Millennium 5C12: “Luminary”
The Millennial Abyss | Episodes | Season Two
“Luminary” (5C12)
Written by Chip Johannessen
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Edited by James Coblentz
Aired January 23, 1998
Summary
In defiance of the Millennium Group, Frank Black sets off on his own into the Alaskan wilderness to search for a missing teen who has risked his life in a search for enlightenment.
Synopsis
Frank meets with the Millennium Group's members. During the tense inquisition, the question turns to Frank's family and his stabbing of a suspect the Group was in the process of investigating. Frank grows enraged and leaves the room. Later, Frank, Catherine and Jordan attend a lecture at a planetarium. Catherine introduces Frank to the Glasers, a couple whose son, Alex, disappeared in the Alaskan wilderness. As Frank and the Glasers talk, Catherine takes an interest in an astrologer's account of the stars and the millennium.
Frank accompanies the Glasers to their home. There he observes Alex's bedroom and his many belongings. The Glasers explain that they paid for Alex's trip to Alaska as a high school graduation present. Frank then makes his way to the bedroom of Alex's younger brother, Ian, where the boy busies himself with a refractor telescope. After Frank receives an internal "hit" from the telescope, he tells the Glasers he will be traveling to Alaska to find their son.
Watts tells Frank that the Group has cut off its assistance meaning Frank will be on his own. Undaunted, Frank flies to Stebbins, Alaska, where he meets with Sheriff Bowman. The Sheriff tells Frank that the wealthy Alex made enemies of the locals by buying expensive gifts for townspeople's wives. Bowman also recounts how he saved Alex during a barroom brawl. Shortly thereafter, a body washes up in a fisherman's net. The Sheriff and a local doctor examine the badly decomposed corpse. The Sheriff concludes the body is that of Alex Glaser, but Frank disagrees. Frank then retrieves a sprig of cedar from the victim's crushed face. Later, Frank has difficulty accessing his desktop computer through his laptop. He asks Catherine to drive to his apartment in an attempt to straighten out the problem. With Catherine's assistance, Frank determines that Alex made a five hundred dollar credit card purchase at a general store in Stebbins. Shortly thereafter, Watts and his men burst into Frank's apartment and begin dismantling his computer equipment.
Frank learns from a clerk at the general store that Alex, using the pseudonym "Alex Ventoux," purchased a telescope, which he had the clerk deliver to the second grade class of a local elementary school. Frank realizes that Alex was jettisoning all of his material possessions in an attempt to make peace with the world and begin a new life. Using a calculator and charts mapping seasonal currents and drifts, Frank determines the location where the body fell into the river. He charters a seaplane to fly him up the coast. The pilot tells Frank that he will leave at four thirty sharp with or without him.
Frank begins the arduous trek up the river bank. He eventually comes upon the exact location where the body fell into the river, and spots a smashed emergency radio transmitter, a towering cedar, and Alex's diary, nearby. Frank also hears a voice in his head the voice of Alex. He tells Frank that he broke his leg and will never make it back home. Meanwhile, when Frank fails to return at the designated time, the pilot flies away, leaving behind a survival pack.
Frank heads towards a bluff when he notices the night sky pulsating with light. Above him, an atmospheric disturbance sets the area aglow. He then hears the voice of Alex Glaser. Turning, he sees Alex propped against a rock, his leg broken, emaciated. Frank promises Alex he will not let him die. He constructs a makeshift stretcher from the surrounding brush and drags the injured boy through the wilderness. As he traverses a treacherous path, Frank loses his footing. Alex plunges into the river, and Frank leaps in to save him. During the struggle, Alex collides with a boulder and loses consciousness. Frank picks Alex up in his arms and makes his way to the seaplane, where Sheriff Bowman, Watts, and a rescue party await.
Alex is flown to a hospital for treatment. But when Frank stops by for a visit, he is told by a nurse that Alex has disappeared. Later, as Mr. and Mrs. Glaser listen, Frank reads aloud Alex's final passage from his diary. In it, Alex makes mention of a past life, and signs the entry "Alex Ventoux." Frank explains that, five hundred years earlier, a man named Petrarch climbed a mountain just to see the view, ushering in the beginning of the Renaissance. The name of the mountain Petrarch climbed, Frank states, was Ventoux. Later, Catherine gives Frank a letter from the Millennium Group stating that he "passed the first election."
Starring
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallgher as Catherine Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring
Tobias Mehler as Alex Glaser
Rob Freeman as Mr. Glaser
Tamsin Kelsey as Mrs. Glaser
Brion James as Sheriff Bowman
Judith Maxie as Finley
Gardiner Millar as Group Member
John Moore as the Lecturer
Jessica Schreier as Barbara Watts
Matthew Walker as the Inquisitor
Bart Anderson as the Clerk
Hagan Beggs as the Doctor
Robin Collins as the Fisherman
Bernie Coulson as the Pilot
Marke Driesschen as the Weatherman
Production Credits
Production #5C12
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
Location
Book Excerpt
“Life, in a lot of ways, is a sad story, really, when you get down to it. We’re born, we live, and we die. That’s a given. So there’s poetry in the struggle, and when I found that kid’s diary, that scene really got me. Because I opened the diary and somebody had actually written it—I don’t know whether Chip did, or the kid did—but it was very touching, really.”
—Lance Henriksen
Back to Frank Black
REVIEWS
“Although it may chiefly be remembered for its stunning scenery, there is certainly more to this transcendental episode than meets the eye. We finally get to learn a little more about the Millennium Group, and its selection procedure. Catherine and Jordan are back, and there are finally some signs of a reconciliation, with Catherine beginning to come to terms with Frank's work—and his Ladies of the Night CD ROM!—with the help of Barbara Watts. At Luminary's core there's a strong central mystery, which Wright spices up with some unusual narrative techniques. Johannessen's script is sharp, with exactly the right measure of mysticism and spirituality. Watch very closely and you'll see that the credit card number that Catherine taps into Frank's 'Plastic' program isn't exactly the same as the one Frank reads out to her, and isn't the one on the receipt from Monroes!”
—David Bianculli
Shivers