A profile of Millennium episode Broken World, synopsis, images, credits, related trivia and facts plus the original promotional trailer where available. The episodes follow the original US TV Air Date/DVD box set order which is most familiar to the majority of fans.
Please note that our episode, cast, character and crew profiles may contain potential spoilers if you have yet to enjoy the entire series of Millennium.
Welcome Frank.
There are 341 days remaining.
N.B. This video clip is presented in a modern HTML5 compatible MP4 format, but is by modern standards in an extremely low resolution.
It was originally made available via Twentieth Century Fox's original Millennium website, during the era of dial-up 56kbps modems.
View more Millennium Episode Trailers.
These links can be used to quickly navigate this Millennium Episode Profile
You view an analysis of Millennium's violence, its killers and victims, grouped by the various nature of the mortalities.
Millennium's Violence - Deaths, Killers, Victims and Criminality
You can also view a breakdown of Millennium's mortality rates per individual season and episode:
Millennium Season 1 - Mortality Rates
Our database lists the following locations for this episode:
Williston, North Dakota
Wheelock, North Dakota
Episode Reviews
There are currently 2 episode reviews available for this episode.
Episode Articles
Although there are currently no articles available for this episode, you can access a list of all available Millennium Episode Articles here.
You may also be interested in the following pages and external websites and links which relate to this episode:
Our top 5 most popular Millennium episode profiles are:
Our top 5 most recently accessed episode profiles are:
To quickly view any Millennium episode profile, select one from the list below and click the Show Me button:
This profile of Broken World has been viewed 13917 times and was last accessed on Saturday, January 25, 2025, 12:46 AM (UTC).
Williston, North Dakota
Wheelock, North Dakota
In France, this episode was entitled Un Monde Brisé which translates into English as A Broken World.
In Finland, this episode was entitled Mustasaappainen mies which translates into English as A black boot man.
In Germany, this episode was entitled Der Pferdemörder which translates into English as The Horse Ripper.
There are a total of 100 images for Broken World available in our Episode Image Gallery.
Sorry, Broken World was not promoted with a print ad. Would you like to see all available Millennium Print Ads in larger format?
Frank Black realizes that a dangerous situation is forming when a psycho-sexual killer who has spent months slaughtering horses across North Dakota begins to gain the courage to focus his attentions on human victims.
Written by Robert Moresco & Patrick Harbinson
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Edited by Stephen Mark
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Donnelly Rhodes as Peter Dumont
Jo Anderson as Claudia Vaughn
John Dennis Johnston as Sheriff Falkner
Van Quattro as Killer Willi
Ingrid Kavelaars as Sally Dumont
J.B. Bivens as First Deputy
Michael Tayles as Deputy Billy
P. Adrien Dorval as Fatso
Clayton Watmough as Sheriff (stunt double)
Gillian Carfra as Mary Ann
Tom Bougers as Tom
Man is the cruelest animal. - Nietzsche
wait... worry... who cares?
Please note that this is the original Fox synopsis and occasionally this may differ from the events that were actually filmed.
Please also view the Broken World episode transcript which has been painstakingly checked for accuracy against the actual episode.
In North Dakota, a woman named Sally Dumont rides a horse to her farm. As Sally guides the animal to a stall in the stable, she discovers another horse, its coat stained with blood, lying on the ground inside its pen. As she kneels down next to it to investigate, Sally notices someone wearing a pair of rubber boots standing in the adjoining stall. Terrified, she makes her way to a phone and calls for help. Suddenly, the intruder looms up from behind and knocks Sally unconscious.
Frank meets with Sheriff Jeff Falkner, who believes the incident does not warrant the Millennium Group's attention. But Frank notes that twenty-one horses have been killed in the surrounding area during the last two and a half years. He believes that the perpetrator is a psychosexual killer in the making-someone who must be stopped before his sickness compels him to take human life.
Police discover the word "help" written in human blood near the telephone where Sally Dumont placed her call for help. They also discover human semen in the stall next to where the horse was killed. Frank believes the perpetrator was reacting to an entirely new experience: for the first time, he had a woman, and not a horse, in his power.
The perpetrator, a man named Willi Borgsen, uses an electric cattle prod to shock hogs in a tractor trailer oustide of a bar. When approached by the owner of the rig, Willi incapacitates the driver by shocking him with the cattle prod. Police later discover the driver's beaten body in a wooded area nearby. Upon investigation Frank realizes a set of boot-prints at the scene match the type of footwear worn by the perpetrator. He also concludes that the suspect is incapacitating his victims with an electric cattle prod, a device used by slaughterhouse workers.
The body of another victim, a woman named Mary Ann Wright, is found on a farm with a dead horse nearby. On a barn wall is scrawled the message, "thank you." Willi telephones Frank using a special number set up by police to report information about the crimes. Willi taunts Frank telling him that committing murder brings him great pleasure.
While discussing the case with Claudia Vaughan, a local veterinarian, Frank is shocked when he sees foals being led to slaughter. Claudia explains that P.M.U., or Pregnant Mares Urine, is the main element in Hormone Replacement Therapy which is the most profitable pharmaceutical in the United States. Mares are deliberately kept pregnant for their urine, and when the animal gives birth, the foal is killed and the meat is shipped overseas. Frank concludes that the killer was raised on a P.M.U. farm.
Willi again telephones Frank. He warns that killing Mary Ann Wright did not satisfy his urges. Frank warns that his bloodlust will only intensify. After Willi hangs up, Frank realizes Claudia Vaughan is his next victim. Falkner, Watts and Frank break down the door of Claudia's home, but she has vanished. Frank realizes Willi took her to a slaughterhouse that deals in horses.
As the men enter the slaughterhouse, Willi engages a motorized pulley system from which animal carcasses are hung. Falkner sees a still-conscious Claudia swinging among the carcasses, a meat hook through her jacket. Suddenly, Willi steps from the shadows and jolts Falkner with a stun-gun, knocking him to the ground.
Frank searches the slaughterhouse for Willi. The stun-gun is jabbed into Frank's back, sending him tumbling into a killing box. Willi fires a pneumatic bolt (used to slaughter livestock), narrowly missing his prey. A sheriff's deputy sneaks up behind Willi, but his boot crunches a fragment of bone. Willi turns, firing a bolt into the deputy's chest. Frank escapes through a wire mesh at the bottom of the killing box. But Willi gains the upper hand, aiming the gun at Frank's forehead. Suddenly, a wave of horses charges towards Willi, trampling him.
Watts: We've learned from past experience that an event like this – a close call – expands his sexual fantasy. Frank: His only source of feeling alive is his urge for sexual pleasure. His paraphilia has now defined it. It intoxicates and terrifies him. He's standing at an abyss and he's hesitating.
There is no background information or references relating to this episode of Millennium.
Millennium editor Chris Willingham informed the Millennium Abyss website that "Broken World" was one of those episodes that was trimmed in the cutting room as a result of its graphic nature. "There have most definitely been shots that were not used for censorship reasons. In 'Broken World,' there was a lot of slaughterhouse footage that could not be used due to its graphic nature. Watching the dailies was difficult for the editor."
Credit: Brian Dixon, The Millennial Abyss
View the 3 available original 1996 Fox Millennium Episode Guide images for this episode of Millennium here.
(Comprised of 2 murders + 0 kills in self defence + 0 justifiable homicides + 0 suicides.)
N.B. Where relevant, unquantifiable groups of victims (such as multiple casualties as a result of a plane crash) are represented by a group count of 1 due to the impracticalities with listing so many unidentified persons.
(View Millennium's Violence - Deaths, Killers, Victims and Criminality Analysis)