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Summary:
Frank Black gets himself into some trouble when he travels to
investigate a recent murder near an excavation site of Native American
Indian artifacts located in the middle of New York City. Here he
finds a hidden tribe of men that have come together to pursue ancient
prophecies and legends, some regarding a man with powerful visions who
will be the one to link the spiritual world with the world of reason.
Season Two on DVD
Synopsis:
Several figures wearing
false face masks force a Native American man, Daniel Olivaw, to
consume rattlesnake venom. As the poison takes effect, one of the
masked men, Joe Reynard, asks Daniel to describe what he sees. But
Daniel begins to scream and convulse, and falls to the ground in
agony.
Daniel's body is discovered at a
Manhattan construction site/archeological dig near the remains of a
withered, mummified body. New York City Police Sergeant Manny Walters
asks Frank for his help in solving the case. Frank cannot help but
notice the similarities between the ancient remains and Daniel's
corpse, next to which is a false face mask. Walters explains that a
dispute has erupted between a construction foreman, Richard Powell,
and the head archeologist, Dr. Liz Michaels. Powell, whose crew is
mainly Native American, is under pressure to continue the construction
work, while Liz insists the site must remain intact until it can be
properly excavated.
Frank senses that Daniel's
murder transpired in the basement of a nearby hotel. After examining
symbols painted on the basement wall, Liz notes a common theme:
communication with the spirit world. Later, Frank approaches Joe
Reynard inside a bar and, using a napkin, draws a symbol that appeared
in one of his internal visions. An old Indian Man steps forward and
explains that symbol is a warning. When Frank leaves the bar, Reynard
tells his cohorts that Frank "is the one."
An autopsy of Daniel's corpse
reveals his appendages were cut from his body and then reattached. Liz
explains this ritual was used by the Seneca tribe in attempt to revive
the dead after the victim passed into the spirit world and
communicated with ancestors. Frank discovers a prayer-stick, a kind of
Indian rosary that contains elements of Christianity and Native
American religion. On the stick is the same symbol Frank saw in his
vision. Later, Frank and Liz are summoned to the construction site
when Powell boxes and removes the ancient bones. A fight breaks out
between Reynard and Powell and a few moments later Powell dies of a
massive heart attack.
When Frank returns to his motel
room, he discovers that someone placed a false face mask on his bed.
He shows the mask to Liz, who explains it represents the power to walk
between the real and spirit worlds. Frank hypothesizes that, hundreds
of years ago, an Indian tribe concealed their existence from the white
man by blending into existing tribes. Now, in the present day, they
have been told by prophesy to reunite. Frank suspects that the prayer
stick is "a blueprint for another culture's apocalypse." One of the
symbols represents Daniel's journey to the land of the dead, while
another represents Frank, whose death will open a door to another
plane of existence.
Frank is surrounded by a group of
Indians, taken prisoner, and forced to consume rattlesnake venom. He
begins experiencing visions but insists they are not a product of the
poison. He predicts the tribe will reunite and buffalo will return.
Shortly thereafter, Liz and a group of policemen rescue Frank and take
Reynard and his followers into custody. As the group is being led
away, four buffalo that escaped from a rodeo run through the streets.
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Photographs:
- Frank and Dr. Michaels examine artifacts
- Frank finds himself held captive
- Daniel Olivaw prepares
for a deadly ritual
- Frank, Liz, and Reynard
on the street
- Frank is forced to consume snake venom
- Reynard and his Native American tribe
Abyss Rating:
(2/5)
Media Review:
"At its core, Millennium was always
a show about the Apocalypse, and utilizing a cobbled-together Native
American version of said for the series works as well as the standard
‘fire and brimstone’ basis that will infuse many of the later shows
with significance. Your reaction to 'A Single Blade of Grass' will
greatly depend on how susceptible you are to the ancient rites and
mystic symbols of the various tribes depicted in this episode. It will
also be predicated on how much of what you witness is merely happy
coincidence, and what is indeed a portent of the coming end days. The
New York setting also works well for the series since it allows the
weirdness we usually see in rural areas and far-off wooded locales to
play out among the mean, messy streets of Manhattan. There are a
couple of rather unbelievable moments (Frank is forced to ingest snake
venom, yet seems none the worse for the wear right afterward), but the
power in the writing and the carefully considered and crafted plot
mean we get another great episode, even with some rather minor flaws." —Bill Gibron, DVD Talk
Trivia:
"A Single Blade of Grass" was the first
Millennium episode written by the duo of
Erin Maher and Kay Reindl. Maher and Reindl would contribute four scripts to the series in total. Kay Reindl once defended the episode from
a mediocre fan reaction. "There were a lot of problems with 'A
Single Blade of Grass' but, even given that, I will always stand by
the script," she told internet fans through the Abyss. "We had
wanted the episode to look and feel a bit like Wolfen, with the
racy Steadicam shots and eerie modern and ancient juxtaposition but,
as you can see, it didn't quite work out that way."
During the course of this episode, Frank
Black's unique powers of perception, absent since the start of the
season, are returned to him. Executive
producer Glen Morgan, who had refrained from using Frank's visions, asked that Maher and Reindl
reintroduce Frank's gift in conjunction with this story's
venom-induced hallucinations. "I felt last year those visions were a
cheat," Morgan explains. "The camera would go to a coffee cup and
Frank would say, 'The murderer used a coffee cup.' It drove me
nuts. What we were trying to do this year was to elevate Frank's
visions to a dream-like state, so he would have to interpret what he's
seeing. There would be more mythical,
symbolic imagery that might give him more of a sense of what's going
on. I had wanted to strip away the gift for a long time and see if the
show really played well without it. But we got back into that."
The dice bet that proves lucky for Frank
Black — "eight, the hard way"
— is a reference to Glen Morgan and
James Wong's production company, Hard Eight Productions. The
company's logo was a pair of red dice falling four and four on the
green felt of a craps table.
Death Toll:
2
Title:
As he watches Richard Powell
die, Joe Reynard declares, "It
always starts this way, with a single blade of grass." The title
reflects the idea that every event, even the prophesized end of the
world, must begin with a single, simple initiation.
Soundtrack:
"Hell" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers
"Hand in Hand We Die" by Glen Jordan
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Guest Starring:
Amy Steel as Dr. Liz Michaels
Doug Abrahams as Sgt. Manny Walters
Gary Chalk as Richard Powell
Byron Chief-Moon as Fenton
Michael Greyeyes as Joe Reynard
James Nicholas as Ernie
Rondel Reynoldson as Dr. Kathryn Huston
Floyd Red Crow Westerman as the Old Indian
Production
Credits:
Production #5C05
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producers Darin Morgan
Co-Producer Robert Moresco
Co-Producer Paul Rabwin
Producer Thomas J. Wright
Co-Executive Producer Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer Glen Morgan
Executive Producer James Wong
Executive Producer Chris Carter
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