Favorite Season

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Well, after quite a spell where I was unable to watch this show and forgot a lot of the sequence of episodes, I have concluded that season two was the best season for millennium. The reasons are numerous. First. this is the season, if I remember correctly, that introduces my second favorite character on the show, Lara Means . In addition to Lara, we are introduced to two other favorites, the "old man" and Lucy Butler . Second, this is the season that, in my opinion, consists of the best episodes overall. Not that the other two seasons aren't packed with great episodes as well, but season two has the biggest concentration of my favorites, as well as some Millennium epics.

After a solid start with "the beginning of the end", the season proceeds to one of my all time favorites, "Beware the Dog". This is an all around awesome episode, but the best part has to watching Franks reaction to the odd characters and odd behavior that he witnesses upon his arrival. The next stand out is "Monster", another classic, and the introduction of Lara. By the way, does anyone remember her appearance in an episode of the X-files? After that, "The curse of Frank Black" also ranks high on my list. Not so much for any great degree of originality, but for the way they capture that late autumn/Holloween feel. The great ones just keep coming with 19:19 and "Hand of saint Sebastian". Then, the show throws us a great curve ball with "Jose Chung's Doomsday defense", a quirky and unexpected episode that shows us another side of Lance Henrickson's acting abilities. After that, another one of my fav's, Luminary. I can't even begin to go into the reasons, but this one is definitely in my top 10. Next is Mikado. For some reason this one really stands out in my memory as one that I really enjoyed, and the same goes for Siren. "Owls" and "Roosters" are also great ones, as is "The Fourth Horseman", but the show saves the best for last in season two with the epic "The Time Is Now". This one is in my top five, but I wont even attempt to rank them from 1 to 5. This episode is highlighted by a final and brilliant performance by Kristen Cloke, as her sanity slips away from her. If I remember correctly, the show breaks into a really neat (long) song and some really awesome visuals as Lara goes off the deep end and finally ends up nearly shooting Frank. I also enjoyed the scene and dialogue when Frank talks to Lara, at the end of the show, after she is finally sedated, and she just stares at the ceiling. Yep, lots of great ones in season two, but those are the real standouts for me. Of course, seasons one and three are top notch as well. Season two just happens to be the best of the three in my book. Hee hee, I wonder if anyone has read this far without falling asleep. :grin2:

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Actually we were introduced to miss Butler in S1

Ahhh, thank you. This is something to look forward to. I still have yet to get to disks 5 and 6 of season one, but I was not aware that she made an appearance in season one. I apologize in advance for inaccuracies. It's been so long that I have forgotten a lot of the little details, but that will make it that much more fun when I get a hold of season two on DVD. Maybe i will skip ahead to the Lucy Butler episode tonight.

[Guest Chascarrillo]

Having rewatched them all recently (save for "Human Essence" - y'all have scared me off watching that episode), right now I'll go with the first season. It's the most consistently solid of the three, and even the subpar episodes have redeeming qualities - most likely due to having an established background story (unlike the second season which tried to muck things up and the third which tried to revamp the series again).

Season Two really fell in my estimation after rewatching it - previous I would have considered it the best. This go around, all the mythology stuff just felt as flat as a three-day old Coke. "The Hand of Saint Sebastian" and "Owls"/"Roosters" make me wince with embarrassment. Still, there's several great episodes thrown about, and the painful conspiracy stuff was more than redeemed by the payoff of the final two episodes.

... and the opposite happened with Season Three. I used to refuse to even discuss it, but viewing it again I was struck by how many good episodes there were, and even those that I recognized before as good just seemed a whole lot better. And I never saw "Borrowed Time". Talk about a punch ot the gut... Still, there are some really poor episodes here, like the second episode - absolutely dreadful - and "Bardo Thodol" where the Watts/Hollis interaction is just laughable.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Well, first off, I haven't gotten the time to read the rest of the board extensively, but I have to agree if you are referring to bad revues as scaring you off from watching "Human Essence". This one definitely falls into the bottom few episodes, and off the top of my head, I would probably have to rate it the worst episode. I agree that it (season three) was not as good as the first two seasons, but it worked for me enough to keep me interested in the show, and there were many episodes that I enjoyed.

In one way, I feel the same about season one as you do about season three. I am through disk four now, and have enjoyed rewatching some of my favorites. The thing that I have been pleasantly surprised by is how much I have enjoyed some of the episodes that I would have considered second tier episodes before watching them again recently. After watching disks one and two, I skipped to disk four, not only because it had some great episodes, but because there weren't any selections on disk 3 that really got my juices flowing. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, because I really enjoyed these four episodes this time around. Don't get me wrong, they aren't quite in the upper echelon, but they are all worthy efforts just the same. They all managed to keep my interest all the way through.

By the way, "Borrowed Time" is an awesome episode, one of the best in season three, and one of the best of all three seasons. Looking at the episode list, there seem to be a lot of episodes in season three that are a little murky in my memory. It will be interesting to finally get season three on DVD and to rewatch the season in it's entirety. Just skimming through the final season, I do find some really top notch episodes though, in addition to "Borrowed Time". Just to name a few, Teotwawki, Closure, Through A glass darkly, Omerta (quirky), Collateral Damage (very good, not great), Antipas (although foggy in my memory), Saturn Dreaming.... (again, very good, not great), and Darwin's Eye were all great in my book. Then again, some of the few and biggest stinkers, such as thirteen years later and human essence were from season three. This is the only season that I think, while still being a great show, was a step down from the previous year.

[Guest se7en]

.....the mesmerizing S3 will always remain, for me, the ultimate journey, and the ultimate redemption, of the character of Frank Black emerging, by the end of the season, somehow recharged and refocused to what he knows and explains through occasional voice-overs is his destiny or purpose.

...as i've said before if MM had ended with the final, and absolutely "atrocious" ending eps from S2 then it's very unlikely i would be the HALF the fan i am today, much less a co-founder here. S3, again for me, absolutely erased the unexplicable Acid-trip-from-hell that M&W were on. -(my how the once mighty have fallen.-LOL!)

~Take Care,

se7en

[Raven Wolf]

Call me flaky if you must. (& I'm sure many of you do... ), but I still can't realy say I have a favorite season. Each one was so exquisite in it's own, unique way..... Season 2's a sentimental favorite, but when I think of 1 and 3....I see that each are top notch in there own ways.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Call me flaky if you must.  (& I'm sure many of you do... ), but I still can't realy say I have a favorite season.  Each one was so exquisite in it's own, unique way.....  Season 2's a sentimental favorite, but when I think of 1 and 3....I see that each are top notch in there own ways.

Well, I think that being a fan of this show and being open minded go hand in hand, so I don't think anyone would find you flaky, given the fact that all three seasons are something unique, special, and head and shoulders above almost all of the programing you will find on TV (in my humble opinion). To pick a favorite season of this show is almost like picking a favorite son or daughter. Each of them is equally loved, and each of them have thier own unique qualities and differences. I still lean towards season two being my favorite, but as I watch season one, I am getting a fuller appreciation of just how good it was. it's possible that I will change my mind again after viewing all three seasons in their entirety, but I doubt it. Even viewing season one, in all it's greatness, I still believe season two is the best, and it still has the largest concentration of my favorites. Having said that, the other two seasons are still better than almost anything else I have seen on TV, and there are strong arguments for all three seasons being the best.... as we have seen recently.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Actually we were introduced to miss Butler in S1

Yep, sure enough, I watched Lamentation last night and was finally treated to the S1 debut of Lucy Butler. Not to sound too guyish, but she is about as scrumptious as a woman can be. She is almost too beautiful to be true. I am new to this board, so it is my guess that it has been brought up on many occasions that she also appeared on an episode of the X-files. Besides her obvious beauty, I also really enjoyed her character. I don't know the name of the actress who played her or if she has gone on to do anything else of significance, but she really did a great job with that character, and based on her obvious talent, I would guess she has had plenty of work, and landed additional character parts on other shows, if nothing else.

I also watched "Walkabout" last night. I didn't really remember this episode as being a favorite of mine, but I did find it enjoyable. I don't remember the specific points, but there were a few parts that didn't quite work for me. Nonetheless, it was a worthy effort.

PS, I had completely forgotten Lucy Butlers appearance in season one, but now that I think about it, I remembered that episode as being the one where Blecher dies, so it stands to reason she would have appeared in the first season.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

.....the mesmerizing S3 will always remain, for me, the ultimate journey, and the ultimate redemption, of the character of Frank Black emerging, by the end of the season, somehow recharged and refocused to what he knows and explains through occasional voice-overs is his destiny or purpose.

        ...as i've said before if MM had ended with the final, and absolutely "atrocious" ending eps from S2 then it's very unlikely i would be the HALF the fan i am today, much less a co-founder here. S3, again for me, absolutely erased the unexplicable Acid-trip-from-hell that M&W were on. -(my how the once mighty have fallen.-LOL!)

                                                    ~Take Care,

                                                                se7en

Very interesting. If I am not mistaken, we have had four people participate in this string. All four are obviously great fans of the show, which makes it all the more amazing that there can be such a large degree of discrepancy in opinions. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, or that anyone is right or wrong. Just that it's interesting to see how much opinions can vary from person to person, even when you take into consideration that we probably all agree that this is one of the best shows ever on TV. It looks as though we have one person who thought season three was terrible, yet has grown to appreciate some of the good episodes, one person who thinks that it is better than season two, and it would seem, ranks it right up there with season one. Then you have two others who would probably rank it as third best, but still think it maintained at a pretty high level of excellence. At the same time, there seem to be two people who probably lean towards season two as being the favorite, while one other person originally thought it was the best, but after a second viewing, feels that it had a significant drop off from season one. Then, there is yet another person who thinks that season two was the worst, not season three, and goes as far as to refer to it, or at least the end of it as "the unexplicable Acid-trip-from-hell", ending in an episode that is atrocious, which, ironically, seems to be one of the favorite episodes of at least two of the other posters involved, myself included. It does seem unanimous that season one was very good, and it seems as though all four participants rate it as either their first or second choice. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that any of these opinions are wrong, and I value each of them. I'm just saying that there were good arguments made by all and it made for some interesting and entertaining reading.

[Guest Allen]

It's so hard to say that any one season is my favorite. As far as the over all plot season one is the best it is so pure, nice family the millennium group is out trying to catch criminals that are easy to imagine "just turn on the news". But season two has some of my favorite episodes in it. That being said I hated season 2 sometimes for the way Cathrine is with Frank the perfect family starts to fall apart somewhat, but that is one of the things that made me watch every week to find out if their family was going to get back on track. Also the arrival of new characters such as Laura Means, and the Old Man added alot of depth to the over all plot. Unfortunately I can't really judge season 3 because I moved, started a new job, and then went through a divorce causing me to miss as many episodes as I watched so I will leave that to the more informed untill Fox decides to get off of thier butt and releases some more seasons in R1 format. That was a hint if anyone in here works for fox.