Millennium 5C11: “Midnight of the Century”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Two
“Midnight of the Century” (5C11)
Written by Erin Maher & Kay Reindl
Directed by Dwight Little
Edited by George R. Potter
Aired December 19, 1997
Summary
Unnerving visions that haunt Frank Black at Christmastime hark back to his troubled youth and lead to a fateful reunion with his estranged father, Henry.
Synopsis
In flashback, five-year-old Frank Black draws the form of an angel. A woman, her face unseen, writes the date "12/24/1946" on the bottom of the paper. In the current day, Frank returns home with an armload of Christmas decorations and gifts. He listens to messages on his answering machine, the first a reminder from Jordan regarding her upcoming Christmas pageant, the second from Frank's estranged father. Without listening to the entire message, Frank deletes all calls. Shortly thereafter, Frank receives a Christmas card bearing the likeness of an angel. Frank turns the card over and examines the postmark, which is dated "December 24, 1946."
Jordan and Catherine pay Frank a visit on Christmas Eve. Jordan shows Roedecker one of her Christmas presents, a virtual pet, which turns out to be the same gift Frank purchased for his daughter. Frank travels to a toy store to buy Jordan a different gift. There he experiences a vision from his childhood, one in which he asks his sickly mother, Linda, for a toy. When the flashback ends, Frank is assisted by three store clerks: Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior. The men attempt to steer Frank towards a specific toy, but Frank insists up a Danny Dinosaur doll. When Frank exits the store, he sees the image of a young man, Simon, reflected in a shop window where an angel mannequin presides over a Nativity scene. Simon says "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow," words said by Frank's mother in his vision. But when Frank whirls around, Simon has disappeared.
When Frank attends Jordan's pageant, he again sees Simon, this time standing in the back of the church. He follows the vision outside, into the churchyard. Simon explains that ghosts, or fetches, the souls of those who are destined to die during the following year, make "their way to the church in search of those who will soon be their companions." Later, after the pageant ends, Catherine tells him a piece of paper containing a crudely drawn angel made by her daughter—who claims she was assisted by her dead grandmother.
Frank realizes Jordan received Danny Dinosaur as a Christmas gift the previous year. He returns to the toy store, where he asks the three clerks for a doll. The clerks point him in the direction of an aisle containing a variety of dolls—including an angel. But when he picks up the angel, its face transforms into a hideous death mask. Though the doll returns to its proper form, an angry and frustrated Frank marches out of the store empty-handed. Frank returns home and retrieves a piece of paper from a box of personal memorabilia. On the paper is an angel identical to the one drawn by Jordan.
Frank invites Lara Means to his house to discuss the events of the past day. Lara describes how she first began feeling the presence of angels, and how, one day, she accurately predicted the death of her father's business associate. She has been seeing angels—whom she believes are messengers—ever since. Lara concludes that the angels are attempting to communicate with Frank.
Frank returns to his father Henry's house. There, he enters the room where his mother died by herself. He discovers that every inch of wall space has been covered with images of angels. In flashback, Frank recalls his mother saying goodbye to him for the very last time. Afterward, Henry describes how Linda first predicted the death of her brother, Joe, during the invasion of Normandy in 1945. Though Henry believed his wife's words, he feared she might be institutionalized if word of her ability spread. Eventually, Linda's prescience tore them apart. Finally, Linda foretold her own death.
Though Henry admits he believed her, he nonetheless acted as if Linda was crazy. Before she died, Linda told Henry she would move an angel figurine "from the other side," as proof she was waiting for him. But the angel still sits, just as it had been left many years earlier, covered with dust. Frank shows his father the angel Jordan drew. With tears in his eyes, Henry picks up the dusty angel figurine, and hands it to his son—a gift for Jordan. Frank meets Jordan and Catherine at church. When Frank gives Jordan the angel figurine, she says, "Grandma wants me to have it." Frank and his daughter then gaze upon the churchyard, where they see ghostly fetches, one of whom is Henry. Frank watches as the specters vanish—comforted that he has made peace with his father.
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black
Brittany Tiplad as Jordan Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring
Kristen Cloke as Lara Means
Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker
Darren McGavin as Henry Black
Andrew Blinks as Neil
Tim Bissett as Melchior
Gerry Currie as Simon
Donny James Lucas as Balthazar
Cheryl McNamara as Linda Black
Jessica Schreier as Barbara Watts
Trevor White as Caspar
Production Credits
Production #5C11
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producers Darin Morgan
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 Glen Morgan
Executive Producer James Wong
Executive Producer Chris Carter
Soundtrack
“Arabian Dance (Coffee)” (1892) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Location
Book Excerpt
“We were really intrigued by that idea, because there is so much mysticism around the Christmas season, and we are both demons for doing research. So we just dove in and did a lot of research about the mythology of Christmas. Not just Christian mythology, but ghosts and fetches—which come up in the episode—and the veil between the worlds, and the solstice... It was kind of fun because we really got to do a little character driven Christmas journey for Frank...”
—Erin Maher
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“Millennium can do wonders in its second season, and ‘The Midnight of the Century’ is one of those wonders, a lovely companion piece to ‘Curse of Frank Black’ that focuses on the Christmas season in much the same way that ‘Curse’ focused on Halloween. This has to be the gentlest episode the show’s ever done, by a long chalk; it has no villains, no demons, and no murders. There's death, but it's in the past and the future, not the present... It’s melancholic, thoughtful, surprisingly funny, and Darren McGavin guest stars as Frank’s estranged father. These are all excellent qualities.”
—Zack Handlen
The AV Club