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Summary:
Frank Black and Peter Watts,
tracing a trail of clues and bodies across Missouri and Arkansas,
must track down an emotionally distraught young woman and her murderous
boyfriend before they find the baby her father sold to a childless
couple.
Season One on DVD
Full Transcript Available
Quote:
"O Lord, if there is a Lord, Save my soul, if I have a
soul— " —Ernest Ranan
Synopsis: Maddie
Haskel, twenty-years-old and heartland pretty, attends her mother's funeral
in Joplan, Missouri. After the service, Maddie returns to her family's
home, where she is approached by a vicious-looking man named Jim Gilroy.
Gilroy's attempt to rape Maddie comes to a sudden halt when Maddie's boyfriend,
Bobby Webber, emerges from the shadows wielding a length of iron pipe.
After Gilroy is knocked unconscious, Bobby and Maddie drive off into the
night with their prisoner safely tucked away in the trunk of their automobile.
A Missouri State Trooper notices the vehicle has a burned-out tail light
and orders Bobby to pull over. When the trooper hears noises emanating
from the trunk, Bobby grabs a .357 and shoots and kills the trooper.
Watts
notifies Frank about the incident. DMV records indicate the automobile
stopped by the trooper was registered to a Jim Gilroy. But Watts reveals
that name is a pseudonym — and the real owner is Jake Waterston, a man
who raped and murdered three nurses in 1992 and then disappeared. Accompanied
by other members of the Millennium Group, Frank searches the Haskel residence
for clues. He notices the word "Angel" scratched into a large- screen television,
but is uncertain of its meaning.
Bobby
stops the car on a remote backroad, pulls Gilroy/Waterston out of the
trunk, and begins to beat him. He repeatedly asks Gilroy, "Where is he?"
A
video camera mounted on the trooper's dashboard recorded the murder. After
studying the tape, Frank realizes Gilroy is not the man who shot the trooper,
and is unable to give frustrated police the name of the person who did.
Bobby
breaks into a farmhouse and confronts the occupants, Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith.
He shouts "Where is he?" at the bewildered and terrified couple. When the
Nesmiths are unable to respond, they are gunned down. Realizing he had
been lied to, Bobby pulls Gilroy from the trunk and threatens to kill him
unless he tells the truth. Terrified, Gilroy reveals the information Bobby
so desperately sought. Gilroy is forced back into the trunk, and the car
is rolled into a pond. Maddie and Bobby steal the Nesmith's car and drive
off into the night.
Police
locate the submerged vehicle and pull it from the water. Inside, they discover
Gilroy, who kept alive by breathing from an air pocket. He is transferred
to a nearby prison and charged with the deaths of the three nurses, but
Gilroy refuses to cooperate with the investigation into the trooper's death.
After
reading a series of letters Maddie wrote but never mailed to her father,
Frank concludes that Angel is the name of Maddie's son. A computer search
of Gilroy's bank records reveals a deposit of seven thousand dollars made
two months after Angels' birth. Frank realizes that Gilroy (who was dating
Maddie's mother), sold the baby and then purchased a large screen television
with the profits. Police search the records of a lawyer who brokered the
sale and discover the name of the family who "adopted" the baby: Mr. and
Mrs. Travis.
Armed
with his .357, Bobby storms the Travis home and demands the baby be turned
over to Maddie. But when Maddie takes the child from Mrs. Travis' arms,
the baby begins crying. Deeply moved, and convinced the baby has a good
home, Maddie returns Angel to Mrs. Travis. When Bobby protests, Maddie
grabs his gun and shoots, killing him.
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Photographs:
- Frank and Peter arrive in Missouri
- Frank ponders the mystery of Angel
- Frank gazes into a shattered mirror
- The troubled Maddie Haskel
- Maddie blocks-out Bobby's violence
- Maddie is reunited with her Angel
Abyss Rating:
(4/5)
Media Review:
"A mini road-movie masterpiece." —Ian
Calcutt, Cult Times
Trivia:
Guest star Heather McComb appeared
in this episode as Maddie Haskel while, simultaneously, filling a
recurring role on the rival NBC series Profiler.
Similarly, actor Jeffrey Donovan
—
who had guest starred on such shows as Law & Order,
Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Pretender
—
would go on to become the star of
Touching Evil, a cable drama series thematically similar to
Millennium.
Death Toll:
4
Title:
This
episode shares its title with a 1959 western, although the connections
seemingly end there. Here, it can easily be taken as a reference
to the two types of characters involved in the Angel affair.
Specifically, it seems an apt way of defining the duo of Bobby Webber and
Maddie Haskel, respectively.
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring:
Heather McComb as Maddie Haskel
Jeffrey Donovan as Bobby Webber
John Pyper-Ferguson as Jim Gilroy
Michael Hogan as Captain Bigelow
James Gallanders as Missouri State Trooper
Steve Makaj as Arkansas Trooper Flanagan
John Tierney as Preacher
Renee Michelle as Adeline Travis
Jim Swainsburg as Sam Travis
Gina Chiarelli as Killean Marie Haskel
Jim Poyner as Mr. Fred Nesmith
Mary Black as Mrs. Nesmith
Production
Credits:
Production #4C10
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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