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MYTHOLOGY
ANGELS AND DEMONS
The mythology of the first season focused heavily on the nature of evil, both in man (ex. serial killers) and in the supernatural. Frank Black's greatest nemesis would be the evil which offered him bliss if he resigned from the Millennium Group and joined the other side.
This offer was first proposed by The Judge in the appropriately titled episode The Judge. "Every man finds his own path to justice. You needn't commit yourself now. The offer's open. A month, a year... Many benefits. I know you're sometimes scared for your family, your wife. There's a child now too, yes?"
Catherine's continued distress caused Frank to question his position with the Millennium Group and their promises of safety. Legion would continue to tempt the Black family.
The Curse of Frank Black introduced Mr. Crocell, a man from Frank's past who returned from the dead on an especially unsettling Halloween night. Like Frank, he was consumed by the pursuit of evil and had become something of an outcast because of it. When his strength collapsed and he committed suicide, he essentially became a part of the evil. Crocell offered Frank a similar fate. Of course, Frank declined.
Tamara Lee, a haunting Chinese woman that seduced and killed men, appeared in the episode Siren. She told Frank she could offer him anything and showed Frank a tempting vision of what life without the Millennium Group would be like. Suddenly, the vision turned violent and Jordan was shown screaming in the clutches of the winged Beast. Frank was reminded of what his pursuit may cost him.
Legion's first appearance was in the guide of cult leader Ricardo Clemett in the episode Gehenna. He was depicted in several scenes as a winged Beast, descending on its prey (questionable members of the cult), ripping them to pieces. The cult in Gehenna was an example of Legion's power over the weak and vunerable. This theme of control and manipulation is used repeatedly.
Among the most overlooked episodes is Sacrament. A former doctor of Richard Green, the man who abducted Frank's sister-in-law Helen, says: "He claimed Satan was forcing him to do evil. He thought he was protected as long as he stayed here, but the Devil would pull him back into evil when he got out." Frank subsequently had visions of Richard being pulled against his will into a lake of burning sulphur. He also discovered the Mark of Lucifer, carved on the floor of Richard's former room.
The most shocking revelation of the episode is that Richard's father, known only as Mr. Green, was instrumental in his son's activities. The famous shot of him looking down from the top of the basement steps was repeated in Lamentation and All Souls, an X-Files episode with heavy Legion overtones.
Danielle Barbakow, a five-year-old responsible for the deaths of her classmates, was revealed as a manifestation of Legion in the episode Monster. The girl attempted to divide the townspeople and frame Frank for child abuse, but she was not successful and was placed under the custody of the Millennium Group.
Legion's presence in The Pest House was less obvious, never directly interracting with Frank. As the male nurse Edwards, he preceded to remove the nightmarish dreams from inmates of an insane asylum and use them as vechicle to unlease his terror upon unsuspecting victims. Frank surmised that, in Edward's case, "those who touch evil run the risk that evil will touch them."
In Lamentation, Frank was confronted by the wife of serial killer Dr. Fabricant, Lucy Butler. Sweet and seductive, Lucy was suspected in orchestrating her husband's escape (from police custody) as well as the murder of a federal judge. She also was previously accused of murdering her child, but was ultimately acquitted. When Bob Bletcher was killed, he saw a figure walking towards him in Frank's house that took the appearance of both Lucy Butler and the winged Beast. It was clear to Frank that Lucy was another manifestation of Legion and, according to Fabricant, "the base sum of all evil."
Lucy became a recurring figure in Millennium's mythology, returning in the episode A Room With No View. Her abduction and reeducation of average, featureless teenagers closely parallels the brainwashed cult in Gehenna. Instead of promises of wealth and importance, her sexual dominance convinced her victims that she alone could add meaning to their lives. She again eludes Frank at the end of the episode.
She later resurfaced in Antipas as the nanny for a wealthy family. Although her sexual advances on John Saxum peaked and his curiosity and his wife's jealousy, she was merely exploiting their weaknesses to attract the attention of the equally elusive Frank Black. She appeared in his hotel room as a winged Beast and "raped" him, to support the argument that the child she was carrying was his. Frank dismissed the argument and Lucy reacted violently, threatening the safety of Frank's daughter Jordan. When Frank and Emma drive away from the Saxum, they strike The Long-Haired Man, but it is Lucy Butler they see lying on the ground. Lucy glumly tells Frank she lost their baby.
Legion's presence in Saturn Dreaming of Mercury assumed the form of Lucas Sanderson, a classmate of Jordan's. Although Frank was initially skeptical of Jordan's claims (she was partially incorrect, because she blamed Lucas's father Will), he investigated the Sanderson home and was attacked. Fortunately, he regained consciousness and escaped before being engulfed by flames. Frank and Jordan watched as Lucas Sanderson stood in the burning home, "morphing" into Lucy Butler.
The Long-Haired man, as seen by Catherine Black in Lamentation is assumed to be a contrast to Lucy's seductiveness. His appearances in A Room With No View and Antipas depict him to be threatening and physically forceful.
Powers, Principalities, Thrones, and Dominions introduced Alistair Pepper, an oily lawyer who, like The Judge, Mr. Crocell, and Tamara Lee, promised Frank safety if he would only "join him." Mike Atkins noted that Pepper underwent a severe personality change after a near death experience and switched to criminal law.
Among his clients was serial killer Martin. While chasing Pepper through a supermarket, Frank witnessed Pepper "morphing" into Lucy Butler and Martin. Mark, Chapter 5 of the Bible describes a man possessed by unclean spirits who, when asked by Jesus his name, replied: "Legion is my name. There are many of us." The passage also describes a herd of swine, feeding on the hillside, an image used at the end of The Judge.
Following his murder of Mike Atkins, Pepper is shot (from Frank's perspective, by a lightning bolt) by Sammael, an enigmatic figure who has an important role to play in the events leading to the millennium. Sammael commented that Pepper's "own actions made it possible" and that "he would not have stopped with Atkins."
Sammael, presumably an angel, plays plays the role of accuser, seducer, and destroyer. After his murder of Alistair Pepper, he told Frank that it only "pained" him, not "harmed" him to be on Earth.
The episode Borrowed Time marked the return of the character, although with a new agenda. Instead of restoring the balance between good and evil by destroying manifestations of Legion, he murdered actual people to postpone the deaths of others -- fulfilling God's plan. Among those who had been given the gift of additional time on Earth was Jordan Black, who fell ill in The Pilot episode. Ultimately, Samiel sacrificed his terrestrial existence so Jordan could live.
Please note that the name variations above are usually interchangeable, but some publications and fans have made a distinction between the two (Sammael in Powers..., Samiel in Borrowed Time). Despite their differences, it's assumed that they are merely different incarnations of the same divine being, much like Legion which has appeared in many guises and for many different reasons.
Frank met the angel Simon in the episode Midnight of the Century. He informed Frank that ghosts (or "fetches of the soul") of people destined to die in the coming year go to the church yard on Christmas Eve to search for those who would be their companions.
It's conceivable that Jordan's imaginary friend Simon in Saturn Dreaming of Mercury was an angel, although his origins were not completely supernatural, but human. As the unborn child of a woman murdered by Lucas Sanderson, Simon led Jordan to falsely accuse Will Sanderson of being evil.
[recap: Gehenna, The Judge, Lamentation, Powers, Principalities, Thrones, and Dominions, Monster, The Curse of Frank Black, Midnight of the Century, The Pest House, Siren, A Room With No View, Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me, Borrowed Time, Antipas, Saturn Dreaming of Mercury]
FRANK/JORDAN/LARA'S GIFTS
Chris Carter originally stated that Frank's ability to "see inside the mind of a killer" was not psychic, but extremely refined criminal profiling. This belief dismisses the complexity of what Frank has seen and experienced, because he has not only seen abstract images of the true nature of evil, but is continually alerted by its presence. Lara Means said she never knew where evil lay, only that it existed.
Lara's gift assumed the form of an angel that warned her of imminent danger. During the weeks leading up to her induction into the Millennium Group, Lara's angel abandoned her in fear of a higher power and she was left without its guidance. Alone and faced with the responsibility of being a Group member, Lara's sanity quickly diminished and she told Catherine the same would happen to Frank, without the support of his family.
Frank's mother Linda also experienced visions of angels, although they gave her comfort which Lara's often did not. Her ability has apparently been passed to Frank and now Jordan who can see demons (Saturn Dreaming of Mercury), angels (The Beginning and the End, Midnight of the Century, Saturn Dreaming of Mercury) and the future (Saturn Dreaming of Mercury).
Frank first speculated that Jordan had inherited his gift after she fell ill coinciding with the abduction of Helen Black in Sacrament. In the episode Walkabout, Frank became involved in an experimental drug trial for Proloft, an antidepressant used to treat certain temporal lobe anomalies -- and hopefully suppress his gift. The trial went awry and he concluded that the best way to treat Jordan's gift is to help her understand the nature of it.
In both The Pilot episode and Borrowed Time, Jordan was hospitalized after exhibiting the symptoms of meningitis, a typically fatal disease. Her miraculous recovery and inconclusive tests would lead a doctor to conclude the problem was purely psychological.
[recap: The Pilot, Sacrament, Walkabout, The Beginning and the End, Monster, Midnight of the Century, Anamnesis, Borrowed Time, Saturn Dreaming of Mercury]
THE MILLENNIUM GROUP
After moving to Seattle with his wife Catherine and daughter Jordan, Frank offered his services to the local police department via the Millennium Group, an organization that believed pre-millennial fever was responsible for the increase in crime. The enigmatic Group was later revealed not to be only a consulting firm, but a centuries old sect, dating back to the beginning of Christianity.
The split between the Group and the Family (mentioned in the episode Anamnesis) at "The Cutting of the Elm" parallels the actual organizations: the Knights Templar and the Prieuré de Sion, respectively. This is confirmed by Ben Fisher's interest in Clare McKenna, who was suspected to be a descendant of Christ and Mary Magdalene, and a tattoo on his back: a red cross, the symbol of the Sion.
In Matryoshka, bureau directors J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson were shown resurrecting the ancient Group and integrating its beliefs into the United State's government. The relationship between the FBI and the Group strengthens as more federal agents accept candidacy.
Frank's immersion into Group politics lead him to believe they were dangerous people, paranoid about the approaching millennium and corrupted by the very evil they were fighting against. Through heinous crimes and unethical experiments, they were bringing about "an apocalypse of their own creation." Among these experiments was the Group-engineered Marburg Virus which, in the spring of 1998, resurfaced in the Pacific Northwest and claimed the lives of seventy-some people... including Catherine Black.
[recap: The Beginning and the End, Beware of the Dog, The Hand of Saint Sebastian, Luminary, Owls, Roosters, Anamnesis, The Fourth Horseman, The Time Is Now, The Innocents, Exegesis, Skull and Bones, Collateral Damage, The Sound of Snow, Matryoshka, Seven and One, Bardo Thodol, Via Dolorosa, Goodbye to All That]
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