1x06 Kingdom Come
Millennium (1996)
1x06 Kingdom Come, written by Jorge Zamacona and Charles Holland, directed by Winrich Kolbe.
quote
And there will be such intense darkness that one can feel it.
-- Exodus 10:21
Priests are being killed in grisly fashion by methods used for heretics in times past. Frank saw the same thing when he worked for the FBI; the guy is back.
Another police procedural. No Millennium Group, very little of Frank's "gift". I didn't remember it very well, but sections of dialogue make it a "Faith" episode:
We have meditations on the nature of evil:
quote
Frank: You were his friend.
Schultz: (nods) He was a good man, a true believer. That's not as popular as it used to be.
Frank: Don't look for a reason, father.
Schultz: Are you saying there isn't one?
Frank: Not one that would make any sense right now. The man who did this - who we believe did this - he does it without conscience. Is that evil?
Schultz: There's a disconnectedness out there and those desperate with that feeling expect faith to fill the void and when it doesn't they blame us.
Frank: I can't speak to that, father.
Schultz: No?
Frank: I'm afraid my own faith is lacking.
And on coming to terms with death:
quote
Catherine: Jordan had kind of a bad day today, Frank. She was really upset about the bird.
Frank: What did she say?
Catherine: She asked me if dogs die, horses, cars, trees. Us.
Frank: What did you tell her?
Catherine: I mustered all my clinical powers, and lied.
[They both laugh.]
Catherine: And I told her you and I would live forever. So back me up on that, will you?
Frank: Yes.
On the need for faith:
quote
Ardis: In all these years, we work at a distance, with a remove. It helps us to objectify, so why is this one different to me?
Frank: The coldness, the calculation, the victims - merciless acts against the merciful.
Ardis: I haven't been to church since I was eight. I've always been happily cynical. So why I am taking this so personally?
Frank: I feel it myself.
Ardis: Have you and your wife raised Jordan in any particular faith, Frank?
Frank: No. Catherine and I haven't even dealt with it yet.
Ardis: I know. My husband and I make it up as we go along.
Frank: Maybe faith is like the picture album left in the closet. We don't go back and visit it every day. We need to know it's there, need to know it's safe so we can pass it along when the time is right.
And the difficulty of escaping it:
quote
Calloway: Are you afraid to die, Frank?
Frank: Yes.
Calloway: Then you don't believe in God.
Frank: I haven't thought about it in a very long time.
Calloway: Why?
Frank: Because I've seen the innocent die. I've seen children murdered in their beds. The weak and helpless slaughtered, without purpose, without sense.
Calloway: Then you know the truth. You know that God has abandoned us. That's why you're afraid to die. Just like I am.
Frank: No.
Calloway: You're lying.
Frank: I'm afraid, Galen, but not like you. You're afraid to die, because you fear God's judgment.
Calloway: I've lost my faith.
Frank: No, you've tried to kill it, but you can't. I've seen your ritual. You try to kill your faith with the tools of your own belief because of your pain, because you think God's forsaken you. You think that you can get rid of your pain by slaughtering the faith that's inside you.
Calloway: It is inside of me, isn't it. It just won't die.
There is too much TV to keep up with, so I don't know what is current. Thirty years after this show, would we find these discussions on programs for general audiences?
Lindsay Crouse is with the FBI. Best remembered for House of Games (1987).
Frank has a reference book for everything.
