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Summary:
In Colorado, a pharmacist's failed
marriage leads him to act out deadly sexual fantasies. Frank Black and Millennium Group
sex crimes expert Maureen Murphy are called to investigate,
attending local raves and swinger parties to track the killer.
Unfortunately, the investigators experience resistance in the form of
a biased sheriff and a local law enforcement team unprepared to deal
with such sexual attacks.
Season One on DVD
Full Transcript Available
Quote:
"Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast." —Faust
Synopsis: Near
the University of Colorado at Boulder, a group of college-age students
gather at a warehouse/techno night club. Art Nesbitt, a pharmacist, approaches
a couple, Mel and Leslie. He opens his palm, revealing two capsules. Under
the influence of the powerful drugs, the couple accompany Nesbitt to a
small room. Nesbitt captures their lovemaking on videotape, then injects
them with a lethal poison.
The
naked bodies of Mel and Leslie are discovered in a lush botanical garden,
their genitalia covered with leaves as if mimicking the garden of Eden.
Frank and Millennium Group member Maureen Murphy are called to the scene
where they meet with Boulder Homicide Detective Thomas. He admits his discomfort
with working the case with a female (Murphy), telling Frank that women
do not understand male sexuality.
Meanwhile
Nesbitt spies on a group of seven couples engaged in spouse-swapping in
an upper middle class suburban home. Two women, Sylvie and Anne, leave
the group and drive to a liquor store. When a blue light flashes behind
the car, Sylvie pulls off the road. Nesbitt, impersonating a policeman,
steps up to the vehicle.
The
next day two men from the swing party, Mark and Vic, tell police their
wives are missing. A short time later the bodies of Sylvie and Anne are
discovered on a park bench, posed as lovers.
A
couple, Laurie and Randy, enter Nesbitt's pharmacy with a prescription
for an anti- diarrhetic drug for their honeymoon trip to Bali. Nesbitt
hands them both a capsule and suggests they swallow it immediately for
maximum effect.
Additional
toxicology results indicate the perpetrator may have inadvertently contaminated
his ecstasy-like drug with difficult-to-obtain controlled substances. Frank
concludes the killer may have legitimate access to the drugs. He also believes
the killer uses the drugs himself, allowing him to act on intensely sexual
fantasies — fantasies the killer made real.
Further
investigation leads the Millennium Group to Nesbitt's pharmacy, but Nesbitt
is not on duty. Realizing Nesbitt is the killer, the group travels to his
home. There they interview his wife, Karen, who tells Maureen that she
and her husband haven't had sex for eighteen years. But she remarks how
her husband recently told her how much he would like to try again.
Thomas
admits to Frank that Maureen is a good investigator — his real problem is
that he himself is uncomfortable with the case. Thomas had investigated
sex crimes in West Hollywood, and felt as though he had become "contaminated,"
discovering he could not make love to his wife. They have since divorced.
Frank
realizes Nesbitt is recapitulating sexual encounters he feels he should
have experienced prior to marriage, capturing his victims in the happiest,
most perfect moments in their lives. Thinking back on his inspection of
the Nesbitt home, Frank realizes he missed something. A hidden trap door
is discovered in the garage and opened, and Randy and Laurie are rescued
from an old bomb shelter beneath the garage. Frank discovers Nesbitt inside
his bedroom, about to inject his wife with poison. Frank knocks the syringe
from Nesbitt's hand. But Nesbitt retrieves the needle and injects himself
with a fatal dose.
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Photographs:
- The shadow covered face of Art Nesbitt
- A pair of bodies pose as Adam and Eve
- Detective Thomas and
Maureen Murphy
- Boulder Homicide Detective Thomas
- The Millennium Group trio in discussion
- Nesbitt prepares an offering for his wife
- Frank discovers Nesbitt's hiding place
- Frank struggles to help two victims survive
- Nesbitt confronts his wife, Karen
- Maureen holds Karen Nesbitt back
- A stunned Detective Thomas
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Abyss Rating:
(3/5)
Media Review:
"Even
though Frank is constantly labeled as an expert in sex crimes, this is
really the first time we witness a case of such a salacious nature.
Beginning with this tense, tawdry offering, Millennium starts a
streak of stellar episodes that prove what could have been done had
the show’s focus, both literally and metaphysically, remained on crime
and criminality. Handled in a subtle, somber manner, the events unfold
in this episode evenly and eerily. The maniacal face of the everyman
killer says it all: this is one sick deviant, getting his kicks off
the torture of others." —Bill Gibron, DVD Talk
Trivia:
Guest star William Lucking has had
an illustrious history in television and film. He has appeared
in over fifty classic television shows, including Mission:
Impossible, M*A*S*H, Knight Rider, The A-Team,
Hunter, Murder, She Wrote, NYPD Blue, Profiler,
and The X-Files. Lucking also had a role in the 2002
Brett Ratner film version of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon.
Likewise, guest actress
Harriet Sansom Harris has had memorable
roles on television in shows ranging from Law & Order to
Frasier. Ten-Thirteen Production fans are sure to recognize
her as a result of her association with Millennium
writer/producers Glen Morgan and James Wong. At the prompting of
the duo Harris has appeared on The X-Files, Space: Above and
Beyond, and in the feature film The One.
Death Toll:
5
Title:
The episode's title is
taken from "The Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait" by Dylan Thomas. Among the quatrains included in the six-page poem is one that reads, "And
steeples pierce the cloud on her shoulder / And the streets that the
fisherman combed / When his long-legged flesh was a wind on fire / And
his loin was like a hunting flame." The poem is known for
its surrealistic metaphors concerning sex and sexuality and, as a
result, the line chosen as the episode's title seems an apt means of
depicting the fantasy-prone sexual mindset of serial killer Art
Nesbitt.
Soundtrack:
"Frank Takes the Floor" by Glen Jordan
"Raveland" by Glen Jordan
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Guest Starring:
William Lucking as Detective Thomas
Hrothgar Mathews as Art Nesbitt
Harriet Sansom Harris as Maureen Murphy
Barbara Howard as Karen Nesbitt
Malcolm Stewart as Vic
Doug Abrahams as Detective Kent
Barry Greene as Mark
Michael Buie as Randy
Derek Hamilton as New Mel
Natassia Malthe as New Leslie
Peg Christopherson as Sylvie
Crystal Cass as New Anne
Fawnia L. Mondey as Laura
Dawn Madsen] as Leslie
Eric Olsen as Mel Dodd
Carrie Davis as Anne
Jaclynn Grad as New Sylvie
Dorion Davis as Sherrie
Rafe McDonald as Tim
Michael Sunczyk as Red Robe Doorman
Laurel Gray as the Pathologist
Jon Ratt as the Husband
Tyler Labine as Gavin
Jenny Mitchell as Kim
Kelly Irving as Ron
Production
Credits:
Production #4C11
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
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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