2x21 Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me
Millennium (1996)
2x21 Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me, written by Darin Morgan, Michael R. Perry, Erin Maher, directed by Darin Morgan.
A comedy episode rather loosely attached to the series. It is a chance for levity before the grim two-part season closer.
Written and directed by Darin Morgan, this is his last script for the series. He was a producer for this season.
We assemble four nasty old men at an all-night donut shop where they drink coffee, read the papers and shoot the breeze. Turns out they are devils, who live among us and have jobs, but with a special purpose: the damnation of the humans.
We hear each of their tales and each has started noticing someone who -- surprise! -- sees their true forms. "Hey, did this guy look depressed? It's Frank Black.
Each demon's story:
Blurk (Bill Macy) encourages a proto-serial killer to go for it, but he is dull and unimaginative in his executions. One victim is a devil worshiper who cries "Satan, save me!" and the donut shop guys have a good laugh at that.
Abum (Richard Bakalyan) uses a more subtle approach, letting the tedium and indignity of ordinary life wear down souls. He plays mean pranks: the show opens with him delivering early morning newspapers, wreaking havoc on car alarms, bird baths, and a little cement yard angel.
Greb (Alex Diakun) serves as Darin Morgan's revenge on the network censors he battled at The X-Files. A zealous bureaucrat finds everything in the script "unacceptable!" Seeing Greb as a little dancing demon drives him over the edge.
Toby (Wally Dalton) relates his romance with an aging stripper. They honestly seem to be in love, but he is a devil so he breaks her heart and causes her suicide.
Is he crying from relief that he fulfilled his nature, or might he secretly have un-demonic regrets? Frank sees him and says "You must be so lonely".
The donut shop boys have no response to that and all get up and leave.
Sample devil chatter:
quote
Blurk: You know, we were so envious when Man was given free will. But what has it brought them? The belief that their lives are determined by everything other than their own will.
Abum: And the right to vote.
[...]
Greb: I don't like working with serial killers myself: if they get caught, they end up on death row, which is the only place where humans can still find God.
[...]
Abum: [Serial killer's] evil is too conspicuous. When people hear about some psycho killer, it can lead them to thinking about the nature of evil, which leads to thoughts about right or wrong – bad or good.
Greb: All that thinking can get ugly.
Abum: Yeah! You don't want to consider a crack like that. You just want them to go through their routine of living their lives.
[...]
Greb: If you ask me, subtlety is for closet homosexuals. (licks the frosting off a long pastry)
Notes:
The devils approve of true-crime books.
The network censor breaks in on an X-Files production of look-alike Mulder and Scully doing an alien autopsy.
His name is "Waylon Figgleif" ("fig leaf", get it?)
The dancing devil is supposed to be a play on the dancing baby of Ally McBeal, but I haven't seen that.
The aging stripper is Gabrielle Rose, seen recently in Final Destination: Bloodlines.
We visit the same strip club and dancer three times. When she finally takes it off, a black bar overlay and pixelation are part of the censorship story.
We visit the same laundromat three times. At first: "All roads to Hell lead through coin-operated Laundromats". For the censor it is a location of depravity because of all the women's underwear. Finally for the romance segment it a warm, inviting place enchanted by who you are with.
