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Millennium's Entire Story Arc Broken Down

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Guest NormanCroucher

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Firstly Norman, and my apologies for shortening you moniker, may I thank you for all you have written and the brain-aches you have caused me. :oneeyedwinK

I am by your side on many of the issues you have raised and I cannot tell you the face-scrunching the cavernous leap of continuity between the second and third season has caused me. You are correct and true in your assertion that the explanation given for the Marburg pandemic flings aside logic and must rank as stupidity enthroned. As you state if the Group had not realised that a gun to the temple would be a more efficient assassination tool than an uncontrollable and unpredictable pathogen then despite the magnitude of their collective knowledge they were nothing short of a bunch of loons. Maybe they were. :whistling:

Wether we like it or not, and I do not like it, we have to accept the canonical depiction of Marburg as a grossly inept method of execution. .

I still assert that Lara's initiation was unsanctioned though I will accept that I may be wrong. It is a smattering of episodes earlier, in Luminary, when Peter battles on hers and Franks behalf before a cynical coven of Group members who deny her right to initiation.

Concerning Peter and Lara: their rapport, initially, is very strange as they rarely engage each other, share limited screen time and Peter does appear to have scant regard for her: leaving her alone, in 'Midnight of the Century', to play the proverbial 'party gooseberry' until Frank arrives to play 'mutual friend'. Though she appears in ten episodes there are few instances where Peter actively engages her in Frank's investigations, more commonly she is drawn there by device or by Frank's implicit request, but there is a rather fascinating change to Peter and Lara's relationship, a 'shifting-up-a-gear' that occurs during and after the Owls/Roosters war. If you look at the sequence of events that transpires it is incredibly intriguing in light of certain errant board members who have concluded that Lara was 'greater than the sum of her parts'.

Something, and I use 'something' simply because the given explanation makes no sense, causes Watts to dismiss Lara from the Millennium Group, he offers her no explanation and she seems content not to be given one but simply returns home to continue her investigations into, yup...you guessed it, Peter Watts. This is interesting in itself as Lara has obtained duplicate copies of the imaging results Peter requested, results that had only just landed on Peter's desk moments before her excommunication. This is possibly the biggest hint that Lara has 'friends in high places' with a bigger fish appearing only moments later. No sooner has Lara concluded what the Owls and Roosters themselves appear to suspect, namely that Peter is involved in something decidedly Judas-like, than Peter is summoned before the group Elder to explain his concealment of the third image, the very image that Lara was unable to find amongst the duplicates. Now either Ms. Means is making strategic alliances here, feeding information to the group Elder who is, very shortly, to hold the 'Old Man's Compass' or it is a simple coincidence that someone is passing information to her and her to them.

Moments later the Old Man is to finally descend from his shack and in the midst of a rapidly degenerating Millennium Group the member he approaches first, amongst all the unidentifiable quaffle of members, is Lara, excommunicated, uninitiated Lara. I love the caveat that occurs when Lara first sees the Old Man through her spy hole, its shape taking the form of the mysterious symbol in 'A Single Blade of Grass'.

From this point on there is a rapid change in Peter and Lara's relationship, if Lara really did enjoy a hitherto undiscussed Patron/Candidate relationship with the man who took the mantle of 'The Old Man' then this seemingly changes the way Peter views her. Things move incredibly quickly for her from this point on, there seems to be no need to argue her readiness for candidacy anymore.

In Anamnesis, Watts dispatches Lara to investigate the enigma of Claire McKenna, they have moved from requiring Frank's mediatory function to working and communicating directly for the first time, not only this but Peter remains silent in the face of Lara's threats of rank insubordination. The conversation that takes place in the corridor is incredibly telling, more so if you watch Lara's malign grin when she dismisses Catherine as not being a problem, during the batting back and forth Peter prompts Lara to "...remember why you're here," which seems innocuous until you consider that Lara already knows that Claire McKenna is channeling the Magdalene, that Ben Fisher is 'The Family', she knows the ins and outs of the Merovingian Dynasty, Grail Legend, Black Virgins, Gnosticism and so on and so forth so it begs the question what is the group there to find? Not answers as it seemingly has them all already. Things get more enigmatic when you give consideration to the following exchange:

LARA It's Lara. And now that I'm sure about who he is, I can't just watch this happen.

PETER We've watched worse things happen with less reason. You have identified him, haven't you?

LARA Yeah. I spoke to him.

PETER And the girl?

Lara doesn't respond.

PETER After all we've been through, Lara, you're just going to have to trust we're doing the right thing

What have they watched occur with less reason? What have they been through together? What is she unprepared to watch happen? I can only deduce that Peter has dispatched Lara with the mandate to kill Ben Fisher leaving Claire Mckenna without his guidance and ripe for Group harvesting. If a plot to kill Ben Fisher seems implausible then the end of the conversation appears to confirm it:

PETER After all we've been through, Lara, you're just going to have to trust we're doing the right thing.

LARA I can't, Peter. It would be murder.

Murder indeed! Not manslaughter brought about by a flagrant lack of intervention but murder, the "illegal killing with malice aforethought," of another being, with purpose, direction and intention. Lara admits as much to Catherine when she says " Whatever I did, Catherine, no matter how I manipulated certain events, Fisher was going to die in this classroom today," because if events had not transpired in the manner they did she was seemingly involved in a plot that would have killed him anyway.

Beyond the death of 'The Old Man' and the events of 'Anamnesis' it is now Lara and Peter all the way, he hides her from both the group and from Frank, both of whom tail him in an attempt to prevent her initiation, and finally gives her what she most craves, gnosis. Interestingly after she has undergone the blood ritual she has in her possession the 'Marburg Vaccine' which implies that she has information and choice where Frank and even Peter have none. The girl's certainly come a long way in a short time.

After all this insane gibber and keyboard punching I only, respectfully, ask that you consider that Lara's initiation was an unusual event in light of the refusal previously noted, Peter's previous lack of interest in her, the nature of the armed assailant's intervention and subsequent abandonment of her in her rapture.

I accept I could be wrong, my catchphrase being, 'I usually am' but will hope you stone me to death on this as I am enjoying your posts so much.

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This whole thread is just amazing!!!!

Norman, have you considered writing for Graham's new Millennium website, or maybe even (hint hint) for the fan book I've long wanted to see put together? Someone of your talent and insight should be read by MANY!!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest peas_and_corn

This thread has proved to be incredibly fascinating to me. It proves that I really need to rewatch the episodes, which requires me getting my DVDs back from my missus...

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Thanks StuartW!

I think it goes without saying that Norman's original post is absolutely breathtaking and it was such a humbling experience for me to see a post of such magnitude, I frequently re-read it as it is so perfect in its construction. It is certainly a pleasure to be around such souls as this. You should have a search for Laredo's posts my friend, his work is so thoroughly enjoyable and almost musical to read I am sure you will be far more in awe of him than you are of me.

Oh well a mince pie beckons,

Best wishes,

Eth

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  • 4 months later...
Guest Kinjiru

Wow, great post!

I'd like to discuss the whole Andrews affair and your take on it...

Now that The Old Man was gone, there was no elder left to teach them the error of this huge miscalculation. Through doing this the Millennium Group opened up its doors to allow Legion completely inside. It had manipulated them for years, making them kill for what they thought to be right (see Skull and Bones), Cheryl Andrews' fate determined due to her betrayal of the group. Her presence in Germany was ultimately to expose Millennium after her suspisions became hard fact during an autopsy of one of their victims. She most likely believed Frank to be just as involved as Peter in the group's activities, perhaps suspecting they were both there to stop her. She just picked the wrong people to side with. After her arrest, she was unexpectedly released and deported, but only at the Group's behest in order to ensnare her in a death trap at the airport later, silencing her forever.

"Skull and Bones" has really gotten me confused. It seemed to imply that deportation occured after the events in "The Hand of Saint Sebastian", but clearly that could not be (what, with her death and all).

I had also gotten the impression from the THSS episode that Andrews was in the Rooster camp. This may seem odd given that she is a scientist, but my feeling is that whatever she discovered during the autopsy shook her to her secular core and convinced her that the Roosters were right after all. Furthermore, I got the impression that her discovery led her to believe that the Owls were attempting to destroy the Roosters and take over leadership of The Group. I was not quite sure if she believed that Watts and Frank were in the Owl camp (which would be odd given that Andrews and Watts clearly knew each other and that Peter was very clear in his belief in the theology behind the Rooster faction). S&B was of no help in answering this question, for me.

The Original Posting though, seems to have taken another interpetation altogether - that the discovery Andrews made led her to dismiss The Group as a whole and "go public". What I am failing to see (and maybe I just need to watch these two episodes back-to-back) is how The Group (or either of the factions) would have been able to anticipate that Andrews was going to spill the beans?

In general, I am thinking that perhaps S&B was just an attempt by Carter and Chip to "undo" some of the elements from season two that they felt took away from the storyline.

Okay, enough rambling from the newbie...

Edited by Kinjiru
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Oh great stuff,

To do your post justice I need to watch a few episodes again to be honest but...

It wouldn't have been necessary for the Group to 'know' that Andrews was about to reveal what she had gleaned, they killed those who knew 'just in case'. In Innocents/Exegesis it is asserted that the Marburg Pandemic was a mere tool of execution designed to kill the remote viewers who had access to sensitive information.

The Group believed that 'knowing' was cause enough to kill whether or not people intended to 'do' anything with the information.

Best wishes,

Eth

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Hi Kinjiru :)

As your post had me intrigued I have done some sniffing around in order to throw a little light on the issue of Cheryl Andrews. Rather than the two episodes you note being incongruent they do actually establish the same continuity.

My 'synopsis' of events is as follows..

Andrews uncovers evidence that asserts the Group is involved in experimentation, or the cover up thereof, that is resulting in human malignant brain tumours.

At some point, as established in THSS, Andrews has become renegade and allied to an unexplored agency seeking to expose the group from within. Realising the autopsy results are powerful evidence against the Group she travels to Germany with the intention of exposing them to the scientific community at a conference (S&B). Prior to the conference she is instructed to add further confusion by discrediting Peter Watts and by acquiring evidence to support an assertion that the Group is involved in cultish behaviour more akin to a religious sect that an consultancy Group.

Once her involvement becomes clear she is arrested and released without trial under order of deportation (THSS). The Group, now privy of her duplicitous nature, apprehend her at the airport and execute her (S&B).

At least that's my understanding of of her arc.

My very best wishes to you,

Eth

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  • 2 years later...

Shameless bump here folks.

I was reading Ben's highly enjoyable weaving-together-of-all-the-bits with regards to Lost and I knew someone had done something similar here. I am bumping this for newer members who might not have read Norman's incredible post. Plot holes? What plot holes. :clapping:

Eth

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