Catherine Black

Catherine Black, née Miller was the daughter of Tom and Justine Miller, the wife of Frank Black and the mother of Jordan Black. ( "Pilot", "Paper Dove", et al.) A clinical social worker, her husband's line of work, and particularly his dealings with the Millennium Group, often put a strain on their otherwise happy marriage. (MM: "Gehenna", "Walkabout", "Monster", "Luminary", "Owls," "Roosters")
==History==
After Frank brought the family back to Seattle and bought them a new yellow house, Catherine got a job as a clinical social worker and Frank as a consultant with the Millennium Group. Catherine wasn't thrilled about Frank continuing his work in hunting serial killers, but she understood his need and desire to try and "save the world." She believed the best way to help Frank was to be supportive about it, as long as he didn't keep any secrets from her. She wanted to do whatever she could to help him after his nervous breakdown. She didn't know, however, that Frank's breakdown was a result of a secret he was keeping from her: A stalker had been taking Polaroid pictures of Catherine and mailing them to Frank shortly after he caught the serial killer Ed Cuffle, who had the same M.O. This had been going on for years and Frank thought moving them back to Seattle would shake the stalker off the trail... But he ended up following them. (MM: "Pilot", "Gehenna") 
A year after moving back to Seattle, Catherine was abducted by the mysterious Polaroid Stalker. (MM: "Paper Dove") After Frank located them and savagely stabbed her kidnapper to death, it shook Catherine up to the point where she believed it was best if they separated for a while. ( "The Beginning & the End") Part of her motivation for the split was she felt as if Frank "lost something" by killing the Polaroid Stalker, as she believed Frank was incapable of murder -- even if it was a killer in his custody. (MM: "The Thin White Line")
After the separation, Catherine and Jordon stayed in the Black family home for a little while until she decided she couldn't stay there. It brought back too many painful memories, not the least of which was the murder of Bob Bletcher in their basement. (MM: "Lamentation", "Beware of the Dog") They eventually moved into a smaller place they shared with Catherine's co-worker and her child. (MLM: "Monster", "Luminary", "Siren")
Catherine had a contemptuous relationship with Peter Watts, blaming him for bringing Frank into the fold of the Millennium Group and thus driving a wedge into their marriage and causing Frank to develop a secretive double life of private investigating. Catherine had reason to suspect the Millennium Group knew about the Polaroid Stalker and had been encouraging Frank to keep secrets from her. She once referred to Peter as "The Other Woman." (MM: "Pilot", "Walkabout", "Monster", "Luminary")
In 1998, she tragically died due to infection by the Marburg Virus. Frank blamed himself, believing that, if he had become a full-fledged member of the Millennium Group, they would have protected her. The Group had only given Frank the vaccine. However, fellow Group member Lara Means left her dose of the vaccine as a gift to Frank. ( "The Time is Now") Catherine convinced Frank to give the dose to Jordan rather than herself, believing it the right thing to do. (MM: "Borrowed Time") He also felt an enormous burden due to the belief that she had died alone in the woods. However, he found some level of acceptance when, thanks to the cassette tape-induced hallucination of Alice Severin, he remembered that he had found her and cradled her in his arms as she died. ( "The Sound of Snow")
Catherine's parents were never big fans of Frank's, although her mother, Justine, was much more cordial than her father, Tom. They worried that Frank's line of work would leave a negative impression on Jordan. (MM: "Paper Dove") They went on to blame Frank for Catherine's death, Tom especially, claiming that Frank did not "do enough to protect her" even though they had no knowledge of the situation regarding the vaccine and the Millennium Group. (MM: "The Innocents") They would eventually go on to challenge Frank for custody of Jordan. (XF: "Millennium")
==Appearances==
Appearances for Catherine Black
*Millennium:
**Millennium (season 1)
***"Pilot"
***"Gehenna"
***"Dead Letters"
***"The Judge"
***"522666"
***"Kingdom Come"
***"Blood Relatives"
***"The Well-Worn Lock"
***"Wide Open"
***"The Wild and the Innocent"
***"Weeds"
***"Force Majeure"
***"The Thin White Line"
***"Sacrament"
***"Covenant"
***"Walkabout"
***"Lamentation"
***"Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions"
***"Paper Dove"
**Millennium (season 2)
***"The Beginning & the End"
***"Beware of the Dog"
***"Monster"
***"The Curse of Frank Black"
***"Midnight of the Century"
***"Luminary"
***"Owls"
***"Roosters"
***"Siren"
***"Anamnesis"
***"The Fourth Horseman"
***"The Time is Now"
**Millennium (season 3)
***"Exegesis"
***"The Sound of Snow"
***"Seven and One"
***"Goodbye to All That"
==Additional References==
*
**"The Innocents"
**"Omerta"
**"Borrowed Time"
**"Collateral Damage"
==Background Information==
In the original script of Millennium's pilot episode, Catherine Black is described as being "in her young 30s; pretty in a natural, unadorned way". However, actress Megan Gallagher was later cast to portray the role and was aged 36 at the time the pilot was filmed.
== External links ==
Category:Black family
Category:Deceased characters