The Rogue's Eye View
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M I L L E N N I U M
117. LAMENTATION (1 of 2)

Written by Chris Carter
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Original Air Date: April 18, 1997


Brief summary: Frank is called to track down an escaped serial killer, while his family and friends confront "the base sum of all evil"--and one of them pays the ultimate price.

Rogue's Review: "Every man before he dies shall see the Devil" is the epigram for this episode, drawn from a 16th century English proverb. That chilling piece of foreshadowing is played out in shocking detail in this first episode of a two-parter that reintroduces the threat of the Polaroid Stalker... and plunges Frank once more into MILLENNIUM's main mythology - the presence of a demonic force of darkness on the Earth, the return of the evil known to us as Legion.

Dr. Ephraim Fabricant, a serial killer undergoing a kidney operation to save a sister dying of renal failure, vanishes from surgery after a young woman beats his guard almost to death. Having once profiled this psychopath, Frank is called in to help law enforcement to capture him - and he's thrown into a terrifying cat-and-mouse game not only with Fabricant, but with the killer's strange "cyber-law wife" Lucy Butler (the hypnotically beautiful Sarah Jane Redmond), who may or may not know more than she says.

That cat-and-mouse chase leads, shockingly, back to Frank's own home, where Catherine and Bletcher face a monstrous intruder that will forever alter the nature of the safe yellow house... Rarely has this series achieved the level of gut terror this entire sequence reaches - enhanced by the questionable actions of Catherine as she seeks to find and protect her daughter. Watching this unfold is akin to watching the best kind of theatrical horror movie - it's impossible not to shriek at the screen, first berating Catherine and then Bletcher for acting in seemingly foolish (but very realistic) ways.

And of course, as with every good horror film... they don't listen to us.

"Lamentation" is gut-wrenching horror bookended with beauty - twin trips into the mountains that first carry on Bletcher's memories of his father, as shared with Frank... and at the end, Frank's memories of his dear friend, as shared with his daughter. Legacies of love that seek to repel the darkness of the world around us.

This, additionally, was the episode that sparked a lot of online debate over whether or not it was in fact FBI Agents Mulder and Scully walking down the steps at the Bureau office where Frank and Peter are conversing about Fabricant's escape. Insider sources tell us the actors were stand-ins, borrowed from the X-FILES set as an in-joke, but the moment begs the question: how are Chris Carter's seemingly disparate universes related? Let's hope (despite the added evidence of "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense") that this is the extent of the crossover. [Rating: 9/10]

"I know what he did, Mr. Black, and I know what he's capable of doing. The soul expresses itself in so many amazing ways, especially when there's a comprehension of extremes. Ephraim said that you and he share that ability." -- Lucy Butler


reviews by Rick Smith (1996 - present) and website by Matt Asendorf (2004)
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