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Summary:
As Frank Black watches one of his greatest foes, Ed Cuffle, die in the electric
chair he assumes he's found a way to defeat evil and place his nightmares behind
him. Shocking serial
murders with patterns familiar to Frank prove, however, that someone's
found a way to bring Ed back. Emma's father's illness takes a
dangerous turn, forcing her through a series of painful choices. Peter
Watts emerges from the shadows with a deal for Emma, offering her father
a cure if she agrees to assist the Millennium Group. As Emma and Peter
enter into a silent agreement, Frank, Barry Baldwin, and the FBI make a
desperate attempt to stop the new Ed Cuffle.
Season Three on DVD
Synopsis:
A frantic Frank Black rushes inside Jordan’s
classroom and tells his daughter that they are leaving at
once. Jordan calmly retrieves her backpack and, acting as
though the summons has been long expected, leaves the room.
Frank and Jordan run to the car and eventually begin a
journey into the mountains.
Three weeks earlier, Frank and a group
of onlookers observe as convicted serial killer Edward Cuffle is strapped
into an electric chair. Moments before a black leather mask is placed over
Cuffle’s face, his eyes lock with someone sitting in the group. He mouths
the word, "Yes." The executioner then flips the fatal switch, electrocuting Cuffle.
An intruder wearing a night vision
device enters the home of John and Cyndie Dryden. As the man, who we will
come to know as Lucas
Wayne Barr, makes his way through the living room,
he carves the Roman numeral "II" into a wall. He makes his way upstairs,
as the sounds of the couple making love filter through the house. Barr
enters the bedroom, his night vision apparatus recording the proceedings.
The following day, a cleaning lady finds John and Cyndie’s bodies lashed
to dining room chairs with barbed wire.
Frank and other investigators comb
through the Dryden household, looking for clues. Frank notices a small-bore
hole in John’s temple. Though Baldwin concludes the injury was the result
of a bullet, Frank later explains that the couple died when holes were
drilled into their skulls. He tells Baldwin he knows this because the killer
is Ed Cuffle, a man who died in the electric chair three days earlier.
Frank tells Baldwin and Emma that Cuffle,
the son of a cleaning woman, resented the upper class. As a young boy,
Cuffle overheard his mother — who "turned tricks" for extra income — having
sex with the men who owned the houses she cleaned. Frank believes that
someone is copying Cuffle’s modus operandi for reasons unknown.
Watts tells Emma that the Millennium
Group is involved in biomedical research. He hints that they have discovered
a way to reverse the affects of Alzheimer’s disease.
Frank reviews surveillance footage
of the execution chamber. He realizes that when Cuffle mouthed the word
"yes," he was communicating with a man sitting in the gallery. Unfortunately,
the image is so blurry it cannot be electronically enhanced.
Wearing the night vision apparatus,
Barr invades another home as the occupants have sex. This time, however,
as he enters the bedroom, he spies is own reflection in a mirror. He freezes.
The man having sex, Tommy Marcetti, chases Barr from the house. Marcetti
and his girlfriend, Maria, contact the police. Frank retraces the intruder’s
steps. He realizes Barr saw his reflection in the mirror.
Frank returns to the Dryden house,
where he encounters Baldwin. He notices the Roman numerals "II," "IX" and
"XII" carved into the walls. Frank realizes that the killer is following
Jesus Christ’s path, the fourteen stations of the cross. The killer, Frank
believes, feels as though he is suffering, much in the same way Christ
suffered.
As Emma sleeps on her father’s couch
one night, a figure, gun in hand, approaches her form. Emma’s eyes open.
She sees her father pointing a gun at her. Emma slams the gun away, causing
it to discharge. She then wrestles away the weapon.
Emma places her father inside a nursing home. Watts again
approaches her and offers a Faustian deal: the Group will cure her father
if she agrees to help force Frank out of the FBI. Emma insists she has
no control over her colleague’s future plans.
Using a process of elimination, FBI
agents pour over military records, hoping to find their suspect. Eventually,
Emma is able to match the image of the man in the execution gallery to
a military photo of Lucas Barr. Despite Frank’s misgivings, Baldwin organizes
a raid on Barr’s apartment. As Frank watches from afar, Baldwin, Emma and
a group of FBI agents prepare to storm the apartment. Moments before the
agents break down the door, Emma is distracted by her pager. Baldwin and
his team move inside, finding an empty apartment. But Frank is overcome
with a sudden premonition. He races towards the building, and as he does
so, yells into his radio. He tells everyone inside to evacuate at once.
Moments later, Baldwin notices a metal case connected to blinking lights
and a counter. He orders his men out of the apartment, but it is too late.
The device explodes. Meanwhile, Barr moves through yet another darkened
house.
TO BE CONTINUED |
Photographs:
- Frank and Jordan escape
- Ed Cuffle in the electric chair
- Frank Black watches Cuffle's execution
- A view through Barr's night vision goggles
- Lucas Barr watches a couple in bed
- Ed Cuffle's final Polaroid to Frank
- The posed corpses of the Dryden couple
- Barry and Emma learn from Frank
- Peter Watts influences Emma
- James Hollis is placed in a nursing home
- The voyeuristic Lucas Wayne Barr
- Barry Baldwin leads the FBI strike team
- Frank holds Emma after the explosion
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Abyss Rating:
(4/5)
Media Review:
"'Via Dolorosa' and 'Goodbye To All
That' are some of the best in the series. While it's good to know that
Millennium ended strongly, it's equally disappointing when we
realize that they're the last two outings in the series. Could the
show have regained its footing in a fourth season, or should the
creative team have called it quits after the second? The decision,
fortunately, is up to the viewer while watching this final batch of
episodes."
—Randy Miller III, DVD Talk
Trivia:
"Via Dolorosa" includes the
first and
only on-screen appearance of serial killer Edward Sebastian Cuffle, a character
who is pivotal to the Millennium mythology because of his
influence on the development of Frank Black. Cuffle is first
referenced during the pilot episode, when Frank explains that the
killer's creative use of Polaroid photographs contributed to the
creation of the Polaroid stalker and, eventually, to Frank's own
psychological breakdown. Frank watches as Cuffle — portrayed by
actor
Matthew Glave — is finally
executed during "Via Dolorosa's" teaser. Curiously, Frank mentions
that Cuffle is already dead during the Chris Carter-penned third
season episode "Seven and One." There is no explanation for this
apparent continuity discrepancy offered in this episode.
Death Toll:
3
Title:
Jesus'
route from Pilate's judgment hall to Calvary is known as the Via
Dolorosa.
Thus, the name
has come to be used to describe a difficult course or experience and
is used to identify the fourteen Stations
of the Cross that killer
Lucas Wayne Barr incorporates into his modus operandi.
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black
Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Peter Outerbridge as Barry Baldwin
Stephen E. Miller as Andy McClaren
Guest Starring:
John Beasley as James Edward Hollis
Matthew Glave as Edward Cuffle
Jeff Parise as Lucas Wayne Barr
Trevor White as Doug Scaife
John Mann as Detective Krebbs
Mark Humphrey as Tommy Marcetti
Khaira Le as Suzie
Andrew Wheeler as Father Murray
Sarah Macaulay as Maria Jones
Kevin McNulty as Dr. Arnett
Ken Roberts as the Warden
Paul Kane as
John Dryden
Frida Betrani as the Art Teacher
Production
Credits:
Production #6C21
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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