Millenium is amongst the most underrated television series of the 90's. A Cris Carter concoction that is a quasi-spin off of his X Files, its an FBI procedural with more than a healthy dose of creepy supernatural undercurrent.
Many episodes operate as FBI procedurals with the lead character, Frank Black, (Lance Henriksen, in a role he was born to play) despite his broken past, investigating dark and murderous situations. His "gift" is the ability to see what the killer sees, which help his case solve rate reach astronomical proportions. Frank is recruited by a shady organization that uses ex-law enforcement operatives to reach their goals. They are called the Millennium group, and their purpose is not to bring about the apocalypse as the Millennium approaches, but as Frank puts it, "Conrol it".
However, Millennium had a knack for tossing in the occasional off-beat episode laced with humor that would be a light lift from the grim proceedings it otherwise espoused. Included in this was the classic Jose Chungs's Doomsday Defense, among others. (Charles Nelson Reilly saw awards nominations for his brilliance in that episode).
There's one episode that fits in the middle of the creeps and the chuckles, and that's the Halloween episode of the second season, The Curse of Frank Black. It's a smooth-running and tension building affair as Frank goes about Halloween with his daughter and other pleasant fatherhood operations, mixed in with flashbacks to his youth in the 40's where he runs across a neighbor on Halloween night, (played with panache by Dean Winters, who now regales us with chilling chuckles in insurance commercials as the embodiment of bad luck, Mayhem. Winters is a hell of a character. Find out why: here) who explains Samhain, (even if he pronounces it wrong) and its dark interludes. His visage appears later in the present day, giving Frank positive advice, some of which he will obey.
Some of which he will not.
Frank tumbles through the episode, dealing with his failed Bobby Darin CDs (who wouldn't see that as a negative omen. Damn it, if I expect to hear If I Was a Carpenter, I want to hear it!) the repeated occurrences of numbers that have sinister meanings, demonic apparitions, ghost story telling teenage twats in the basement of his home, (Who he dispatches Sam Loomis style. I almost expected him to say "Lonnie, get your ass away from there!") and sundry situations that may or may not be real.
Regarded in this day and age as amongst the best and most thought-provoking of series-based Halloween Television, The Curse of Frank Black would be a wonderful trick for those that have never seen the show, and a hell of a fucking treat for regular viewers, guys like me. Rack this one up with the Great Pumpkin, folks, because it's a laid-back and chilling hoot, perfect for the season.
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