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Synopsis of Millennium episode "Pilot"

Presented below is the original published synopsis of Pilot, from Chris Carter's Millennium TV series. It was originally published on the original Fox Millennium website.

 

Welcome Frank.
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Pilot


Season:

1

MLM Code:

#MLM-100

Production Code:

4C79

Original Airdate:

1996-10-25



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Episode Profile | Transcript | Credit List | Original Fox Photos |  Episode Images

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


A seedy peep show in downtown Seattle. As seedy men pay for brief glimpses of female flesh, one customer has more than sex on his mind. Mumbling obscure and ominous phrases, he hallucinates sheets of blood pouring over the body of a blond dancer. Later that night, she is savagely murdered.

Just arrived in Seattle, Frank and Catherine Black, and their five-year-old daughter Jordan, are happily settling into their new suburban home. But the evil of the outside world soon disturbs Frank's contentment. Spotting a newspaper account of the dancer's brutal death, Frank contacts his former boss, homicide cop Lieutenant Bob Bletcher. Frank volunteers his expertise as a retired FBI agent specializing in serial killers.

When he views the body, Frank catches vivid and bloody glimpses of the crime, and knows the Killer will strike again. His intimate knowledge of the details spooks his old friend. Now a consultant for a consortium of ex-law enforcement officers called the Millennium Group, Frank offers their resources to help the department find the killer. Peter Watts, a member of the group, agrees with Frank's assessment. Driven by an external stressor, the killer is out of control...and out for more blood.

Stalking the gay cruising scene for his next victim, the killer is lost in a warped world of hallucinations, surrounded by passers-by with eyes and mouths gruesomely sewn shut. Later that night, the cops find his latest victim's charred, headless body, and nearby, an empty coffin. Again, Frank's detailed knowledge of the crime startles Bletch. Frank's investigations and visions even lead him straight to the killer, who manages to lose Frank after a close chase.

Frank presents his findings to the homicide department. Obsessed by apocalyptic prophecies, and maddened by twisted sexual guilt, the killer believes he is cleansing sin from plague-infested Seattle. Not unexpectedly, the cops reject what they don't understand...except for Bletch. He demands an explanation from Frank. And Frank, at last, reveals his secrets.

His gift is also his curse. He sees what the killer sees, becoming what we most fear to hunt, what we must destroy. In the past an anonymous person sent Polaroid photos of his family to him, distorting Frank's knowledge of evil into paralyzing fear. He quit the FBI, refusing to let his family out of his sight. Then he was contacted by the Millennium Group, an association formed to battle the darkness that approaches with the coming millennium. They offered to help him use his gift, and Frank moved his family back to Seattle.

Frank must rush to the hospital when his daughter is stricken with a high fever. Despite his love for Jordan, he can't leave his job behind. Alerted by sudden insight, Frank leads the cops to their most horrifying discovery: a man buried alive, his eyes and mouth sewn shut, his fingertips roughly amputated.

Finally, Frank tracks the killer to the police department's own evidence lab. In a psychotic rage, the Killer savagely attacks Frank, raving about the apocalypse. Just in time, Bletcher's bullet saves Frank from the killer's deadly assault.

The killer's death releases Frank to seek peace in the love of his family. But his serenity is shattered by a nightmare sent in the mail: anonymous Polaroids of his family.