Goodbye To All That/XF-Millennium

[ethsnafu]

Something Graham mentioned in another thread recently sent me on one of my musings. Graham very succinctly pointed out that, with the exception of the colonization storyline, the "X-Files" has reached a point in it's narrative that it has afforded fans enough closure on a number of fronts that if a third film is not forthcoming then there is much to be grateful for in terms of the closure the fans received for their investment.

In another thread I highlighted how little time our own franchise had to provide closure of any kind. When you consider that "Lost" had nigh on three years notice that the end was nigh and still failed to deliver the kind of closure a great many fans had come to expect (fairly or unfairly) then it's remarkable what "Millennium" did manage to achieve with its final episode given that they had (I believe) only months knowledge of the cancellation of the show. If you consider that the final episode of season two was intended to be the last word on the show, prior to a very unexpected greenlight for another season, image how we would have felt if the scenes of Frank and Jordan facing a viral apocalypse together had indeed been all we were going to get.

There will always be a case for "...we want to know what [insert character] did next...", the same can be said for any show or any character ever created but this in and of itself is not a lack of closure it is simply a reality of what fans muse about when a show ends either in a planned way or via sudden cancellation of the series. This does not really require more stories to be told. Not in my opinion anyway.

"Millennium" was about Frank Black and as long as that character was given a resolution of sorts then the best was made of a bad situation. We know that Frank faced his final confrontation with Legion and overcame it (Seven and One) we know that he and his daughter escaped the thrall of the Millennium Group with the assistance of Peter Watts to drive off for a life together uncomplicated by the machinations of Legion or The Group. We learned that Frank fought his last battle in a very personal way. He fought for his daughter once more (XF: Millennium) but this time against a very human threat and when that final battle was over he was finally free of the problems that dogged the family he had always sought to protect and he and his daughter saw the Millennium in with all of the major sticking blocks to a happy life dealt with. Frank and Jordan made it to the year 2000, not without significant losses and tragedies along the way, but they made it nonetheless.

Now that isn't a bad conclusion when you consider the 'back against the wall' job the production team faced when it came to delivering closure.

I'm interested to know, beyond what did they do next, how you guys feel about the end of Millennium? When I think of it terms of what it could have been they did remarkably well in providing as much closure as they were able for the one thing that really mattered. Frank Black. Don't you think?

Eth

[Earthnut]

"Millennium" was about Frank Black and as long as that character was given a resolution of sorts then the best was made of a bad situation. We know that Frank faced his final confrontation with Legion and overcame it (Seven and One) we know that he and his daughter escaped the thrall of the Millennium Group with the assistance of Peter Watts to drive off for a life together uncomplicated by the machinations of Legion or The Group. We learned that Frank fought his last battle in a very personal way. He fought for his daughter once more but this time against a very human threat and when that final battle was over he was finally free of the problems that dogged the family he had always sought to protect and he and his daughter saw the Millennium in with all of the major sticking blocks to a happy life dealt with. Frank and Jordan made it to the year 2000, not without significant losses and tragedies along the way, but they made it nonetheless.

Now that isn't a bad conclusion when you consider the 'back against the wall' job the production team faced when it came to delivering closure.

]I'm interested to know, beyond what did they do next, how you guys feel about the end of Millennium? When I think of it terms of what it could have been they did remarkably well in providing as much closure as they were able for the one thing that really mattered. Frank Black. Don't you think?

Eth

I totally agree. We really did have closure, no matter how bad we want Frank Black back. Still, he could come out of retirement, just one more time, maybe to save us. There's still a MLM Group, and they are cunning enough to figure out a way to get to him, and Jordan.

[ethsnafu]

Well according to XF-Millennium the MLM Group no longer exists and at the time that really peeved me. I still recall the feeling of my toes curling involuntarily watching those scenes but with hindsight (and a soothing cup of chamomile tea to hand) it does make a certain sense.

We know that the group was a curious oil and water mix of two opposing factions with The Old Man acting as an harmonizing influence. We know that evil infiltrated the group which culminated in the civil war of "Owls" and "Roosters" and with the loss of The Old Man we know that this dark side flourished as depicted by the much darker nature of The Group during the third season. The infighting would have escalated as the group moved towards the oncoming millennium, The Roosters (who always seemed to be the eminent faction within the organization) would have lost any claim to prominence when the millennium came and went and with Legion now acting from within The Group ("Seven and One") it does seem logical that desperate times called for desperate measures. All that was left of the once lofty Millennium Group was corrupted from within and the desperate Roosters sought to cling to a dying vision by attempting to usher in the Apocalypse in accordance with their thinking until Mulder, Scully and Black finally thwarted the rag-tag remnants of The Group on the eve of the new millennium. As Skinner stated, nothing was left of the group. It was over. It's agents gone.

I think in writing this I am actually making my peace with "X-Files: Millennium" which, as people know, isn't my favourite Frank Black story by any means and maybe in a strange way I am making my peace with the end of Millennium as well. I feel in a very celebratory mood as well I think inspired, in part, by Ben Lundy's wonderful musings about the finale of "Lost". I'm trying to celebrate the strengths of my show and not look for the weaknesses if you will.

So The Millennium Group was destroyed from within. Peter Watts was killed in a final act of redemption that offered his friend a new life in the process. Emma Hollis made her deal with devil and would have gone down with the rest of the group. With closure to Catherine and Frank's story ("The Sound Of Snow") and the end of the seven and one years of torment at the hands of Legion, Frank finally saw the dawn of the new Millennium with his daughter free of the blights of the past and with a future as bright as it could have been.

I really do think that we didn't do too badly as far as closure goes. I'm watching Flashforward at the moment. I think I am going to be even more appreciative of what we did get when I get to the last episode put it that way.

Eth

[ty7du]

The Millennium Group could have gone into hiding, after all the time was near. Holed up in a bunker somewhere... There was no trace of the Group, it was said in that X-Files episode, it does seem that the Group disintegrated with all the infighting. To my mind it's still open, it wasn't all that definitive what they said in the episode. The Group could come back, although in a very different form, yes.

Regarding the resolution of the series, it felt like he was on the run. He had won the battle but not the war, that's how I see it. It's a bit different when we see that X-Files episode, it looks like he hasn't been touched by the Millennium Group. Granted, it hasn't been that much of a time since the show ended, a few months. So, the Group could have been refocusing, deciding to let Frank go for the time being. After all, they had the " Apocalypse" to worry about.

And it's very open about Watts, how it was shot. Maybe he's meant to be dead, but couldn't get Terry O'Quinn for that shot, a scheduling snafu maybe. I think Watts is smarter than getting shot in his own office, he knew he had been shut out, he knew they were coming. He was protecting Frank, so he would presumably protecting himself if it ever came to that.

[Guest teedub]

A group that has existed for over 2,000 years would not likely fold completely. Stay tuned...

[The Old Man]

I believe that too!

[ethsnafu]

A group that has existed for over 2,000 years would not likely fold completely. Stay tuned...

Or barely a hundred years if you take "Matryoshka" at its word.

Nah. I never bought that one either. Interestingly someone once pointed out to me that back in the day, Kay Reindl used to be a frequent contributor to the Millennium news group and I spent a couple of days looking back through the archives retrieving her posts. She spoke of "Matryoshka" and how the original script for the episode made more of an attempt to reconcile the two visions of the group (the FBI consultancy side with the apocalyptic cult) and explain how it came to be. Apparently it was decided to move away from the season two depiction of the group entirely which led to re-writes which necessitated the group be given a recent origin and one which had little to do with 2000 year old sect concept. I'm sure she explained she was less than satisfied with the script as a result of this and I have to say. It's certainly given me a few headaches over the years trying to piece it all together.

Eth

[Earthnut]

I agree with Josef that Frank, "had won the battle but not the war," and that, "The Group could come back, although in a very different form." I just don't see it completely gone after so many years of existence.

Watts is too smart to be killed, especially in his own home. Guess I should have quoted Josef and said, "Ditto."

I don't believe there's any way you can reconcile the Owls and Roosters, they are too different in their beliefs and too determined they are right and everyone else is wrong. I feel they would go their separate ways.

Can we honestly take "Matryoshka at his word?"

[ty7du]

After seeing Watts take away Emma's gun in Skull and Bones, and Watts' daughter killing her abductor in Collateral Damage (I assume her father taught her how to defend herself). I'm certain that Watts is alive for that reason, he's a very capable man of defending himself.

And regarding the shift in tone of the Millennium Group in Matryoshka, I can really believe it. The Group may have existed as depicted in The Hand of Saint Sebastian but probably were all killed off, as we saw in that flashback scene. And they just used that symbol and some of its original history as its own, tweaked it to modern standards. I know, it wasn't a perfect explanation and thus I understand Kay Reindl's resentment for the rewrites.

[ethsnafu]

Can we honestly take "Matryoshka at his word?"

As far as dating the origin of the modern day incarnation of The Group I think we have to. It is canon after all. Do you know my very first post here was about "Matryoshka" and the contradictions seen in that episode with what was depicted in "The Hand Of Saint Sebastian" for example. I didn't even do the traditional 'new member introduction thing' I don't think. I just went on a ramble.

As for The Roosters, surely they would have ceased to have existed as a faction come the year 2000. The whole belief system of that group hinged upon the idea that a spiritual Armageddon would take place at the dawn of the new Millennium but I guess that could have been gotten around that as modern day apocalyptic cults seem to by explaining that the Armageddon did take place as prophesised it just took place silently and invisibly. Who knows.

Watts you can do what you like with mind. It wasn't established one way or another whether he was dead or not. I prefer him dead (sorry Peter) just because it makes his redemption so much more powerful if he had to die in order to save Frank. I know other people have a different view.

Eth