Polaroid Stalker

[LucasBarr]

I'm Not so sure if i'm dissapointed or what, but the guy who played the polaroid stalker in this EP isn't the same guy that played it in PAPER DOVE.

I must to recognize this is a great EP. This is out of discussion. We started to undertand somethings 'bout the group.

Well that's it. I just want to express my idea.

[Libby]

Well spotted, LucasBarr. I hadn't realised that there were two different actors. I'm glad that they got Doug Hutchison for The Beginning and The End. He can portray a creepy person so well.

[Guest ModernDayMoriarty]

Ted Mann etc probably didn't intend the stalker to have to say very much. If he was a manifestation of Legion/Frank's psyche etc etc, he probably would have had mainly physical acting to do or the odd sentence. When his role was bumped up to a much more important one (i.e giving us our first inkling that the group are evil etc etc) then it made sense to get a known actor to sell it.

Doug Hutchison is to be commended for his performance. The stalker in TBATE speaks of something we don't know about yet (because it's a new arc for Season 2 that the group are evil and that there is to be an actual doomsday) and his dialogue is constructed in a pretty arthouse, abstract way. Nevertheless he manages to engage because you get the sense that in his head, he completely understands and believes in the relgious babble he is spouting. Given that Morgan and Wong were notoriously vague to cast and crew about their motivations (lance reportably had huge trouble getting his head around this season); that Hutchison probably had as little clue as we did about who his character was and it's an astonishing achievement.

[LucasBarr]

Well spotted, LucasBarr. I hadn't realised that there were two different actors. I'm glad that they got Doug Hutchison for The Beginning and The End. He can portray a creepy person so well.

I must recognize he did a great job.

[ethsnafu]

I know I'm getting way off the mood of this post but I hope I will be forgiven as I am having an Ethsnafu-Polaroid moment.

I have huge headaches with conceptually enriching the Polaroid myth, but...

I have been toying with the idea that the Polaroid Man may be an genus of the demon Legion. The first thing that fired the synapses is the biblical account of Legion who, as all must know, was not one demon but many (according to numerous accounts this figure varies from between 1001 and 6000) and inhabited the body of a swineherd. For sake of ease I have included the relevant passage below.

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

After I had read numerous versions of the same account it struck me that the Bible's description of the transmigration of the demonic entity that it occurred to me that there was a 'pig' motif in evidence during the first Millennium-Legion-incarnation and beyond. The first appearance of the swine element of the Legion myth is the choice of music that Calamity entertains the Frenchman to, namely Piggy by NIN..."Tell me what you want. Do you like me? Hey pig piggy pig pig pig ... " and this musical caveat is set to be repeated by, none other than, the Polaroid Man in 'The Beginning and the End'..."I smell bacon, I smell pork, run little piggy, I got a fork." The Judge, too it would seem, has a swine connection both professionally and in dialogue..."Once more... it could be Carl, a hired man who cared for my hogs. A drifter and an alcoholic. I never asked his last name, as I said," and later when Bletcher confronts the Judge with a photograph, Giebelhouse retorts, "Another pig guy you barely know?"

Think back or forth to 'Monster.'

If Danielle Barbakow, the pre-hurricane enigma, is destined to be a future incarnation of Legion it may be no accident that the scenes that depict her 'arrest' by the Millennium Group unfold beneath Penny Plott's recital of 'The Three Little Pigs' and if all of this may seem mere coincidence I shall get back to you as I know there are more references such as these, the ability to recall them ails me at present.

Now I know the Legion story arc is well developed amongst Millennium fans, the succession of characters serving to tempt Frank into service, but there is no reason to believe that Legion had only one modus operandi and though other demonic characters permeate the stories and seasons there is no reason to conclude that they are 'not' Legion simply because they do not serve the same function. Something that has increasingly nagged at me is the possibility that Frank may, like Dani Barbakow, have been, or will be, an intended incarnation or host for the Legion demon. It seems highly plausible to me that Frank has the level of understanding he has because of an innate tendency to tread the same, dark path. This concept was elucidated wonderfully in another TV Show when a serial killer confronts an uncannily accurate profiler with the charge 'If you didn't do what you do, you would do what I do..." - which is pretty much what I am trying to say albeit not well. I am not suggesting that Frank is evil, he is far from it, but I believe he is someone who works intensely hard to be the good man he is, I believe his gift to be the result of the same quintessence that resides in the killers he seeks but with a strident and good man to channel it differently.

This 'insight' may have been what Lara Means referred to when she gave hint that what Frank perceived was not a natural extension of himself..."He uses his ability and manipulates it to see evil... to feel it." This unique description of Frank's abilities is probably what led Frank to conclude that, "Lara... you're the only one - not my wife, not my family - who ever understood." It also seems to tie well into the Polaroid Man's cryptic line "He'll understand this is all about him. The profile will become about him, who he is, who he'll be, who he's been."...which is not dissimilar from the reason behind the Group's interest in Dani Barbakow "...Danielle Barbakow is a pre-storm, a breeze, of an

approaching hurricane."

The most obvious link, to my mind, between Frank and the Polaroid Man is the nature of their 'work'. Frank terrorises evildoers by capturing psychic images of their lives and the Polaroid/Legion entity does the same to Frank. It's a startling analogy when you think of it. Tit for tat.

I have also, as you can yawn at above, played with the idea that Mabius and the Polaroid Man are incarnations of the same entity but I only recalled last night the Nostradamus fueled myth of 'Mabus' which finds it's origins in Century 2, Number 62.

"Mabus soon dies and there is a terrible slaughter of people and animals. There is thirst, hunger, famine when the comet is seen."

This single quantrain, which is believed to contain reference to the third incarnation of the antichrist, also appears to contain within three lines the whole of Season Two, beginning with the Polaroid Man's comet gazing to the slaughter of both man and beast in 'The Time is Now' - I wonder if Mabus was to inspire the naming of Mabius, the mysterious Polaroid stalker of Season 3.

A lot of crap really isn't it, but thanks for reading lol.

Eth

Edited December 22, 2007 by ethsnafu

[Guest Laurent.]

What an amazing idea! I also felt there was something going on with all those pigs... especially the final story in "Monster". It does make a lot of sense when it comes from you.

[ethsnafu]

Many thanks Laran,

I was really hoping my post would be rubbished and that the great and the good would argue against everything I wrote but it seems it slipped under the radar so I guess I write rubbish lol.

[Raven Wolf]

Mark (ethie)... I just read that and am, again, amazed and astounded at your ability to unravel such intricate threads in Millennium's story-arch. Thank you for this! It's like a light bulb lit up when reading about all the pig references, etc.!

[Viivi]

I know there are more references such as these, the ability to recall them ails me at present.

I love this kind of speculation! Spotted another pig thing by coincidence last night; this is from the transcript for Owls:

[Frank's house. A child's workbook shows a line drawing of a dog.]

FRANK: Good. And this?

JORDAN: A dog. D – O – G.

[Jordan and Frank are sat at the table in the sitting room. On the table are other books and toys, and Frank's pager.]

FRANK: Good! And that?

[A drawing of a couple of cows.]

JORDAN: A cow. C – O – W.

FRANK: Great! You're on a roll.

[The pager sits silent on the table.]

FRANK: OK, what about this one?

[A drawing on an owl.]

JORDAN: An owl. O – W ---

[The pager buzzes, vibrating.]

JORDAN: --- L.

FRANK: Good. Very good.

[Frank picks up the pager, switching it off, but continues to look at the display.]

FRANK: I'm gonna have to take your word on the next one.

[He gets up and walks towards his desk.]

JORDAN: It's a pig. Trust me.

Edited December 23, 2007 by dontbesodark

[ethsnafu]

Superb stuff

Thanks for giving me another titbit to weave into my insanity lol.

Anyone ele fancy a festive parlour game of 'spot-the-pig'?

Thanks once again darkie!

Edited December 23, 2007 by ethsnafu