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Summary:
Frank Black and Emma Hollis investigate a series of apparent drownings
that occurred on dry land and discover that each victim had cheated death once before. Could these people, all members
of a near death experience group, have been living on time borrowed from
heaven? The case becomes personal when Jordan falls life-threateningly ill and
Frank notices a man from the recent crime scenes, clad all in black,
standing by her bedside.
Season Three on DVD
Full Transcript Available
Synopsis:
Inside a hospital, a priest delivers the last rites to an
unidentified patient. Meanwhile, a man we will come to know
as Samiel makes his way through the hallway of a moving
train. He steals a set of keys from a conductor's station,
then makes his way to a compartment holding four passengers,
including a little girl Jordan's age. Samiel uses a key to
lock the compartment door. Moments later, the trains
wrenches violently and plunges into a river. Back at the
hospital, the priest continues his prayer, identifying the
patient as Jordan Black.
In flashback, two days earlier:
As Frank stops the red Cherokee in front of the elementary school,
Jordan complains of not feeling well. Frank promises he will pick her
up at school if she still feels under the weather at lunch time.
Meanwhile, inside a park, a mother videotapes the strange sight of a
middle-aged woman flailing her arms and gasping for breath. As the
stricken woman collapses, water streams from her mouth.
Emma and Frank investigate the
woman's death. Frank experiences a vision, one that prompts him to
conclude that the woman drowned. However, Emma explains that the
victim died on dry land. A coroner finds a large amount of water in
her lungs. Moments later, Frank experiences another vision. He sees
more water and still more bodies. He also notices an indent on the
victim's wrist, indicating she wore a watch.
Emma tells Frank that a woman
named Lisa Maher also died as a result of the mysterious fluid. It
turns out that Maher once suffered from meningoencephalitis, a
bacterial infection of the brain which usually proves fatal to adults.
Jordan also suffered from the ailment years earlier. Frank discovers
that Gertrude Epstein, the woman from the park, miraculously survived
a terrible car crash three years earlier. The common link between
Epstein and Maher is that both cheated death. Later, Samiel enters a
tenement apartment where he approaches a sleeping thirty-five-year-old
man. Samiel places his hand over the man's mouth, causing water to
stream out.
Frank and Emma investigate the
man's death. It turns out that Samiel dialed 911 and alerted
authorities of the victim's demise. Frank believes it was an act of
compassion. A search of the dead man's apartment turns up a postcard
for meetings at Remain in Light, a near death experience group. Later,
Frank picks Jordan up from school when she continues feeling sick. As
he walks towards the Cherokee with his daughter, Frank notices Samiel
standing under some trees, watching from the shadows. Suddenly, Jordan
collapses. Frank rushes her to the hospital, where she is placed in a
tub of ice to lower her body temperature. Eventually, Jordan's
condition stabilizes. A doctor tells Frank that Jordan exhibits
symptoms of meningitis, but lab tests have ruled out the disease.
Frank insists the illness is not a figment of Jordan's imagination.
Moments later, he notices Samiel standing under a large tree two
floors below. Frank races outside the hospital, but by the time he
reaches the tree, Samiel is gone. Frank finds a woman's watch hanging
on one of the tree branches.
With the assistance of a
computer sketch artist, Frank creates a drawing of Samiel's likeness.
Frank tells Emma that the stranger has been stalking Jordan. He also
links Jordan's previous brush with death (when she was diagnosed with
meningitis years earlier) with the other three victims. He believes
that all four people, including his daughter, have been living on
borrowed time. And now, for reasons unknown, Samiel is coming after
Jordan. Emma assures him that Jordan's sickness has nothing to do with
the case.
Emma discovers Samiel attending
a Remain in Light meeting. She escorts him to Quantico for
questioning. Frank suddenly launches himself at Samiel. He warns him
to stay away from his daughter and threatens his life. Emma and
several agents pull Frank off Samiel. Shortly thereafter, he learns
that tests have concluded that Samiel's voice does not match the 911
call. Frank studies the videotape taken at the park. He discovers
Samiel's reflection on a window near the collapsed woman. Frank plays
the tape for Emma. As the images advance, frame by frame, it becomes
clear that Samiel's reflection vanishes in one frame. Emma insists the
man could not just disappear into thin air. Moments later, Jordan
steps from the shadows, gasping for air. Water begins trickling from
her mouth.
Doctors stabilize Jordan's
condition, but are confused by her symptoms. A short time later,
Samiel approaches Frank at the hospital. He tells Frank that Jordan
must die in order for others to live, just as Catherine died for
Jordan's sake. Frank rushes to his daughter's side when alarm monitors
begin to blare. Doctors wheel in a crash cart and attempt to save her
life. Frank begs God not to take his little girl away.
As Jordan begins to drown in the
mysterious fluid, Samiel locks the compartment door on the train (as
seen in the opening teaser). As before, the train lurches off the
tracks and plunges into the river below. As water pours into the
train, Samiel becomes trapped in a corridor. As the last bits of
oxygen escape from his lungs, Jordan's heart begins beating once more.
A short time later, paramedics rush the first of the four train wreck
survivors into the emergency room. A paramedic points to a
sheet-covered body nearby. He states that the victim did not share
their luck. Emma pulls back the sheet and sees Samiel's body, a
peaceful smile upon his face. Later, Jordan tells Frank she spoke to
Catherine, and that her mother said to convey a message: she made the
right choice.
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Photographs:
- Frank speaks with Jordan at school
- Frank and Emma discuss the drownings
- Emma presents related evidence
- Frank and Emma observe an autopsy
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Abyss Rating:
(5/5)
Trivia:
"Borrowed Time" is one of several third
season Millennium episodes to spotlight talented young co-star
Brittany Tiplady by focusing on the character of Jordan Black.
Tiplady's regular performances as Jordan earned her four consecutive
Young Artist Award nominations for Best Performance by a Supporting
Young Actress in a Television Drama Series, an award she won in 1998.
Tiplady was excited to find her role expanded for the third season,
commenting, "Millennium is
still a lot of fun. My part this season is bigger and more involved. I
don't spend a lot of my time sleeping anymore."
Susan Tiplady, Brittany's
mother, once told the Abyss that it was difficult for her to be on the
set while "Borrowed Time" was being filmed.
"It was horrible to watch Brittany shoot
that episode. When they were shooting the bath scene in the hospital, I had
to remove myself from the set because I couldn't stand her
screams. Brittany kept calling me to come and see. She would say,
'Mom, don't be such a wimp, it is only make-believe'!" While
Brittany's stunning performance helps to convince us that she's being
immersed in a tub of ice water, the actress was in fact being placed
in a vat filled with warm water and plastic ice cubes.
Actor Eric Mabius
appears in this episode as an angel known as
Samiel, although the character's name is
never uttered on screen. An angel
with a similar moniker confronted Frank Black in the first season
episode "Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions." Whether or
not the two actors were portraying forms of the same celestial being
is still a matter speculated upon by fans. Mabius would go on to star
with Kirsten Dunst in The Crow: Salvation, the third film in
The Crow franchise. The film, like this episode, was written by
Millennium writer and executive producer Chip Johannessen.
Guest star Amanda Tapping, seen here as
Dr. Cantor, is best known to fans of science fiction television as
Captain Samantha Carter on the Sci-Fi Channel drama series Stargate
SG-1. The actress also appeared in an episode of The X-Files.
Death Toll:
3+
Title:
As Frank Black
explains, "Jordan could've
died in those first days in Seattle — should have, like that woman in
the park, like the 911 call. She is living on borrowed time."
Awards:
Young Artist Award - Brittany
Tiplady, Best Performance in a Television Drama Series: Young Actress
(Nominee)
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Guest Starring:
Eric Mabius as Samiel
Amanda Tapping as Dr. Cantor
Ted Cole as the Paramedic
Ben Derrick as Track Controller #1
Bill Dow as the C.D.C. Examiner
Kim Hawthorne as the Nurse
Jenny-Lynn Hutcheson as the Little Girl
Andrea MacDonald as the Girl's Mother
Paul Magel as the Orthodox Son
Ian Marsh as Track Controller #2
Colin Murdoch as the Business Man
Donald Pauls as the Yuppie
Tom Pickett as the Train Conductor
Tonjha Richardson as the Business Woman
Nina Roman as Gertrude Epstein
Kerry Sandomirsky as the R.I.L. Woman
Ingrid Tesch as the Mother with Camera
Robert Thurston as the R.I.L. Director
Andrew Wheeler as the Priest
Production
Credits:
Production #6C10
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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