| "The Thin White Line" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Millennium episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 14 | ||
| Directed by | Thomas J. Wright | ||
| Written by | |||
| Production code | 4C13 | ||
| Original air date | February 14, 1997 (1997-02-14) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| Millenniumseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"'The Thin White Line" is the fourteenth episode of thefirst season of the Americancrime-thriller television seriesMillennium. It premiered on theFox network on February 14, 1997. The episode was written byGlen Morgan andJames Wong and directed byThomas J. Wright. "The Thin White Line" featured guest appearances by Jeremy Roberts and Scott Heindl.
When a spate of killings seems to echo that of a man currently incarcerated,Millennium Group consultantFrank Black (Lance Henriksen) must confront the specter of his past and face a murderer who nearly took a younger Black's life.
"The Thin White Line" draws inspiration from real killersHerbert Mullin,Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, and contains several references to Morgan and Wong's previous seriesSpace: Above and Beyond. The episode was viewed by approximately 6.6 million households in its initial broadcast and has received positive reviews from critics.
Anne Rothenburg answers a knock on her front door. When she speaks to the man waiting there, he hears something else entirely; believing that she is giving her consent to be murdered, he attacks her.Millennium Group consultantFrank Black (Lance Henriksen) visits aSeattle hospital to pick up his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher), who works there as a counsellor. Rothenburg is brought in on a stretcher by paramedics. Black notices a peculiar slash across her palm and glances down at his own, which bears a scar matching the woman's cut exactly. Rothenburg dies of her injuries.
Black contacts Seattle police detective Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich) for information on Rothenburg. Her husband found her when he came home, assuming that she had surprised aburglar. Elsewhere, Rothenburg's attacker shoots the clerk in a liquor store, again hearing the victim give permission to be killed. Black and Bletcher review security camera footage of the crime, which leads to them discovering half aplaying card—the Jack of Spades—at the scene. Rothenburg's home is searched, and the other half is found there.
Black tells Bletcher about Richard Alan Hance (Jeremy Roberts), aserial killer Black had helped to apprehend twenty years before. Hance was a disturbedVietnam War veteran who marked his kills with half a playing card, a custom he picked up during his tours of duty. Black was one of a number ofFBI agents who responded to an anonymous tip, leading them to Hance's location; however, the tip was called in by Hance himself and the raid became an ambush in which three agents were killed. Black was cornered by Hance, who cut open his palm and nearly took Black's life before the young Black was able to overpower and arrest him.
Black realizes that the current murderer must be Hance's former cellmate Jacob Tyler (Scott Heindl). Black visits Hance in prison and realizes that Tyler believes himself Hance'sreincarnation, aspiring to follow his methods exactly. Meanwhile, Tyler calls the police and leaves an anonymous tip, telling them that the liquor store murderer is hiding in an abandoned building. Black accompanies aSWAT team encircling the building, but the officers come undersniper fire from a construction site across the street. Black and Bletcher separate as they search for Tyler, who gets the drop on Black. Black disarms Tyler, attempting to talk him into surrendering. Tyler empties a handgun at Black, but misses; when Bletcher confronts him, Tyler points the gun and Bletcher instinctively shoots and kills him.
"The Thin White Line" was written by frequent collaboratorsGlen Morgan andJames Wong, and directed byThomas J. Wright. "The Thin White Line" was the third episode of the series to have been written by Morgan and Wong, after "Dead Letters" and "522666".[2] The duo would go on to pen a further twelve episodes over the series' run,[3] and would take charge of thesecond season as co-executive producers.[4] Wright would go on to direct twenty-six episodes across all three seasons,[2][3][5] and would also direct "Millennium", the series'crossover episode with itssister showThe X-Files.[6] He had also previously worked with Morgan and Wong on their seriesSpace: Above and Beyond.[7]
The relationship between the characters of Jacob Tyler and Richard Allen Hance seems to have been based on that ofLawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, two convicts whose time in prison together formed the basis of a partnership that saw them torture and kill several young women in 1979.[8] Tyler's delusional visions of his victims consenting to be murdered may stem from West German serial killerWaldemar Szczepinski, who chose his victims based on their response to him ringing their doorbells—those who answered he deemed to have given their permission to be killed and their houses burgled; those who did not were simply left alone.[9] The character also draws inspiration from American serial killerHerbert Mullin, who likewise felt that his victims had offered him permission to kill them. Mullin claimed that their last words were often "I understand".[10]
Scott Heindl, who portrayed Jacob Tyler, would later return in an unrelated role in thesecond season episode "A Room with No View",[11] and thethird season episode "Antipas".[12] The episode contains several references to Morgan and Wong's short-lived seriesSpace: Above and Beyond, which had been cancelled prior to the pair joiningMillennium. The phrase "expect no mercy" found on the playing cards is the motto of that series'United States Marine Corps squadron, while the individual cards used—the Jack of Spades, King of Clubs and Queen of Hearts—mirror thecall signs used by individual marines.[13]
"It’s not the greatest script Glen Morgan and James Wong ever did. Indeed, it embraces many of their worst faults on some levels, as well as many of the worst faults of the show it’s a part of. But the thing MOVES, and when an episode rolls by as quickly as this one does, all sorts of objections get washed away by the momentum."
"The Thin White Line" was first broadcast on theFox Network on February 14, 1997.[15] The episode earned aNielsen rating of 6.8 during its original broadcast, meaning that6.8 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented 6.6 million households, and left the episode the seventy-second most-viewed broadcast that week.[16][nb 1]
The episode received positive reviews from critics.The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff rated the episode an A−, finding that it showed the series to be "unafraid to be unapologetically weird". VanDerWerff felt that "The Thin White Line" introduced elements of mysticism and the supernatural to the character of Frank Black, which "presages the weirder direction Morgan and Wong took the show in season two, while still staying roughly consistent with the first season’s more realistic focus".[14] Bill Gibron, writing forDVD Talk, rated the episode 4.5 out of 5, comparing it to the 1991 filmThe Silence of the Lambs. Gibron noted that "with a stellar final act and a closing scene that has a great deal of impact in a very restrained manner, this is an excellent installment [sic]".[17]Robert Shearman andLars Pearson, in their bookWanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Thin White Line" five stars out of five, noting that "it's a return to the serial killer format, but it's never been done before with as much verve as it had here". Shearman compared the episode to bothThe Silence of the Lambs and the works of film directorQuentin Tarantino, and felt that the interrogation scene between Black and Hance was "maybe the single best scene in the whole season".[18]
Cinematographer Robert McLachlan received anAmerican Society of Cinematographers award nomination in the category Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Regular Series for his work on "The Thin White Line". McLachlan lost to Marc Reshovsky for the3rd Rock from the Sun episode "Nightmare on Dick Street".[19]
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)