Det. Bob Giebelhouse's Millennium Character Profile
Profile
Detective Bob Giebelhouse works for Seattle Police Department. One of his closest colleagues is Lt. Robert Bletcher, but he becomes a good friend to Frank Black, too, despite his original suspicions of the extraordinary profiler. We know practically nothing about his private life. Apparently he has children, since he mentions them casually in the third season episode TEOTWAWKI.
Detective Giebelhouse is a straightforward, down-to-earth professional. His mode of action is based on standard police procedure rather than speculation, and his mode of expression could be described as plain-spoken or even blunt rather than eloquent. He is reliable professionally, and always loyal to those he regards as his friends. He hates arrogance and conceit, which can be deduced from his conduct towards Special Agent Barry Baldwin, along with various suspects of crime. Giebelhouse is famous for his sarcastic remarks, and his attitude to life could be described as cynical. He never smiles, and his sense of humour is very dark.
Although Detective Giebelhouse is hard-boiled, one can also sometimes see a glimpse of his softer side. In the episode Lamentation he comforts and takes care of the upset Jordan Black very gently, and in The Sound of Snow he talks in a beautiful way about the relationship between Catherine and Frank Black. Furthermore, it‘s quite apparent that he feels sympathy for victims of crime, their families and friends. On a more personal level, what happened to Lt. Robert Bletcher was obviously a hard blow to Giebelhouse, although his emotions in this case are revealed only vaguely, with the exception of the moment of the first terrible shock.
In the second season episode Jose Chung‘s ‘Doomsday Defense‘ we‘re allowed to see a different Giebelhouse, a man of a usually solid character suddenly released from his boundaries. His memorable profile for the "antiporn feminist lesbian" is not only a sign of his deep commitment to his work, but also a proof of a very vivid imagination. Later in the same episode it seems that he‘s been charmed by a hyperpositive religious movement called Selfosophy, which anyone who knows him well would have regarded as extremely unlikely. Apparently, his profound negativity is starting to crumble piece by piece, and his scepticism seems to have transformed into credulousness in this episode. However, when asked about his interest in Selfosophical literature, he seems to be a bit on the defensive, and defines his action as "investigative research".
Despite the brief appearance of the unexpected traits of Detective Giebelhouse‘s character in Jose Chung‘s, the man and his behaviour could be seen to represent the sceptic viewer of the show, as he refrains from taking things at their face value and wants to get plausible evidence to support any assumptions concerning the world and the people around him.
Profile courtesy of Viivi (TIWWA Profile).
Millennium Cast, Character or Crew Credit
Det. Bob Giebelhouse was a character in the television series Millennium.
Mortality Count:
0 Deaths
Violence Markers
No markers identified for Det. Bob Giebelhouse.
Related DVD Comments/Information
Chris Carter (DVD Commentary on Pilot):
'Giebelhouse', played by Stephen Lang here, was another name from my childhood (also see Lt. Bob Bletcher). The Giebelhouse family were the cousins of another very good friend of mine. This idea of the hard-boiled detective is a kind of cliché but whenever you go and meet detectives in any police precinct, department, whatever, it's just as hard-boiled as people imagine them to be, or conceptualize them. I think that these characters are very real to life, who live in and work in this police department.
Millennium Appearances
Det. Bob Giebelhouse appeared in the following 16 episode/s of Millennium:
