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Summary:
When a gifted high school student dies of fear and his underachieving
best friend disappears from the scene, Frank Black investigates and comes to
realize that his old nemesis, Lucy Butler, is behind the crimes. The investigation uncovers Lucy's new home, a prison of sorts where she
uses conflicting stimuli of harsh violence and gentle love to break down the wills
of abducted young men and women.
Season Two on DVD
Synopsis:
In
Oregon, a young man tunnels his way out of a farmhouse and escapes into
the darkened countryside. He spots what appears to be an abandoned Chevy
Impala parked alongside a road. As the young man attempts to jump start
the car by opening the hood and hot-wiring the motor, it suddenly springs
to life. The unseen driver runs over the young man's legs, halting his
escape. A dark female form and a Long-Haired Man approach their victim.
The Long-Haired Man tosses the screaming body into the trunk of the car.
Meanwhile, at James K. Polk High
School in Seattle, two 18-year-old friends, Landon Bryce and Howard Gordon,
meet guidance counselor Teresa Roe. During the discussion, Bryce urges
Gordon to apply to college — this despite Roe's assessment that Gordon's
grade point average is too mediocre to worth bothering. The conversation
escalates into a loud argument until Landon accuses Roe of being a failure.
That night, an intruder breaks into the Bryce home. Gordon dies, and Bryce
is kidnapped.
As Frank and Giebelhouse observe,
a pathologist rules that Gordon died as the result of a coronary. But further
neurological evidence indicates the heart attack was triggered by fear.
Frank travels to the Bryce home, where he observes Landon's bedroom. He
is struck by internal visions of the Gehenna Devil and Lucy Butler, the
woman who murdered Bletcher. Meanwhile, the Long-Haired Man drags a bound-and-gagged
Bryce into the remote country farmhouse. The teenager is thrown into a
room, where he is spoken to by the female form. The woman tells Bryce that
she loves him. A short time later, Bryce realizes he has a cell mate — the
Screwed-Up Guy who attempted to escape in the teaser.
Meanwhile, a concerned Frank
attempts to contact Jordan by telephone, only to discover she is not at
home. Frank tells Watts his concern stems from the fact that he sensed
Lucy Butler's presence in Bryce's bedroom. Watts attempts to calm Frank's
concerns by noting that a Millennium Group member, Olson, has been monitoring
Butler's movements ever since she won release on suspicion of Detective Bletcher's murder. A short time later, Frank and Watts travel to Lucy's
last known address — a rural farmhouse. But once inside, the pair discover
Olson's rotting corpse. The men realize that Butler had gained access to
Olson's Group files and then submitted her own surveillance reports.
Bryce, meanwhile, manages to
rip loose a section of the door to his cell. But his escape is thwarted
when the Gehenna Devil — which transforms into the Long-Haired Man — knocks
him to the ground and then drags him back to the room. Lucy then cradles
Bryce's head in her lap and begins the first stages of brainwashing
him.
Frank decides the best hope of
locating Bryce is by interviewing Teresa Roe, as the argument between her
and the two teenagers was so loud it attracted the attention of others
outside her office. During the conversation, Frank takes note of Roe's
use of the past tense whenever she mentions Bryce's name. Afterward, Giebelhouse,
Watts and Frank research Roe's background. They realize that wherever she
taught school, students disappeared. Frank concludes that all of the missing
teenagers were just like Bryce — ordinary kids with average grades who exhibited
signs of promise.
Meanwhile, Bryce manages to gain
the confidence of the Screwed-Up Guy, who is so confused mentally that
he cannot remember his own name. Bryce discovers the existence of a tunnel
that runs beneath the farm, the same tunnel the Screwed-Up Guy used for
his escape earlier. He convinces his cell mate to join him for a break-out.
The pair make their way through the tunnel, but when they emerge on the
other side, they are confronted by Lucy and the Long-Haired Man. Back in
the cell, a demonic Lucy tells Bryce that he is mediocre — an ordinary teenager
— and
the sooner he understands this concept, the better.
Meanwhile, while being interviewed
by Frank, Watts and Geibelhouse, Roe espouses the same philosophy when
discussing Bryce. The men surprise Roe by mentioning the name Kate Lynn.
Roe claims not to recognize the name, though it soon becomes clear that
she is Kate Lynn, a once-promising student. Frank accuses her of surrendering,
of giving up on the hope of improving the numbers by which she and all
other students are judged. Instead, she made a pact with the devil. A frightened
Roe reveals the location of Lucy's farm. Shortly thereafter, police raid
the location, setting free the many students kidnapped by Lucy, including
Bryce and the Screwed-Up Guy. As the Screwed-Up Guy is escorted away by
paramedics, he notices a photograph of himself, which is labeled with the
name "Marshall Lee Lambert." But he does not recognize his own name. Frank
instructs police to search everywhere for Lucy. Later, he once again phones
Jordan, but upon discovering she is not at home, he leaves another message
describing how much he loves her.
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Photographs:
- Frank discovers a decomposing corpse
- Lucy Butler tempts
Landon Bryce
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Lucy struggles to control Bryce
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Bryce finds himself in a terrifying prison
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Lucy remains constantly by Bryce's side
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The demonic and determined Lucy Butler
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Abyss Rating:
(3/5)
Media Review:
"'A
Room with No View' marks the return of that charismatic killer from
season one, Lucy Butler. As played by Sarah-Jane Redmond, Butler is an
enigma wrapped inside pure, unfettered evil and her plan this time
around is so ambiguous and odd that it makes for a really compelling
installment of the series. Trapping exceptional teenagers (with the
help of a handy accomplice) and forcing them to 'conform to normalcy,'
there are hints of her previous, demonic parameters here but with just
a smidgen of crazy-cult mentality tossed in just to be safe. With Paul
Mauriat’s 'Love is Blue' constantly playing in the background (a
genius choice by whomever picked that oddball 60's song) and the
strange semi-coherent dialogue with all its doom, gloom and
foreshadowing peppering the proceedings, this is a great episode of
the series, even if in retrospect it doesn’t appear to have very much
to do with the mythology or monsters being explored." —Bill Gibron, DVD Talk
Trivia:
"A Room With No View" is the second
Millennium story to feature Frank Black's arch nemesis, Lucy
Butler.
Actress Sarah-Jane Redmond would appear
once per season in the memorable role.
Inside Lucy Butler's house her prisoners
are repeatedly subjected to the sounds of
"Love
is Blue." The instrumental version of the song by French conductor
Paul Mauriat, heard in the episode, was the number one song on the
Billboard Music Chart for five weeks in 1968. For many Millennium
fans, this episode's use of the song has forever altered their
emotional response to the music.
Guest star Christopher Masterson,
appearing here as Landon Bryce, would go on to become one of the stars
of the Fox network's hit comedy Malcolm in the Middle. He has
also been seen on television in such shows as The Pretender,
Touched by an Angel, and The Dead Zone.
Death Toll:
2
Title:
This episode's title twists
a familiar expression to accurately describe the prison cell that Lucy
Butler confines
Landon Bryce to. The play on words
references the title of A Room with a View by E. M. Forster,
another story that features a young protagonist struggling with
questions of morality and societal expectations.
Soundtrack:
"Love
is Blue" by Paul Mauriat
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Stephen James Lang as Detective Giebelhouse
Guest Starring:
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Lucy Butler
Christopher Masterson as Landon Bryce
Scott Heindl as the Long-Haired Man
Chad Todhunter as Ben
Timothy Weber as Mr. Bryce
Henri Lubatti as Dr. Stuart Sheslow
Maryangela Pino as Teresa Roe
Production
Credits:
Production #5C20
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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