Millennium (episode)/Background Information

*This episode is often cited as concluding the Millennium series story arc and features the last appearances of Frank and Jordan Black. However, it was not well received by either fans or critics, who felt it largely ignored the mythology of Millennium and lacked true closure. Lance Henriksen in particular voiced dissatisfaction with the episode, claiming that instead of concluding the storyline of Millennium, it was merely an X-Files episode with elements of Millennium thrown in.
*This episode is thoughtfully included in the Millennium Season 3 DVD release.
*In the Millennium episode "Midnight of the Century", a newspaper from December, 1946 gave Frank Black's age as 5 years old. His age in this episode, set in 1999, would therefore be 58.
*When Skinner hands Mulder and Scully the Millennium Group's symbol, we can see that it's an Ouroboros. This is the same symbol that Scully had tattooed on her back in "Never Again". However, she does not seem to be familiar with this symbol, indicating a possible lack of continuity.
*Vince Gilligan's tradition of including his girlfriend's name (Lucy "Holly" Hartwell Rice) in all his episodes continues here - much of the episode takes place in Rice County, Maryland, and the institution where Frank stays is the Hartwell Psychiatric Hospital (in Virginia - Vince's home state).
* Vince Gilligan has stated that the episode was not really meant to close out the Millennium mythology but act as a crossover of sorts between the two (that Millennium was it its end being largely coincidental). In fact, it was meant to incorporate a number of elements that had been kicked around as potential story ideas, including zombies and the Year 2000 Problem (the latter subject having been explored in a Season 3 episode of Millennium, "TEOTWAWKI").
*This is the only explicit "crossover" with Millennium. A previous character crossover featured Scully's favourite writer, José Chung (author of "From Outer Space"), in the Millennium episode "José Chung's Doomsday Defense", both episodes written by . In the episode Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me, the television censor walks onto the set of filming a show that appears to be X-Files.
*After watching the ball drop on New Year's Eve, we see the second on-screen kiss between Mulder and Scully. This kiss is also the first one that is definitely set in the real world of the characters, since the first kiss between the pair takes place in "Triangle", in a questionable reality in which Mulder kisses a woman who looks identical to Scully (and was played by ) but is seemingly not her, even though Mulder is left with the impression that she was Scully.
==Goofs==
*At the beginning of the episode, right before the agents meet Frank Black, they show the outside of Hartwell Psychiatric Hospital. The shot of the building shows that it is daytime. When they show Mulder and Scully walking down the hall, and speaking with Frank Black, it is very dark.
==Allusions==
*Mulder: "Shoot them in the head, it seems to stop them." This line is a homage to the original Night of the Living Dead.
Category:Background Information