In this week's episode of Millennium, two of the creepiest serial killers ever to appear on The X-Files come together. What could possibly go wrong? Read after the jump for our look back at "Force Majeure".
- “Force Majeure” is written by Chip Johannessen who also wrote “Orison”, & directed by Winrich Kolbe. It’s the second time working on Millennium for both.
- The opening shot is classic Carter-verse; shadows on the walls instead of actually showing something.
- Are any of those hailstones heart shaped?
- The quote this week comes from Plato’s dialogue Timaeus in which he speculates on the nature of the world, and of humans.
- "She reminds me of those Buddhist monks protesting the Viet Nam War."
"Yeah, I think so too."
Catherine is referring to Thích Quảng Äức who self-immolated in 1963 as an act of protest. Several other Buddhists followed suit. After Thích Quảng Äức died, it was discovered that his heart remained unburned. It’s now considered a Holy object.
- We’re almost 20 years on from the night this episode first aired and I still can’t make voice calls that perfect through my computer.
- Maura is played by Sarah Strange, she was one of the hostages at the travel agency in "Duane Barry".
- Dennis is played by Brad Dourif who played Luther Lee Boggs in “Beyond the Sea”.
- "On May 5th, 2000, seven inner planets align for the first time since the Great Flood. Uranus at the meridian of its epicenter. Earth the focus of the biggest gravitational tug-of-war in 6,000 years. Catastrophic Earth changes on alignment day, preceded by abnormal weather patterns now as stresses build. Example: hurricanes - Edouard; Andrew; Andhra Pradesh, Bay of Bengal. Example: The Sahara Desert advancing 70.7 meters per year. Example: Lima earthquake, 7.3; Loma Prieta, 7.1; Irian Jaya, 8.0. Example: ..."
"The hailstorm."
"Exactly as predicted."
"You mean prophecy?"
"I mean scientific fact. Alignment every 6,000 years. Obviously." - Hurricanes Edouard (1996) and Andrew (1992) were both intense storms.
Andhra Pradesh & Bay of Bengal refer to a catastrophic 1996 cyclone in India.
Lima earthquake 7.3 refers to a 1946 quake, Loma Prieta to a 1989 quake in California, & Irian Jaya to an Indonesian quake in 1996.
- That’s the Cleveland Dam again, it’s the same one we saw at the end of "The Well-Worn Lock".
- Cheryl (CCH Pounder) is back again this episode! Always great to see her on my screen.
- "It's obviously self-inflicted. I wouldn't call it self-mutilation. The shape means something."
"In astronomy it's the symbol for conjunction."
"Alignment."
Pete really knows his symbolism.
- “What’s this mean to you?”
That you need to clean your car more often? - "5/5/2000. Seven inner planets align for the first time since the Great Flood. Uranus at the meridian of its epicenter..."
"Yes, you told me about that before."
"Catastrophic Earth changes on that day preceded by abnormal weather conditions now..."
That planetary alignment on May 5th 2000 really occurred. Of course, we now know that nothing of importance actually happened. - Thunderstorm of hail and fire is the seventh great plague, rivers of blood is the first. Others include frogs, lice, & darkness.
- The Malheur River is a real river in eastern Oregon, however it has never turned blood red.
- The Cleveland Dam appears again more recognisably in the newspaper picture.
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The Sheriff is played by Timothy Webber. He appeared in “Tooms”, “Our Town” & “Quagmire” & will return to Millennium next year.
- The time stamp here is 12:11PM or 11:21 backwards.
- The mother is played by Merrilyn Gann, she appeared in “Young at Heart” and “Detour”.
- Another X-Files serial killer! Iron Lung man is played by Morgan Woodward who played Harry Cokely in “Aubrey”.
- Morgan has 126 acting credits to his name, but this would be the last time he appeared on screen.
- This a technique called blastomere separation that's been used for decades to create identical cattle. Take a fertilized egg and let it divide a few times in vitro. Then you tease the cells apart. Each new embryo is identical to the original. Freeze some for later and you could have identical girls seven years apart.
- These types of genetics stories were popular on The X-Files. This was new technology, easily misunderstood & easily feared.
- The building manager is played by Peter Hanlon. He appeared in “Quagmire” and “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”.
- The Lieutenant is played by Mitch Kosterman, his first of three Millennium appearances. He also appeared in four episodes of The X-Files. Mitch’s X-Files character (Detective Horton) works with Mulder in two different episodes: “GenderBender” & “Sleepless”.
- “They made us.”
A dozen guys openly standing around in a field, how could they have possibly spotted you?
- Two of the creepiest X-Files serial killers of all time in a room together. The fic practically writes itself.
- "He wants to talk to you upstairs. I told him you understood."
"I don't want to understand." - Frank’s pre-conceptions are being challenged here. He doesn’t want to understand, but he thinks he already does.
- The clones’ father seems to have genuinely cared for each of them if these scrapbooks are to be believed.
- It’s refreshing to have an apocalyptic plot that focuses on attempting to repopulate with the best of humanity, rather than focusing solely our damnation.
- It’s also worth noting that this is one of few episodes so far which hasn’t focused on murder, the only deaths have been suicides.
- "Shall I tell Daddy the great news? She got in! Green Valley Day School. They accepted Jordan for next fall."
"Good."
"Good? Frank, she's set through the twelfth grade. We're home free until 2010."
2010 seemed so far away back then. Any year beginning two-thousand just sounded like it belong in science fiction.
Some screencaps courtesy of Chris Nu.