Worst Mm Episode....ever

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I can understand "A Single Blade of Grass" and "Human Essence", but not so much with "Exegesis". In this one, the mothers weren't killing their children to save one child, they were sacrificing themselves to fake the deaths of the children so that they could all survive.

And why shouldn't McClaren be an Assistant Director?

[Guest Cyberchihuahua]

I would have to say my least favorites were "Owls" and "Roosters".

These two set up a lot of potential for inter-MG intuige, but it never went anywhere. Not that it could without Frank joinning the group, but still, I wanted more.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I agree with your distaste for those episodes, but for different reasons. I was quite happy to find that it never went too much fruther, and wanted less rather than more.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

I would have to say my least favorites were "Owls" and "Roosters".

These two set up a lot of potential for inter-MG intuige, but it never went anywhere. Not that it could without Frank joinning the group, but still, I wanted more.

I wouldn't say I wanted a lot more, but a few more episodes like this would have been nice. Still, I thought the mix in season 2 was the best mix we saw in any of the 3 seasons. Every time we discuss episodes like this recently, my juices start flowing again. It wont be long before I start cracking open the DVDs again. The time is near.

[Guest faintedblueornaments]

I loved all the episodes from Season 1..

but.. I'd have to say that I couldn't stand watching "A Single Blade of Grass."

I felt like I was checking the clock wayyy to often. I felt like it had some good elements, but the plot just didn't strike me as interesting.

ehh.

[Guest Jim McLean]

Funny, I've found Single Blade of Grass far more watchable on re-watches. I think the exploration of Frank's gift and Lance's acting adds a lot more when expectations are lowered.

Worst? Man, that's hard. They're all above average by far.

I think I'd have to plump for Human Essence. It offers nothing that the X-Files hasn't done and really was too early to focus on Hollis, feeling a little more like a tragic emotional drama to try and "sell" Hollis by force than a natural exploration. Which is a shame, as Hollis proved in the later episodes, she found her own strength through the Scott and the natural growth of character.

[Guest RodimusBen]

I agree that "Human Essence" tried way too hard to make us care about Hollis. I was much more emotionally impacted by her relationship with her father; unfortunately by then it was down to the last few episodes of the series.

Here's my quick run-down of episodes I don't like:

Season 1 - Loin Like a Hunting Flame

Season 2 - Sense and Anti-Sense, A Single Blade of Grass, Goodbye Charlie

Season 3 - Human Essence, Matryoshka

While I admit that episodes like "Owls" and "Roosters" are frustrating because they open up plots that are never resolved, I think that can be said of a lot of Millennium episodes, and unfortunately that's the nature of the beast since it is an incomplete story. If we were to decry all such episodes we would end up with only about half of the series.

[Guest Jim McLean]

I agree that "Human Essence" tried way too hard to make us care about Hollis. I was much more emotionally impacted by her relationship with her father; unfortunately by then it was down to the last few episodes of the series.

So true. Her father story was placed at the right point, where the audience had time to invest a connection with what was - in the kindest sense - a series interloper - and accept her into the family. They could then care about her and her feelings. The father story was perfect and made her end so much more tragic.

Here's my quick run-down of episodes I don't like:

Season 1 - Loin Like a Hunting Flame

Season 2 - Sense and Anti-Sense, A Single Blade of Grass, Goodbye Charlie

Season 3 - Human Essence, Matryoshka

I'd like to do this, but genuinely am hard pushed these days to find a tale from seasons one or two I genuinely have no respect for or don't enjoy in some way. From season two, I think - and it may shock - but Somehow Satan Got Behind Me might be my least favourite. It's a nice premise, with some good earthy-yet-unearthly characters, but overall, I find the humour a little too self obsessed and the theme/tone just a little too far from base to really feel invested in the characters, premise or shallow subtexts. Sort of odd given Jose Chung's Domesday Defense is one of my favourite Millennium episodes. It too comes close to the issues in Somehow Satan, where upon the glib take on the core drive of the show risks demeaning the value of the show. There is always a danger when one sends yourself up, you risk damaging the audience's ability to believe in you quite in the same way. Jose Chung plays this on a fine line and I think there is enough pathos and sharpness to the plot and writing to keep it from straying, while Somehow Satan really delves too far. I personally find the X-Files sendup cringeworthy - yes more cringeworthy that 13 years later... (which itself risks the same issue, even with the twist.)

So

Season One: I don't think I have one! Maybe Weeds at a push.

Season Two: Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me

Season Three: Human Essence - Thirteen Years Later I respect, it plays on the horror Halloween genre within the show without actually being entirely canon, but it's a close second, simply because being not a massive horror fan, it doesn't do much for me.

While I admit that episodes like "Owls" and "Roosters" are frustrating because they open up plots that are never resolved, I think that can be said of a lot of Millennium episodes, and unfortunately that's the nature of the beast since it is an incomplete story. If we were to decry all such episodes we would end up with only about half of the series.

I like to think Owls and Roosters is the precursor to The Time Is Now, where the Group's ideology becomes very active.. and maybe the vast change in Group emphasis in season three. Retrospective fantwaddle maybe, but it gives Owls/Roosters the impact the show didn't really focus upon!

[Guest Watts]

Your assessment is dead on with mine Laredo. I never liked 'Somehow Satan..' or '13 Years Later'. I understand what they were attempting to do but the humor and the style just didn't fit in with 'Millennium'. It was a dark show and trying to inject silly humor and jokey situations into it did nothing for me.

I remember when the show was first on the air and I saw 'Somehow Satan..' I said out loud "What the F--- is this???" I was really put off by that one. Luckily that sort of streak didn't continue.

[Guest Jim McLean]

I agree J. As I said though, I think the most damaging scene is in Jose Chung, which I forgive simply because the script as a whole is so tight and carries a pathos that I feel reverberates with the essential question of the show (what is beyond the Millennium for humanity). The scene in the university grounds is the one which parodies the show's serial killer mandate and the methodology of the characters really hits hard on the audience (or at least, me). The show had done so well making us believe in the criminal profiler and the weekly killer scenerios, but playing it externally, with humour and counterpoints (Jose), it rips away what season one had worked so hard to succeed - to make the audience believe in the unbelievable.

Satan... does this to some degree, and while the events are not strictly "canon" in 13 Years Later, the audience goes through the same motions as the "real" world of Millennium is dragged into pastiche genre horror.

The sad thing is all these episodes are produced well, and they rely on the audience being able to step out of the show's niche (and it's always good to push the boundaries), but by doing so, they unravel some of the work the show as a whole has invested in. The audience isn't being shallow - we know this is a TV show, that Millennium isn't real, but in any drama we invest in, the more it's lampooned, but itself or other sources, the harder job it has to sustain the illusion of disbelief - something than 1013 has staked the reputation of its two main franchises on.

Of course, I'm not saying I don't love comedy injection. I loved it in the X-Files (the Bemuda Triangle episode is a favourite of mine), Jose Chung is one of my fav Millennium eps and I enjoyed what I saw of the Lone Gunman.. but I also am very aware that for the chances to experiment and bring brilliance like the above, something is also taken away. For me, in Millennium Satan.. Jose and 13 are the major culprits of this dichotomy.