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Summary:
Frank Black is asked by a
persistent prosecuting attorney to come to a Utah court and testify
against William Garry, a
man on trial for confessing to the murder of his own family.
Determined to weigh the evidence of the crime for himself, Frank soon
finds that he doesn't believe the man he is to speak against truly
committed the crimes to which he has confessed.
Season One on DVD
Full Transcript Available
Quote:
"Thou dost frighten me with dreams and terrify me by
visions." —Job 7:14
Synopsis:
Frank travels to Weber County, Utah, where he meets with
Prosecutor Calvin Smith, Assistant County Prosecutor Charles
Horvath, and Didi Higgens, Assistant
Pathologist to the County Medical Examiner. The District Attorney's office
convicted Sheriff William Garry of murdering his wife and three children.
Garry had confessed to the crime, and his fingerprints were found on the
murder weapon, a tool used for carving wood. Now all that remains is for
the jury to decide if Garry should receive the death penalty. Smith hopes
Frank can develop a psychological profile that will leave no doubt in the
jury's mind that Garry is a cold, calculating murderer.
Assisted
by William Garry's close friend, Deputy Kevin Reilly, Frank inspects the
conservative, middle-American home where the killings took place. He notices
a series of numbers, "1, 28, 15," written in blood on a kitchen window.
Reilly explains that those involved in the investigation were never able
to decipher their meaning. As Frank continues his tour of the Garry home,
he listens to a tape recording of William's confession, in which he describes
the details of how he murdered his family, one by one.
The
next morning, Frank meets with Michael Slattery, William Garry's attorney.
Slattery freely admits he has no intention of letting Frank interview his
client. But Frank insists his recommendation to the jury will be non-biased.
Slattery changes his mind and allows Frank to conduct the interview. Garry
claims to have fantasized about committing the murders for some time, driven
by money problems and hatred of his wife. Frank finds it difficult to believe
that Garry carved a wooden cherub as a birthday present for his wife, then
proceeded to murder his entire family using the same carving tool.
Frank
discovers flaws in the conclusions drawn by investigators. He tells Didi
that someone other than Garry committed the killings. Garry agrees to take
a lie detector test. Based on the results, the polygraph technician concludes
that Garry did, in fact, murder his family. But Frank believes Garry feels
so guilty (about something not yet known) that he has convinced himself
he is responsible for the killings. Dismayed by Frank's conclusions, Smith
decides his services are no longer necessary.
A
psychiatrist tells Frank that Mrs. Garry was faithful to her husband and
was not having an affair with Deputy Reilly. But she states that the same
thing could not be said of William Reilly. Frank is taken aback by this
revelation.
Didi
has the Garry's bodies exhumed for re-examination. After inspecting cuts
on Mrs. Garry's hands, Didi concludes the wounds were not defensive, as
the Medical Examiner previously thought. The numbers written on the kitchen
window, Frank realizes, corresponds to a biblical passage. He also realizes
that William Garry didn't know his wife was pregnant.
Frank,
Didi and Calvin Smith appear before Judge Maher. Frank tells the court
that Mrs. Garry did not die in the basement, as previously believed. Mrs.
Garry, Frank reveals, murdered her children because she saw them as angels,
and wanted them to stay that way. She then walked to the kitchen and stabbed
herself in the heart. Before she died, Mrs. Garry told William that he
made her murder the children; that she couldn't bear the thought of bringing
another child into a world of adulterers. When Reilly arrived at the scene,
he helped William move the bodies into the basement, throwing investigators
off the trail. Frank urges him to come forward with the truth.
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Photographs:
- Frank stands with Prosecutor Calvin Smith
- Frank examines the lie detector results
- Frank interviews a reluctant William Garry
- Frank, Charles Horvath, and Didi Higgens
- A determined Frank remains unconvinced
Abyss Rating:
(5/5)
Media Review:
"One
of the reasons Millennium worked beyond the conventions of
other cop shows is because it broke clichés and trampled all over
formulas. Any other show about a man accused of killing his entire
family would be centered on discovering why he did it. What caused him
to snap: drugs?, adultery?, financial woes?, his dead dog’s mandates?
Frank avoids these typical takes to question the very nature of the
crime and the prerequisites for committing such a horrible act. The
fact that we never really know the entire truth
— several parts are left wide open
for interpretation —
doesn’t lessen its impact." —Bill Gibron, DVD Talk
Trivia:
It has been said that the first cut of
"Covenant" was approximately one hour and
twenty minutes long, nearly twice the length of a standard one-hour
network drama. As a result, nearly half of the episode was
trimmed in the cutting room and is now lost to viewers. Copies
of the original shooting script for the episode reveal those scenes
that were lost.
Guest star John Finn appeared in a significant
recurring guest role, that of shadowy CIA operative
Michael Kritschgau, on The X-Files. The actor
has also appeared in numerous films and television shows, including
producer Howard Gordon's Strange World.
Actor
Don MacKay appears in this episode as
Frank Black's neighbor, Jack Meredith, for the final time. It is
often speculated that Chris Carter included the overenthusiastic
Meredith among the show's recurring characters primarily to keep
viewers continually suspicious of his intentions.
Read Deleted Scenes
Death Toll:
4
Title:
William Garry cites Isaiah
28:15 on his kitchen window in blood: "We
have made a covenant with death, we have made lies our refuge, and
under falsehood we have hid ourselves." The biblical verse
reveals to Frank Black the covenant that Garry has made with God and
with death, his intentions and his lies.
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Guest Starring:
John Finn as William Garry
Michael O'Neill as Prosecutor Calvin Smith
Sarah Koskoff as Didi Higgens
Jay Underwood as Michael Slattery
Steve Bacic as Deputy Kevin Reilly
Don MacKay as Jack Meredith
Nicole Oliver as Dr. Alice Steele
Colleen Winton as Dolores Garry
Tyler Thompson as William Garry, Jr.
George Gordon as Judge Francis Maher
Karen Elizabeth Austin as Mrs. Andersen
David Abbott as Mr. Andersen
Norman Armour as Medical Examiner Geller
Noah Heney as Charles Horvath
Nikol Tschenscher as Mary Garry
Cody Shaer as Gabriel Garry
Production
Credits:
Production #4C16
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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