2x02 Beware of the Dog
Millennium (1996)
2x02 Beware of the Dog, written by Glen Morgan, James Wong and Michael R. Perry, directed by Allen Coulter.
The season two changes continue to develop. Frank is sharper in his comments and meets quirky characters. The Group sends him to investigate dog attacks at a remote town. There he meets the Old Man, a sort of Group patriarch and recurring character this season. He is a backwoods recluse mysteriously connected to the outer world.
He tells Frank:
quote
"The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Our role is to achieve equilibrium and as we do that we must respect evil, and we must make evil respect us. But at times such as now, events indicate that we're losing balance. And time is running out.
Things are out of balance as the Millennium approaches, and the the dog attacks are a sign of that.
The Old Man is R.G. Armstrong, a familiar face in westerns and often featured by Sam Peckinpah. I've seen him so often I feel he was over-used. Off the top of my head:
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
An LA transplant having trouble with the dogs is played by Randy Stone, who was the casting director for Millennium and The X-Files.
Notes:
The opening where a sweet retired couple in a Winnebago are killed by a pack of dogs: it's set to the Carpenters' "Close to You". Morgan and Wong: damn.
When Frank arrives at the diner in Buck Snort MT everyone calls him "Sheriff". He can't convince him them he's not.
They warn him to be inside before the sun goes down but don't bother to say why.
At the Old Man's cabin he finds a handwritten volume of ancient Greek, with the latin letters "FRANK BLACK".
Frank and Catherine are separated. She still sees murdered Bletcher and the menacing figure on the stairs and wants to move out of the yellow house and sell it. Frank can't let go.
