Saw Human Essence.

[ethsnafu]

I read with interest your comments Laredo and agree on so many of them. There's a breathless tease that this episode has some underlying reason and yet, for the love of me, I cannot find it. I shall refuse to touch on the subject of Chinese drug barons and African American addicts though I know Paul Cornell would salute me on this, but I struggle to understand what on earth the message was. The Pharmacology here is rubbish, it's my trade and I feel ruined for knowing this, but Millennium has always employed impeccable research before presenting its stories yet this watches like something cobbled together, a recipe of bad science, a few added occult possibilities in order to justify yet another enforced reason to like Hollis. In a Millennium episode I seek provocation, either the moment that you cheer or the moment that you scream at the screen and Hollis' episodes , full of angst and misery though they may be, have me languishing in a great ambivalence where I care not what happened to her sister or any other distant relative.

If there is a greater mystery here I fail to see it, if profundity exists in this episode then it is casually disguised. It chucks a few scientific fallacies and marries them with invented occultism which it stitches together against a backdrop of drug addiction without ever knowing what the point is. The problem is that whilst Emma is a decent character she is not a great character and despite the traditional 1013 ploy of creating an angst ridden backstory involving family issues she is still markedly less interesting then Frank and not deserving of yet another centric offering.

[Raven Wolf]

Yeah, it's just a pity that Emma didn't get to have her character developed any more in season 4. She was finally getting a bit more interesting towards the end.....

[Guest Jim McLean]

The Pharmacology here is rubbish, it's my trade and I feel ruined for knowing this, but Millennium has always employed impeccable research before presenting its stories yet this watches like something cobbled together, a recipe of bad science, a few added occult possibilities in order to justify yet another enforced reason to like Hollis.

I did wonder, though I've always found shows that focus on areas I have expertise in always fail to hit the nail. That said, it was clear that the pharmacology here did sound rather dubious and Star Trek.

In a Millennium episode I seek provocation, either the moment that you cheer or the moment that you scream at the screen and Hollis' episodes , full of angst and misery though they may be, have me languishing in a great ambivalence where I care not what happened to her sister or any other distant relative.

I totally agree. And I think part of the mistake here is a common one made by TV serials in their attempt to fast track new characters into the audience affections; they need to justify a narratively invasive new character as soon as they can, so they attempt to push as many dramatic buttons to do so. Problem is, the audience reaction to such force feeding can be to balk. Audiences aren't dumb (okay, that's debatable), and they don't like being "sold" a character by starting to center stage their relevance.

It very rarely works. As in real life, to get true empathy, it needs to be earned. TV should take the risk of gradually building up the support and playing the support focused episodes later once the audience has naturally found an affinity, that start wacking them in early on.

The problem is that whilst Emma is a decent character she is not a great character and despite the traditional 1013 ploy of creating an angst ridden backstory involving family issues she is still markedly less interesting then Frank and not deserving of yet another centric offering.

I agree. Problem for Millennium, its key to success was as much Frank as the well crafted genre production. That's not to say Frank is definatly needed all the time - In Arcadia Ego worked well, but only because the central characters had been given time to grow in the audience sympathy. Poor Emma is not just a supporting character to Frank's arc, she's part of a new turn in the show's format, and for audiences having to adjust to this change, "hard sells" on the new supporting character at such an early stage are not IMO wise.

I mean, she was well acted, and she carried her weight, but the audience is heavily invested in Frank; they tune in to see the changes and problems in Frank's life and after such a cataclysmic change from season two, and such an underplayed season three, I think giving Frank a backseat in so many early stories (and his family) was a big mistake. Millennium's trademark was Frank as the sole driver, and this notion to swing stories to his "partner" is just too X-Files for the series to really bare.

That said, I didn't think the story was truly bad, but I agree it wasn't really driven by what makes Millennium believable. This was X-Files territory. Carter's Millennium is very real. Wong/Morgan moved it to a more mythical standing so anything that wasn't real, didn't need science justification. Season three is somewhere in between and I think that damages it. Either have your episodes as scientifically realistic, or mythological, but in between is just too X-Files for a show still trying to establish its identity.

[ethsnafu]

I agree on so many of your points that I probably could have written that post though admittedly not as well. I have long held the opinion that the certain stories in Season Three struggle with science and mythology. The X-Files was generally solid in its recipe of two spoons of the metaphysical and a dash of the chemical but having a fortean and a medical doctor as its protagonists allowed for a narrative that gave its stories the needed credence. As neither Frank nor Emma have any grounding in either in the biological sciences or the occult sciences they have no mandate for debate and are often as befuddled as the casual viewer. Telling stories that have a strong flavour of biology and magick requires characters who can engage in that universe and neither character here is able to do.

Oriental occultism has rich theology with regards to transformation and metamorphosis and it would not have required much research to have engaged the viewer with something speculative as to what is going on here and yet the writer chose instead to employ a little negligible science and a scent of something paranormal in the hope that it would give the story a little more depth. As you rightly note Season One had no impetus to explain its theology and Season Two made no effort to explain its science and Season Three struggles initially with trying to do both without a supportive network of characters who can carry the narrative.

Just to rant on issues so undeserving of this topic but I am a huge admirer of Elizabeth Mitchell's work on 'Lost'. She was introduced as a character the audience had every reason to put in the stocks and hurl tomatoes at and yet has evolved to become a fan favourite in a slow-cooked-casserole sort of way and it has been delicious to watch. I agree with your comments that Emma should have been allowed to evolve cautiously and naturally without the 'ta-da! - here's Emma!' approach of episodes such as these.

[Guest Jim McLean]

Just to rant on issues so undeserving of this topic but I am a huge admirer of Elizabeth Mitchell's work on 'Lost'. She was introduced as a character the audience had every reason to put in the stocks and hurl tomatoes at and yet has evolved to become a fan favourite in a slow-cooked-casserole sort of way and it has been delicious to watch.

I never watched Lost, but I have found her acting in MM to be solid and genuine. I thought her comments on the commentary track gave me the impression she had an honest fondness for the show and a natural warmth to her personality. Always nice to feel the actress is someone you can respect in themselves as well as on screen (not that its important, but its nice! :))

I agree with your comments that Emma should have been allowed to evolve cautiously and naturally without the 'ta-da! - here's Emma!' approach of episodes such as these.

Lol. Quoted for truth.

[Guest Black's Babe]

I like Emma, but how many STUPID PILLS did she swallow in this episode?

tasting a white powdered substance received in an unmarked envelope.

going to a SEEDY neighborhood UNARMED, only to get her ass whipped and nearly killed.

I know she had to turn in her badge and firearm, but owns no back up piece?

not a very good episode at all.

5/10

[Guest RodimusBen]

I stand by the rampant hatred of this episode for the following reasons:

1. Suffers from "trying too hard to be X-Files" syndrome.

2. Aforementioned lousy science.

3. Frank makes one of the most uncharacteristic decisions of the entire show when he actively encourages Emma to wash her hands of the situation. TOTALLY not Frank and whatever slight engagement in the episode that I had up to that point was completely shattered in a single scene.

[Guest Black's Babe]

3. Frank makes one of the most uncharacteristic decisions of the entire show when he actively encourages Emma to wash her hands of the situation. TOTALLY not Frank and whatever slight engagement in the episode that I had up to that point was completely shattered in a single scene.

I also found that to be piss poor character continuity on the writer's part.

[Guest Laurent.]

I also found that to be piss poor character continuity on the writer's part.

It's the new writer that was brought in by FOX, Micheal Duggan. I don't think he really understood what the Frank Black character was about. I especially hate the scene where Frank judges Emma's friend.. so unlike him.

He was fired from the 1013 team right after that episode, right? His name just disappeared from the credits and Chip took full control and managed to transform the third season in time for an outstanding final run of episodes.

[Earthnut]

Even though it's not in Frank's character to tell Emma to wash her hands of the situation, I believe he felt a need to protect her, especially considering he had lost his wife and Lara, and felt that the safest thing was to keep (another) her from the truth. Emma, on the other hand, is a very strong and determined woman, who pursues the truth, and isn't afraid of where it takes her. Maybe this is what Frank saw in her and why he didn't want her involved, because he knew the extent of her passion for answers, and how far she would go pursuing them.

From what I have been reading, and have seen for myself, in season 3 Frank was extremely tormented by all that had happened to him, and even those close to him were questioning his sanity.