1x08 The Well-Worn Lock
Millennium (1996)
1x08 The Well-Worn Lock, written by Chris Carter and Charles Holland, directed by Ralph Hemecker.
quote
The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson
It is a child sexual abuse story. Very little mystery: it's the Dad. The prosecutor is reluctant to pursue it: "Not in a hundred years with two ten-foot poles. I've seen cases like these come through here now and again. Nobody wants them, not even the good ones and this isn't one".
This is another Catherine story. Someone said give Megan Gallagher more to do and we benefit. Frank smiles when he recognizes the switch: she's rushing off to work the case, leaving him behind.
We have more of the legal system than usual, a "5 months later" break and a courtroom scene.
They treat a difficult topic well, but plots like this always give me pause. TV is entertainment. Is this entertaining? Other serious subjects like war and murder qualify. We might say this is a worthy topic, but I remember decades of programming that treated rape as sexy violence. Surely CSA won't go the same way?
We hear Mark Snow working in every episode, giving a somber score in this case. At one point he has a quiet children's chorus in the background.
"Dad" is Paul Dooley -- Breaking Away (1979), Popeye (1980), Sixteen Candles (1984).
