A Killer Serial. - Fox's television program Millenium - Review - television program reviews

Commonweal, July 18, 1997 by Frank McConnell

Carter's Frank Black is an heir of Doyle's Holmes. Not as rational--who at the tail end of this century could be as rational as Holmes?--and not nearly as assured, he is nevertheless committed to maintaining the solidarity of love against the vile forces who both attack him and whose seduction he feels. He is a splendid neurotic, splendidly portrayed by Henriksen.

"Millennium," then--at least if you watch it the way I do--isn't finally about serial killers at all. It's about--and it's a heartening antidote to--our real fear that present happiness may not last. That anxiety may grow as we approach the year 2000, but that anxiety is always there anyhow.

And watching Frank Black overcome it every Friday night may not be a solution, but it is bracing.