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Brief summary:
New evidence links The Millennium Group to the
plague and Frank discovers everything the Group
has claimed in the past may be in doubt. And
as he tries desperately to get his family and
close friends, Peter Watts and Lara Means, to
safety in a remote cabin, tragedy strikes them
all.
Rogue's Review:
What a mix of emotions roared through me following
the second-season finale of MILLENNIUM, a finale
which is some respects seemed the end of all
things for Frank Black... and a terrifying new
beginning for those who continue to stand against
the looming darkness. "The Time is Now"
summed up an incredible, two-year journey of
self-discovery for our hero, and brought the
rising tide of violence and insanity to a truly
staggering finale. But, regrettably, the execution
of the ep did its level best to prevent me from
getting right down there in the thick of it.
Despite an excellent opening sequence, I was
agonized by the dreadfully stilted dialogue
that followed. "This house was damaged
long before this morning's earthquake,"
Catherine says. "Yeah," Frank replies.
"Bletch, the Old Man, our family..."
Cath: "Maybe now that we've found our way
back to the yellow house..." Frank: "It's
time for a different yellow house." Could
there be any LESS natural quality to a discussion
between a newly reconciled husband and wife?
After that, however, the ep rips into gear,
with Peter charging off to track down the truth
among the Old Man's belongings (which begs the
question: what happened to the NEW Old Man?).
The scene gets about 10 seconds into gear...
and then CLONK! A Morley cigarette lying on
the floor draws our attention. Another smug
in-joke. Mistake, mistake, mistake -- I wanted
a season finale that dealt with the backstory
of its OWN universe, not one that teased viewers
with the possibility of a crossover into another.
I was delighted by the appearance of Stephen
Macht as Lott, ostensibly a mysterious new Group
member. It was frustrating that Macht never
reappears in the ep. Though it seems unlikely,
I'd like to see him return in Season Three,
positioning himself as a new antagonist for
our hero.
The Marburg Virus/Prion discussion was fascinating,
but I kept yelling "Tell him on the way
up to the cabin, Peter! Stop piddling around!"
Indeed, the entire episode was an exercise in
exasperation as everyone stood around chatting
instead of acting on what they knew or suspected.
Terry O'Quinn shines nevertheless in this sequence
(and the truly great cliffhanger of the ep is
Peter's unknown fate).
From there, I apparently flipped the channel
by accident, landing on MTV, where -- strangely
enough -- Lara Means was starring in her first
music video! A beautiful sequence in many respects,
staggering in its poignancy and all-out weirdness...
but I completely fell out of the story again
and started watching the cinematography, Cloke's
acting, etc. A shame they couldn't have woven
all this more naturally into Peter's kidnapping
and Frank's search for Lara. My good friend
Dave "Messiahman" Rosiak put it best
when he called it the "most ambitious and
least successful" sequence the series has
ever attempted.
The conclusion was horrific -- Frank and Catherine's
discussion about watching each other die, and
some of the first loving behavior Catherine
has exhibited in several eps. I couldn't help
but flash back to the last, infuriatingly quixotic
episode of TWIN PEAKS, as the story ended with
Catherine walking out into the woods to meet
her fate. And then that freaky final moment:
Jordan giggling at her grieving, nearly catatonic
father's snowy white hair, as the flashes of
TV static increase and we're left listening
to the swelling tide of chaos engulfing the
world outside this tiny sanctuary in the mountains...
With the possibility of cancellation looming,
"TTIN" would have succeeded, in part,
as a series finale, bringing us tragically full
circle in two respects -- the Polaroid Stalker's
whispered prophecies of the beginning and the
end, and the Great Plague as originally prophesied
by the Frenchman waaaay back in the series pilot...
But with all those unfinished elements, thank
God it's a SEASON finale -- and even so, it
doesn't succeed so well. There is SO much up
in the air (about the Group, about the virus
now plaguing the world, about everything) that
the episode is mostly just aggravating. The
cliffhanger elements seemed contrived, part
of an elegant, enigmatic last hurrah for the
Wongs on their way out as executive producers.
But they did NOT seem to be part of the lives
of Frank and Catherine Black, their gifted daughter
Jordan, Frank's sometime friend and colleague
Peter Watts and his doomed partner Lara Means.
For those reasons, "The Time is Now"
never fully pulled me into its embrace -- something
I sincerely expected the finale to do. [RATING:
7/10] |
