The Rogue's Eye View
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M I L L E N N I U M
102. DEAD LETTERS

Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Original Air Date: November 8, 1996


Brief summary: Frank travels to Portland, Oregon, where he is teamed with an emotionally unbalanced detective who causes Frank to reflect on his own personal life.

Rogue's Review: Still among the most harrowing and engaging episodes of MILLENNIUM, "Dead Letters" introduces us to volatile profiler James Horn (James Morrison), another candidate for induction into the Millennium Group. When a killer begins brutalizing women from a rolling slaughterhouse (an orange van) in Portland, Oregon, Frank and James partner to track him down.

What really makes "Dead Letters" stand out is the interaction between these two profilers – the hothead on the edge of a breakdown and the retired pro who has been there and knows what his counterpart is going through. "You profiling me?" James asks almost immediately, jittery and defensive. "You got that look like you're profiling me." He's going through a separation, watching his world crumble around him, and it's noteable that his immediate profile of the Portland killer – violence triggered by a possible divorce – more accurately reflects his own experience, not the killer's. Frank remains calm and level-headed throughout as the investigation unfolds, his usual grim demeanor tempered by compassion for James's struggle against disintegration.

"I get so far into these guys' heads," James snarls, an attempt to apologize for botching a stakeout. "You haven't gotten there at all," Frank replies. "You let them into YOUR head." Spectacular writing, and the telling difference between Frank and James... one sure to bring about that inevitable disintegration.

Unlike other episodes that rush their conclusion, the pace is excellent here, following the course of the investigation and breaking up the grim trail of bodies with wonderfully human elements – James joins the Blacks for dinner and offers a poignant study of the agonies of divorce and separation from his child; Jordan deals with her nightmares about clowns. The only real flaw in the pace is one answered early in the episode by Group coordinator Jim Penseyres (portrayed by Chris Ellis, he's another excellent character who disappears as the series progresses, alas). According to the Holmes criteria, serial murder is traditionally defined as including three or more victims, with a time period between murders of at least 30 days. Frank suggests this killer won't wait that long, and has indeed killed before – an effective way to speed up the pace of the episode and keep it within a manageable timeframe. And I'd hesitate to say that criteria will remain accurate as the spiraling chaos whirls us closer and closer to the millennium...

If there is a real, noticeable kink in the storyline, it's only that the necessity of tightness and pace led the writers to use Frank's gift again to make a mighty leap in logic, figuring out the identity of the killer's next victim. It works very well despite this, because the focus of the tale is James Horn, not the killer, and the buildup of suspense at the finale – as the orange van closes in on its next target and the profilers close in on him – is chillingly dead on target. [Rating: 9/10]

"I keep reliving what it's like to be cut in half... or four... or eight...." -- James Horn


reviews by Rick Smith (1996 - present) and website by Matt Asendorf (2004)
all material property of Paper Street Productions ~ http://www.paperstreetprod.com