Fox mystery drags on

Courtesy of FOX Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and his partner Emma Hollis (Klea Scott) investigate mysterious deaths in "Millennium" on Fox.

By Gabe Smith
Daily Arts Writer

About 2 1/2 years ago, "X-Files" creator Chris Carter had another vision for another show. It would deal with weird things just as "X-Files" does. It would have more dealings with the religious and the occult. Finally, an F.B.I. agent would still be involved, except he would be a loner. The show was called "Millennium," and it starred Lance Henriksen of "Terminator" and "Aliens" fame.

Courtesy of FOX "Millennium" premieres tonight on Fox.

But the show didn't get off the ground in the manner that people had expected. Fox broadcasters stuck the show in a Friday time slot. Ironically, "The X-Files" also started at the exact time slot more than five years ago. Criticism of the show by reviewers was leveled at co-producers Glen Morgan and James Wong, both "X-Files" alums. Some said that the show was a little too horrific and gory. Others felt that this was just an attempt at an "X-Files" spinoff. They even brought in the character of "Jose Chung" along with a box of Morley cigarettes, the brand that the "Cigarette Smoking Man" likes. Chung was later killed off.

"X-Files" fans won't even go near the show, but, to its credit, "Millennium" has persevered and will be on for a third season. Henriksen has done his job in molding the main character Frank Black into a very dark, lonely man. He has dealt with the separation of his wife (Megan Gallagher) and later her death at the end of the second season. This has forced him to grow closer to his daughter, who he now must look after.

In the third season's premiere, Black is found still on leave from the Bureau trying to come to grips with the death of his wife. It has been five months, and Black gets back into the thick of things. Mystery doesn't take long to find Frank as he's soon caught up in the case of a downed airliner. A dead stewardess and a handgun are both found in the midst of the wreckage, but that same woman is later seen in the episode walking with her daughter into her home, which a second later explodes. Black and a fellow agent track down the lady to a burn unit where Frank figures that the downed airliner and the explosion are in connection with the viral outbreak that killed his wife at the end of last season. The lady at the burn unit tells Frank that the children are the key. Black tracks down the final child only to have her die in a car wreck as another mysterious car drives off. The screen fades to the horrendous words: "To Be Continued."

This episode is not unlike what has happened to the entire series, which has just been too slow in developing. The episode attempts to build character separately from the plot rather than working on both in combination, which would help to quicken the pace to keep viewers attention. With a Friday night time slot, this is key.

"Millennium" is a show with great potential but has been disjointed through the first two seasons as it struggles to find its identity. Then, an emulation of "X-Files" was tried with government conspiracies for a little while. What is important is that "Millennium" stand on its own as the third season starts tonight. Once "Millennium" stops looking over its shoulder (and trying to leech off "X-Files), it will do fine.

But the show's creators need to stop changing the its direction. Hopefully, they'll have done so by the end of this millennium.

10-02-98