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Summary:
After failing a random FBI drug test, Emma Hollis disobeys orders and
travels to Vancouver in search of her half-sister, an addict. A
concerned Frank Black soon follows and finds his partner struggling to
get to the bottom of what local addicts claim to be a series of
bizarre mutations being induced through tainted heroin.
Season Three on DVD
Synopsis:
Inside a flophouse motel in Vancouver, British Columbia, a
young drug addict named Elissa gives herself a heroin injection. As
her roommate, Tamra, prepares to follow suit, Elissa makes her way to
the bathroom. Suddenly, Elissa’s body is rocked by violent spasms.
Fearing for her friend’s well being, Tamra enters the bathroom. To her
horror, Elissa has transformed into a reptilian-looking creature.
Tamra runs into the hallway, where she calls for help. There she
encounters two drug dealers, Pulga and Johnny. The two men enter the
room as Tamra waits outside. Shortly thereafter, they exit — and warn
Tamra not to tell anyone about the incident. Tamra reenters the room,
but finds it empty. She peers out an open window into the alley below,
where she sees Elissa’s lifeless body. She then phones Emma Hollis at
FBI headquarters.
Back at Quantico, McClaren tells
Frank that Emma tested positive for heroin. Frank dismisses the idea
as absurd. A short time later, Agent Baldwin discovers a packet
containing white powder amongst Emma’s personal belongings. Frank
approaches Emma, hoping she will shed some light on the situation. But
she decides to take her attorney’s advice and remain silent. Emma
travels to Vancouver, where she pays a young dealer to help her find
Tamra. The dealer runs off into the night. A short time later, a car
pulls to the curb and Tamra, badly in need of a fix, steps out. Emma
checks her into a methadone house. There, Emma tells Tamra that the
substance she sent her in the mail has not been tested. Tamra claims
that the heroin turns people into monsters. She also tells Emma that a
dealer named Pulga is distributing the drug. Shortly thereafter, Emma
approaches the young dealer she paid to find Tamra. He tells her where
she can find Pulga.
Emma drives to the flophouse
motel, but she has little luck finding Pulga. She then boards a
freight elevator and descends to a vestibule that leads to the
alleyway where Elissa met her death. Suddenly, a car enters the alley
and bears down on her. Johnny exits the vehicle and opens fire. Emma
manages to escape and makes her way back to the elevator. Johnny
pursues her into the vestibule, where a struggle ensues. Emma manages
to disarm her attacker and knocks him into the space where the
elevator will soon land. Realizing he will be crushed, Johnny
surrenders. But when the elevator comes to a halt, Pulga, gun in hand,
exits. Emma tries to run, but Johnny pins her against a wall. She
accuses the duo of selling contaminated heroin. As police sirens sound
in the distance, the dealers shove Emma onto the floor and kick her
repeatedly. They then make their escape.
Frank travels to Vancouver after
he discovers Tamra’s name in Emma’s Rolodex. He visits Emma in her
holding cell at the Vancouver police department. He is now aware that
Tamra is actually one of Emma’s relatives. Emma explains that Tamra
sent her an unmarked packet in the mail. Emma tasted the sample,
thereby explaining how she tested positive for heroin use. A short
time later, Frank receives a phone call from McClaren. It turns out
that the white powder that had been sent to Emma is eighty percent
heroin.
Frank checks with Vancouver
police in hopes of verifying Tamra’s story about Elissa.
Unfortunately, there are no unidentified bodies at the morgue that
match her description. A short time later, Detective Rondell, of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, contacts Emma and Frank when Elissa’s
body is pulled from a river. As Frank and Emma observe, a coroner
performs an autopsy on the body. Emma tells the coroner about Tamra’s
claim that Elissa resembled a monster shortly before her death. The
coroner explains that his office has seen a number of overdoses in
which the victims were searching for that mythological monster, a kind
of urban legend. Frank begins to suspect that the disfigurement Tamra
spoke of was temporary in nature. Meanwhile, Pulga and Johnny approach
their Asian supplier. They tell him that the heroin is making people
sick. The Asian man demands proof.
Frank contacts McClaren at FBI
headquarters. He tells him that a lab test has revealed a foreign
hormone in Elissa’s skin cells. McClaren tells Frank that the FBI has
dropped its investigation of Emma. Frank is taken aback by this
development and concludes that Tamra’s life may be in danger.
Meanwhile, Pulga and Johnny inject Tamra with the contaminated heroin,
which causes her to transform into the reptilian creature. Now
possessing their proof, Pulga and Johnny bring Tamra to the Asian man.
The Asian man is horrified by what he sees. He orders both men into a
nearby minivan.
While searching through various
mug shots of Chinese gang members, Frank comes upon the image of Mr.
Wing Ho. Frank experiences horrific visions of Ho, and later questions
Rondell about Ho’s affiliation with the heroin trade in British
Columbia. Rondell explains that Ho works as a chemist for the Hong
Kong triads. He also believes that Ho is an informant for the United
States government, a result of his brother being executed by the Dai
Lo in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, at an urban warehouse, the
Asian Man confronts Ho, who always remains in the shadows, about the
heroin and its affect on Tamra. The Asian man instructs Ho to step
into the light. Ho complies, and for the first time, the Asian man
sees the severity of his deformities. Ho admits he poisoned all the
heroin. Frank and Emma make their way to the warehouse. There, they
discover the bodies of Pulga and Johnny. The warehouse has been doused
with gasoline, as the dealers want to destroy the contaminated heroin.
Despite the danger, Frank enters the building. He finds Mr. Ho sitting
in a large puddle of gasoline. Nearby, he finds Tamra huddled beneath
a table. Frank lifts Tamra into his arms and carries her to safety
moments before the warehouse is destroyed by flames.
When Frank returns to Quantico, he shows
McClaren a model of a synthetic hormone that was injected into Tamra’s
body. The compound had been developed at a United States Army research
facility some six years earlier. McClaren tells Frank that the entire
issue has been forgiven. But Frank assures him that he is wrong.
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Photographs:
- The disapproving face of Andy McClaren
- Emma Hollis recuperates after her attack
- Frank explains the case's legal difficulties
- Frank and Emma on Vancouver streets
- Frank carries Tamra
from an inferno
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Abyss Rating:
(1/5)
Trivia:
"Human Essence" is the second and final
episode written by Michael Duggan, the man who served as co-executive
producer during the start of the third season. The producer had
previously helped to helm such shows as Law & Order, Earth 2,
and C-16: FBI.
Asked whether or not Millennium's third
year stories would be presenting the supernatural, Duggan once
explained, "I think we prefer the
terms speculative and plausible. Chris has given us no mandate other
than to get back to the first season's tense, atmospheric crime solving
without veering into X-File-ish, UFO areas."
This episode — which, although
scientifically grounded, at times seems as if it might be an episode
of The X-Files — is almost unanimously considered by fans to be
the worst the series ever produced. Duggan, who is said to have had
difficulty connecting with Millennium and the show's creative
team, left the show's staff
shortly after this episode was produced.
This episode includes an audio gag that
serves to complicate the efforts of those fans
concerned with connecting the continuity
of Millennium to Chris Carter's The X-Files. As Emma
Hollis is searching a Vancouver apartment building she can hear the
audio from a resident's noisy television and it is clear that the
individual is watching The X-Files. Gillian Anderson's voice
can be heard. Viewers familiar with The X-Files will recognize
the music and dialogue from the episode "Kill Switch."
Death Toll:
3
Title:
The episode's title
seems to reference the unique properties of
Mr. Ho's drug additive, the substance's
ability to alter what seems to be the essence of humanity by revealing a monster from within.
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Peter Outerbridge as Barry Baldwin
Stephen E. Miller as Andy McClaren
Guest Starring:
Samaria Graham as Tamra Caffrey
Hiro Kanagawa as Detective Rondell
Darryl Quon as Pulga
Jorgito D. Vargas as the Young Dealer
Winston Brown as the House Staffer
Stephen Chang as Mr. Ho
Donald Fong as Kai Lam
Karin Konoval as Dr. Angela Horvath
David Mackay as the Medical Examiner
Mikela J. Mikael as Elissa
Production
Credits:
Production #6C07
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
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 Chip Johannessen
Executive Producer Michael Duggan
Executive Producer Chris Carter
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