The Fourth Horseman (Millennium)

"The Fourth Horseman" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on May 8, 1998. The episode was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by Dwight Little. "The Fourth Horseman" featured guest appearances by Kristen Cloke and Glenn Morshower.

In this episode, offender profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) investigates the initial outbreak of a deadly virus, and discovers that his employers, the Millennium Group may pose a danger to his safety.

"The Fourth Horseman" was written under the belief that the series would soon be cancelled, and inspired in part by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom. The episode has earned positive responses from critics, and was seen by approximately 4.61 million households during its initial broadcast.

Plot

On a farm in Baraboo, Wisconsin in 1986, a farmer finds his entire warehouse of chickens dead, the floor soaked in blood. He attempts to run, but collapses dead, bleeding profusely and covered in dark lesions.

Twelve years later, Millennium Group member Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is visited by a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Richard Gilbert (Glenn Morshower). Gilbert hopes to headhunt Black for his new private security firm, The Trust. Their meeting abruptly ends when Black receives word that his father has died. At the funeral, Black explains the notion of death to his young daughter; later that day, he unsuccessfully tries to contact fellow Group member Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), with whom he has lost contact.

Black meets with another Group member, Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) to investigate the death of a man found surrounded by six pints of spilt blood, with no evidence of murder. A coroner determines that the man drowned when his lungs filled with his own blood, surmising the cause to be a viral infection. Everyone who came into contact with the corpse is isolated in quarantine, waiting to be tested for exposure to any pathogen. While quarantined, Black accuses Watts and the Millennium Group of knowing more about the virus than is apparent. Watts simply responds by quoting the Bible's Book of Revelation. The pair are examined by mysterious doctors in protective suits; shortly afterwards, they are cleared to leave quarantine. Black contacts Gilbert and expresses his wish to leave the Millennium Group and join The Trust—however, he first wishes to "rescue" his friends within the Group.

Elsewhere, a family sit down to dinner together, before spontaneously collapsing and bleeding profusely; further victims of the virus. At home, Black learns that his daughter has been having vivid nightmares about the end of the world, in which she and her parents are isolated in a woodland cabin. Black admits to his wife that he has come to accept the Group as a cult, and wishes to leave. He arranges to see a doctor, wishing to be tested but wanting the results to remain secret.

Gilbert surveils Watts, finding that the latter has been in contact with Means. Black travels to where Means is living, where he remotely observes a cult-like ceremony in which Means is ritually inducted into the Group. He contacts Watts, divulging the results of his tests—they were injected with a vaccine while quarantined. Black warns Watts that the Group is dangerous; Watts neither confirms nor denies this, but predicts the arrival of an earthquake, urging Black that should this prediction come to pass, he should accept full membership of the Group. That night, Black answers a telephone call from Means, who tells him that the Group mean no harm. The line suddenly cuts, and the tremors of an earthquake begin just as Watts had predicted. Black moves through his home, noticing that his pet bird is dead in its cage, covered in blood.

Production

"The Fourth Horseman" was written by frequent collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong. The duo would pen a total of fifteen episodes throughout the series' run.^[1][2] The pair had also taken the roles of co-executive producers for the season.^[3] The episode was the second of three to be directed by Dwight Little, who had previously helmed "Midnight of the Century",^[2] and would return in the third season for "Borrowed Time".^[4]

Written simultaneously with the concluding episode, "The Time Is Now", the episode's script went through several different versions before a final plot was decided upon, as Morgan and Wong believed the series would not be renewed for a third season and wished to write a suitable ending. The idea of depicting an apocalyptic scenario as being the result of a virus came from Morgan's research into possible end-of-the-world scenarios, and was influenced by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom.^[5] The build-up to, and depiction of, the viral outbreak was seen by the writing staff as conclusive proof that the series would be cancelled, leading to several writers beginning to look for work on other projects while still officially under contract to work on Millennium.^[6]

Actress Brittany Tiplady, who portrays Black's young daughter Jordan, has cited "The Fourth Horseman" as one of the episodes which she considered to have caused her to grow as an actress. Tiplady described her role in the episode as not being "just the cute Jordan Black with easy scenes and lots of giggling",^[7] and added that the increased depth her character was given served to heighten her interest in acting.^[8]

Broadcast and reception

"The Fourth Horseman" was first broadcast on the Fox network on May 8, 1998.^[9] The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 4.7 during its original broadcast, meaning that 4.7 percent of households in the United States viewed the episode. This represented approximately 4.61 million households, and left the episode the eighty-fifth most-viewed broadcast that week.^{[10][nb 1]}

"The Time Is Now" received positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode an "A". VanDerWerff felt that the two-part finale was "at once haunting and terrifying", finding both "The Fourth Horseman" and "The Time Is Now" to be Millennium's most frightening instalments. VanDerWerff noted that the episode's plotting and symbolism were not always subtle, but felt that this directness suited the series' tone.^[11] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated the episode 5 out of 5. Gibron felt that both Cloke and O'Quinn gave particularly strong performances in both this episode and its follow-up.^[12] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "The Fourth Horseman" five stars out of five.^[9]

Notes

1. ↑ Each ratings point represented 980,000 households during the 1997–98 television season.^[10]

Footnotes

References

• Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 097594469X. 
• McLean, James; Henriksen, Lance; Spotnitz, Frank; Carter, Chris (2012). Chamberlain, Adam; Dixon, Brian A., eds. Back to Frank Black. Fourth Horseman Press. ISBN 0988392291.