Millennium 3ABC22: “Goodbye to All That”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Three
“Goodbye to All That” (3ABC22)
Written by Ken Horton & Chip Johannessen
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Edited by James Coblentz
Aired May 21, 1999
Summary
The ongoing search for a serial killer is marked by bizarre occurrences and revelations concerning the Millennium Group’s experimentation with radical brain surgery.
Synopsis
In the aftermath of the apartment explosion, a wounded Barry Baldwin is placed inside an ambulance. It is believed that he will survive. But during the trip to a hospital, a paramedic deliberately presses a piece of shrapnel down into Baldwin’s chest, killing him. When Lucas Barr views a television news report about Baldwin’s death, he contacts an FBI phone number listed on the screen.
A quantity of videotapes is confiscated from Barr’s charred apartment. It is believed that Barr used the tapes to record the murders. Meanwhile, McClaren tells Emma that he plans on retiring. He informs her of his intention to nominate her as his replacement. Later, McClaren tells a group of agents that Barr phoned the FBI toll-free number from the location of his most recent attack. Frank realizes that the bodies of the victims are missing.
A doctor informs Emma that although her father’s mental function is deteriorating rapidly, his physical strength has remained the same, which is highly unusual. Later, Watts reiterates his offer to cure Emma’s father of his affliction.
Frank visits the home of Lucas Barr’s most recent victims. He notes that the television is set to channel fourteen. That number, Frank notes, is the final station of the cross. Frank believes that Barr phoned the FBI because he was horrified by Baldwin’s death. Later, McClaren shows Frank night vision footage taken inside Jordan’s bedroom, meaning Barr had access to the house. McClaren asks Frank to confirm that the "channel fourteen" stations-of-the-cross clue means the killer has ended his mission. But Frank makes mention of "resurrection."
Meanwhile, Lucas Barr moves into the house of a friend, Cheryl Kellough, a pretty 25-year-old who is also quite blind.
Believing Watts and the Millennium Group are responsible for Barry Baldwin’s death, Frank demolishes the windows of Watts’ house using a 2 x 4. He accuses Watts of attempting to break him down in hopes he will go crawling back to the Group. During the exchange, it appears as if Watts doesn’t know if the Group is behind the plot.
Watts accesses the Group’s computer via modem to research the case. His connection is cut off, but he nonetheless manages to download a list of aliases for Lucas Barr. Moments later, Emma contacts Watts and informs him she cannot accept his offer. But when she next visits the retirement home, she discovers that her father has been taken away by persons unknown.
Peter Watts tells Frank that a year after Ed Cuffle’s capture, Millennium Group scientists learned to "switch on" the psychological process of learning in adults, development that usually ends after infancy. Frank wonders if recreating another Ed Cuffle is considered progress. Moments later, Watts hands Frank the list of aliases for Lucas Barr. He assure him that he has acted as his protector from the very beginning.
Frank brings the alias list to Doug Scaife. While looking at Lucas Barr’s high school yearbook, Frank notices the name of the student listed just prior to Lucas. That name, "Doug Baron," matches a name on the alias list. Frank asks Scaife to concentrate his efforts on finding all information on that alias.
When Emma returns to her apartment, she discovers her father, now quite lucid, with a small bandage covering the spot where Group surgeons operated on his brain.
Frank’s behavior ultimately leads to the end of his association with the Bureau. But before Frank leaves, Scaife gives him an address for Cheryl Kellough’s house. When Frank arrives at the house, he speaks to Lucas and Cheryl through the barricaded door. Cheryl realizes something is terribly wrong; she trips the circuit breakers, plunging the house into darkness. Lucas dons his night vision gear and, cordless drill in hand, finds Cheryl hiding in a closet where the bodies of his last two victims have been hidden. Cheryl screams as she backs into the corpses. Frank manages to break through the plywood barricade. Light streams into the house, blinding Lucas. He rips the night vision equipment off his face and takes Cheryl hostage, holding the cordless drill to her head. As Lucas speaks with Frank, his former, sane self returns, if only for a moment. Realizing he has committed unspeakable acts of violence, Lucas turns the drill on himself, boring a fatal hole into his own skull.
Inside Watts’ study, lying in a pool of blood, is an adult male, his identity uncertain.
Frank discovers Watts’ distinctive packet on the dashboard of his car. Inside are two files. One is labeled "Black, Frank;" the second is labeled, "Black, Jordan." A look of terror passes over Frank’s face. He races to Jordan’s school and retrieves his daughter. As Frank and Jordan drive along a mountain road, towards their uncertain future, Jordan reminds her father that "we are all shepherds."
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
John Beasley as James Edward Hollis
Jeff Parise as Lucas Wayne Barr
Jessica Schreier as Barbara Watts
Trevor White as Doug Scaife
Clare Lapinskie as Lily Chambers
Jade Malle as Cheryl Kellough
Anthony Harrison as Ken McGreevey
Jill Krop as the Newscaster
Kevin McNulty as Dr. Arnett
Richard Stroh as the Paramedic
Frida Betrani as the Art Teacher
Production Credits
Production #3ABC22
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
Location
Book Excerpt
“In Millennium’s final episode… [Frank] takes young Jordan in hand and heads off to an unknown future. He does so, significantly, with the spiritual understanding that his strange experiences have brought him. He is thus a changed man, having traveled through the gauntlet of death and despair and come out on the other side, with a rebirth of knowledge and wisdom.”
—John Kenneth Muir
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
"While its grand design remained unfinished (and, like that of The X-Files, may have been too tangled to really be resolved) the excellence of so many individual episodes, and the craggy-faced commitment brought to his role by Lance Henriksen, made Millennium a very brave, and often oddly beautiful, stab at something quite different from the TV mainstream. It remains an intriguing time-capsule of end-times anxieties, and a brilliantly cinematic piece of television."
—Edith Mason
Fortean Times
"A season finale that was ultimately the series finale (a fact that Fox neglected to mention until the actual airing), the last episode of Millennium hardly served as a solid conclusion to the endless mysteries and dramas that have unfolded over the past three years... However, once again the well-drawn relationship between Frank and Jordan redeems the show; the final moments of the two running desperately away from the horrors of their lives are among the series' finest."
—Sarah Kendzior & Lisa Kohles
The 11th Hour
“Goodbye to All That” print ad.