When the series starts, we learn that Frank was once a member of the FBI,
specialized in doing profiling. At some point in time he quit, because it
became too personal. He got to fear for the lives of his wife and child, after
someone started sending in pictures of them. Just after moving back to
Seattle, Frank learns of a gruesome murder and decides to get involved. This
time he does not work for the FBI, but for a private organization of
"former law-enforcement people" called the Millennium Group.
This group is concerned about the upcoming millennium, expecting an increase
in evil behavior and trying to save the world from it.
I like MillenniuM because of its dark atmosphere, or at least its attempt
to portray such an atmosphere. Only thing I have against the show, is the fact
that it remains too shiny-happy, even when there seems to be so much cruelty
and evil out there. In my opinion the show would gain a lot if it would keep
a darker and gloomy atmosphere. But I guess this would not make for big
commercial succes ...
The MillenniuM Mailinglist can be joined by sending the message
"subscribe millennium" (or "subscribe millennium-digest")
to
mailto:majordomo@lists.x-philes.com.
If you want to learn more about the show, check out the
FAQ.
At the beginning of the series, Sam returns to being a profiler. She was out of
the work for a while, after one particular serial killer killed her husband. This
particular killer has a certain crush on Sam and keeps haunting her by sending
her notes or trying to kill those she loves. In my opinion, this is one of the
main points to make for a good series. A central character like this, which is
also a very powerful figure, can provide tension throughout all the episodes
which would otherwise be just loose stories.
The serial killer haunting Sam is called Jack-Of-All-Trades, because of his
ability to disguise, to change faces. Not a supernatural ability, mind you, but
a matter of putting on masks. Throughout the series we get to see bits and
pieces of the "home" Jack lives in. We never get a good look at his
real face, but we can tell that he is an educated man. Maybe self-educated, but
smart nonetheless. He is an expert with explosives and strange constructions.
And what is even more, he also is very good with computers. He even manages to
break into the security camera system of the VCTF ... He used to have his own
website too, but it seems the VCTF
caught up with it.
I have heard some talk of people accusing the series of bad acting. Maybe there
is some truth in it, we do not get to see many spectacular actores. But the
contents of the stories makes up for that, in my opinion. I watched it before I
got a chance to see MillenniuM. Although the premise of both series is pretty
much the same, I still see them as quite different. I think Profiler has the
only thing MillenniuM misses, something like a good antagonist, someone to
give the series its darker atmosphere. After all, with all those evil folks
out there, surely we are doomed?
To check out lots of links to Profiler pages, visit the links page of
beckymarie.
The entire series goes on to show us Tom on the run for his enemies. As it
turns out, there is hardly anyone he can trust. Just when he thinks he has
found an honest person, it turns out they belong to "Them". It is
a good thing the leaders of Them can be easily identified by the way they
smoke their cigars: they remove the top by using a pencil.
The first series was the best, as far as I am concerned. After that, Tom got
some more help, which lessens the feeling of desolation he always seemed to
have. It is a shame the series did not get a chance to shoot more episodes.
After two series it was all over. Even though people started a petitioning
action on the Web, it was of no use. So we will have to stick to reruns.
For those of you interested in learning more about the show, check out the
Nowhere Man FAQ. To
subscribe to the English Nowhere Man Mailinglist, mail
majordomo@cnation.com with the
body "subscribe nowhere". And of course there is always
the newsgroup alt.tv.nowhere-man you
can read.
MillenniuM
MillenniuM is the story of a profiler called Frank Black. Frank has the
"gift" of being able to picture, in his mind, the way a killer sees
his actions. There has been some talk of it being something psychic, where
Frank really catches some sort of residue waves left by the killers. To me,
it is more like Frank thinks of how the killer has felt or what he thought at
the time of the crime. The pictures are the way to portray it to the viewer.
Profiler
In Profiler, yet another government profiler takes on the task of catching
the bad guys. This time, however, it is a female profiler, called Samantha
(Sam) Waters. Sam works for the Violent Crimes Task Force, a special unit that
can be put on just about any case of violence, but mainly deals with (potential)
serial killers.
Nowhere Man
Nowhere Man evolves around one main character called Thomas (Tom) Veil. He
used to be a photographer and has just had a major exposition. His most
important photograph was one called 
Hidden Agenda. Shortly after the exposition, it turns out people are after him
to get the negatives of Hidden Agenda. Even his own wife has disappeared and
when he manages to find her again, she does not seem to know him. Because of
some Organization wanting Tom or his negatives, he has to run and hide from
those people.
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