The X-Files - Millennium

  

 *** / ****

The X-Files was very much considered a “90s” sci-fi classic, venturing into the 2000s for only a few seasons and a couple of movies before “being retired” and returning in 2016 to much fanfare considering its absence for 8 years. I wasn’t all that crazy about the 2008 movie, but did like the 1998 one (Fight for the Future); however, I didn’t altogether consider I Want to Believe a total failure, just a forgettable experience. And while I have reluctantly agreed with many critical of the 2018 season, it wasn’t to me completely abysmal, but much like the 2008 film I felt it didn’t quite succeed in comparison to prime X-Files. Still, I just like it when there is opportunity for closure, with this show giving Carter the chance to tie up loose ends with series he was connected to (such as The Lone Gunmen). One of those was Millennium, featuring B-movie/television stalwart, Lance Henriksen, as Frank Black. After watching the X-Files episode concluding Black’s (and the Millennium Group he was always pursuing) story, Millennium, fourth episode in the seventh season, I decided to order the first season of the show (started in 1996, dismissed from Fox in ’99) on DVD. I do recall the show starting out quite strongly, as I was a teenager still when Millennium debuted. I also did recall the hubbub regarding 2000 and the controversy surrounding it. This episode, I don’t recall seeing it, so it was cool to be introduced to it, getting to see Black finally relieved of the burden that cost him so much. Holmes Osborne (who has been in damn near everything with a face that is quite recognizable), with his ability to resurrect the dead through necromancy for the upcoming supposed bringing-on of the apocalypse makes for a memorable turn, particularly when he uses salt as a circle of protection when one of his “Millennium Four” rises out of his hearse to kill a police officer. Frank being standoffish about helping Mulder and Scully while checked in (voluntarily) to a mental hospital makes sense if one takes into account what he has endured and stands to lose if his daughter’s grandparents gain custody. But to not help at all could be even worse…for the human race.  The zombies in the episode are especially ghoulish, making for quite the scary monsters, going at Mulder, Scully, and Black eventually. With Osborne’s traveling necromancer, quoting from Revelation and performing his resurrection magic, and his white-eyed, rotting corpses (which attack for the jugular); this episode has more than enough morbid goodies, but include Henricksen, his story getting its happy ending, and The X-Files going into the year 2000 with much success, what is not to like? And this episode did inspire me to give the first season a go so I look forward to watching Henricksen’s story as Black from the beginning. Although, Millennium doesn’t include Henricksen in the field with Mulder and Scully as much as serve as a distant consultant (albeit a consultant who often can be difficult and evasive), Black’s efforts ultimately factor in the conclusion when he helps Mulder halt the necromancer and his zombies’ efforts to ring in 2000 on a less-than-hospitable note. And the ending allows us to see Mulder and Scully kiss, as the late Dick Clark brought in the New Year in style, sharing a warm smile afterward. I couldn’t ask for much more, personally.