Millennium 3ABC16: “Saturn Dreaming of Mercury”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Three
“Saturn Dreaming of Mercury” (3ABC16)
Written by Chip Johannessen & Jordan Hawley
Directed by Paul Shapiro
Edited by Chris Willingham, A.C.E.
Aired April 9, 1999
Summary
Mystery surrounds Frank Black’s new neighbors, a couple and their preteen son whose arrival coincides with erratic, often violent behavior from Jordan.
Synopsis
Frank supervises his daughter as she rides her new bicycle on the driveway. He steps away briefly to answer the telephone. During his absence, an SUV stuffed with suitcases passes by the house. Inside the vehicle are a father, mother, and their angelic boy, Lucas, whose form is haloed from behind. Fascinated, Jordan leaves the property to investigate. From her point of view, Jordan comes upon a vacant lot, containing only a few skeletal remains of a house destroyed by fire. Suddenly, flames and matter regroup to form a normal-looking house. Jordan’s attention is then drawn to a small whirlwind of leaves, circling a few feet away from her. She then addresses someone, a person who is apparently invisible. Frank finds his daughter and escorts her home.
The next day, Frank allows Jordan to ride her bicycle to school, with the proviso that she page him once she reaches her destination. When Jordan enters the school, she sees Lucas shaking hands with a teacher. Nearby is Lucas’ father, whose face, from Jordan’s point of view, contorts into an evil mask. A short time later, Jordan pages her father using their everything-is-okay code, "007." As Jordan walks down a school hallway, another student bumps into her, sending her careening into Lucas. He grabs hold of his neck and accuses Jordan of biting him. Teeth marks are clearly visible on the boy’s neck. Principal Hawes notifies Frank about the incident. Jordan tells her father that she never bit anyone. She then sees Lucas standing in a school corridor. In a loud voice, she tells him that the man she saw him with earlier is not his father.
Frank receives a visit from Lucas’ parents, Will and Jean Sanderson. Frank apologizes for his daughter’s behavior. Jean points out that what Jordan said about Will in the school corridor is true: he is not Lucas’ natural father. The boy, it turns out, is adopted. When Frank sees Jordan standing on the top of the stairs, he calls to her. Jordan descends the stairs, but as she does so, from her point of view, Will’s face turns scary and mean. She suddenly lunges at Will, and in the process, cuts her knee. Jordan asks her invisible friend, Simon, for help.
Frank takes his daughter to a hospital for treatment. A doctor examines her eyes, but as he does so, Jordan experiences another vision: his face transforms into that of the evil Will. The doctor then gives Jordan a clean bill of health. As Frank drives his daughter home, they pass the Sanderson house. Jordan watches as a Welcome Lady and her three-year-old son, Calvin, pay Will a visit. Jordan tells her father that Lucas’ father is evil.
Meanwhile, as Calvin meanders through the Sanderson home, he happens upon an old wooden display case containing a collection of glass eyes. Will grabs Calvin and pulls him away from the display. A short time later, Emma approaches Jordan in hopes of learning more about her imaginary friend and her visions. Jordan explains how Simon moved to the area from Phoenix. Emma relays the information to Frank. But as it turns out, Frank has already deduced some of the information based upon one of his case files. It turns out that one of the cases Frank is working on pertains to the unsolved murder of a pregnant woman, Mrs. Simon, who lived in Phoenix.
As the Welcome Lady drives away from the Sanderson home, she discovers Calvin playing with one of the glass eyeballs. Calvin begins screaming, as if the eye is hurting him. The Welcome Lady becomes distracted and loses control of her car. She collides with a telephone pole and is killed. Emma tells Frank that the Welcome Lady died as the result of being impaled by several "For Sale" signs. Calvin, however, survived the accident with minor injuries. Jordan tells Frank that the Welcome Lady’s death was no accident. Frank notes similarities between her death and that of Mrs. Simon.
Jordan sneaks inside the Sanderson house. Her imaginary friend steers her towards the basement. As she descends the stairs, she comes upon an old fashioned furnace. She unlatches the furnace door and peers inside. From her point of view, she sees a throbbing mass of plasma. An eye on the larvae opens, and a small hand rises out of the muck. Mr. Sanderson catches Jordan in the basement. Suddenly, a small hand plunges a pair of shears into his thigh.
Will accuses Jordan of attacking him. Later, a sheriff’s deputy releases Jordan into Frank’s custody. Emma screen the shears for fingerprints. She determines that the fingerprints of another child are on the tool. When Frank next sees Lucas, he experiences a vision of a screaming pregnant woman. He enters the Sanderson home to investigate. Shortly thereafter, someone knocks him unconscious. When Frank comes to, Lucas encourages him to run. Frank attempts to follow the boy through the basement, but he is attacked by the mass of protoplasm, which rips at his flesh. In reality, however, Frank is bound to a chair in the Sanderson basement, which is enveloped in flames. Frank hears Jordan’s voice calling to him. He makes his way up the stairs, where he encounters Will, who has also been attacked. When Will regains his senses, he hears his son calling to him. He makes his way though the flames and finds his son. But the kitchen is soon engulfed by flame. Firemen pull Frank from the burning structure. Both he and Jordan watch as Lucas appears in a window and transforms into Lucy Butler. Later, Emma discovers that the fingerprint on the shears belong to the dead baby from Phoenix.
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Guest Starring
Michael Bofshever as Will Sanderson
Dillon Moen as Lucas Sheldon
Connor Widdows as Calvin Scranton
Colleen Winton as Jean Sheldon
Gabrielle Rose as the Welcome Lady
Jane Perry as Principal Esther Hawes
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Lucy Butler
D. Neil Mark as the Police Officer
Ian Robison as ER Doctor
Helen Taylor as ER Nurse
Production Credits
Production #6C16
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 Chris Carter
Awards
Young Artist Award: Brittany Tiplady, Best Performance in a Television Drama Series, Young Actress (Nominee)
Location
Book Excerpt
“‘Saturn Dreaming of Mercury,’ written by Johannessen and Jordan Hawley, showcases startling developments in the evolution of Jordan’s own astonishing abilities, developments that demonstrate in spectacular fashion that her unique perception of the ominous events unfolding around her will ultimately prove to be far more powerful than even her father’s considerable talents.”
—Brian A. Dixon
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
"At its best, ‘Saturn Dreaming of Mercury’ captures the helpless, hopeless feeling of finding something you thought was dependable and trustworthy (home, your relationship with your child) thrown askew, with no reason why, and no clear answer to return everything to the way it was. But this is also an episode with a case full of fake(?) eyes, which can see in black and white, and apparently lead to someone’s violent death... That’s a problem. The more unnecessarily complicated this story becomes, the more it distracts from the Jordan and Frank scenes."
—Zack Handlen
The AV Club
“Saturn Dreaming of Mercury” print ad.