Millennium - The Complete Third Season

What a baffling, frustrating, engrossing, charismatic prestidigitation of a show! Having just finished the third and final season of MILLENNIUM, I am nearly as delighted and even more baffled than I was by the first. Though I am a fan of THE X-FILES and familiar with Chris Carter & Co.'s work generally, I have never seen anything like this on television, before or since. It just defies any categorization. It frustrated me to the point of outrage, yet I loved almost every minute of it.I used the word "prestidigitation" to describe this series, and no, I didn't know what it meant either -- I literally had to scour the dictionary to find a word that applied to the adventures of Frank Black. Turns out prestidigitation is "sleight of hand as used in the performance of magic tricks and illusions," and yup, it fits. MILLENNIUM is many things, but never what it appears to be and never what you expect, and this runs through right to the final episode -- and the "final final" episode, too. But more on that in a minute.MILLENNIUM is the story of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), a world-weary former FBI profiler whose "gift-curse" is the ability to intuit a bad guy's thinking from simply glancing at crime scene evidence. At the show's opening, Frank has taken a job with The Millennium Group, which he believes to be a simple consulting agency composed of ex-law enforcement officers who lend their expertise to local agencies flummoxed by unusual cases. As the show unfolds, however, we discover the Group has a much, much deeper purpose, shrouded in religious mystery and fears of a coming apocalypse. By the end of Season Two, it appears this apocalypse is in full swing.And then comes Season Three.TV historians often note MILLENNIUM's "many changes of direction." This is an understatement. The first half of Season One is basically a procedural TV show, albeit a gritty, stylistic, beautifully shot one, with Frank chasing an assortment of killers and kidnappers using his special powers. The second half of Season One steers us into more supernatural, X-Files type waters. Both halves are as grim as death and as close to humanly possible without any humor whatever. Season Two changes direction again, and focuses more on the decline in Frank's marriage, the cult-like intricacies of the Millennium Group, and Frank's increasing disillusion with it as the possible apocalypse approaches, yet there are several stories which qualify as outright comedy, lightening the gloom a little. Season Three, on the other hand, is its own animal entirely. It begins five months after the outbreak of the Marburg Virus that seemed to presage the end of the world and took the life of someone very dear to Frank. Yet now, all seems fairly normal. The world didn't end, and Frank has quit the Group, moved to Virginia, and returned to work at the FBI as a consultant. There he meets Emma Hollis (Klea Scott), a young FBI agent who is somewhat in awe of his reputation and draws on his vast experience. No sooner have they partnered-up, however, than Frank's former mentor turned possible nemesis, Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) shows up and begins pressuring Frank to rejoin the fold. The three form a tense triangle that moves through the show's final bow.A random selection of episodes that stayed with me (by no means inclusive):"TEOTWAWKI" - Although the climax is underwhelming, this episode, which begins with a mass shooting at a high school, speaks with brutal honesty about how social forces, in this case deliberately engineered Y2K paranoia, can end in brutal nihilism."Closure" - Emma Hollis must confront the demons of her past while trying to stop brutal thrill-killers carving a bloody swath over the country. Great, scary performance by Garrett Dillahunt."...Thirteen Years Later" - An exercise in over-the-top comedy has Frank investigating homicides on the set of a low-budget slasher flick. KISS makes something more than a mere guest appearance."Skull and Bones" - A rather grisly episode in which Emma literally stumbles over some of the Group's ugliest secrets. While irritating to fans who disliked the "Group as villain" theme, it's pretty darn effective."Human Essence" - Though like so many MILLENNIUM episodes, it asks more questions than it answers, this story, about tainted drugs which cause human beings to literally turn monstrous, is right out of the better parts of THE X-FILES playbook."Collateral Damage" - Peter Watts' past comes back to haunt him when a disgruntled former soldier (James Marsters) goes after his daughter in hopes of exacting a public confession of the Group's crimes. Will Frank come to the aid of the man he partially blames for his tragedy?"Dawin's Eye" - Frank and Emma investigate another X-FILES-esque mystery: how is a mental patient incarcerated in a hospital apparently committing murders without leaving his cell?"Omerta" - The wonderful John Polito guest-stars as a gangster evidently back from the dead to make amends at Christmastime, much to the confusion of Frank and the joy of Jordan. It's tough to do a Christmas episode without being sappy, but MILLENNIUM produced several."Nostalgia" - Frank and Emma investigate a gruesome murder that may be only one in a series occurring in Emma's old hometown. This is an excellent story which deftly touches on everything the show did well from first to final season. It's dark and brutal, full of twists and atmosphere.As I said, Season Three represents yet another course change and is very difficult to summarize. It commits a number of barely pardonable sins early on, ignoring or seemingly ret-conning the events of Season Two, and the providing not-all-that satisfying explanations as to the inconsistencies. It backs away from its intriguing exploration of the Millennium Group, and it ends on a note which is altogether less satisfying than the brutal, edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger that ended Season Two. Indeed, the end is so ambiguous that a second attempt at closure was attempted by migrating Frank and Jordan to an episode of THE X-FILES titled "Millennium" (included in this DVD set). Unfortunately, the final product is unsatisfying and silly (there are zombies) and does very little to give us anything resembling closure.Having said all that, I return to my earlier statement: MILLENNIUM, for all its radical shifts in direction and tone, all of its unanswered questions and brilliant episodes with strangely baffling endings ("Matryoska" is one of about 5 examples from this season alone), all of its jury-rigged ret-cons and dangling plot threads, is still one of the most remarkable and haunting series I have ever watched. Lance Henriksen is electrifying. So is Terry O'Quinn. Klea Scott, who one snarky critic called "a blah-tastrophe" is actually really good, maybe even perfect, in her role as an uncertain, wet-behind-the-ears FBI agent with a boatload of personal problems. And little Brittany Tiplady deserves a lot of propers for being adorable without ever being obnoxious, a very rare feat in a child actor. And while I sorely missed both Megan Gallagher and Kristin Cloke, when you have people like James Marsters, Juliet Landau, CCH Pounder, Garrett Dillahunt, Andreas Katsulas, John Polito, Edward Winters, Dean Winter, Peter Outerbridge, and others, it's hard to find too much fault in the casting. As for the cinematography, lighting, editing, etc., it's at the same movie-quality level as THE X-FILES, right down to having Mark Snow do the haunting, evocative (sometimes terrifying) music.I suppose this review is rather difficult to follow, but in a sense, so is MILLENNIUM...and I mean that less as a criticism than as the observation of a baffled yet admiring fan. It's a show that won't be categorized and can't be forgotten. This is, after all, who we are.

The third season was evidently the most challenging season for the production team behind the series. Executive producers Glen Morgan and James Wong that had helmed the second season had shifted the focus of the series from a dreary "serial killer of the week" format to a show focused on the spiritual and religious issues associated with the coming new millennium. By far, the second season is a dramatic improvement over the first. However, knowing the second season was to be their last association with the series, in the two-part finale episodes, they basically started the apocalypse with the arrival of the Great Plague.Resuming his grip on the creative control of the series in the third season and with a new set of executive producers, Chris Carter decided that the show had not developed in the direction that he had envisioned when he conceived it. He made a conscious decision to sweep away the religious iconography that had become characteristic of the series in the second season. Coupled with that task, a major character (Frank Black's wife played by Megan Gallagher) had died as a result of the unleashed plague, and he had to figure out how to continue a show when the end-of-the-world had begun.Many people probably saw it coming, but the only way Chris Carter and his new creative team could continue Millennium for a third season was to downplay the events at the conclusion of the second season. It turns out that it was not the Great Plague, and it apparently trickled out. Not much exposition is given to this in the two-part opening episodes of the season ("The Innocents" and "Exegesis"), and as such many avid followers of the second season will feel an immediate disconnect. The death of Frank Black's wife and the culmination of the events of the second season have led to Frank's (Lance Henriksen) decision to resign from the Millennium Group, who he is now certain have less than altruistic secret agendas. He has returned to the Washington D.C. area to accept a position as consultant for the FBI behavioral sciences division, where he has been partnered with a young FBI agent, Emma Hollis (Klea Scott). From this point, Frank continues to investigate high profile crimes without the Judeo-Christian influences of the Millennium Group.Early warning: the early episodes of the third season are, in my opinion, rather bland. This not to say that the stories are weak (though, "Closure" and "Human Essence" are really really bad episodes, probably the lowest points of the whole series), but after becoming accustomed to the scripts having an underlying spiritual meaning, these episodes came across as flat crime stories. And anyone who had become attached to the creative trends of the second season will have difficulty transitioning to the third season.Apparently somewhere midway through the season, the new producers saw the fanbase dwindling as a result of the changes, and as such began to slowly revert to the storytelling of the second season. Beginning with "Borrowed Time", which is an emotionally gripping episode as Frank confronts the possible loss of his daughter, to "The Sound of Snow" which finally explains what happened at the conclusion of the previous season especially with regard to Frank Black's wife, to "Antipas" featuring the return of Lucy Butler, and "Saturn Dreaming of Mercury" where Frank Black's daughter Jordan confronts a demonic boy.There are some continuity problems between this season and the previous ones as well. In "Seven and One", which is an otherwise excellent episode, we are told about an event from Frank Black's childhood with his brothers (plural!). This conflicts with the established storyline that Frank Black has only one little brother Thomas, who we met in the first season episode "Sacrament". Also, in "Matryoshka", there is a flashback sequence that suggests J. Edgar Hoover may be the founder of the Millennium Group, which seriously clashes with the second season episode "The Hand of St. Sebastian" that flashes back to Millennium Group members in Dark Ages. And sadly, the two-part season/series finale episodes "Via Dolorosa" and "Good Bye to All That" fail to deliver the coda that long time fans had wanted.Interestingly, the behind-the-scenes featurette for this season is the most brief compared to the previous boxsets. Chris Carter states clearly at the beginning that he was not pleased with the direction the second season had gone. Moreover, fans of the second season will find themselves annoyed with some of the interviews by the obvious disdain that writer Michael Perry shows for the Morgan/Wong helmed second season. I find it amusing that the third season producers suggest that they had actually run out of ideas for episodes by the middle point of the third season, when in magazine articles, Morgan and Wong had said that there were tons of stories and ideas that they did not have time to explore for the show. Also on the DVD is another featurette containing discussions with real-life Academy Group members. Lastly, the X-Files' episode "Millennium" featuring the return of Frank Black is also included on the final disk.This boxset is a "must own" for any fan of the TV series Millennium. And for the more casual viewer, there are quite a few remarkable episodes from this season. As I mentioned before, fans of the second season will have some measure of difficulty accepting the changes in this season: the early departure from spiritual/end of the world themed episodes, the demonization of the Millennium Group and particularly of beloved character Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn), and the continuity conflicts. Still, this season holds some great promise, and we can always wonder what might have been in store for us had the show been renewed for a fourth season. Viewers will see that there was an interesting plotline developing towards the end of the season that sadly never came to full fruition.**And one nitpicker's point: one episode of the third season will leave many viewers scratching their heads called "Bardo Thodol". There are two threads in the plot that are both engaging and they do intertwine, though it is never made clear how they do: one involves red lacquer Tibetan bowls and another involves Frankstein-like stem cell research. In only some TV markets, when this episode first aired, there were additional scenes included such as Peter Watts angrily smashing one of these red lacquer bowls. These lost scenes were not added to the episode on this boxset. When I bought this DVD set, I was hoping that I might finally get to see them and perhaps better understand the episode, but sadly they are not here.**

The Millennium series is a great show. Seems it went through an endless battle with bad reviews and threats of cancellations.An unfortunate side effect of this was the series had a lot of trouble difining itself. Season one had awkward terrorists and wierdo serial killers and two went deeper within the mystery of the millennium group and the end really felt final. THESE WERE GREAT TELEVISION! it was the story of our dark hero known as Frank Blank an ex FBI agent who after a nervous breakdown left the Bureau and was offered a Chance by a mydterious bunch called "The Millennium Group" a secretive group obsessed with the idea of an end times prophecy connecting to the end of the millennium. We followed Frank Black assisted by his mysterious group to uncover dark truths first about serial killers who appeared to be something more and later demons and mysticism which all centered around a heavy religious theme in the second season. All the while we watched Frank Battle endlessly with understanding, and the terrible curse of his own powers and ultimately the battle for his sanity.Season three however does a generalized pop culture remix of something that barely feels like the last two seasons. Its poorly and ameturely shot and looks and feels cheap. About one in five episodes has that nice traditional millennium feel to it albeit a cheaper mass appeal version thats poorly explained.Season three starts almost half a year after the events of the second season finale. Frank black is now employed with the FBI again...after a second nervous breakdown- he's taken back. The first half of the season centers around bureaucracy, red tape, delays and working in an office. It doesnt feel, dark and solitary and like frank black is fighting alone for the world as well as his sanity as it did before. Now he has ceaceless company and a generic female part-time partner which seems to do little more than provide exposition by asking mundane questions and to appease critics for a new female lead in a nearly completely male cast. Jordan buttler; the only other female character in the series is now little more than a simple distraction for frank black as she spends most of her time at her grandparents house...I think...its never really explained...the battle to keep Jordan safe has been utterly removed but for a few brief mentions throughout the seasonIf you can suffer through the first five episodes (which look and feel like some high school student film) you can try to grasp the tail end of what millennium was which is relieving!I love millennium, I've always loved this show but frankly season three feels just like "Fringe's" final season. Where by season four they already did everything they needed to in the show. And then had to keep going for another year... everything felt finished and there wasn't anything interesting to do or look at. Buy millennium seasons 1 & 2 they're amazing this one kinda feels like "what? We're still on?" great if its on sale!

I was really happy to see that all the seasons of Millennium were available on DVD. I have enjoyed revisiting this old TV show and having it in my collection.

C'est un coffret d'époque.Années quatrevingtdix! Donc format 1/33eme compatible 14.9eme.Bon en ce temps là toutes les series avaient ce format là.On ne doit donc pas s'arreter à cela.Mais sachez qu'il éxiste une version recente en widescreen.Un coffret integrale des trois saisons regrouppées.Mais le prix est naturellement plus du tout le meme.La serie elle,traite de la fin du monde annoncée à l'époque pour l'an 2000.Bon..!Pareille,faut pas s'arreter à cela.elle n'a pas eu lieu,tant mieux!la serie est tres bonne .Lance HENRIKSEN est tres bon dans cette serie là.Voilà! Une bonne serie quoi!

DVDs et boîtier en bont état. Expédition rapide. La 3ème saison est meilleure que la 2ème mais malheureusement, les créateurs de la série semblent ne pas avoir été capable de reprendre le dérapage de la 2ème saison

La série devait se finir avec la Deuxième saison . Deuxième saison qui , au passage est réellement excellent et que je recommande vivement .Mais , il y a eut une troisième saison , et je dois avouer que j'ai été un peu déçu , il y a une grande différence par rapport au deux premières saisons.. NOn pas que cette saison est mauvaise , juste , qu'elle est assez éloignée du reste de la série , par exemple , le groupe Millennium y est beaucoup moins présent , chose décevante ..Donc , je ne vais pas recommander cette saison , mais néanmoins , je ne peux pas non plus ne pas la recommander , car , elle n'est pas non plus mauvaise , disons juste que c'est un "bonus" de la série , un truc en plus .