MILLENNIUM Virtual Season Four Episode review
by 4Q2
Submitted 12-17-99

"Our Own Flesh and Blood" #409
Original "Air" date: 9/10/99
Writer: David Klein


In Brief: 
The investigation of a pair of murdered suburban parents lead Frank and
Ryan down two separate paths, and two different opinions on the most
likely suspect.


Overall Impression:
Lacking the suspense of previous outings, but hands down the most dramatic
of the Frank Black/Ryan Frost adventures.  Both Frank and Ryan are
presented in a different light that is both refreshing and surprising.


Details: 
First off, I want to point out that I feel sorrow, anger, and overwhelming
confusion when I think about the events of Columbine High School.  I feel
the rage that the people of the town feel at every unthinkable instance in
which a teenager picks up a weapon and guns down a group of his
schoolmates or even their families.  It makes me want to cry.

But what makes me even more incensed is the insistence by some cells of
our society is that the movies we see, the TV programs we watch, and the
PC games our kids are playing are to blame.  And this is a point to
consider as one reads David Klein's "Our Own Flesh and Blood."  Yes, the
world has gotten darker.  People are more cynical and occasionally
cold-hearted.  "Looking out for numero uno" is the norm with most, and
with our darkening perception of the world, our entertainment choices also
become edgier, grittier.  It's what we like and our society is definitely
no longer in the "It's a Wonderful Life" frame of mind.

The world described in Millennium is not too far off from what we live
now, the only difference is we have no one single person to be our Frank
Black.

It's the job of all of us who *want* that happy ending to be Frank, to
guard and care for ourselves and each other, and to know the difference
between fantasy and reality.

Now before this starts to sound like a motivational seminar, I'm going to
point something out to anyone who happens to have read this episode and
truly believes that modern entertainment is to blame for the increase in
violent crimes by young people.  I do not believe for a second that "Flesh
and Blood" was meant to be fuel for that particular fire.  Frank Black, is
a rational and calm man, a thinker and observer of the human soul.  He is
also a worried father, who has seen evil in all of its facets.  He will do
anything to protect Jordan from the darkness of the world, even if it
means dragging a TV out of her room in a knee-jerk reaction.  Did he solve
the problem by doing that?  The answer is no.  And, as we saw over the
course of this episode, Frank is also capable of erring.  Like so many of
us, his emotions took over.  Frank is *us*, and we are him.  He, like
ourselves sometimes do, looked for an acceptable answer for the shocking
violence that apparently, *any* one of us could commit.  Sadly, he didn't
find it.

Alright, the elbowing social messages of this episode aside for a bit,
David Klein's first effort for the VS is one that makes any MM fan stand
up and take notice.  This was a tightly written tale that, while
brilliant, lacked any sense of real danger to our heroes, Frank and Ryan.
This is a trend that isn't that great a flaw however, and once the
prospective reader gets around to "Where Shadows Fall" (Klein's
collaboration with Matt Asendorf) that point is also made.  This was an
episode that dared to go where MM had not journeyed before.

The realm to which I refer is the one where Frank *is actually WRONG* in
the course of his investigation. 

The possible suspects in the murder of two suburban parents in this story
consist of their young son, and a recently released convict with a
penchant for booze and hookers whom happens to live across the street from
them.

The debate launches almost from the beginning as to the identity of the
butcher, and Frank just won't hear of Ryan's theory: The adopted son of
the couple slashed them, even going so far as to rape the mother.

This conflict gives birth to some of the most tense and beautifully
written scenes MM has ever seen (even in the TV show).  The arguments were
extraordinarily believable, and Ryan's "nothing is sacred" speech left me
in awe.  Mr. Klein, I gotta ask you who you envision playing Ryan, because
this was great stuff, marred only by the fact that Ryan Frost has never
been *seen*.  The haunting voice of Lance Henriksen echoed in my head as I
read on and the end was result was near-perfection for not just the VS,
but for the entire Millennium saga.

I don't seriously believe that David Klein feels that the images we see on
TV are to blame for the Columbines and Paducahs that come crashing into
our evening meals, however as I put this review together I remind myself
that just recently a boy was arrested for plotting a massacre of his own.
He claims to have been inspired by the *news* footage he saw of Columbine.
It does make one wonder... If the parents aren't watching, who *does*
care?  

"Our Own Flesh and Blood" is a tragic, thought-provoking story worthy of a
second read, and one I was all to happy to do as I wrote my review.  


Did The Opening Quote Seem Relevant To The Story?  (Did 4Q2 get it?):
The Dostoyevsky quote seems to suggest that only through pain do we know
we are alive, but I can't be sure I agree with it.  Nor can I say it spoke
the soul of this story.


TV Episode(s) that it most reminded me of:
"Wild and Innocent," "Through a Glass Darkly," "TEOTWAWKI"


Score: 9.5 (out of 10)
The sense of immediate danger was not present, however if *every*
Millennium episode ended with a gun pointed at Frank Black, then we'd be
in one hell of a rut!  This was very riveting stuff.  David Klein is
definitely a writer to watch for.

Although I had initially set a goal to review all the way up to the
"Rapture" two-parter, my workload increased leaving me little time before
my vacation.  So with that...

NEXT IN THE PIPELINE: 4Q2 attempts to dissect the complexity of "Akuma
Odori"... as soon as Christmas vacation is over!  Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Millennium to everyone!  Onward!

-4Q2, Esq.