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Summary:
When a dog digs up a woman's severed leg in a small town where Emma Hollis
spent part of her nomadic youth, Frank and Emma
travel there to investigate. Frank,
from the start, knows fully well who the culprit is but a lack of evidence
forces him to engage in a dangerous game of slowly breaking down the killer's
psyche, forcing him to reveal his own crimes.
Season Three on DVD
Synopsis:
As twenty-year-old Jan McCall drives her decrepit
car along a two-lane rural road in South Mills,
Pennsylvania, she notices a flashing red light in her rear
view mirror. Jan accidentally drops her marijuana cigarette
onto the floor and is unable to retrieve it as she pulls
over to the side of the road. A man, his face unseen, steps
up to the car and shines a flashlight in Jan’s face. Later,
a dog digs up a severed foot that had been buried beneath a
shrub. A series of toe rings identifies the body part as
Jan’s
Emma and Frank travel to South Mills,
where Emma lived for a few years as a little girl. Her childhood friend,
Tommy Briggs, is now the town sheriff. It turns out that Tommy had sent
the severed foot to the FBI hoping for an identification. Emma tells him
that an alligator tattoo on the foot may be the mascot of Everglades University.
Sand and sunscreen found on the skin and under the fingernails suggest
the victim was killed on a sunny day. Briggs believes the location must
be Allehela State Park, a few miles away. Emma, Frank and Briggs meet with
park ranger Jerry Neilson. Frank moves towards a lifeguard stand, where
he experiences internal visions about the girl’s attack. He orders the
area cordoned off. Later, Frank happens upon a new missing persons listing
for Jan McCall. A list of distinguishing marks includes an alligator tattoo.
Her automobile is listed as an old Datsun. Briggs remembers a similar car
found abandoned ten days earlier. The threesome visit a salvage yard. It
is determined that the license plate on the car does not match the vehicle
identification number. Frank discovers a bloody face print on a window.
A partial fingerprint is also recovered. A computer search identifies the
print as Jerry Neilson’s.
Police search Neilson’s house for evidence,
but come up empty handed. Neilson denies any involvement in the girl’s
death. Frank, however, suspects otherwise. Meanwhile, police match four
cars found as the wrecking yard to other missing women. Frank notices Neilson’s
defensive attitude towards the park. He suspects Neilson may have committed
his first murder just outside its borders, something that may have passed
for an accident. Upon viewing photos of the missing girls, Frank is drawn
to one in particular: Liddy Hooper. Briggs explains that Liddy’s death
had been ruled an accidental drowning.
Frank and Emma have Liddy Hooper’s
coffin exhumed. It turns out to be empty. Later, Liddy’s daybook "turns
up" in the police station. Briggs alerts Emma to the fact that his name,
as well as Neilson’s, can be found within. He admits having a sexual encounter
with the trashy Liddy. He also warns that many other men from the small
community, some of them married, are mentioned in the book. Frank takes
a special interest in an entry made on the day Liddy vanished, which mentions
a local bar. He questions Lana, a woman who works at the establishment.
Frank experiences several internal visions when he enters the bar’s back
room. Lana remembers Liddy has "having a thing" for men in uniform, such
as police officers and firemen. But she cannot recall Liddy hanging out
with Jerry Neilson.
Using an abandoned vehicle report,
Frank makes his way to the location where Liddy’s car was discovered. He
walks along the wooded edge of a reservoir near a hydroelectric dam. He
eventually comes upon a bridge, under which is a cement casting. Frank
takes particular interest in a metal ring, which is attached to the casing
by a hinge-like pin. He experiences an internal vision of a human foot
being shoved through the ring.
Neilson meets Frank at the bar. He
proceeds to tell him what really transpired on the night Liddy disappeared.
In flashback, Neilson, Sheriff Briggs, paramedic Lee Smith and Deputy Wayne
Johnson play cards as Liddy Hooper observes. Wayne "bids" Liddy in lieu
of money. He tells the other men that if he wins the hand, Liddy will have
sex with Neilson. But Neilson stepped forward and told the men to leave
Liddy alone. When the story resumes in the current day, Neilson tells Frank
he last saw Liddy passed out in her car, which was parked on the side of
a road. He and Frank drive to the location so Frank can look for possible
clues. As Neilson listens, Frank describes what happened on the night of
the murder. He tells Neilson that the perpetrator wasn’t interested in
killing Liddy. He leads him down the river, until they reach the bridge.
Underneath is the now-familiar cement casing. In flashback, a figure leads
the drunken Liddy down the embankment. The man smashes Liddy’s foot through
the iron ring and proceed to drown her. Frank concludes that the killer
left the foot of his last victim buried under a shrub because he wanted
to get caught to show authorities what he had done. He asks Neilson to
show him where the other bodies are buried. Later, Liddy Hooper is at last
given a proper funeral. |
- Jan McCall's foot is discovered
- Frank and Emma survey South Mills
- Frank finds a peeping Tom's hideaway
- Ranger
Jerry Neilson, murder suspect
- Neilson immerses himself in his tub
- Liddy Hooper with
Sheriff Tommy Briggs
- Frank Black returns to the crime scene
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Abyss Rating:
(4/5)
Trivia:
Millennium fans might find the
face of Liddy Hooper to be familiar. Actress
April Telek first appeared on the series as the stripper Calamity in
the pilot episode. Telek has also been seen on such shows as The
Outer Limits, First Wave, Dead Like Me, and
Stargate SG-1.
Guest star Justin Louis, who takes center
stage in "Nostalgia" as murderous Park Ranger Jerry Neilson, has been
seen on various police dramas including Law & Order, NYPD
Blue, Murder One, and Cracker. He would later also
appear on The Others, a television series produced by onetime
Millennium producers Glen Morgan and James Wong.
Death Toll:
1
Title:
Nostalgia
—
a bittersweet longing for
things, persons, or situations of the past
—
motivates several of this episode's characters. Emma Hollis' visit to
South Mills, Pennsylvania prompts nostalgic remembrances of her
childhood. In a less wholesome sense,
Jerry Neilson experiences his own nostalgia
regarding Liddy Hooper and it is his
remembrances of the events of the past that help Frank Black to expose
his crimes.
Soundtrack:
"A Perfect Day Elise" by PJ Harvey
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Guest Starring:
Ted Marcoux as Jerry Neilson
April Telek as Elizabeth "Liddy" Hooper
David Barrera as Sheriff Tommy Briggs
Blake Stovin as Deputy Wayne Johnson
Jim Shield as Lee Smith
Ron Small as Ron Hauge
Kaitlyn Burke as Alicia
Linnea Sharples as Alicia's Mom
Madeleine Campbell as Cora
Lisa Marie Caruk as Jan McCall
Jennifer Griffin as Lana
R.
David Stephens as the Agent
Ian Brown as the Minister
Production
Credits:
Production #6C20
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 Chris Carter
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