Millennium 3ABC02: “Exegesis”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Three
“Exegesis” (3ABC02)
Written by Chip Johannessen
Directed by Ralph Hemecker
Edited by James Coblentz
Aired October 9, 1998
Summary
Frank Black and Emma Hollis follow a trail of assassination leading to an extraordinarily gifted psychic who is on the run from the murderous Millennium Group.
Synopsis
As seen in the previous episode, Frank and Emma observe as rescue workers extract the bodies of a woman and a little girl from wreckage beneath a bridge. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Mary lapses into a seizure. Doctors and interns rush to her aid, and watch as an EEG machine fluctuates wildly. The woman returns to a normal state, easing the doctor's fears. But unknown to anyone inside the hospital room, one of male nurses is actually a man named Mabius, one of the men Frank observed on the bridge.
Back at Quantico, Baldwin briefs his task force. He announces that the airliner was sabotaged by a group of people, not by a lone flight attendant. He adds that the group is connected to the viral outbreak that killed seventy people (including Catherine). But Frank believes the group is not comprised of terrorists. Rather, he believes that the women, and their daughters, are being annihilated for reasons unknown. When Peter Watts steps forward, Frank accuses the Millennium Group of orchestrating his wife's death.
When Emma enters the hospital, she discovers Mary's unconscious body on the floor of her room. Emma tries resuscitation, but her efforts fail. Sensing foul play, Emma reviews the hospital's security tapes. She discovers that Mabius injected something into Mary's IV drip and then fled the building. While searching the room for clues, Emma comes upon a digital clock displaying the time "5:12." This piques her interest, as the electrical power was cut a few minutes after four o'clock.
Emma discovers that document cinders found inside the demolished house were pieces of Freedom of Information requests made five years earlier. The documents made mention of a government project called Grillflame. Frank recognizes the name as a CIA project run through the Stanton Research Institute. Emma travels to the university, where she meets with Dr. Coty. He explains that Grillflame was a government project that employed "psychic spies." The spies-who were identified by numbers instead of names-possessed the ability to project themselves into other environs, allowing them access to other nation's secrets. One of the psychics, Coty recalls, possessed amazing powers that allowed her to see into the future. Emma correctly guesses that the woman was known by the number "512." Later, a forensics doctor confirms that all four of the dead women, who all appear to be the same age, were half-sisters.
Emma and Frank review videotape footage made in 1972 of "512" (who is actually the Elderly Woman) as she projected herself psychically. When this footage is compared with the security tape from the hospital, Frank realizes that Mary did not lapse into a seizure shortly before her death. Rather, she had been in the process of psychically projecting herself for reasons unknown. Frank realizes that a little girl who had been listed on the downed airliner's passenger manifest was not aboard the plane. The crash, he concludes, was part of a smokescreen concocted by the women to save the little girl from the Millennium Group.
By closely studying the hospital security tape, and piecing together the words Mary uttered during her psychic projection, Emma pinpoints the location where the Elderly Woman is hiding. That location is a missile silo in Virginia. The pair travel to the silo, where Frank locates the Elderly Woman, and Emma locates another of the Sisters.
Frank and the Elderly Woman board an elevator and make their way up the silo shaft. But their progress is halted when Mabius sabotages the elevator's electrical control box. Frank forces open the elevator doors and attempts to climb out. But the elevator suddenly springs to life, pinning him between the elevator and the floor above. Frank screams as he is nearly severed in two. Suddenly, the elevator rises, releasing Frank. The Eldery Woman tells him that the Millennium Group wants the world to end. She then takes Frank's hand. He is suddenly struck by a series of internal images, including one of Jordan standing on a staircase holding a large paper butterfly.
Frank regroups with Emma and the Sister. The Elderly Woman, however, is gone. Later, the Sister signs a lengthy confession, admitting that she participated in a conspiracy to down the airliner. After reading the confession, Emma tells Frank that it is one very large lie, as no mention is made of Grillflame, the Elderly Woman, or the Millennium Group.
Frank purchases a paper butterfly for Jordan. Later, he sees his daughter standing on the staircase, butterfly in hand, the future realized.
At an airport, the Elderly Woman and the little girl pass through a security checkpoint. The Elderly Woman's key ring sets off the metal detector a ring comprised of a metal hieroglyph of an eye. The little girl takes the Elderly Woman's hand and the pair embark on their journey.
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
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
Bob Wilde as Mabius
Ted Cole as Dr. Thomas
Tim Dixon as the Coroner
Frances Flanagan as the Nurse
Demetri Goritsas as Agent Dixon
Barry W. Levy as Millennium Group Member
William Richert as Tom Cody
Averie Maddox as Fair-Haired Deena
Production Credits
Production #6C02
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
“Season Three also boasts an emerging sense of hopefulness—exemplified in the central and aforementioned consideration of children in so many episodes—as the series looks to the approaching millennium and considers the future. Frank’s voiceover in ‘Exegesis,’ at the end of the season’s opening two-parter, speaks to this...”
—Adam Chamberlain
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“New executive producers Michael Duggan and Chip Johannessen have given Black and Hollis a fine new institutional foe, the creepily supercilious Critical Incident Response Unit Agent Baldwin, and there's a healthy effort being made to connect Black—a character too often prone to drift into serial-killer cuckoo land—to the real world.”
—Ken Tucker
Entertainment Weekly
“The executive producer of The X-Files created this maddeningly enigmatic crime series, which has grown more pretentious and less coherent with each new installment. What began in '96 as a dank, depressing yet authentically atmospheric serial-killer-of-the week thriller turned a lot murkier last season... This season, consulting for the FBI and mentoring a young agent, Frank now looks as blank and confused as the audience—when he's not raving like a lunatic about the sinister Millennium Group. Quick, somebody get a butterfly net.”
—Mike Lipton
People
“Exegesis” print ad.