Millennium (1996–1999): Season 1, Episode 1 - Pilot - full transcript

- moff.
- Yeah.

I'm here.

All righty!

How's it goin'?

OK. I want to make sure
the baby-sitter hasn't left yet.

- That weird French guy's back.
- With the poetry?

Hi, honey. It's Mommy. Is Cindy
still there? OK, let me talk to her.

( White Zombie: "More Human Than Human"

- You got a private.
- I'm off.

It's 200 bucks for ten minutes.

( Nine lnch Nails: "Piggy")



Tell me what you want. Do you like me?

Tell me what you want.

I want to see you dance

on the blood-dimmed tide.

You like to watch my body.

Where the ceremony of innocence
is drowned.

I know you like it. Don't be shy.

This is the second death.

The abominable... and the fornicators.

This is the second death.

- Tell me what you want.
- You'll have your part in the lake.

The great plague in the maritime city.

You'll have your part in the lake

which burns with fire... and brimstone.



I know you like it.

I know you like it.

Tell me what you want.

- I think someone's peeking.
- You're peeking, Mommy.

OK, you tell me when, Jordan.

Shh. OK.

OK, Mommy, you can look now.

Oh, Frank, you had it painted.

It's so beautiful.

- Is this our new house?
- Our new yellow house.

Come here.

Frank?

Can you come here?
There's something up here.

Catherine?

What is it?

I'm so happy right now.
I think this move was the right thing.

- I really do, Frank.
- I do, too. It feels like home.

Hello, there. Hi.

I'm Jack Meredith.
I guess we're going to be neighbours.

- Nice to meet you. Frank Black.
- Hiya, Frank.

So, where are you folks from?

We've been in Washington DC
for the past ten years.

- But my wife and I are both from Seattle.
- So what brings you back here?

I want to come home,
put some roots down.

Oh, well, that makes sense.
What kind of work do you do, Frank?

Well, I do some consulting.

Oh, good. Can we invite you folks over
for dinner? I see you have a little girl.

- Thank you. I'll talk to my wife.
- Good.

Say, Frank? You couldn't have picked
a nicer place to come back to.

(rumble of thunder)

- How old was this kid?
- 17.

- 17. This guy's got no other priors?
- Nothing at all.

- I think I've just seen a ghost.
- Hey, Bletch.

- What are you doin' here, Frank?
- We moved back to Seattle.

- You and Catherine?
- Yeah. We miss the weather.

This is Frank Black.
He used to work Homicide here.

Before he became a big star at the FBl.

You caught the guy -
the serial murderer who ate his victims.

- What's his name? Piggett?
- Leon Cole Piggett.

How'd he prepare them?

In a skillet, with potatoes and onions.

Ooh, man!

- Got a minute?
- Yeah, sure.

- How's work?
- Homicide rate's at a record low.

- Only 34 last year.
- Congratulations.

I'd like to take all the credit, but
we've got some damn fine paramedics.

How about this woman two days ago,
the one with the little girl?

She was a stripper, worked a peep show.
Somebody wanted more than a peep.

- You're keeping details from the press?
- It was bloody. And cruel.

- How's the little girl?
- She's in custody down at DSHS.

- She witness the murder?
- No. Are you looking for work, Frank?

Sexual homicide.
That's what I did for ten years.

I hear it pushed you
into early retirement.

Any chance you could take me
to see the body?

She went down fighting,
I can tell you that.

Blunt trauma, ante-mortem impact
abrasions on her upper torso.

She was a strong woman.
It took some work to subdue her.

Mind you,
our killer was no weakling either.

(screams)

He severed her head.

No mean task.

What was the position of the body
when they found her?

She was on her back
with her arms crossed over her chest.

You didn't find the murder weapon. It was
something he took from the crime scene.

A carving knife was missing.

She was clothed.
There was no evidence of sexual assault.

- What else?
- He cut off her fingers.

- The man with the x-ray eyes!
- What did Hair and Fibre turn up?

You tell me.

Two head hairs from a black male.

- How does he do that?
- I don't know. Lucky guesser.

Frank, you didn't just come down here
to say hi. What are you doing here?

I've seen this MO before.
I know the patterns and the profile.

- What's the profile?
- He'll kill again.

Well, she was a working girl. A target.

- That's not why he chose her.
- Why did he choose her?

I don't know yet.

I'm working with a consulting group.

These guys have experience.
They could take a look.

I've got three detectives
assigned to this. What do I tell them?

The killer's gonna be hard to catch.
They could use some luck or some help.

(thudding music)

Hi. You caught me.
I was just thinking something nasty.

- I just wanna talk.
- Talk to me. Tell me what you want.

You knew her, didn't you?

- This isn't an interrogation booth.
- I'm not a cop.

- I've given my statement.
- I might be able to figure out who killed her.

- Yeah? How?
- Tell me about her.

Her name was Calamity.

She didn't hook. She didn't do drugs.

She just danced for the money
so she could raise her little girl.

There isn't much else to know.

Any fans? Any freaks?

If you didn't notice, the clientele here
isn't exactly the picture of moral rectitude.

They'd applaud, but it takes both hands.

Can you think of any reason
someone might have killed her?

A reason?

Men don't need reasons.

All they need is an excuse.

I'm sorry. Thanks for your time.

There's a guy.

He holds up poetry to the window.

- What does it say?
- I don't know.

It's in French. We call him the Frenchman.

- He ever solicit anyone?
- No. But he paid her for a private.

Do they have a camera here?

Don't tell them I told you.

(laboured breathing)

(engine starts)

- (Whispers) What's a boxer?
- It's a big dog that looks sort of like...

- (Jordan) I don't think so.
- What about a basset hound?

There's too many big ears
in this house already.

Now we know why Daddy's face
looks like a boxer.

(groWls)

(rings)

- Hello?
- Frank, it's Bob Bletcher.

We found a body and I think
you might Wanna come take a look.

Yeah. I think so.

Off of 90 on Snoqualmie.
You'll see the circus.

Right. I'll be there.

Mark that.

That's affirmative. Six units on scene.
Do you copy?

- I can't let you go down there.
- It's all right, officer. Thank you.

- I called you out a little hastily.
- What is it?

A body. Male. It was charred so badly
we couldn't tell the sex.

Did somebody set it on fire?

Either before or after it had been
decapitated. We can't tell yet.

Whoever killed him did it somewhere else,
then brought him out here.

It looks like he parked up on the road
and pushed him down the hill.

I suppose you're gonna wanna see the body.

No, that's OK.

(frantic screams)

- Frank?
- It's the same killer.

What?

The victim was set on fire
here in the woods.

- How far to the river?
- Four miles.

That's where they came from.

This is Air Mobile One to base. We're looking
for something down near the river.

Roger, Mobile One.

Over here!

- What is it?
- We found it.

It's empty.

Your associate was down in Pathology
this morning.

- A guy named Watts.
- I haven't spoken to him yet.

A couple of my detectives did.

He told them he was part
of the Millennium Group.

Yeah.

- Is that who you're consulting for?
- Mm-hm.

- So who are they?
- Guys who used to work in law enforcement.

- FBl?
- Some of them.

My guys wanna know why you're here.
I don't know what to tell 'em.

I'm here because I have a wife and a kid,

and I want 'em to live
in a place where they can feel safe.

- How do you do it, Frank?
- Lucky guesser.

Frank!

I'm Peter Watts, from the Group.
I wanted to introduce myself.

I heard you were looking at the body.

A few things slipped by.
One salient oversight.

(Catherine) Frank?

I'll be right in, Catherine.

It was easy to miss, but inside the left thigh
I found a needle puncture.

- From what? A syringe?
- Maybe.

There was no evidence of anything
in the surrounding tissue.

- They think the killer's a black male.
- I've ruled that out.

The severance of the head and fingers
was done with precision. You know why?

The killer was covering his tracks. The
victim may have scratched or bitten him.

He may not have gone there to kill her.

The knife was convenient,
but he knew what he was doing.

And with real sang-froid,
judging by his cleanup.

- What does the Group think?
- Your instincts were right.

The killer's being compelled
by an extraneous stress.

- Anything else?
- You're the man for this.

All our resources
will be available to you.

Who was that?

His name is Watts.
He had some information for me.

He sat out there for over an hour.

- He could have come to the door.
- I don't think he wanted to impose.

I can handle imposition, Frank.
What I can't handle is secrecy.

I don't keep secrets.
I'll tell you anything you want.

You think you're protecting me,
but you make it worse, Frank.

You can't shut the world out for me.

You can't ask me to pretend
that I don't know what you do.

Everyone pretends. We all make believe.

These men I help catch... make us.

We're raising a daughter, Frank.

The real world starts to seep in.
You can't stop it.

I want you to make believe that I can.

(distorted music on tape)

(muffled speech)

(tape) Blood... tide.

(muffled Whispers continue)

(car horns blare)

(motorists shout)

(car horns)

He jumped!

- Where?
- Off the side.

The dancers call him the Frenchman,
because he held poems up written in French.

I was able to enhance the picture
and the audio off the original.

I Want to see you dance
on the blood-dimmed tide...

The ceremony of innocence is droWned.

What does it mean?

It's from a poem called "The Second
Coming" by William Butler Yeats.

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed..."

He's writing about the Apocalypse.

This is the second death.

The abominable and the fornicators.

This is the second death.

- The second death?
- It's from the Bible.

..the great plague in the maritime city.

You'll have your part in the lake
Which burns With fire and brimstone.

That's from Revelations. Death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire.

- The abominable and the fornicators.
- So what's he trying to say?

- He's preaching.
- He's prophesising.

- The end of the world?
- "The great plague in the maritime city."

La grande peste en la cite maritime.

"Peste." The word written
on the lid of the buried coffin.

From Nostradamus,
the 16th century apocalyptic poet.

So the killer is fulfilling the prophecy?

"The great plague in the maritime city
will not stop

until death is avenged
by the blood of a just man."

"The great lady
is outraged by the pretence."

Seattle, the maritime city.
AIDS, the great plague.

Death avenged by a just man,
taken and condemned for no crime.

The killer thinks he's righteous?
A just man?

Who's the "great lady"?
And why is she outraged?

The killer is confused
about his sexuality.

He feels guilt,
possibly from his mother.

He visits peep shows to try to feel something
toward women, but all he feels is anger.

Anger that fuels his psychosis,
that distorts and twists his view of reality.

Twists it to fit screwy French poetry?

- He doesn't see the world like everyone else.
- How does he see it?

Differently.

Wait a second.
You say this guy's angry at women.

That he cruises boys, but kills this
John Doe we found burned in the forest.

- How does that work?
- He's very confused.

- Undoubtedly.
- He's fulfilling a prophecy.

I don't buy it.

It's a good story, but I gotta agree,
the evidence just doesn't support it.

The hairs off the female victim
came from a black male.

There's only been one
black male serial killer.

- Statistically, it's improbable.
- So we throw out the evidence?

Those hairs could've been planted.

We're not the FBl.
We've got limited resources.

Chase the wrong guy,
we could end up with more victims.

I don't think we have time to waste,
do you?

No.

Gotta get home to my family.

(tyres squeal)

Tell me why I'm wrong.
Why should I listen to you?

You're in a hard spot, Bob.

Tell me how you know. Why are you so sure?

- You see it, or something.
- It's complicated, Bletch.

- What do you see?
- I see what the killer sees.

- What, like a psychic?
- No. I put myself in his head.

- I become the thing we fear the most.
- How?

I become capability. I become the horror.

What we know we can become
only in our heart of darkness.

It's my gift. It's my curse.

That's why I retired.

What the hell are you doin', Frank?
Get out. Leave it alone.

I tried.

What brought you back?

Some other time, Bletch.

(thunder)

Catherine?

Catherine?

Frank! Hey, Frank!

- Have you seen Catherine or my daughter?
- I was just coming to leave a note.

- What happened?
- Your little girl had a seizure.

My daughter, Jordan Black, was brought in.

What happened?

I found her on the floor in the bathroom.
She passed out. They're running tests.

- Where is she?
- Sleeping. They sedated her.

She's got a very high fever.

They're pretty sure it's a flu reaction.
They're calling in a specialist.

- Why isn't he here yet?
- He's on his way.

So fragile.

What is it, Frank?

He's taking blood.

Who?

The killer. He's got more bodies.
Buried alive.

Go, Frank. It's OK.

(radio) We've covered a mile north
and doWn to the river. Nothing.

Copy.

Want to call this off, Frank?
We can come back during the light of day.

They could be dead by then.

Frank!

Frank! Frank, you'll freeze to death.
Frank!

Ah, damn! Here.

Oh! Oh! It's a good thing
I already got a family.

(holloW thud)

Frank!

- (muffled yells)
- Oh, God! Come on!

Jesus!

It's screwed.

(muffled cries)

Hey! Get paramedics over here. Get
the paramedics right away! Paramedics!

Come on.

- There may be others.
- Come on! Spread out.

Right.

- Thanks.
- They found two more coffins.

Both of them were empty.

He gave us a description of the suspect.
White male, early thirties, wearing a ball cap.

- He was taking blood from the victim.
- I'll put it out on the air.

The killer's passing judgment.

Testing the blood, carrying out
his death sentences on the afflicted.

Check in with any medical facility
that handles blood.

We got the word out to the labs.

- I gotta call Catherine.
- Here.

18 years, Frank.

18 years, I don't think I've ever seen
anything as terrifying as I saw tonight.

Ever see your kid
lying in an emergency ward?

(engaged tone)

It made sense to me out there.
What it does to you.

Why you quit.

The cruelty,
the unspeakable crimes...

It all becomes numbing,
depersonalised, common.

What was it, then?

I was on a serial case in Minnesota.
The killer's name was Ed Cuffle.

He would choose a neighbourhood
and go to a door.

If he found it unlocked, he considered
that an invitation to kill anybody home.

He'd take Polaroids of his victims,
which he'd send to the police.

Took us months, but we caught him.
He's serving triple life sentences.

And that was it?

A year later, I reach into my mailbox
and there's a letter addressed to me.

No return.

Inside are Polaroids of Catherine at
the supermarket. Catherine at the school.

Suddenly, the psychic Novocaine wore off.

The numbness became paralysing fear.

- Did you ever find who sent them?
- No.

But I couldn't leave the house.

Why should I go to work when
I couldn't even protect my own family?

My little girl was a miracle. We weren't
supposed to be able to conceive.

I couldn't let her out of my sight.

But you beat it. How?

I was approached by a group of men who
helped me understand my facility. My gift.

This Millennium Group, huh?
They really believe all that stuff?

Nostradamus and Revelations?
The destruction of the world?

They believe we can't just sit back
and hope for a happy ending.

(engaged tone)

(ringing)

- Bob Bletcher's office.
- Bob?

He just stepped out.

Can you give him some information?
It's urgent.

Let me get a pen. Shoot.

We tracked doWn those blood samples
he's looking for.

They Were sent to a lab
the Seattle PD uses doWntoWn.

- Where were they sent from?
- Through the same channel, intra-office.

Bob? Bob?

- I'm looking for the pathologist.
- Sorry, he's not here.

Who are you to condemn me?
They're the guilty! I took responsibility!

Satan has them all.

It's the great plague!
They don't ask who takes responsibility!

This is prophecy! The final judgment
and victory! This is the way it ends.

But you know that.
You can see it, just like I do.

You know the end is coming.
The thousand years is over!

You think you're the one to stop it.
You think it can be stopped!

(gunshot)

You can't stop it.

Catherine?

I'm glad you're home.
I'm going to be late for my interview.

- What are you doing?
- Where's Jordan?

In her room. What are you doing?

Oh, my God! Look at this!

Oh!

- I think someone's trying to peek.
- What is it? What is it?

Oh, Daddy! What's his name?

- He doesn't have a name yet.
- Can I name him?

- He's your puppy, isn't he?
- Oh, I love him so much!

- You've already got a mess to clean up.
- Right.

Wish me luck.

- What?
- Nothing.

Be careful, OK?