MILLENNIUM

AIR DATE: November 28, 1999
Written by Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Thomas Wright

        "Millennium" had everything last week's episode "Hungry" didn’t have: Scully and Mulder interaction, Mulder's wild theories with everyone looking at him like he’s nuts and a decent story that kept you interested throughout. The only problem was the crossover with the canceled TV show "Millennium" didn’t work and the kiss was as lame as previous ones. In order for a crossover to work characters from other shows have to be as much a part of the episode as the main characters from the show and this was what was missing with Frank Black. By sticking Frank Black in a mental hospital for most of the episode it made him a secondary character as in every other guest star appearance in X-Files episode. If you compare this with "Law and Order/Homicide" crossovers you can see the difference where characters from each of those shows were involved in every aspect of the case which was never the feeling one got in "Millennium". Frank Black feels more of a character who is there to move the story along and never directly gets involved. Also, it seems as if both shows belong to different universes and something doesn’t feel right when they collide. It just seems strange that Scully and Mulder only hear of the Millennium group in passing and never investigated them further, but I guess they were too busy chasing aliens and stuff.

        The kiss was just another slap to the fans because there wasn’t any real meaning behind it. Just another instance on the show where something was thrown out there for no other purpose than to get the fans riled up. At this point I could care less if they ever get together since whenever it happens I will have a hard time truly believing it means anything at all.

        Other than the things mentioned above the story overall was quite enjoyable. We had zombie former F.B.I. Agents, a man who had mysterious motives and Scully and Mulder who actually talked to each other and worked together. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good story where there are lots of Scully and Mulder. I especially enjoyed the briefing room scene where they go over the case with other agents and Mulder boldly announces his theory of someone summoning these F.B.I. Agents back to life as part of a plan to bring on the end of the world. It was fun seeing this kind of interaction again. Another plus was Skinner was acting like a boss who was supportive and gave them the assignment which is something we haven’t seen in a long time and Scully and Mulder didn’t complain about being assigned the job which was what they seemed to do the last two seasons. Always good to get that old time X-Files feeling back.

        Some miscellaneous comments on "Millennium":

- I kept expecting the arms of the man in the coffin to fall off as Necromancer Man (the end of the world man) was taking off his clothes because we kept hearing the crackling bones sounds everytime he lifted up one of the man’s arms. Didn’t these bodies decompose faster than normal since usually funerals happen only a few days after someone dies.

- Who was that woman at the funeral since it can’t be the man’s wife because at the briefing we are told he was unmarried.

- I don’t know much about cell phone batteries, but that cell phone Necromancer Man put in the dead man’s hand lasted over a week without needing to be recharged.

- Why did Scully and Mulder come in different cars to the crime scene? So we could get that great line from Scully asking Mulder if he is spreading rumours.

- I have to admit I quite enjoyed the Funeral Director defending himself to Scully by saying he doesn’t bury live people as some people are saying.

- Here I thought Mulder was considered the greatest profiler the bureau ever had instead of Frank Black.

- I haven’t lived in the Maryland area for over 15 years, but I’m fairly sure you wouldn’t hear any flies buzzing around at the end of December as we saw when the Deputy stopped to see what Necromancer Man was up to.

- The first thought that came to my mind as the Deputy opened the back of Necromancer Man’s truck was where was his probable cause to open the truck since he didn’t pull him over for any traffic violation and from everything the Deputy could see he truly was changing his tire and nothing else. If Necromancer arrested any evidence most likely would have been thrown out of court.

- Why is it every zombie wants to kill humans? I guess they’re jealous we are still alive and they’re not.

- How exactly did Necromancer Man control these Zombies because it seems as if he doesn’t have much more than some words and salt.

- I’m guessing Patient and Doctor privilege went out the window in this episode when the Doctor tells Scully why Frank Black was in the mental hospital.

- Maybe next time the autopsy Doctor will answer the phone. The little spoon worked pretty good to get all the salt out of the Deputy’s mouth.

- It was nice to see Scully didn’t deny that it was the dead deputy who attacked her . Is this a break through only future episodes will tell us?

- Lucky for Mulder the Necromancer Man emptied his trash and left the bag of salt in it so Mulder will be able to find it and use it later on in the episode. Hey, lucky Mulder thought of looking through his trash.

- I’m glad Scully mentioned the fact the millennium really starts January 1, 2001 not January 1, 2000.

Only Scully would think of using a professional lock opener while Mulder thought it would be easier to just climb over the fence.

- Mulder wins the "You deserve what happened to you" award when he goes down in the basement of Necromancer Man’s house by himself before he fully investigated the area. Good to see Mulder had that trusty flashlight with him so he can see the zombie men in the basement.

- Necromancer Man comes in 2nd for "You deserved what happened to you" award when he complains to Frank Black that Mulder shot one of his zombies so now they no longer have 4 dead Zombie Men for the end of the world to happen. Maybe next time Necromancer Man won’t trap Mulder in a basement full of zombies with a gun.

- Good to see Scully to the rescue when she saves Mulder and Black from the zombies.

- I guess the X-Files people didn’t hear there isn’t going to be a Dick Clark Rock ‘n’ Roll New Years this year.

        "Millennium" was a solid episode even if the crossover didn’t work in the way it should have, but I’m sure fans of the TV show "Millennium" were happy to find out what happened to Frank Black. It was good to see Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz still have the touch to write a good Scully and Mulder episode.  If they hadn't wasted our time by having Scully and Mulder kiss it would have been an even better episode.

Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

11/30/99

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