Midnight Of The Century

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

That is interesting as I saw "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" as the first and really the only episode that I caught when the series first went to air and as a stand alone episode it stuck with me all these years. Now I see that it too is a departure from the "norm" and yet added a richness.

I didn't pan Jose Chung because so many of your comments and others on the board hold it in high regard and so on reflection I knew that it had to be the context that I was viewing it in. I will re-visit it again after I finish the remainder of the episodes.

The quality of the episodes in this part of the season are fantastic and are augmented with the high production values that go into each episode. They really do have more of a film feel to them rather than a TV series.

I couldn't agree more. The quality of the show was second to none. There were a couple of occasions where the special effects were a bit amateurish but, overall, the quality was great. There is a scene in Maramantha, for example, where they show a reenactment of the Chernobyl accident, and special effects are laughable, but on these rare occasions, the writing and acting more than compensate. Also, as I and others have mentioned frequently, it helps when you have the great Mark Snow creating such fantastic music for the episodes.

[Guest charlie98210]

I've just read through the thread and I notice that no one has mentioned the scene where Frank arrives at the church to see the Christmas story reenactment. He goes to where Catherine is sitting--there is an empty chair next to her--and he starts to move into the row, thinking that she saved the seat for him.

Catherine apologizes and says that she was saving the seat for someone else. Frank finds a seat farther back and there is an interesting moment when he sees who she was saving the seat for. After the performance, he stands outside the church a little ways away, almost as if he wanted to see if Catherine and the man will come out together (they do).

I think this was a subtle foreshadowing that Frank is starting to worry that Catherine if finding a life without him...perhaps is starting to look for someone to replace him. I think that is why he seems so coldly angry when he talks to Catherine and then doesn't make a move to kiss her when she leaves with Jordan.

This jealousy thing comes up again when Frank pulls that guy out of Catherine's minivan in the Roosters and Owls episodes.

And did anyone notice that when Frank's dad died, he got a call from "Saint Sebastian's Hospital"?

Edited May 29, 2008 by charlie98210

[Guest Sheree Dawn]

Catherine apologizes and says that she was saving the seat for someone else. Frank finds a seat farther back and there is an interesting moment when he sees who she was saving the seat for. After the performance, he stands outside the church a little ways away, almost as if he wanted to see if Catherine and the man will come out together (they do).

all the more reason I was glad to see her written out of the show in the second season.

[4th Horseman]

all the more reason I was glad to see her written out of the show in the second season.

Charlie...the issue that you bring up has already been scrutinized "under the microscope" sometime ago. I should know because i was the one who brought up the topic. Unfortunately, it was not in this particular thread. I will do some searching and direct you to the appropriate section. There were many, many salient, articulate points made by members who either took the viewpoint of Catherine having some interest in this gentleman to others who came away with a contrary position. Remember, the origional chair (to her right) that Catherine has saved for Frank was taken at the last second by the elderly woman, the other chair (to her left) had a jacket and other items placed on it to indicate it had already been taken. Catherine's physical response (scowling, etc) indicates that she was definately upset that this woman had been so rude as to take a seat that had already been reserved. With this in mind, then logically, why would she be saving Frank a seat (to her right) if she had come with another man (seated to her left)? The outside sequence is of no real significance because Catherine obviously knew this gentlemen from them both having a child in the same class. Casual banter amongst two people brought together by kids the same age..Perhaps the children were close friends at school, perhaps even best friends, so then Jordan would have talked often about her classmate. Perhaps they spent time together away from school, sleepovers, etc...whatever the reason, i dont think it was the writers intent to indicate that Catherine, still struggling with her emotions (made obvious by her crying as she talks to Frank about Christmas, etc) was "on the prowl" or forging new emotional and physical bonds with another man...If i remember correctly, the consensus of opinion here was of the very same.... that the presence of the gentleman sitting next to Catherine was due more to coincidence than to any physical attraction between the two...

4th Horseman...

[Guest charlie98210]

Charlie...the issue that you bring up has already been scrutinized "under the microscope" sometime ago. I should know because i was the one who brought up the topic. Unfortunately, it was not in this particular thread. I will do some searching and direct you to the appropriate section. There were many, many salient, articulate points made by members who either took the viewpoint of Catherine having some interest in this gentleman to others who came away with a contrary position. Remember, the origional chair (to her right) that Catherine has saved for Frank was taken at the last second by the elderly woman, the other chair (to her left) had a jacket and other items placed on it to indicate it had already been taken. Catherine's physical response (scowling, etc) indicates that she was definately upset that this woman had been so rude as to take a seat that had already been reserved. With this in mind, then logically, why would she be saving Frank a seat (to her right) if she had come with another man (seated to her left)? The outside sequence is of no real significance because Catherine obviously knew this gentlemen from them both having a child in the same class. Casual banter amongst two people brought together by kids the same age..Perhaps the children were close friends at school, perhaps even best friends, so then Jordan would have talked often about her classmate. Perhaps they spent time together away from school, sleepovers, etc...whatever the reason, i dont think it was the writers intent to indicate that Catherine, still struggling with her emotions (made obvious by her crying as she talks to Frank about Christmas, etc) was "on the prowl" or forging new emotional and physical bonds with another man...If i remember correctly, the consensus of opinion here was of the very same.... that the presence of the gentleman sitting next to Catherine was due more to coincidence than to any physical attraction between the two...

4th Horseman...

Hmmm...I'll have to watch it again. I distinctly remember Catherine looking like she's surprised that Frank made it to the event.

And I didn't mean to imply that Catherine "was on the prowl." I assumed the man who sits next to her also had a kid in the play, and that they were obviously friendly. That's how people move on. Their lives start diverging and travelling on separate paths. I think Catherine was moving along a path, forming relationships which no longer included Frank is a given.

Edited June 3, 2008 by charlie98210

[hippyroo]

This site has made me see the light - Catherine treated Frank like crap.

[Guest charlie98210]

This site has made me see the light - Catherine treated Frank like crap.

Some people always treat the ones they love like crap.

(not me, of course)

I think it might be a control thing (since Catherine wouldn't believe even when she experienced that vision with the congregation in the church in Anamnesis, insisting that there had to be a "more rational" explanation). She cannot allow herself to "believe" in irrational things which seem to contradict her view of the world.

I think that, deep down, Catherine thinks that Frank and Jordan can just "turn off" their gifts--if they really wanted to.

Edited June 3, 2008 by charlie98210

[hippyroo]

It was also recently pointed out to me that Frank wasn't getting the steady pay-check. Money can kill a relationship quicker than almost anything. Some women will put up with a cheating man as long as he brings in good money.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

This site has made me see the light - Catherine treated Frank like crap.

i thought Catherine treated Frank more like Doo-Doo than Crap. Just my opinion

[ethsnafu]

With all due respect to posters there is absolutely nothing in the narrative to support an assertion that Catherine took the decision she took based on the financial viability of Frank Black. To assert that women are content with infidelity as long as they are provided with financial resources is bordering on misogynistic in my view. I have long argued that the narrative gives much credence to Catherine's, albeit unpopular, stance and whilst it easy to ingnore the profundity of her experiences and blame her conduct on some intrinsic failing inherent in women it is more interesting, in my opinion, to afford the feelings of a female character the same weight and brevity we afford the male characters.

Frank spent an entire Season obfuscating his life from his little woman the results of which were the near murder of his wife after a period of physical and psychological torment. Given the realisation that the Millennium Group and Frank's involvement in it exposed not only herself but her daughter to a risk Frank had never warned her of she removed herself and her daughter from that risk and demanded answers and a promise that such an eventuality would never happen again. Given the sure and certain premise that the writers portrayed Catherine's actions as an accurate depiction of a frightened Mother suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder it is somewhat missing the point, in my view, to denigrate her actions as the selfish, callous reactions of a woman behaving as all women do.

Catherine Black in her suffering deserves as much respect as Frank in his and choosing to view her as the little woman who should have seen it all coming does not do the character justice.

Best wishes,

Eth