Millennium 4C19: “Broken World”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season One
“Broken World” (4C19)
Written by Robert Moresco & Patrick Harbinson
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Edited by Stephen Mark
Aired May 2, 1997
Summary
Evidence in the malicious slayings of domesticated horses across North Dakota leads Frank Black to fear the genesis of a psychosexual killer who will soon prey upon humans.
Epigraph
“Man is the cruelest animal.”
Synopsis
In North Dakota, a woman named Sally Dumont rides a horse to her farm. As Sally guides the animal to a stall in the stable, she discovers another horse, its coat stained with blood, lying on the ground inside its pen. As she kneels down next to it to investigate, Sally notices someone wearing a pair of rubber boots standing in the adjoining stall. Terrified, she makes her way to a phone and calls for help. Suddenly, the intruder looms up from behind and knocks Sally unconscious.
Frank meets with Sheriff Jeff Falkner, who believes the incident does not warrant the Millennium Group's attention. But Frank notes that twenty-one horses have been killed in the surrounding area during the last two and a half years. He believes that the perpetrator is a psychosexual killer in the making-someone who must be stopped before his sickness compels him to take human life.
Police discover the word "help" written in human blood near the telephone where Sally Dumont placed her call for help. They also discover human semen in the stall next to where the horse was killed. Frank believes the perpetrator was reacting to an entirely new experience: for the first time, he had a woman, and not a horse, in his power.
The perpetrator, a man named Willi Borgsen, uses an electric cattle prod to shock hogs in a tractor trailer oustide of a bar. When approached by the owner of the rig, Willi incapacitates the driver by shocking him with the cattle prod. Police later discover the driver's beaten body in a wooded area nearby. Upon investigation Frank realizes a set of boot-prints at the scene match the type of footwear worn by the perpetrator. He also concludes that the suspect is incapacitating his victims with an electric cattle prod, a device used by slaughterhouse workers.
The body of another victim, a woman named Mary Ann Wright, is found on a farm with a dead horse nearby. On a barn wall is scrawled the message, "thank you." Willi telephones Frank using a special number set up by police to report information about the crimes. Willi taunts Frank telling him that committing murder brings him great pleasure.
While discussing the case with Claudia Vaughan, a local veterinarian, Frank is shocked when he sees foals being led to slaughter. Claudia explains that P.M.U., or Pregnant Mares Urine, is the main element in Hormone Replacement Therapy which is the most profitable pharmaceutical in the United States. Mares are deliberately kept pregnant for their urine, and when the animal gives birth, the foal is killed and the meat is shipped overseas. Frank concludes that the killer was raised on a P.M.U. farm.
Willi again telephones Frank. He warns that killing Mary Ann Wright did not satisfy his urges. Frank warns that his bloodlust will only intensify. After Willi hangs up, Frank realizes Claudia Vaughan is his next victim. Falkner, Watts and Frank break down the door of Claudia's home, but she has vanished. Frank realizes Willi took her to a slaughterhouse that deals in horses.
As the men enter the slaughterhouse, Willi engages a motorized pulley system from which animal carcasses are hung. Falkner sees a still-conscious Claudia swinging among the carcasses, a meat hook through her jacket. Suddenly, Willi steps from the shadows and jolts Falkner with a stun-gun, knocking him to the ground.
Frank searches the slaughterhouse for Willi. The stun-gun is jabbed into Frank's back, sending him tumbling into a killing box. Willi fires a pneumatic bolt (used to slaughter livestock), narrowly missing his prey. A sheriff's deputy sneaks up behind Willi, but his boot crunches a fragment of bone. Willi turns, firing a bolt into the deputy's chest. Frank escapes through a wire mesh at the bottom of the killing box. But Willi gains the upper hand, aiming the gun at Frank's forehead. Suddenly, a wave of horses charges towards Willi, trampling him.
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Terry O’Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring
Jo Anderson as Claudia Vaughn
Van Quattro as Willi Borgsen
John Dennis Johnston as Sheriff Falkner
Donnelly Rhodes as Peter Dumont
Ingrid Kavelaars as Sally Dumont
P. Adrien Dorval as Fatso
Michael Tayles as Deputy Billy Maxwell
J.B. Bivens as First Deputy
Tom Bougers as Tom
Sue Fuller as Mary Ann
Production Credits
Production #4C19
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
Awards
Genesis Award: Millennium, "Broken World," Outstanding Communication of Animal-Rights in Dramatic Television Series (Awardee)
Location
Book Excerpt
“Most men that work in the FBI really just want to know why, and for years they have been trying to work out why these things happen. They know enough to know, no matter what the reason is, we’ve got to get them off the street, because there are some dysfunctional people out there who will do terrible things and you can’t let them keep doing it. That’s all there is to it.”
—Lance Henriksen
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“Though he is often called in to offer profiles, it is rare when we get to witness Frank actually creating one. This interesting installment of the show allows us that window into this world. Some of the aspects to the narrative are very sinister (the murderer, the abattoir setting) but others prove silly (the overwhelming pro-horse mantras). Still, the straightforward police work matched with a truly craven criminal makes this episode enthralling, if not completely successful.”
—Bill Gibron
DVD Talk