Millennium 3ABC01: “The Innocents”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Three
“The Innocents” (3ABC01)
Written by Michael Duggan
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Edited by Chris Willingham, A.C.E.
Aired October 2, 1998
Summary
Frank Black teams up with intuitive young FBI agent Emma Hollis to probe a plane crash linked to a family of seemingly identical women who are being systematically murdered.
Synopsis
Inside a dark house, an elderly woman, her eyes an almost supernatural color of blue, lies on a daybed, her body connected to a filtration machine. The old woman whispers the words, "it has begun," causing an Attendant to clasp the woman's hand in her own. Meanwhile, aboard a jet airplane, a Fair-Haired Woman, who has facial features similar to those of the Attendant's, and who possesses eyes much like those of the elderly woman, makes her way to a lavatory. She retrieves a handgun hidden inside a towel dispenser. A lavatory smoke alarm sounds in the forward galley, alerting a stewardess (who bears a resemblance to the Fair-Haired Woman) to possible trouble. But when the stewardess confronts the Fair-Haired Woman, she suddenly grabs the revolver and fires shots into the ceiling. The force of the vacuum sucks the Fair-Haired Woman out of the plane.
Frank Black and his daughter, Jordan, have relocated to Falls Church, Virginia. Frank undergoes an FBI psychiatric evaluation. As Dr. Luanne Chase listens, Frank insists that Catherine and everyone else who died as a result of the outbreak were murdered. He also states that he is anxious to return to work.
Meanwhile, FBI, FAA and NTSB investigators comb through the wreckage of the down airliner. The investigation is headed by FBI Agent Barry Baldwin, an ambitious man who has never been in charge of such a large-scale case. Amongst the other members of the team is FBI Agent Emma Hollis, an attractive woman in her late 20s. She discovers the body of the stewardess. Shortly thereafter, the revolver is discovered embedded in the soil.
Frank begins experiencing visions of the plane crash. He telephones Assistant Director Andy McClaren at the FBI Academy. He states that he is unable to rid his mind of the disaster, partially due to the number of children on board (twenty-three in all). Frank makes his way to the crash site, where he meets Baldwin and Emma Hollis. Emma reveals that the stewardess's fingerprints were found on the handgun. According to Emma, Baldwin believes that the stewardess was a disgruntled employee who smuggled the gun on board and sabotaged the jet. Shortly thereafter, Frank digs through a section of the lavatory, unearthing a cigarette butt from inside a sink trap. He notes pink lipstick on the filter. Frank suspects that someone else was inside the lavatory. He takes special interest in a DMV photo of a blond woman named Deena Bartus. He compares Bartus' photo to that of the stewardess, and notices a distinct resemblance. Emma points out that both women lived in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Meanwhile, a woman who bears an exact resemblance to the stewardess drives up to a house listed as Deena Bartus' address. The woman lifts a two-year-old girl from the backseat of the car and makes her way inside the house. Suddenly, the structure is ripped apart by a violent blast. Frank travels to Utah when he is informed of the explosion. The little girl died in the blast, but the female victim managed to survive. Frank and Emma discover a trap door that leads to an underground shelter. Inside is an array of survival supplies, along with two hermetically sealed transport caskets, one for an adult and one for a child.
Frank returns to the FBI Academy. He tells McClaren that victims of the viral outbreak (the same outbreak that killed Catherine) are inside the caskets. McClaren fails to see how the outbreak, the plane crash and the house explosion are connected. Nonetheless, bio-suited FBI agents unseal the caskets. To Frank's disappointment, they are empty. McClaren instructs Frank to return home. Frank receives a surprise visit from Emma. She believes that the female victim of the house explosion has the answers they've been looking for. The pair travel to the hospital. There, Frank questions the woman, Mary, about the explosion and the incident aboard the plane. She explains that her sisters, and their children, were the real targets of the outbreak. Mary gives Frank and Emma the name of the location where the last living child can be found.
Emma and Frank travel to a rural farmhouse. But moments before they arrive, a woman who resembles the stewardess drives off with a two-year-old girl strapped into the car seat. Emma and Frank spot the pair and give chase. As the woman drives onto a bridge, another vehicle begins to pass her. A truck driver in the opposite lane slams on his brakes, and the rig begins to jackknife. The woman panics and loses control of the car. It comes to rest on the edge of the bridge, where it dangles precariously. Frank attempts to save the woman and the little girl. But the woman insists that the girl not be touched. She raises her hands off the steering wheel, and the car plunges over the side of the bridge. Frank then notices three men near the end of the bridge, observing from afar. Frank runs towards the men, but they enter their car and drive off.
TO BE CONTINUED
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Peter Outerbridge as Barry Baldwin
Stephen E. Miller as Andy McClaren
Guest Starring
Maxine Miller as Justine Miller
Ken Pogue as Tom Miller
Katy Boyer as the Attendant Woman
Doris Chillcott as the Elderly Woman
Garvin Cross as the Truck Driver
Frances Flanagan as the Nurse
Barry W. Levy as Passenger
Garry Nairn as NTSB Investigator
Francoise Yip as Stewardess #2
Production Credits
Production #6C01
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Co-Producer Robert Moresco
Co-Producer Paul Rabwin
Producer Thomas J. Wright
Co-Executive Producer Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer Chip Johannessen
Executive Producer Michael Duggan
Executive Producer Chris Carter
Location
Book Excerpt
“We were up on the side of a mountain with all this plane wreckage and helicopters and no time to do it. It was really an interesting script and that was Klea [Scott]’s first adventure into the show. She was great. She was one of my favorites. It was hard to do, but it was a really good show...”
—Thomas J. Wright
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“If Brimstone could use more complex plots to bolster its stylishness, the current version of Millennium needs exactly the opposite... The season premiere was a dull workhorse that labored to unsort everything that had gone on during last season's enjoyable but often-incoherent flurry of mysticoapocalyptic boogie-woogie. But subsequent episodes have been better — the most consistently good run of Millenniums, in fact, ever.”
—Ken Tucker
Entertainment Weekly
“Carter pitched the third season of Millennium as an opportunity to get ‘back to basics’… Carter conceded that the big issue with trying to get ‘back to basics’ was dealing with the fact that some of the show’s fundamental realities had changed... This would become one of the key struggles with the third season, trying to pull the show back to its roots while still acknowledging just how massively things had changed...”
—Darren Mooney
The Movie Blog
“The Innocents” print ad.
“The Innocents” print ad.