The Sound Of Snow

[Guest Black's Babe]

farewell, Megan Gallagher.

this was truly a sad and poignant episode, the scenes with Frank and Catherine were great but bittersweet. Since it was her final appearance on Millennium.

it also was nice to see what a TRUE friend Gliebhouse turned out to be and Hollis is becoming to Frank.

Her trip to Seattle was clearly more about HER concern for him, not MacClaren's.

Sound of Snow provided some closure, plus Frank got to say what was needed to Catherine.

9/10

[Earthnut]

"Sound of Snow provided some closure, plus Frank got to say what was needed to Catherine."

I totally agree and loved it at the end when Frank said the group gave him his wife back. Oh my.

[Guest Laurent.]

I really should watch that episode again!

[Earthnut]

I consider it one of the best of the series, sad and bittersweet.

Well put, thank you.

[Guest quentin compson]

Great episode.

Well, all this stuff about Alice Severin (when I heard that name I immediately thought of the Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs", although I don't think there is any connection) and her motivation for sending those tapes was a bit vague (I don't think she was supposed to be evil, let alone connected to Lucy Butler, by the way), but who cares in the end, as the focal point clearly was Frank coming to terms with Catherine's death and his feelings of guilt.

Frank is clearly an emotionally tormented man in the third season, and he finally faces his mixed feelings of grief and guilt and gets a chance for closure (as Jordan already did in "Omerta", albeit in a different way and from a different emotional perspective). The sequence where he drives to this cabin was one of the show's most ambitious and successful ones, artistically speaking (with the road ahead of him turning into something out of a surrealistic painting, the sky changing colour and those screaming monkeys). Of course, it also was very touching.

[Earthnut]

her motivation for sending those tapes was a bit vague

From my own perspective, I believe the tapes were sent to bring healing, however, some people can't or won't be healed. Forgiving someone else is so much easier then forgiving yourself, and those that couldn't for wouldn't forgive after listening to the tape, didn't survive. On the other hand, did they have a choice? I can't watch it again right now because I have loaned out my season 3 set. Awesome episode.

[Guest quentin compson]

From my own perspective, I believe the tapes were sent to bring healing, however, some people can't or won't be healed. Forgiving someone else is so much easier then forgiving yourself, and those that couldn't for wouldn't forgive after listening to the tape, didn't survive. On the other hand, did they have a choice?

Nice take and good points, Earthnut. I also got the feeling that the purpose of those tapes probably was a more or less therapeutic one as it forced those receiving them to face past misdemeanors. You could look at it as some kind of an ethical test: Are you able to live with your past and forgive yourself - which, of course, as you have put so well, Earthnut, isn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

As for Alice - I think she was meant to be neither on the good nor the bad side. She had this otherworldly air about her, as if she couldn't act any different, even if she wanted to.

[Guest Herr Doktor Schlossburg]

Just a little inconsistency I noticed...

As anyone could see from the Mother's Day sequence in 'The 4th Horseman', death from that virus is pretty messy. If Frank had really stayed with Catherine until the very end, how come he isn't drenched in blood at the end of 'The Time is Near'? He doesn't even have any on his hands. I can't really see him washing his hands or anything, before returning to the cabin, not in the state he's in.

[ethsnafu]

Good points. It is certainly indicated in the script that Frank is 'remembering' events rather than simply having an hallucination of 'what might have been' but the narrative remains vague enough that either explanation can suffice. I prefer the original ending for Catherine because it is more powerful, more bleak. I guess it comes down to the faithful 'personal canon' concept. It isn't 100% clear in the script what we are seeing so you can make it work for yourself based on what we have. My own personal interpretation is that the effects are the tape are hallucinations rather than unlocked memories and that Frank is given an opportunity to resolve his feelings regarding Catherine post-mortem.

I guess, as you mention, problems arise if you choose the alternative explanation but it isn't clear that Frank is seen with Jordan after attending to his wife in the woods. It could simply be that the final shots of S2 occur before Frank wanders out into the forest to find his dying wife. We could simply be viewing the brief moments of shock during which he realises that she is gone.

I suppose that could work.

Eth

[IHaveGoodInstincts]

I guess "Snow" and "The Time" could link together chronologically in more than one way with some explanation.

I will take the simple route and just say that "The Sound of Snow" provided a feel-good ending to a tragic situation for our hero.