Jump to content

The Mikado (Millennium)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Grapple X (talk | contribs) at 02:26, 9 July 2012 (GA changes). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"The Mikado (Millennium)"

"'The Beginning and the End" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on September 19, 1997. The episode was written by Michael R. Perry and Roderick J. Pridy and Walon Green, and directed by Thomas J. Wright. "The Beginning and the End" featured a guest appearance by Allan Zinyk as Brian Roedecker.

After a group of boys witness a murder via a live webcam feed, Millennium Group profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) realizes that the culprit is an old adversary who has learned to exploit the internet to continue his killing spree while avoiding capture.

Perry was inspired to write the episode after considering the "dark side" of the internet, drawing influence from Jennifer Ringley's JenniCam website. Avatar, the episode's antagonist, was based on real-life murderer the Zodiac Killer. "The Mikado" was seen by over five million households in its initial broadcast, and has received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

A group of friends browse the internet for pornography, finding a live stream of a woman bound to a chair. Behind her a number is painted on the wall; when the feed's web counter reaches the painted figure, a masked man appears and cuts the girl's throat. The boys quickly print an image of the feed as proof of what they have seen.

Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) finds that police across the United States have received calls from witnesses to the killing. The police believe it to be a hoax but Black is convinced of its authenticity. He and fellow Group member Brian Roedecker (Allan Zinyk) identify the victim as Rebecca Damsen. Damsen's email correspondence leads them to a San Jose address; they find the bodies of both the owner and Damsen in a nearby graveyard. By the bodies is another number, which they determine to be an IP address.

The IP address leads to another live feed similar in nature to the first one. However, the chair is empty this time. There is another number painted on the wall, which Black recognizes as a case file number from his time in the FBI—the case concerned Avatar, a serial killer who was able to evade all attempts at capture. Avatar sends Black a coded message twice, and places a woman in the chair on the feed, keeping her face hidden. Roedecker realizes that, through image differencing, the two messages contain additional information—a sound clip from The Mikado, known to be Avatar's favourite operetta.

Black determines that another set of numbers visible on the feed are latitude and longitude co-ordinates for San Francisco. The San Francisco Police Department are uncooperative, however, and the second girl is murdered when the feed's counter again reaches the allotted number. Avatar leaves another clue after the killing, which leads to two further video feeds—one shows a third set like the others, again with an empty chair; the other shows the exterior of a mobile home. Police are able to locate the mobile home, but an officer is killed by a booby trap upon entering it. Black travels to San Francisco, finding an abandoned theatre whose marquee is displaying The Mikado. He hears gunfire and takes cover from a masked gunman; however, he soon sees that the gunner is another kidnap victim, a gun tied to her arm in an attempt to trick Black into shooting her. Avatar has, by this time, escaped.

Production

File:Lbsfsketch.jpg
Perry based the killer Avatar on the Zodiac Killer (police sketch pictured).

"The Mikado" is the first episode of Millennium to have been written by Michael R. Perry,[1] who would go on to pen a further four episodes in the third season.[2] The episode is the final one helmed by director Roderick J. Pridy, who had also taken the reins on "Covenant" in the first season.[3]

Perry was inspired to write the episode upon wondering whether the internet, about which he had only head positive remarks, had a "dark side". He was shown Jennifer Ringley's JenniCam website, which provided a constant webcam view of her daily life, and wondered what sort of investigations would arise if a murder were witnessed on a similar broadcast.[4] The other main inspiration for the episode was the real-life Zodiac Killer, who formed the basis for the fictional Avatar.[5] Perry's script was later given a "polish" by executive producer James Wong, with Perry stating that roughly ninety percent of the material is his own work.[6] Several women in the episode, including possible murder victims investigated by Black and Roedecker, are named after Perry's sisters.[7]

After principal photography had finished for the episode, additional inserts were shot to add more variety to scenes featuring a lot of dialogue; Perry noted that this was something he had learned about from Wong and felt the technique was put to "great use".[8] Filming several of the episode's scenes, including the webcam feeds and footage Black watches of police officers investigating suspects was filmed in a deliberately low-resolution manner, on handheld cameras, as Perry felt footage that was too clean and high-quality would lessen the episode's tension, citing The Blair Witch Project as an example of how this approach has later been put to use.[9] "The Mikado" featured Allan Zinyk's last appearance as Group member Brian Roedecker. Wong and fellow executive producer Glen Morgan wanted to sign Zinyk on for further appearances, but actor declined in order to pursue a career in the theatre in Toronto.[10]

Broadcast and reception

"The Mikado" was first broadcast on the Fox Network on February 6, 1998.[11] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 5.4 during its original broadcast, meaning that 5.4 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 5.29 million households, and left the episode the seventy-eighth most-viewed broadcast that week.[12][nb 1]

The episode received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a A−, calling it "one of the strongest episodes of the season".[13] VanDerWerff felt that the episode accurately depicted the general unease about the growing role of the internet in the late 1990s; he also reflected that it follows the "serial killer of the week" formula of the series' first season while retaining the second season's "more mystical, supernatural bent".[13] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 4 out of 5, calling it "very compelling".[14] Gibron compared the episode to the films Seven and 8mm; he also felt that the unresolved plot helped to temper concerns about Black's seeming infallibility.[14] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Beginning and the End" three-and-a-half stars out of five. Shearman felt that although the episode's details seem dated, its verisimilitude and enthusiasm helps to overcome this; he noted that the episode "turns us all into spectators, and turns death into performance art".[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1996–1997 television season.[12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Millennium: The Complete Second Season (Media notes). Fox. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |director= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Millennium: The Complete Third Season (Media notes). Fox. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |director= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Millennium: The Complete First Season (Media notes). Fox. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |director= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Perry, 01:10–03:32
  5. ^ Perry, 20:10–21:26
  6. ^ Perry, 03:50–04:09
  7. ^ Perry, 05:40–05:54
  8. ^ Perry, 00:09–00:52 & 07:45–07:56
  9. ^ Perry, 09:30–10:50
  10. ^ Perry, 14:30–15:43
  11. ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 154.
  12. ^ a b Bauder, Dave (February 13, 1998). "Olympics are Gold for CBS". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved July 7, 2012. (subscription required)
  13. ^ a b VanDerWerff, Todd (June 18, 2011). ""Patient X"/"The Mikado" | The X-Files/Millennium | TV Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  14. ^ a b Gibron, Bill (January 3, 2005). "Millennium: Season 2: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  15. ^ Shearman & Pearson 2009, p. 154–155.

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Mikado_(Millennium)&oldid=501334348"