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Millennium Episode Review of Pilot by Erin (Raven Wolf)

This is a fan review of the Millennium episode Pilot. Your episode reviews provide a good indication of which episodes and seasons of Chris Carter's Millennium television series were most popular with its eventual audience, as opposed to the views of professional TV critics and pundits.

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Review Info

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It was last viewed on Thursday, March 28, 2024, 12:40 PM (UTC).

Episode Info

 Pilot



MLM Code

#MLM-100


Production Code

4C79


Season

1


Original Airdate

1996-10-25

Episode Summary

A vicious serial killer is on the loose in Seattle, roaming strip clubs and gay hang-outs, believing he is on a mission to cleanse the plague-infested city from sin in preparation for the apocalypse. At the same time, renowned FBI profiler Frank Black retires to Seattle with his family as he gains membership in the secretive Millennium Group. He soon realizes that he must be the one to bring closure to the so-called Frenchman's grotesque crimes, before further innocents are brutally killed.

Main Crew

Written by Chris Carter
Directed by David Nutter
Edited by Stephen Mark

Random scenes from Pilot

A random scene from this Millennium episode Pilot.
 
A second random scene from this Millennium episode Pilot.
 
A third random scene from this Millennium episode Pilot.
 
 

There are a total of 130 images for Pilot which are available in our Episode Image Gallery.

Awards and Nominations

People's Choice Award 1996:


Millennium - Best new television dramatic Series (Winner)

American Society of Cinematographers Award:



Pete Wunstorf - Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Pilot (Nominee)

 

Reviewed: Pilot

Contributor: Erin (Raven Wolf)

An image from Millennium: Pilot.

As I watch the Pilot episode of MillenniuM today, I am impressed by the raw beauty in the opening scene, with the throbbing beat of "More Human Than Human", and Calamity's beautiful, blood-streaked body, surround by flames in the Frenchman's vision, as he quotes from Nostradamas and Revelations. But, in retrospect, I think it was just too much for a lot of people, who may have been turned off by the highly sensual and sexual scene. Still, as I watch it again...as if I'm watching it for the first time, that scene, followed by the now-familiar haunting theme music, it quite easily stood out as one of the more breath-taking Pilot scenes in all of television, much as The X Files had, just 3 years earlier.

That disturbingly dark and beautiful scene is then balanced by the idyllic arrival of the Black family at their new Yellow house. So often, in the first episodes of new series, potential viewers are lost because they just aren't captivated enough by the characters from the first moment. Chris Carter managed to quickly make us all feel as if we'd known Frank, Catherine, and Jordan for years, and, to their credit, the actors meshed together so well, that you easily felt the history of their family. The Yellow House, which would become such a significant symbol in the series, was quickly and effortlessly brought to the forefront, and the stage is set.

One of the most artistically written and filmed scenes was Frank's conversation with Tuesday. The lighting...Her reflection in the glass cast across Frank. The way her overtly sexual tone and movements changed, and became softened and vulnerable, as she folded her arms in a defensive posture. I was so amazed that, here, strippers and prostitutes were being treated like human beings, not like disposable people.

It always strikes me as interesting that when the Frenchman first sees Frank, he instinctively knows he is the enemy, just as one of the men on the bridge who saw Frank chasing him somehow knew that Frank was one of the "good guys", and told him that the man he was chasing had jumped. Frank's character is already portrayed as a true hero...A kind of avenging angel...here to protect us.

By this time, the viewer is completely sucked in by the riveting story, and you can see how all the other threads weave together the foundation of the series.

All of the horror of the climatic scenes...first where the horribly disfigured young man is found, buried in a coffin... alive, followed by Frank's personal horror that something has happened to his family, when Jordan falls ill...carrying you farther on the roller-coaster-ride back to the final scene where Frank faces the Frenchman, who is then shot by Bob Bletcher, already setting the tone that Frank is NOT a killer, we then see the rainbow at the end of the storm, as the tone is balanced by another idyllic scene, in which Frank brings the now-recovered Jordan her first puppy. A story-book ending if ever there was one. But, still, the balance of horror and beauty continues, as Frank discovers Polaroids in his mail, just like the ones that had led to his first mental breakdown. He takes them out of the envelope, and sees Catherine and Jordan. In the background is a cab, with "Seattle" painted on the side. You're left with this feeling of urgency, like reading an exciting novel, and you're compelled to turn the page...But there is no page to turn. This ending was a great hook to give viewers incentive to come back the next week to see the second episode, and was also the perfect 10-13 trademark signature, of answering questions by not answering them. The End......And the Beginning.....