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Summary:
Frank Black and the Seattle Police
Department try to solve the mystery inherent to the murder of a couple
whose young daughter was forced to witness the event, committed by a
killer who uses real estate open houses
as his access to victims. Catherine encourages Jordan to reach out to the
young girl in order to help her recover from this traumatic experience,
purposely blocking the work of Bob Bletcher, who is determined to make
the girl relive the incident in order to gain vital evidence.
Season One on DVD
Full Transcript Available
Quote:
"His children are far from safety; They shall be crushed at
the gate without a rescuer." —Job 5:4
Synopsis: A
man, Cutter, parks his automobile near a home with a "For Sale" sign on
the front lawn. After speaking briefly with a Realtor, Cutter signs his
name in a guest book and makes his way through the house, where he takes
particular interest in a little girl's bedroom. Later that evening, the
owners return home and tuck their young daughter, Patricia, into bed. Later
that night, Patricia suddenly begins screaming.
An
alarm company security guard discovers the parent's bludgeoned bodies on
the first floor of the house. But Patricia's whereabouts are unknown. Frank,
Bletcher and a team of detectives search the home for clues. After examining
the alarm system, which was triggered when the intruder left the home — but
not when he entered — Frank realizes the killer attended the open house
and then hid somewhere until the family returned home. As he takes in the
crimes scene, Frank is drawn towards an air heater vent. He yanks the grill
from the wall, revealing Patricia, her small body stuffed inside the small
space, curled into a ball and catatonic with fear.
Patricia
is rushed to a nearby hospital where she is treated for dehydration and
extreme shock. Catherine cautions the detectives that, although Patricia
is the only eyewitness to the murders, her psychological state is extremely
delicate. Catherine asks that the police postpone their interview, not
wanting to force Patricia to relive the terrifying ordeal.
Meanwhile,
Frank, Bletcher and Giebelhouse enlist the services of a handwriting expert
and examine the killer's signature (written in the guest sign-in book as
"John Allworth"). Graphological analysis links the perpetrator's signature
to a least thirty-seven open house registers over the previous six months.
Frank believes the key to catching the culprit lies in finding a pattern
with the homes he visited.
When
the killer mails a videotape of the murders to a Realtor, Frank is puzzled.
The case develops yet another strange twist when the killer sneaks into
an open house and murders a divorced woman by shooting her point blank
with a shotgun. Bletcher notes the perpetrator called 911 and notified
the police shortly after the murder. Frank notices a bloody red "X," the
same one which appeared to him in a vision, drawn beneath the welcome mat.
Meanwhile, Patricia begins drawing "X's" with her crayons.
While
reviewing a videotape of the first murders, Frank spots the killer's image
in a reflection. He asks Catherine to show Patricia a photo of the killer,
but suddenly, Frank retracts his request. He realizes that, all along,
the killer wanted the police to approach Patricia and force her to relive
the murder — in much the same way the killer has been reliving some unspeakable
act his entire life.
Cutter,
who works as a school crossing guard, plants the shotgun (used to commit
the second murder) in a dumpster, and then notifies police of its whereabouts.
The officer who takes the report from Cutter later sees the photograph
from the video and identifies him.
Frank
realizes that Cutter has been attempting to prove wrong our pretensions
of safety — we are not as secure as we think we are. The police stake out
a number of different open houses. Cutter visits the home where Frank and
his colleagues have set up surveillance, but escapes into the neighborhood.
Frank and Bletcher search the neighborhood and realize the killer is hiding
inside a house nearby, where Frank discovers a couple tied up in their
bed. Suddenly, Cutter steps from the shadows and strikes Frank with a curtain
rod, knocking him to the floor. Before Cutter can finish his assault, the
family dog charges and leaps at Cutter, knocking him over the a banister
and sending him crashing into a glass table on the floor below.
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Photographs:
- Catherine and Bletcher face off
- Frank and Bletcher take a moment to sit
- Bletcher and Frank examine the scene
- Catherine counsels Patricia Highsmith
- Frank holds Patricia's stuffed bear
- Frank examines bagged evidence
- Frank Black explains his latest theory
Abyss Rating:
(3/5)
Media Reviews:
"'Wide Open' has a clever premise, a great
deal of suspense and some gruesomely graphic imagery to appease the
gorehounds (yours truly included). Though the open house ruse does get
repetitive after a while, at least it is offered with enough passion
and presence to hook us from the very beginning. The only flaw here is
that the killer’s motives are left to a casual comment from Bletch
about two minutes before the show is about to end. Something as cruel
and calculated as this crime deserves some manner of in-depth detail,
not an off-the-cuff quip." —Bill Gibron, DVD Talk
Trivia:
Bill Smitrovich,
who appeared throughout the show's first season as Lieutenant
Detective Bob Bletcher, explained to interviewers that, while the
series was regularly criticized for being the darkest on television, one of the
overreaching messages of the series was very bright.
"There is hope that these criminals will
be caught and that you find out a little bit more, that people will be
able to see that there is intelligent, insightful forensic
investigation going on that will give people hope that these people
will be caught, that we will find you. Someway, somehow, if it's the
tinniest little thing, we will find you, and we will catch you." Smitrovich voiced the sentiments of Millennium's cast and crew
when he explained that behind even the darkest of the show's stories
there was a dominant sense of hope. "There's great hope in this show
but we have to show the darkness before we show the light, and the
darkness is where we find the clues to the hope and to the light. And
that is where the hope is, I think, that we'll get you, they will find
you."
Death Toll:
3
Title:
The
houses that Cutter infiltrates throughout the episodes are, in more
ways than one, wide open. The open house events allowed him
access to homes and families. While those homeowners murdered
throughout the episode felt protected by their in-home security
systems that feeling was one of false security as they remained, as
Cutter proves, wide open to attack.
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Bill Smitrovich as Lt. Bob Bletcher
Guest Starring:
Glynn Turman as James Glen
Stephen James Lang as Detective Giebelhouse
Pablo Coffey as Cutter
Nevada Ash as Patricia Highsmith
Eileen Kenney as Beverly Bunn
Sandra Ferens as Mary Kay Highsmith
David Neale as John Highsmith
Roger R. Cross as Officer Shaw
Carter Kagume as ICU Nurse
Ernie Prentice as Mr. Marcelli
Colin McCarlie as Harry Marlowe
Mandy McKeen as Jane Marlowe
Cindy Lee as Riley Farnsworth
Iain Carson-Huggins as Young Boy Cutter
Production
Credits:
Production #4C08
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Sheila Haley
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer Ted Mann
Consulting Producer James Wong
Consulting Producer Glen Morgan
Co-Producer Ken Dennis
Co-Producer Chip Johannessen
Co-Producer Frank Spotnitz
Co-Executive Producer Jorge Zamacona
Co-Executive Producer Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer Chris Carter
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