Millennium, 1997-98
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, that aired on the Fox Networkbetween 1996 and 1999. The series follows the investigations of ex-FBI agent Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) now a consultant, with the ability to see inside the minds of criminals, working for a mysterious organization known as theMillennium Group.
Episode 2x6 "The Curse of Frank Black"
Role: Ghost Storyteller
On Halloween, Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is carving a jack-o'-lantern while preparing to take his daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) trick-or-treating. As he leaves to collect her, he notices a demonic figure watching him from across the street. That night, Jordan deliberately passes by one house, telling Black that it is haunted. Black tells her there are no such thing as ghosts, but is reminded of a moment from his past. In a flashback, we see a five-year-old Black being dared by his friends to knock the door of the same house; a man named Crocell (Dean Winters) answers and invites Black inside. Crocell is a Second World War veteran, and he explains the meaning of Halloween to Black, telling the boy that it is the one night of the year that ghosts walk among the living. Crocell hopes that it is his chance to commune with the friends he lost in the war, and is dismayed when the young Black dismisses the possibility of ghosts.
After bringing Jordan back to her mother, Catherine (Megan Gallagher), Black is driving home when he notices several youths egging a house—the house he once shared with Catherine and Jordan, and in which his friend Bob Bletcher was killed. He goes inside, and overhears several teenagers gathered in the basement trying to scare each other with the story of Bletcher's murder. Black interrupts, scaring off the youths—and is again reminded of his past, recalling his reaction when Crocell was found to have committed suicide. As Black leaves the house, he picks up an egg carton discarded by the fleeing teenagers and throws the remaining eggs at the walls.
When Black arrives home, he leafs through the day's mail, finally noticing that the numbers "268" and the letters "ACT" have been appearing to him throughout the day, including Crocell's door number being 268. Black takes these coincidences to be pointing him towards a Bible verse, Acts of the Apostles 26:8—"why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?". Black then hears something moving in his attic, and investigates. He discovers Crocell's ghost, who claims to have been sent back to warn Black that he should abandon his work with the Millennium Group, and return to live with his wife and child instead. Crocell warns that Black will end up as lonely as he did, but when Black dismisses this, the spirit vanishes. The following day, Black returns to his old house to clean up where it was egged. As he cleans, he momentarily glimpses the same demonic figure as the day before, but he ignores it and continue his work.
"The Curse of Frank Black" was inspired by the 1964 Japanese horror film Kwaidan.
Episode 2x21 "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"
Role: Devil Worshipper
Four elderly men meet for coffee late at night. The fourth to arrive is hostile to the waiter, who secretly urinates in the man's coffee. The man, Abum (Dick Bakalyan), realizes this, and the group share a laugh over it, during which they are revealed to actually be demons. One of them, Blurk (Bill Macy), complains that there are no strong personalities in this century. He tells a story of Perry, a man he met hitch-hiking, who he molded into a serial killer over encouraging conversations. Perry sought to emulate Johnny Mack Potter, the country's most prolific killer, and to break his record number of murders. As Perry drew level with Potter's figure, Blurk grew bored accompanying him on the "mundane" murders of prostitutes and vagrants. Blurk gave an anonymous tip to the police that leads to Perry's arrest; one of the men present at the arrest—offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen)—seems to see through Blurk's human disguise. In prison, Perry is murdered by his cellmate Johnny Mack Potter, reclaiming his record.
Abum tells another story, which he believes shows that mankind no longer needs demonic temptation to be damned. Abum followed an everyman figure called Brock, watching his grindingly repetitive life. Brock visited a strip club often but without joy, which led Abum to believe he no longer took pleasure from sinning. One day, Abum added an additional irritation to Brock's life, posing as a traffic warden and giving him a ticket. This was enough to drive Brock to suicide. However, during this time, Abum also encountered Black, who again saw his demonic nature.
Greb (Alex Diakun) shares his tale, of a television censor called Waylon Figgleif. Figgleif's overzealous approach to censorship leads Greb to try pushing his limits. Greb assumed the form of a small demonic baby and reveals himself to Figgleif, who breaks down and starts attempting to censor everyday life. Greb repeats this trick, and encourages Figgleif to go on a killing spree—Figgleif takes a gun, bursts onto the taping of a science-fiction show about alien abduction, and kills several actors. Greb's methods and effectiveness are dismissed until he reveals the story's epigram. Figgleif's spree was caught on camera, and broadcast by another network as a found footage special. However, Greb also notes that he too was spotted by Black during this.
The fourth devil, Toby (Wally Dalton), is convinced that Black really does know that they are demons. Toby also recounts his story, in which he begins to feel ennui at his failure to damn humans for some time. He meets and courts an aging stripper, Sally, who falls in love with him. Their relationship blossomed, despite her having seen his true demonic form. One day Toby leads her to believe he is about to propose to her, before instead curtly insulting and breaking up with her. He later visited her home to find police investigating her suicide—a successful damnation. However, he also encounters Black, who sees his true nature. Instead of recoiling or reacting, Black simply tells Toby that he sees how lonely he must be. Toby's story affects all the gathered demons, who realize how lonely they really are. As they get up to leave, Abum praises the shop's coffee and briefly reveals his true form to the waiter.
