Reviewed: The Judge

Contributor: Erin (Raven Wolf)

"....the visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright." (H. Melville, 1819-1891)

"The Judge", though not on my top 10 list of favorites, does have some very creepy qualities that at least make for a good, 1 hour horror flick. You can get the underlying theme of "Pig" from the very first scene, in which the man in the restaurant, seen eating dinner, is filmed in such a way as to draw attention to his tongue as he eats, which rather turned my stomach before his tongue even arrived, via the USPS, to the horror of a mild-mannered, middle class middle aged woman. By now the gut-wrenching feeling evoked by the first scene of each show flows so easily into the theme music that it all seems natural.

The "Pig" theme, started in the first scene was further exemplified by the herd of pigs outside the "Judges" house. Also, this was Frank's first encounter, and temptation, by Legion. The intent in the use of these themes was so blatantly obvious, as a jab at law enforcement, implying that "the devil" was passing judgment over our legal system.

During the final scene, where Frank discovers the note to him from the Judge, saying "Sorry to have missed you. Another time?" I did get a bit tense, wondering if it was a trap, which would have made the ending a bit more dramatic.....So, the simple discovery of the killer, calmly drinking a beer, after having murdered the Judge, was a bit disappointing.

I found this to be one of those episodes that had a lot of potential, but someone dropped the ball, or the severed tongue, or something. It was entertaining coming from a simple horror show standpoint, but, to me, seemed a little hard to follow. However, my hat is tipped to the fine actor who played the Judge, who had the "man with a God complex" theme down pat. So, though this was not, in my humble opinion, one of the best episodes of the series, it was quite "Millenniumistic" in nature.