's things are confiscated and she is placed on probation when she tests
positive for drug use - a powder found in an enveloped sent to her from
Vancouver contains heroin. She goes to Vancouver to find Tamra Caffrey, a woman
she just recently discovered is a half-sister. She tells Emma of a pusher named
Pulga, who is selling stuff that is turning its users into monsters. Emma goes
looking for Pulga and is beaten up in the process. Frank goes to Vancouver to
help her. Emma tells him Tamra sent her the packet of heroin to have tested, and
she tasted it to find out what it was; hence the positive test. The local
coroner has seen several recent cases where heroin played a role. Tests are run
on one victim and an odd hormone is found in the body, something developed for
the Army. He learns of a Chinese drug chemist who is also a DEA informant. He
has been lacing his cartel's product with the hormone to break their business in
revenge for a murdered relative. They test the latest sample on Tamra - Frank
and Emma find their warehouse, rigged to explode, and rescue Tamra. All charges
are dropped against Emma. Frank suspects a larger conspiracy between the DOJ,
DEA, and Army.
Omerta
Frank takes Jordan to Coker Creek for Christmas. A man, Al Ryan, is found
wandering Coker Creek naked, wearing an old, bullet-ridden coat. The local
sheriff asks Frank to talk to Ryan; he says he was hunting, was attacked by a
wolf, and lay dying. A young woman came to him and the next thing he knew, he
was in a cave, healed. Frank and the locals go to the spot Ryan says he was
attacked. Frank sees a shadowy figure in the distance and gives chase. When
the man is brought in, it is discovered that he is Eddie Gianini, a mob hit man
thought dead for nine years - the coat Ryan had been wearing was Eddie's - he
was shot, execution-style, in these woods. The confession of his killers has
been the basis for an FBI investigation into the Santo crime family, and
Eddie's appearance has thrown the case into anarchy. Emma and some FBI agents
arrive in Coker Creek to interview Eddie, who confesses to his hits. He denies
knowledge of a cave or women. Emma and Frank go into the woods and find the
cave; there are two young women inside. Frank realizes that Eddie is
protecting them. They take Lhasa and Rose to the police station, where Frank
witnesses Lhasa heal a battered woman's wounds. Mob hit men come to kill Eddie
once and for all, but hit Lhasa instead. In the hospital, Jordan gives Lhasa
and Rose a present she had been saving for Catherine - some nail polish. When
Lhasa is transferred to another hospital, Eddie clandestinely takes them away
and fakes their deaths so the both the mob and the FBI will leave them
alone.
Borrowed Time
A woman dies in a park, drowning it what appears to be a massive release of
bodily fluids. The CDC is called in, but they say that the woman simply
drowned, in water. Another victim died of similar circumstances hours before.
Both women survived near-death experiences; one, Gertrude Epstein, survived a
car wreck; the other, Lisa Maher, survived an adult case of encephalitis.
Frank recalls how Jordan had a bad case of encephalitis just after they moved
to Seattle, how she was near-death. A third victim is found in his apartment -
the killer, a dark man, called into 911 to report the death - otherwise, the
home-bound man would not have been discovered for days. Frank goes to pick up
Jordan when he sees the dark man - Jordan suddenly collapses and he rushes her
to the hospital with severe fever. From the window, he sees the dark man again
- he rushes down, but does not find him. He does find Epstein's watch, though,
connecting the cases. Frank reviews a video tape of Epstein's death and
notices the man in a reflection. He is the cause. Emma is skeptical, but
takes a sketch Frank made to some near-death support groups. At one of the
groups, she sees the dark man. She takes him in, but he denies knowledge and
they have to let him go. Again, Frank sees him at the hospital and goes out to
him. He tells Frank all these people are living on borrowed time, and he is
here to take them all back. Jordan begins to seize and the doctor drains
literally gallons of water from her stomach. Meanwhile, the dark man is trying
to get one more person, this one on a train - but the train derails, and he
drowns in a bog. Jordan suddenly recovers. Later, she tells Frank she saw
Mommy, and she told Jordan to tell Daddy that she made the right
choice.
Collateral Damage
Co-ed Taylor Watts is kidnapped. The FBI is notified by local police of the
kidnapping, and soon the father, Peter Watts, is there to ask for help in
finding his daughter. McClaren is not appreciative of Hollis's attitude toward
Watts; she asks why Frank is not on the case? She goes to Frank - he tells her
he knew Taylor, and she would not have been taken easily. Meanwhile, the
kidnappers clean, wash, and scrub Taylor, photograph her, and strap her to a
table. McClaren asks Peter for a list of Group members, but Peter cannot give
him one. The car used in the abduction is found, but it is clean. Nearby boot
and tire tracks, plus Frank's hunch about a purchase of spectrumaldihyde, a
disinfectant, let the FBI track one of the kidnappers to his home - when they
get there, he is dead. Emma recognizes the gunshot wounds as standard Group
execution-style. Frank goes to a military hospital the man had been in - he
was a Gulf War vet. Find a name of a friend Eric Swan -- his file is missing.
Swan tells Taylor that her father refused to bargain for her life, and he
exposes her to the altered Marburg virus. Frank learns Swan used to call a
radio talk show, and he baits Swan to call again. While the FBI traces the cell
call, Swan tells the host how he had been ordered to fire biological agents at
US troops in the Gulf to test the effectiveness of US MOPP gear and vaccines.
All members of the platoon died. He traced the order to the Millennium Group,
now wants them to come clean. Frank tells Swan about Catherine and the
Northwest outbreak. Swan gives Frank a name - Microplasma Flavivirus. They
lose the cell phone connection, but Emma and Frank track him down using the
Internet; when they find him, a sniper tries to kill him, but misses. Peter
emerges from the woods, and admits the order Swan followed came from the Group.
Swan agrees to give Taylor the antidote, but when he goes to her, she's already
used it, and attacks him, killing him.
The Sound of Snow
Frank gets a tape in interoffice mail - when he has it analyzed, he finds
it is 20 seconds of white noise with a brief period of pink noise. When the
pink noise comes on, he sees visions of Catherine. The tape had been sent to
the FBI by Geibelhouse in Seattle, but not to Frank. He goes to Seattle and
goes with Geibelhouse to where the tape was found - in the car of Carol
Wheatley, who seems to have killed herself by pulling in front of an
18-wheeler. Geibelhouse asks Frank what he's doing in Seattle - the case is
closed. Frank says the woman died because of the tape. Another person dies,
throwing himself out a five-story window. He has a static tape in his player
- Frank senses he thought he was on fire. Emma arrives at McClaren's behest,
to track down Frank. Frank suspects that these two victims were reliving
traumatic events in their lives, induced by the sound on the tape. Frank
leaves the investigation, and goes to the old yellow house. The new owner
gives him his misdelivered mail - in the bundle is a package with a tape.
When Frank listens to it, he flashes back to the night Catherine died; he goes
to the cabin they hid in. Emma and Geibelhouse track down where the tapes
come from - Alice Severin, a mysterious sound engineer who has little to say
about her tapes, or her mailing list - they see Frank's name and head for the
cabin. Frank wanders through the woods, following an apparition of Catherine.
He falls and bonks his head. He sees her; she tells him he has to protect
Jordan. They had done what they had to to protect their family. Emma and
Geibelhouse find him and get him out of the woods. Emma and Frank later
wonder if the tape originally came to him through the Millennium
Group.
Antipas
Lucy Butler is back, as a nanny for John and Una Saxum's sickly daughter
Divina. John is a state's attorney about to make a run for governor of
Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Emma showcases a case she has not been able to make any
progress on - Frank sees the word "SAINT" written above the "PA" on a
Pennsylvania phone book in one of the crime scene photos. McClaren tells Emma
that Frank has requested the case, and she is off it. Frank rearranges "SAINT
PA" into antipas, a word for the devil - and he suspects Lucy Butler. Emma
demands to know what Frank knows, but he says she's better off not knowing.
Frank finds a reference to a make mauled by dogs in Antipas Manor - owned by
the Saxums. He goes there and warns the Saxums about Lucy; though the mother
is wary of her, John is not and demands Frank leave. Frank confronts Lucy; she
tells him that Divina is hers. Frank is awakened in his hotel room by Hollis,
who says he called her. He had not, and they rush to Antipas. Una is dead,
drowned. Frank has Hollis take Lucy into custody, but she has to release Lucy
when her lawyer accuses Frank of rape. Frank, meanwhile, looks up Divina's
birth records, and she appears to be a match for the child Lucy had that she
was accused of killing. John tries to take Divina away from Lucy, but as he
places her in her car seat, he is hit from behind. Frank and Emma arrive to
find Divina alone and John hanging from a tree. Hollis is chased down by
vicious dogs, but Frank pulls her away. As they drive away, Lucy gets hit by
the car. After he is cleared of the rape charge, Frank goes to see Lucy in the
hospital, where he tells her Divina is gone, safe. He is not afraid of her -
she threatens Jordan, and he walks out on her.
Matryoshka
Hollis and Baldwin investigate the death of former agent Michael Lanyard.
It is evident that he shot himself, but Hollis is immediately suspicious when
she sees that Peter Watts visited him in his retirement home a few days
earlier. Frank and Emma pull his last case file - he was sent to Los Alamos in
1945 by Clyde Tolson, a crony of J Edgar Hoover. Tolson tells Lanyard that his
investigation of the murder of a Dr. Carew is of the utmost importance and
utmost secrecy. Lanyard visits scientist Dr. Alexander, and finds bail bond
papers for one Warren Kroll. He also meets Alexander's daughter Natalie and
nanny Lily Unser. The file ends abruptly, unsolved, and Lanyard resigned
immediately after. Hollis goes to Lanyard's funeral and sees Watts there.
Watts tells her that Lanyard was not in the Group. Alexander, he says,
defected to Russia. Frank and Hollis find Lily, who is in a retirement home
and who writes letters of "advice" to the President on a regular basis. She
says that Kroll is dead, buried at Los Alamos. Watts visits Lily, too, and she
is much more lucid with him. She scolds him for losing control of Frank; he
could have been a real asset. Frank and Hollis have a John Doe's body exhumed
from a grave at Los Alamos, hoping to find Kroll; but the body, highly
radioactive and well preserved, is that of Alexander. Hollis goes back the
Lily and asks about Natalie. She tells Hollis that after the Trinity test,
Alexander realized that they had created the apocalypse. Alexander began to
experiment with plutonium, and discovered he could split himself into two
personalities - into Kroll. Alexander gave Lanyard a letter for Natalie,
explaining himself and pleading with her not to take the same path he took.
Lanyard saw him expose himself to a lethal dose of radiation; he dropped the
letter, saved inside a stacking doll, and tried to find Natalie - he saw Lily
drive off with her. That was the last he saw Natalie. Frank goes to
Alexander's home and finds his secret lab room; he finds and reads the letter
to Natalie. Frank and Hollis realize that Lanyard saw a news report on Natalie
- she grew up and is conducting controversial medical experiments for the
Group. He saw the rest of the stacking doll on one of her shelves in the news
report and realized she had ended up like her father. Frank gives Peter the
letter and asks that he get it to Natalie. Lanyard was offered a place in the
Group, as Tolson and Hoover tried to resurrect it; Lily had already taken up
their offer. Lanyard wanted no part of them. Peter's superior is disappointed
that Peter delivered the letter to Natalie and asks how his recruitment of
Hollis is coming. Natalie reads the letter in her lab and breaks down in
tears.
Forcing the End
Pregnant mom Jeanie Borenstein is kidnapped from her home when her husband
Daniel goes to the store. The FBI is called in and Frank and Emma assist on the
case. They investigate a former nurse of Daniel's, Rachel Levinson - in her
home, which appears abandoned, they find clay pottery with apocalyptic Jewish
symbols. When they investigate the Borensteins, they learn that they are both
descendent from the main families of the original tribes of Israel. Meanwhile,
Jeanie is prepared for a ceremony by a mysterious group. Drugged and dazed,
she gives birth in a ceremonial pool. Later, she pleads to see her baby.
Daniel goes to the door of his home and finds Jeanie there - she somehow
escaped. Frank and Emma go to talk to them in the hospital - they suspect the
group is attempting to build the 3rd temple, to force the Messiah to come. The
FBI knows of Moses Gourevich, a terrorist who advocated destroying the mosques
built on top of the first and second temples. Jeanie tells Frank and Emma
about some English words she heard the group speaking; mostly they spoke
Hebrew, which she does not know - she also told this to Peter Watts. Emma
suspects the Group in the kidnapping, but Frank doesn't think so - they are
trying to prevent Armageddon, not prompt it. Based on the snippets of English
Jeanie heard, they track down the group to an abandoned building. Emma
searches and finds the baby. Gourevich takes him at gunpoint and goes to the
roof to be whisked away by helicopter, but he loses his balance and falls -
Emma grabs the baby just before he does. She wipes him with mud to make him
unclean and unable to fulfill prophecy.
Saturn Dreaming of Mercury
The Sandersons move in near the Black house, and Jordan immediately senses
something odd - she sees their house burned to the ground, and when she sees
the father in school the next day, she sees him with a monstrous face. She
also has an invisible friend, Simon, who tells her to tell young Lucas
something. She tries to, but is pushed into him - he accuses her of biting him.
Frank has to come pick her up and as they leave, she yells at Lucas, "He's not
your father!" The Sandersons come to Frank's house later and they tell him
that Lucas is adopted, and they wonder how she knew. Jordan attacks Will
Sanderson, and then falls and gashes her leg. In her pain, she says "Simon,
help me." Frank asks her who Simon is, but she won't say. He asks Emma to
help - she talks to Jordan, who suspects she may like Lucas. But Frank finds a
Simon in his files, a baby who died young. Jordan agrees it is him - he died
in Arizona, which is why he always wears a coat. A welcoming committee goes to
visit the Sandersons. Her son takes a glass eye from a collection, and when
they leave the house, the mother dies in a car crash. Emma is researching the
Sandersons when all the computers in the office go haywire - and she is
suddenly afraid for Jordan. Frank goes to her school, but she's gone. She is
in the Sandersons' basement. Will startles her. He is stabbed in the leg with
shears. When the shears are examined, Jordan's fingerprints are not on them,
but Lucas's are. Frank goes to the Sanderson's and goes in an open door. He
is knocked out from behind. When he comes to, the house is ablaze. He finds
Will on the floor, and Lucas smiling in a corner. He tries to get Will out,
but he goes to Lucas; the ceiling collapses on top of them. Emma brings Jordan
and they all watch the house burn. Frank and Jordan see Lucas in a window,
smiling down at them - his face changes to that of Lucy Butler before it
disappears.
Darwin's Eye
Cassie Doyle escapes from a mental hospital and on the road outside, she
takes a local cop hostage. Frank is called in to work with Baldwin while Emma
is on vacation - in her room, the walls are filled with her writing, and outside
her room is the body of a decapitated orderly. Emma gets a box of of trinkets
in the mail. She places the box in a drawer, along with several other similar
boxes. She decides to go into work, and reviews Cassie's file - she was in the
hospital for killing her parents; her father's head was never found. Doyle,
meanwhile, talks to the cop, convincing him that she is being chased, that she
was framed. He helps her escape some road blocks and they hike through the
woods. Baldwin thinks they are headed for Doyle's old home; Hollis looks into
Doyle's father's background; ex-Army, high security clearance. She goes back
home and examines her trinkets - they are fine origami figures folder by her
senile father. The paper he used has pictures of her dead sister Melissa. She
sees that Doyle drew palm trees, and that her father has folder palm tree
figures - she wonders what the connection is. But there is no connection -
Frank finds a hotel, the Palm Court Motel, and he rushes there. He finds Cassie
in a room, and the cop is dead, decapitated. Her father's dessicated head is
found packed in lime in the room, too. He had raped her there when he returned
from overseas; when she and the cop made love, she only knew one thing to do -
kill him afterwards.
Bardo Thodol
A Group sweeper chases after scientist Steven Takahashi in Chinatown - he
takes refuge in a Buddhist temple. Frank gets an odd apocalyptic message on his
computer screen. Emma leads an FBI raid on a Japanese merchant ship, looking
for counterfeit clothing - among the fakes, they team finds a case of severed
hands on ice; tests show they appear to have come off of Caucasian boys, about
two years old. Characters on the side of the ship match the message Frank got -
"An apocalypse of our own making." McClaren tells Hollis that the tip on the
ship came in anonymously; and that the hands appear to be growing. Peter Watts
pays Hollis a visit, but she wants nothing to do with him - she later realizes
that he stole evidence from her, a red lacquer bowl. Frank goes to the ship and
finds the crew and guards dead, assassinated. He finds chips from a red lacquer
bowl. Hollis matches a finger print on one of the hands to Takahashi, a
biologist. Frank traces the apocalyptic message to the temple; he finds the
monks inside tending to Takahashi. He knows Frank, and thinks Frank is there to
save him. Emma goes to Emergen, where Takahashi worked, and tracks a shipment
of umbilical cords to a warehouse. Before he dies, he tells Frank that the bowl
is the key. A Group assassin breaks into the temple but before he gets to
Takahashi, he dies; the assassin takes the bowl. Emma breaks into the
warehouse, but finds the shipment already gone. As she leaves, Peter arrives,
and she has a few choice words for him. The red lacquer bowl is placed the
Group's collection.
Seven and One
Upcoming
Nostalgia
Upcoming
Via Dolorosa
Upcoming
Goodbye To All of This
Upcoming
End of Season 3
X-Files - Frank Black appeared in the following episodes of the X-Files:
Millennium A few days before January 1, 2000, the freshly-buried body of an ex-FBI agent is taken from its grave. FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder arrive to help investigate - the coffin and headstone both have fingerprints of the dead agent. Raymond Crouch retired in 1993 and blew his brains out a month ago - the agents agree there is grave robbery of some kind, but Mulder feels it is necromancy - the rising of the dead. Assistant Director Walter Skinner tells Mulder and Scully that this is the fourth ex-agent to die and whose grave was robbed in six months. He suspects a connection to the Millennium Group. Since it fell out of favor and into disrepute, the FBI has little information on its activities, if any. Mulder suggests visiting Frank, who had himself committed to a psychiatric ward for 30 days. He is unwilling to help. Mark Johnson, who is collecting the bodies, gets a flat tire and when a deputy stops to help, the zombie he is transporting kills the deputy. When they find the body, there is a note in his mouth, which leads Mulder and Scully back to Frank. He agrees to look at the files, if they keep his involvement secret - he is involved in a custody battle for Jordan with her grandparents. He profiles the necromancer and confirms the ex-agents were members of the Group. But they represented a schism that felt that man had to have a hand in pushing the world towards the Apocalypse. The risen dead were a part of that belief. Scully goes to the morgue to see if the necromancer will come to get the deputy's body. Scully arrives at the morgue and finds the medical examiner injured, the walking body of the deputy coming at her, and the necromancer watching. Skinner later catches up to her, shaken and injured, but OK - the necromancer killed the zombie and left. Mulder goes in search of the necromancer and finds Johnson's ranch. He enters and goes into the basement where he is attacked by the four dead. Johnson returns and locks Mulder in the basement. Scully goes to Frank and tells him Mulder is missing, and what she saw. He refuses to help, but after she leaves, he checks out of the hospital. He goes to Johnson's ranch, where Johnson tells Frank that Mulder managed to kill one zombie - he is glad Frank decided to come, so he could be the new fourth. Inside, though, Frank turns on Johnson and goes to help Mulder. He is able to kill one more zombie, and Mulder gets one, too. Scully, who was directed to the Johnson ranch after an analysis of phone records, kills the last in the nick of time. Later, in the hospital, Mulder and Frank are treated for injuries - and Jordan and Frank are reunited. Mulder and Scully share a millennial kiss as the ball drops on 1999.
Last Modified: 28 Nov 1999
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