MILLENNIUM Virtual Season Four Episode review by 4Q2 Submitted 11-28-99 "Shophetim" #405 Original "Air" date: 8/3/99 Writers: Anne Andrews with Bunny S. Williams and with assistance of MJ. Wardale R.T. (R.) B.A. In Brief: An auto accident leaves Frank and Jordan hospitalized, and vulnerable to the evils that operate against them. However, all is not that it seems in this particular hospital. Overall Impression: Carol Finley's appearance seemed almost forced, and I do have to wonder when she resorted to such blatant methods. A good story, very tight on dialog, and still high on drama despite Frank's inactivity through much of it. Details: Frank drinking alcohol? Frank singing a solo along with a song on the radio? Well, these were among few things I had to wrap my brain around when it came to "Shophetim," Anne Andrews' debut effort for the VS. Once these moments had passed, everything else neatly fell into place for me. This was a good one. Although I must admit, I *am* curious to hear Lance Henriksen's singing voice. Anyway, let's press on... First, Anne? You made me damn hungry as the teaser unfolded the first time I read it. Now as I revisit "Shophetim" for the purpose of reviewing it for Y'all, I think a trip to my local Red Lobster is in order. I recommend the stuffed shrimp appetizer. Secondly, the level drama in this episode is rivaled at this point only by "The Dawn of Nothing." The notion that Frank and Jordan are helpless (for the most part) in a hopsital and are slowly being visited by various icons of evil is a damn creepy premise, and I have to admit that after the curtain of gloom that covered us in the previous "Sala Del La Morto," it's good to see that the forces of Good aren't just sitting idly by. I'm likin' this big guy, Eli and the way he seems to "assume the post" as Nurse Deborah holds the fort out front. I was enjoying this thoroughly and even taking a sense of comfort watching each attempt to get at them being thwarted. It was when this Gilead character showed up that I got truly nervous. It would seem that this *was* the guy in charge for the most part, seeing as how he wasn't detected so quickly by Eli and Deborah, and I must admit that I was sitting here expecting him to morph into Mabius or even Lucy Butler. The visions of an episode that I unfortunately do not have in my video collection here, "Powers, Principalities, Thrones, and Dominions," came rushing repeatedly into my mind as the events unfolded. And Frank's vision of calm, peace and tranquility as he first locked eyes with Dr. Barak was truly a "goose bump" moment. "Oh. my.." indeed! The attempt against Crammer's life by Gilead (Mabius?) seemed a bit awkward and cobbled together to the point where I had to re-read it a couple of times. At least I knew at this point it couldn't have Lucy. Crammer would have undoubtedly made it onto a slab had that been the case. Another facet of this story I appreciated was the obvious attention to detail and research, pertaining to not only medicine but to the way the cyanide was insidiously used against Darryl Masters, in a plot that made me think of "The Fugitive" from time to time. The malevolence of this episode had me hooked for most of the time. Now, I did some limited searching, trying to find the meaning of the terms "shophetim" and "Bet Din" (and I hope to have a clearer understanding when I get around to reviewing "Iso Bet Din"). I'm guessing a bet din is some sort of haven or "safety zone." Oh well, gimme a Chips Ahoy, if I am right. One of the things that took away from the experience the first time around reading "Shophetim" is that I had no idea what that was, and even after learning the meaning of the term, it still made little sense to me. Now, I feel a bit more enlightened. The notion of Frank and Jordan being protected by these "judges" is novel indeed, and the end result gave us a very tense showdown. Some very nice symbolism with the clock. It was only after reading this episode did I truly feel the urgency at the passing of time, the end approaching, and the oppsoing forces fighting for control. And with the adjusting of the hands, we have just a bit more time before the caca really hits the fan. At the time of this writing, I have already read "The Third Eye," which now reinstates that feeling of dread and urgency. I eagerly await the next few Fridays, you guys. Nice job Anne and Bunny. Time for X-Files!!! Did The Opening Quote Seem Relevant To The Story? (Did 4Q2 get it?): I was trying to wrap my brain around the title which seemed to suggest that someone is sitting in judgement. Who is judging, and who is being judged was a mystery to me as I began to write this review. I think I get it now. See the Details section for my musings on that. TV Episode(s) that it most reminded me of: "Borrowed Time," "Powers, Principalities, Thrones, and Dominions" Score: 8.5 (out of 10) Frank seemed just a *tad* out of character on two occasions, as well as *slightly* underutilized. Other than that, very compelling. I like! NEXT IN THE PIPELINE: Frank investigates the rising of the dead. Oh, and those two FBI agents give him a hand... er, Mully and Sculder I think they're called. I'll be reviewing "The X-Files: Millennium." Onward! -4Q2, pimp daddy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "Shophetim" review by Neil Anna PREAMBLE -------- Please remember that I am reviewing these episodes as someone who has not participated in their discussion or review before. Thus, any problems or criticisms that have already been analysed or explained will come up again. APPRECIATING THE ARCHITECTURE ----------------------------- Like the previous four episodes, Shophetim's meaning can be derived by an analysis of the title. The writer (Anne Andrews) has helped us along by starting the show with a quote from the Old Testament book of Judges. From what I can gather (concordances and OT overview books notwithstanding) "Shophetim" is the Hebrew word for Judge, hence the tie in with the OT book. It is important to note, however, that the original word contains far more information than simply a legal function... Judges were not just lawgivers, they were leaders and saviours of Old Testament Israel. Our favourite big dumb guy, Samson, was one of these Judges. Of the characters that appear in this episode, 4 - Deborah (nurse), Barak (doctor), Eli (old man) and Gideon (Sgt Crammer) - are the names of Old Testament judges, all appearing in the book of Judges (except Eli who appears in 1 Samuel). Therefore, it was time to get out my "Bible Maps" book and check out Old Testament Israel. Okay, for $50, name the river that runs from lake Galilee to the Dead Sea. If you said "The Jordan River," you get the $50. If you have suddenly made a connection between this river and Frank's daughter, Jordan, then get another $50. Jordan calmly runs through this episode like the river that bears her name, unable to do things that are happening around her despite being the centre of attention, as the final scenes show. Having a map also helps us to understand the role of Gilead DeSidon. Gilead is a place on the Eastern half of the Jordan river, with the rest of Israel located on the Western side. In the book of Judges, Gilead is a place that is attacked and defeated by Israel during a civil war that erupts over some rather horrific events (read the last 4 chapters of Judges and find out for yourself). Sidon was a coastal city in Phonecia, north of Israel. In this sense, Jordan is in between the evil East (Gilead DeSidon) and the good West (Deborah, Barak, Eli and Gideon). In the end, the good guys win. It is notable that all the characters that make decisions are the four "judges," and all of them act to save Jordan and Frank from Gilead. This function - of saviour and decision maker - is consistent with the Old Testament judges. Everyone else, with the notable exception of Gilead, is reduced to a reactive, static existence (Maxwell, Frank, Jordan, Callie, Darryl, Mabius). The Owl-faced clock that tells a "different sort of time" is a great idea. It is nearly midnight - nearly the end of the world - and the events occurring within the episode are pushing it closer. It is entirely possible that the 3 Judges are actually representative of the "Owls," in that they believe that the end is still a long way away. In this sense, their actions are deliberately trying to prevent the end - "Forcing away the end," if you will, the opposite of some activities of the Millennium Group. STRUCTURAL FLAWS ---------------- For all the good points I have examined above, this script was let down in a very big way by poor editing... or maybe NO editing at all. Spelling mistakes and badly placed apostrophes were common throughout the text. Now this may not seem important, for it is true that many successful writers have difficulty with spelling, but that is why their works are EDITED. If the final work contains spelling errors and apostrophes where they shouldn't be, you wouldn't spend much time reading it. This lack of editing also led to the exposure of a number of glaring continuity errors that would have been solved with a careful eye. The first problem is the name and function of the pharmaceutical company that Darryl and Gideon are partners in. It is called "Papermills Industry" during the teaser, then "The Pharmaceutical Research Facility" in Act one, "Pharmaceutical Resources and Papermills Industry" in Act two and "Pharmaceutical Research Co." in Act Four. And just what are Darryl and Gideon actually running? Do they run the actual company, or are they just running a consultancy company for it? Obviously the company is listed on the Stock exchange, as it has stockholders, but at one point it is described as a "Multi-Billion Dollar company," which, despite its wealth, somehow can't pay the medical bills of one of the company directors! The second problem concerns the cyanide-laced pills that Darryl was ingesting; pills that Gilead was instrumental in getting produced. This was the new "wonder-drug" that the company was just about to release... but Darryl was already ingesting them as part of a prescription from his doctor. How can a doctor prescribe medicine that has yet to be produced? And even if Darryl had simply "taken" the pills off the shelf from his company to deal with the problem, why did he need a prescription? This continuity problem should have been picked up straight away during editing, especially considering that one of the company directors was suffering from a condition that could be helped by a product that he was deeply involved in marketing and producing! The third problem concerns the two police officers - Maxwell and Crammer. Are they uniformed policemen or are they detectives? If they are uniformed officers, I am assuming that they would have plenty of work chasing down speeding cars and other mundane police work WITHOUT spending time on this particular problem - especially one with such a medical science bent. Maxwell is a state trooper, but it becomes clear later that Crammer is his partner and is killed while researching the case... like a detective. Okay, onto other problems. I suspect that this script was originally written as a story. This shows up during some lines of description that do not fit with a proper script, such as "Ever since the unexpected departure weeks before, Jordan refused to ever leave the duffel bag at home." Again, proper editing would have fixed this up. And it also seems that this script was written to follow up "Goodbye to all that," as Frank and Jordan are still on the road, with Frank's wallet not containing any information about himself. In this case, it actually fits in before "Genesis," and not after "Gestalt." Moreover, it seems that the Millennium group IS actually trying to kill Frank, something which is contradicted in "Genesis." Lastly, the story suffers from its lack of main characters - Frank spends most of the time unconscious and Jordan doesn't say much at all. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" shows. However, I felt that the characters in the story were not fleshed out enough, and it would have been better with one less character (Eli springs to mind). GOLDEN MOMENTS -------------- * Hosea 6:8 says "Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood." NO ONE can tell me that's a coincidence! * The opening scenes... made me hungry just reading it! * An accurate portrayal of a busy hospital, from detailed procedures to "no mobile phones" signs being enforced. Nurses... we can't live without them! * The slow-motion murder of Maxwell with some really great sounds effects. * Jordan being called "Lady Jane" (as in "Jane Doe"). * The insufferable cuteness of Brittany Tiplady... even if I only imagined her acting! NIT PICKS --------- * The graphic details - blood spurting out of a head... grey matter lying on the ground - would not be shown if this was really aired. So why bother including them? * What was the point of having the accident scene at the same place where the trees were cut down and harvested? * Why did Jordan prevent Frank from drinking anything but Coffee and Water? "But I want some more Pepsi sweetheart - it'll keep daddy awake!" Obviously Jordan was preventing Frank from drinking alcohol, but this needed to be explained further with a line like "would you like a refill for your Guinness/Martini/Pina Colada?" * Callie was taken to hospital unconscious... why wasn't she admitted as well and given a bed? * How can the back wheels of car spin when it's lying on its side? * Jordan is blinking 4 times a minute... how about "Jordan is hardly blinking at all?" * Crammer: "Your name wouldn't happen to be..." (Jordan says shh!). This is then followed by Crammer: "We don't know who this John Doe is." * "That which logic can't explain - leaps of faith can" - faith maybe, but "leaps of faith" seem to convey something negative, like checking your brain at the door. * Do 7 year old girls know how to use flares? Should they be allowed to hold them when they go off? * How does Deborah know that Finley worked at St Francis and graduated from a Boston nursing school? * How does Finley keep a gun with a silencer hidden in her nurses uniform? * Why does Finley wear a name tag with "Finley" on it? - She's pretending to be a nurse to try and kill Frank, so why have your own name?? * Why did Mabius drop the awl next to Gilead's body? Was it him who killed Maxwell and tried to kill Crammer? It doesn't seem to make any sense. FAVOURITE LINE -------------- Gilead: "He believed the immortality I offered was something he could *live* with." GRADING ------- 4.0 out of 10. Potentially good, but suffers terribly from basic errors. APPENDIX -------- * My ancient Hebrew isn't what it used to be... in fact it never was. What is a "Shoggat" and a "Bet Din." What have I missed? * I tried to work out any further metaphors with Sgt Crammer and the 16th Century English Reformer Thomas Cranmer, but I decided against it. * This story could have been improved if Crammer was actually Ryan Frost (with his middle name, Gideon, being revealed to make him fit in as the 4th Judge). Ryan and Maxwell are investigating Frank's accident... and Maxwell is killed. Ryan, now without a partner, then asks Frank to work with him on a more permanent basis, citing his last three outings with him (in "Genesis," "Blood and Water," "Gestalt") as evidence shows that they work well together. Not only would this have given the story a familiar face and given Frank and Ryan a formal beginning to their partnership, but it would've been easy to fit in the story after "Gestalt." Moreover, it would've given Ryan a harder edge, having lost his partner in such a brutal fashion.