Millennium 4C11: “Loin Like a Hunting Flame”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season One
“Loin Like a Hunting Flame” (4C11)
Written by Ted Mann
Directed by David Nutter
Edited by Chris Willingham, A.C.E.
Aired January 31, 1997
Summary
In Colorado, Frank Black and an associate track a killer who is driven by sexual neuroses and who uses mood-altering drugs to gain control of the couples he kills.
Epigraph
“Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast.”
Synopsis
Near the University of Colorado at Boulder, a group of college-age students gather at a warehouse/techno night club. Art Nesbitt, a pharmacist, approaches a couple, Mel and Leslie. He opens his palm, revealing two capsules. Under the influence of the powerful drugs, the couple accompany Nesbitt to a small room. Nesbitt captures their lovemaking on videotape, then injects them with a lethal poison.
The naked bodies of Mel and Leslie are discovered in a lush botanical garden, their genitalia covered with leaves as if mimicking the garden of Eden. Frank and Millennium Group member Maureen Murphy are called to the scene where they meet with Boulder Homicide Detective Thomas. He admits his discomfort with working the case with a female (Murphy), telling Frank that women do not understand male sexuality.
Meanwhile Nesbitt spies on a group of seven couples engaged in spouse-swapping in an upper middle class suburban home. Two women, Sylvie and Anne, leave the group and drive to a liquor store. When a blue light flashes behind the car, Sylvie pulls off the road. Nesbitt, impersonating a policeman, steps up to the vehicle.
The next day two men from the swing party, Mark and Vic, tell police their wives are missing. A short time later the bodies of Sylvie and Anne are discovered on a park bench, posed as lovers.
A couple, Laurie and Randy, enter Nesbitt's pharmacy with a prescription for an anti- diarrhetic drug for their honeymoon trip to Bali. Nesbitt hands them both a capsule and suggests they swallow it immediately for maximum effect.
Additional toxicology results indicate the perpetrator may have inadvertently contaminated his ecstasy-like drug with difficult-to-obtain controlled substances. Frank concludes the killer may have legitimate access to the drugs. He also believes the killer uses the drugs himself, allowing him to act on intensely sexual fantasies—fantasies the killer made real.
Further investigation leads the Millennium Group to Nesbitt's pharmacy, but Nesbitt is not on duty. Realizing Nesbitt is the killer, the group travels to his home. There they interview his wife, Karen, who tells Maureen that she and her husband haven't had sex for eighteen years. But she remarks how her husband recently told her how much he would like to try again.
Thomas admits to Frank that Maureen is a good investigator—his real problem is that he himself is uncomfortable with the case. Thomas had investigated sex crimes in West Hollywood, and felt as though he had become "contaminated," discovering he could not make love to his wife. They have since divorced.
Frank realizes Nesbitt is recapitulating sexual encounters he feels he should have experienced prior to marriage, capturing his victims in the happiest, most perfect moments in their lives. Thinking back on his inspection of the Nesbitt home, Frank realizes he missed something. A hidden trap door is discovered in the garage and opened, and Randy and Laurie are rescued from an old bomb shelter beneath the garage. Frank discovers Nesbitt inside his bedroom, about to inject his wife with poison. Frank knocks the syringe from Nesbitt's hand. But Nesbitt retrieves the needle and injects himself with a fatal dose.
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Terry O’Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring
William Lucking as Detective Thomas
Hrothgar Mathews as Art Nesbitt
Harriet Sansom Harris as Maureen Murphy
Barbara Howard as Karen Nesbitt
Malcolm Stewart as Vic
Doug Abrahams as Detective Kent
Barry Greene as Mark
Michael Buie as Randy
Derek Hamilton as New Mel
Natassia Malthe as New Leslie
Peg Christopherson as Sylvie
Crystal Cass as New Anne
Fawnia L. Mondey as Laura
Dawn Madsen] as Leslie
Eric Olsen as Mel Dodd
Carrie Davis as Anne
Jaclynn Grad as New Sylvie
Dorion Davis as Sherrie
Rafe McDonald as Tim
Michael Sunczyk as Red Robe Doorman
Laurel Gray as the Pathologist
Jon Ratt as the Husband
Tyler Labine as Gavin
Jenny Mitchell as Kim
Kelly Irving as Ron
Production Credits
Production #4C11
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer Ted Mann
Consulting Producer James Wong
Consulting Producer Glen Morgan
Co-Producer Ken Dennis
Co-Producer Chip Johannessen
Co-Producer Frank Spotnitz
Co-Executive Producer Jorge Zamacona
Co-Executive Producer Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer Chris Carter
Location
Book Excerpt
“From various serial killers, Frank learned why the world was ending. He witnessed hypocrisy, sexual dysfunction and lack of intimacy, and even lost children, symbolic of a sacrificed tomorrow...”
—John Kenneth Muir
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“Even though Frank is constantly labeled as an expert in sex crimes, this is really the first time we witness a case of such a salacious nature. Beginning with this tense, tawdry offering, Millennium starts a streak of stellar episodes that prove what could have been done had the show’s focus, both literally and metaphysically, remained on crime and criminality. Handled in a subtle, somber manner, the events unfold in this episode evenly and eerily. The maniacal face of the everyman killer says it all: this is one sick deviant, getting his kicks off the torture of others.”
—Bill Gibron
DVD Talk
“Loin Like a Hunting Flame” print ad.