What the Killer Sees: Frank Black

The concept of What the Killer Sees is to explore the killers that featured in Millennium’s rich canon, to profile the antagonists to Frank Black’s singular hero. For this instalment, though, to mark Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week, I’m putting a spin on that format. Following on from last week’s look at the Polaroid Stalker, we consider the events that prompted Frank Black himself to turn killer, and how Lance Henriksen’s performance ensured the audience could believe such a shocking transformation...

Killer: Frank Black (Lance Henriksen)

Episode: “The Beginning and the End” (19 September 1997)
Writers: Glen Morgan & James Wong
Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I guess deep down I knew this hour would come. I thought I did everything I could to stop this from happening. What did I overlook? What could I have done? And now what must I sacrifice to have her back safe?” --Frank Black

Profile: Frank Black is Millennium’s beacon of hope. In a world tainted by moral bankruptcy, tormented by eldritch evils and teetering on the verge of apocalyptic meltdown he is our best line of defence. He knows evil having seen the world through the eyes of killers, and yet time and again he emerges from his visions triumphant and catches the bad man.

Throughout Season One, Lance Henriksen asserts Frank Black as a devoted husband and father to a wholly believable family unit. Famously, Chris Carter directed Lance to invest the consulting profiler with a sense of quiet authority through a stillness and reserve that did not come naturally to Lance but which led him to find the truth of the character. As a result, and in spite of his insights into the minds of killers, Frank seems so far from truly becoming the capability he so vividly comprehends. It is thus in the contrast to this consistency of poise and carefully measured control across the previous twenty-two episodes that Frank’s transformation in “The Beginning and the End” provides such a powerfully dramatic pay-off.


Yet Frank has been taunted for so long by the Polaroid Stalker’s missives that have repeatedly threatened to break the sanctity of his yellow house and to harm his family. Back home after the fruitless search for Catherine following the Polaroid Stalker’s kidnap of her and escape from Tacoma Airport, Frank asks Peter what he needs to sacrifice in order to get Catherine back. From his words and subsequent actions it is apparent he is willing to sacrifice at the very least his own liberty, if not his life. Having surmised the Polaroid Stalker’s location, he ignores Peter Watts’ plea to wait for backup and instead makes the decision to go there alone and armed. Finally confronted by the man who has taken his wife captive, his poise explodes into a few moments of devastatingly visceral violence, and he repeatedly stabs the man until he is dead. But for the Millennium Group’s further interference, he would not so readily have evaded being called to answer for the killing.

Even in the wake of her rescue, Catherine is left feeling conflicted from having witnessed Frank’s violent actions from such close quarters, telling him, “I don't know yet if it was wrong, what you did.” “Neither do I,” admits Frank. And neither do we, the audience, even as we are forced to consider how we might react if our most loved ones were under such threat. Plenty of portrayals of such an act of vengeance would leave the audience with no doubt as to the moral righteousness of the hero but, quite apart from his statement, the line walked by Frank Black’s character in this episode is a fine one. As Lance outlines in the documentary accompanying the Season Two DVD release, “Every action has a reaction, so no matter how pure of heart you might have been about something, you’re gonna pay the consequences, or pay for it. The truth definitely shouts. It set me out on my own.” It was a brave move to take the series’ protagonist and transform his behaviour in this way as part of its reinvention of the series, and one that might easily have gone awry.


But as John Kenneth Muir noted in his recent article on “The Tao of Lance Henriksen”, Lance embodies the very soul of the roles he undertakes, “without standing back — away from the performance — and transmitting some sense of moral judgment”. In a less nuanced or more straightforward performer’s creative grasp, Frank Black’s actions in “The Beginning and the End” might well have felt forced or untrue to the character by trying too hard to sell the audience on the righteousness of his revenge. As it is we believe Frank’s transformation and, as he drives away from his yellow house alone at the end of the episode, we continue to want to follow this complex hero on his journey through the dark.

There are a multitude of reasons why, thirteen or so years later, a legion of fans still stand firm in their resolve to return Frank Black to our screens. There is the initial creative vision of Chris Carter, the subsequent involvement of some of the very finest writers, directors, cinematographers and editors working in television throughout its three year run all contributing to a superlative body of work, but above all there is the one constant: Lance Henriksen’s unique interpretation of the role. For those of us well acquainted with Frank Black, Lance so inhabited the character that it seems inconceivable that anyone else could have played him, as the executives at FOX originally requested. Evil has many faces. Hope has just one. And, thanks to Lance, the world still needs Frank Black.

What the Killer Sees: The Polaroid Stalker

What the Killer Sees explores a seminal if almost entirely absent figure from Millennium's first season for this edition, a character also utilised to set an altogether different tone at the outset of Season Two. Whilst a fascinating creation in and of himself, this is also by way of lead-in for a very special edition to mark next week's Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week. More of that in due course, as for now we explore the man who took Frank Black back into the abyss...

Killer: The Polaroid Stalker (Doug Hutchison)

Episode: “The Beginning and the End” (19 September 1997)
Writers: Glen Morgan & James Wong
Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I am the first and I am the last, I am the alpha and I am the omega, I am the beginning and I am the end. And soon he will come to understand this as he works to get inside me: with me his gift is useless. I don't fit into the serial killer profile he's come to understand. Now, I am so far beyond. I wasn't from a broken home, he’ll find no homicidal triad in my childhood, no setting of fires, no bed wetting, no cruelty to animals. I’ve had a formal education, responsibility, money. Until recently, not a loner. He’ll work on the principle that behaviour reflects personality. He’ll evaluate the criminal act itself, then the specifics of the crime scene, analyse the victim—which, of course, he knows well—before attempting the development of a profile with critical offender characteristics. This will lead him nowhere, absolutely nowhere, because until now I’ve committed no crime. This is something he’s never experienced before. Frustrated, agonised, angry even, he’ll turn to those torturous photographs I'm so fond of mailing him. He’ll consider complex theories regarding grandiose subtypes of delusional disorder or even photographic paraphilia… blah, blah, blah. Ultimately he will sense none of it applies.” --The Polaroid Stalker

Profile: For so long an unseen enigma, then—in “Paper Dove”—a briefly glimpsed collaborator or director of a serial killer, The Polaroid Stalker finally reveals himself and his motivation for having taunted Frank Black for months during “The Beginning and the End”. So far as we know, The Polaroid Stalker is not of course actually a killer and therefore arguably has no place in this column. His character is, however, one that bears closer examination.

Initial considerations might seem to indicate that The Polaroid Stalker fits a classic stalker profile. The stalker is usually motivated by some kind of underlying emotional conflict with his target, who is usually female, and psychologically can be delusional or non-delusional. The Polaroid Stalker, in spite of his evident state of mind, appears to be non-delusional in this aspect, as per the FBI Crime Classification Manual; his target is Frank Black, he is very organised in terms of luring him in and there is no sexual motive at work. His photographs of Frank’s family appear to represent a symbolic threat aimed at Catherine and Jordan, the very people that Frank holds dear above all others and seeks to protect within the sanctity of his yellow house, and are addressed explicitly to him.

Ultimately stalkers do reach a point where they act towards their victims, and The Polaroid Stalker is highly organised in this respect. His abduction of Catherine and subsequent evasion of roadblocks to his hideout required intricate planning. Any suggestions of photographic paraphilia can be quickly dispelled, revealed to be little more than a smokescreen. Frank Black is his ultimate target.

In many ways, the cited quote from the Stalker himself is key to understanding his true motive. As he talks Catherine through Frank Black’s thought processes in trying to profile him, he reveals an in-depth knowledge of his craft. Furthermore, he seems to have an understanding of The Millennium Group and their sinister agenda, taunting Catherine further at one point when he asks her, “Would you die for God, then? Would you, could you? Because I won't. No, they asked me to but I won't. They're gonna ask Frank if he's willing to give his life for you.” That, coupled with the Group’s detailed file on him, seems to imply that he may have been a previous candidate, much as Frank Black is now. The Group’s design for the ouroboros even appears on the wall in his hideout. Perhaps, then, The Polaroid Stalker is another individual broken by his former connection to the Group. A former student of theology, his knowledge of biblical prophecy is apparent, whilst his rantings to Catherine foreshadow some of those of Lara Means a matter of months later. And maybe his ultimate motive is to reveal the dangers that they pose, and finally to seek his own dramatic execution at Frank’s hands.


Kills: 0

Investigation: This investigation is borne of a scenario that has actively sought out Frank Black, rather than the other way around. After Catherine’s abduction from Seattle Tacoma Airport and having failed to halt The Polaroid Stalker’s escape from the airport or via use of roadblocks, he returns home in turmoil.

The hasty arrival of Peter Watts at the airport and his subsequent conversation with Frank at his home begin to reveal that The Millennium Group know far more about The Polaroid Stalker than they have admitted. When Watts has Roedecker and his colleagues provide Frank with a new level of access to their files, this truth becomes yet more apparent.

Frank studies the history of the stalker from the Group’s files but nothing about the Polaroid Stalker fits any established pattern. Ultimately, however, he realises the profile is really all about him. And this leads him on a personal mission, one that will change his life forever.

What the Killer Sees: "Yaponchik"

A recent impromptu trip to one of Russia’s former neighbouring states alongside the ongoing Fukushima nuclear plant disaster have informed the choice of killer for this instalment of What the Killer Sees. That choice also takes us into as yet uncharted territory: that of a killer who may cross the line between being understood via traditional profiling methods and the supernatural. Consider the man and myth known only as “Yaponchik”…

Killer: “Yaponchik” (Levani)

Episode: “Maranatha” (9 May 1997)
Writer: Chip Johannessen
Director: Peter Markle

Quote: “In the last days, the Antichrist appears and slaughters the faithful. The Bible doesn't say he has horns and a tail. He's an evil man, not supernatural. He can't walk on water.” --Frank Black

Profile: The name “Yaponhick” is mythical. Designed to instil fear, the moniker reputedly refers to a Russian bogeyman to whom brutal murders and disasters such as Chernobyl are ascribed, seemingly accurately based upon the episode’s teaser. Moreover, the character is undoubtedly modelled upon the real life Russian Mafia member Vyacheslav Ivankov, who was known by the same nickname and was himself active in the Brighton Beach area of New York in the 1990s. The name “Yaponchik” translates from the Russian as “The Little Japanese” and referenced his Asian features. Moreover, the title is one with a degree of honour accorded it by the hierarchy of the “vor v zakone” movement of the Russian criminal underworld and has thus been adopted by a number of its dons.

Supernatural or otherwise, Yaponchik in this guise certainly follows typical aspects of the mobster or hired assassin’s MO: brutal, calculated hits using glass ammunition in a sawn-off shotgun in order to obliterate a face and the further dehumanising removal of his victims’ fingers in order to prevent their identification. But as Frank Black notes during the course of the investigation, his killings are not motivated by anything as trite as mob violence. His involvement at Chernobyl underlines the kind of “terror tactic” that is really at work: a killer seeking constantly to spread fear and thereby enhance his reputation.

His miraculous recovery from having been shot at point blank range is hard to ignore, especially given its foretelling. But is Yaponchik really more than just a man? In spite of the talk of biblical prophecy that he provokes and the consuming fear that he instils, most of the influence he has on those around him could be explained by a wealth of charisma coupled with the kind of psychological effects mastered by the likes of Derren Brown. He is clearly sharply intelligent, but is Yaponchik merely another example of a killer exhibiting a God Complex, supported by the mythology attached to his given name? Or could he be something more?


Kills: 70

Investigation: Drawn in by the latest in a series of mutilation killings in New York, Frank Black, working alongside Peter Watts, the NYPD and assisted—or sometimes hindered—by the Moscow Police Department, soon finds himself embroiled in tales of Christian symbols, Russian superstitions and biblical prophecy. Links to Chernobyl and religious icons finally lead the team to the Russian Embassy and a man who goes by the name of Sergei Stepanovich. Their efforts are wrong-footed, however, when Detective Surova attempts to exact a private form of revenge, and Yaponchik seemingly escapes sure death in a manner predicted by the Book of Revelation.

The investigation climaxes atop a hospital helipad, as those who would protect the Russian diplomat ensure his escape. Ultimately, Yaponchik is as deft at evading justice as he is at evading death, and so the truth of just who he is lives on, as does his mythic status.

What the Killer Sees: Edward Petey

For this edition, What the Killer Sees considers the antagonist from a Season One episode that I would argue is oft under-rated. One of just two instalments to have been scripted solely from the masterful pen of Frank Spotnitz, “Weeds” boasts concepts and imagery that linger long in the mind, whilst also tapping into something of a semi-recurring theme from Millennium’s first season. Enter through the tall gates of Vista Verde and bear witness to the horrors committed within the would-be haven of security that its inhabitants live within…

Killer: Edward Petey (Josh Clark)

Episode: “Weeds” (24 January 1997)
Writer: Frank Spotnitz
Director: Michael Pattinson

Quote: “I'm their only hope. The fathers of these boys were all liars; they tried to hide their sins… You've seen what these men look like. You see what they'll do to their children. They'll make them just the way they are: sick and corrupt… I tried to help them. I care about these boys. Why am I the only one?” --Edward Petey

Profile: From its teaser onwards, this episode offers the viewer a rare insight into no less than “what the killer sees”, both in terms of his environment and the people within it. This is a warped vision of his actual surroundings, with dark, foreboding clouds scudding across a sky under which the people are “ugly, decaying” as Frank Black puts it. We first see Edward Petey sobbing at the wheel of his car from their effect, clearly deeply disturbed by the world he perceives around him.

Petey also exhibits behaviours in his modus operandi that speak to how he views himself. Even as he seeks to expose the originating wrongdoing with obtuse clues, he looks to “cleanse” his victims from the sins of their fathers by having them drink his blood. The religious overtones of such a ritual cannot and should not be ignored for they represent a God Complex or, more accurately, a severe narcissistic personality disorder. He claims a moral high ground over everyone within the community, exaggerated to the extent that he believes his blood carries the holy power to literally cure his victims of the poisonous influence of their forebears.

Edward Petey is one of a number of killers from Millennium’s first season — alongside those in such as episodes as “Pilot”, “The Judge” and “Kingdom Come” — who are driven to kill as a form of meting out moral judgment on what they perceive as a corrupt and broken world. As a result, none of them see what they do as wrong but quite the opposite. In Petey’s case, deeply affected by the hit-and-run that resulted in the death of Coach Burke’s son, he has become so outraged and disillusioned at the community around him that he seeks to “root out sin, expose hypocrisy” in a most violent and perverse fashion. Whilst extremely rare in real life, with serial killers more often motivated by their own internal desires and pathologies, by their actions these types of murderers serve to reflect the darkness of the world they inhabit outwards again, even as they act to reinforce it.

Kills: 2

Investigation: Faced with a pedestrian investigative police presence and the fumbled efforts of an outraged community, Frank takes a big risk in this case, namely his memorable, half-truthful claim at the meeting of Vista Verde’s inhabitants that that killer “doesn’t want anything — he’s insane.”

Frank knows this to be untrue but seeks to draw the killer out by prompting him into hasty action as a response to the taunt. Initially this seems to have been counter-productive when another victim is taken, but from the background noise on tape sent to Bob Birckenbuehl featuring the voice of his son, Frank Black and Cheryl Andrews are able to track the killer to his hideout beneath the high school swimming pool. They bring Petey into custody but too late to save Bob Birckenbuehl, who has heeded the warning that as a killer his life must be forfeit in order to save his son. Petey’s final act, then, is to indirectly deprive Charlie Birckenbuehl of his “sinful” father altogether.

What the Killer Sees: Avatar

Returning after a short sabbatical, What the Killer Sees is pulling out the big guns for this edition. As a nod to the recently released podcast interview with writer Michael R. Perry—a highlight of the Millennium Group Sessions’ entire run and a very revealing interview that I highly recommend—we turn our attention to one of the most popular episodes in Millennium’s entire run and an antagonist to rival Lucy Butler as Frank Black’s archnemesis…

Killer: Avatar

Episode: “The Mikado” (6 February 1998)

Writer: Michael R. Perry

Director: Roderick J. Pridy

Quote: “Avatar will tell us how to find him. And then, after he escapes, he proves his superiority.” --Frank Black


Profile: Avatar is a highly organised killer. The degree to which he stages his murders and the level of pre-planning demanded by the obtuse clues he leaves in his wake along with their complexity all indicate this and point to an extremely high intellect. He is also very unusual in a couple of respects. Whilst most serial killers follow a particular modus operandi, even when this develops over the course of a killer’s career, Avatar has completely changed his approach from a decade previously. Also, it is notably rare for a serial killer to go for such a long period as this without any activity unless incarcerated or otherwise restricted. Perhaps Avatar has simply evaded detection over this period, although this seems unlikely, since what truly defines him and forms his overriding motive is the extent and methods by which he taunts the authorities that would seek to catch him. This sociopathology not only leads to him asserting a level of control and superiority over the authorities as he demands that they “defer” to him—“The Lord High Executioner”—but also cultivated a culture of fear and infamy from his previous killings.

This should not detract, however, from the fact that Avatar has another motive belying his crimes. His typology is that he selects couples, killing the male and then enslaving the female before murdering her. He thus seeks to usurp the men and gain control and ownership over the women he murders. Frank Black gives an insight into this element of his motive by voicing what he “sees” as the investigative team seeks his lair:

“You slaughtered that young girl for no other reason than you wanted to. You hate yourself but you feel like you're God at the same time. But maybe the bitch had it coming. I watched the life blood drain from her body. And now she is mine forever. I showed her to the world. And now I have her in a safe place where I can see her any time I want.”

Avatar is, of course, closely based upon the Zodiac Killer. Various particulars of the cases and the killers mirror one another: the use of ciphers, delivering a minute change to a known text in his encrypted messages, the taunting of the police, the adoption of a symbol as a calling card, the evasion of capture, even down to sending of a segment of The Mikado to the authorities.


Kills: 22

Investigation: The most notable aspect of this latest investigation into Avatar’s killings of course derives from the fact that the murders are broadcast online; it offers a social comment in that the public’s voyeurism precipitates the bloody culmination, making them complicit to the crime. “The web has become his world” as Frank puts it. Given it is not immediately clear where the crimes are being perpetrated, no-one has jurisdiction; it is as though Avatar has selected the medium to highlight this shortfall in the law, or maybe even to defy Frank Black’s gift. As Frank indicates when it is suggested his apparent re-appearance is in fact a copycat killer:

“The most recent events are not a copy. It's a whole new creation, from the slipstream of electrons, a world as real as life or death but that disappears in the blink of an eye. The devil has a new playground.”

Nevertheless, assisted by Roedecker unleashed on the Millennium Group’s state of the art technology and Frank Black’s instincts, albeit muted by the fact he is not present at the crime scene, the investigation closes in on Avatar’s location by unravelling some of his subtle clues. Ultimately, though, Avatar manages to stay one step ahead and proves he is still a rare match for Frank’s gift, escaping from the stage on which he has performed for him and for us in order to fight—and kill—another day.

What the Killer Sees: Chris Carmody

In the previous edition of What the Killer Sees, school shooting spree killer Brant Carmody came under the psychological spotlight. Whilst his death seemed initially to be the suicide of a guilt-ridden killer, soon the sinister motives and misguided beliefs of those close to him revealed a yet more disturbing truth. In this instalment we delve back into the same gripping episode--as scripted by upcoming interviewees Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz--in order to profile none other than the teenager’s father…

Killer: Chris Carmody (Robert Wisden)

Episode: “TEOTWAWKI” (16 October 1998)

Writers: Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “Is that what it takes to save the world? Killing your own flesh and blood? Saving the strong and letting the weak die?” --Frank Black

Profile: Few of Millennium’s antagonists quite fulfil the “End is Nigh” billboard-wearing, underground bunker-dwelling profile like Chris Carmody and his associates. It is a character we all know well enough: those fearing the end of days to such a deep extent that they would secretly hoard tinned food, weaponry, generators and the like to ensure that they and their loved ones survive the inevitable apocalypse to come. But what is the psychological profile of such a person?

Certainly Carmody cannot be equated with a full-scale cultist such as Ricardo Clement, but nevertheless his actions are founded within an unshakeable certainty in his beliefs. These beliefs are not based upon some religious faith in the End Times, however, but rather are cemented in a seemingly much more tangible threat that failures in technology on the turn of the millennium will trigger society’s collapse. What lies behind such an obsessional fear of the anarchy that would rise in its wake? An isolationist viewpoint and an inherent lack of trust in others for certain. But maybe there is something yet more fundamentally human that lies beneath such fears. Fear of the apocalypse can be seen to mirror the fear of our own mortality, with even the more outlandish doomsday scenarios standing as reminders of our own inescapable death. All things must die, everyone and everything is ultimately destined to be lost to us. It seems more than feasible that fears over “The End Of The World As We Know It” are a dramatic projection of those thoughts regarding our own mortality onto the world we live in. Carmody’s is a mind broken, lost to such thoughts.

The depth of Carmody’s convictions are surely most apparent in his willingness to murder his own son, seemingly in a misguided attempt to protect the rest of his family. On his capture, he openly states this as his over-riding motive in the knowledge that the shooting spree that Brant undertook at his school was motivated by his inability to deal with the looming threat of such a chaotic world. It seems Carmody is likely being truthful in this regard.

A variety of psychological states are known to cause parents to commit filicide. These range from mood disorders through to delusional thoughts and disorganised behavioural patterns. Superficially, Carmody appears to be much more calculated and conscious in the actions he takes, however given his underlying beliefs as outlined here we cannot rule out such thought patterns leading to the resolve that it is the right thing to do under the circumstances to take the life of his son. As Frank Black narrates in the closing scene of this episode, Carmody is an example of “the radical few, who obey no disciplines. Unencumbered by conscience, they prepare ruthlessly, pursuing their own preservation. If they survive, the rest of us perish.”


Kills: 1

Investigation: Having intuited that Brant Carmody was unlikely to have taken his own life, Frank Black leads the investigation down a new avenue of inquiry: to find his killer. A study of Brant’s computer identifies a threatening e-mail from someone identified only as “Skylark”, an alias that the FBI track back to Carlton King, the son of Gary King, one of Chris Carmody’s associates.

Ultimately this finding leads Emma Hollis and Frank Black to discover the group’s secret compound. After a tense stand-off, Gary King surrenders and Chris Carmody is taken into custody at his home, his family destroyed rather than protected by his actions.

What the Killer Sees: Brant Carmody

In the early days of a New Year in which the news has been characterised by the unexplained mass deaths of not one, not even two but three flocks of birds as well as no fewer than two million fish, I feel as if I should be writing about “The Fourth Horseman” / “The Time Is Now”. Instead and over two instalments I shall be exploring the events of another episode concerned with potentially apocalyptic events at the turn of a year, one expertly crafted by none other than Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz.


Killer: Brant Carmody (Jeremy Guilbaut)

Episode: “TEOTWAWKI” (16 October 1998)

Writers: Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I think that Brant Carmody did in fact kill those kids. I think that his rage was driven by his absolute conviction that the end of the world was coming and that nothing—not even the taking of his classmates’ lives—mattered any more. But his death was not a suicide.” --Frank Black

Profile: High school killing sprees are always particularly shocking. That a student such as Brant Carmody should take up arms and indiscriminately shoot his classmates betrays not just friends and peers but also the very roots of an institution based on growth and learning, robbing young adults of the future for which they are being so diligently prepared.

Such spree killings so often appear to come out of the blue, and frequently the perpetrator is soon characterised as an outcast or loner type. This can be the case, but often is merely a means by which to distance the killer from “normal” human behaviour, to try to separate their actions from what we know to be within the capability of our fellow man. Beneath the surface, however, there are of course often underlying tensions and motives that burst to the surface in dramatic fashion in these instances. Details that can, at least to some degree, deem to explain the seemingly inexplicable.

Spree killers are often desperately seeking to make a statement when they rampage in this fashion. Feeling disconnected from their environment or society as a whole, they are making a last ditch stand, externalising angry or violent thoughts that they can no longer restrain themselves from acting out. Whilst the spree is often premeditated there is nearly always a trigger to this shift. This is very much the case with Brant Carmody as he struggles to make sense of his new foreknowledge of a world his father reveals that, according to his beliefs, is set to go to hell at the turn of the upcoming millennium. As a result and as Frank notes in the selected quote, Carmody’s world is shattered and human life ceases to hold any value to him.

Brant Carmody’s apparent suicide is not wholly out of character with many spree killers, who would take their own lives rather than risk capture, and perhaps hence Barry Baldwin’s swift conclusion that this is what happened. Frank expresses his conviction from the outset, however, that this was not the case in this instance. Brant Carmody evades capture at the scene of the shootings in the chaos that follows and has resumed his regular routine, both signs of his intent to continue living his life. Thus his sudden death doesn’t quite fit the pattern and this leaves loose ends that hint at a whole other level to the mystery.


Kills: 3

Investigation: Emma Hollis is amongst the first investigators from the FBI to arrive at the scene of the school shooting, and her fledgling instincts soon pick out two disturbed youths amongst the crowds of children being reunited with frantic families. A conversation with Carmody’s girlfriend then reveals his preoccupation with the end of the world. It is Frank Black, however, who first calls out Barry Baldwin on his presumptuous conclusion that Brant Carmody killed himself without having taken the time to methodically rule out any other possibilities.

It turns out that Frank’s instincts are correct. Whilst Baldwin was quick to dismiss the police investigation, Giebelhouse also goes on to note certain aspects of the circumstances surrounding Brant’s death that do not fit with a suicide. But what could possibly drive a father to commit filicide? The beliefs and motives underlying Chris Carmody’s actions will be the subject of the next edition of What the Killer Sees, in a fortnight’s time…

What the Killer Sees: Ricardo Clement

Killer: Ricardo Clement (Bob Wilde)

Episode: “Gehenna” (1 November 1996)

Writer: Chris Carter

Director: David Nutter

Quote: “Something happened down in San Francisco.” --Frank Black

“Anything you want to talk about?” --Catherine Black

“I'm just confused about something I thought I understood about evil. What it is, exactly.” --Frank Black

“You mean, what causes it?” --Catherine Black

“It seems that the old biblical concept of the devil's influence has lost any currency.” --Frank Black

“I just think the language has changed. I think science and psychology have given us a clearer idea of why people commit evil acts. I see it every day – abused kids become abusive adults.” --Catherine Black

“So the true source of evil is us.” --Frank Black

“You mean, are we all capable of it?” --Catherine Black

“Or is there something out there – a force or a presence – waiting until it can create another murder, another rape, another holocaust.” --Frank Black

“I think it's something that everyone who looks deeply at life wonders.” --Catherine Black

“What would you tell a child? What would I tell Jordan?” --Frank Black

“Maybe you should just tell her goodnight.” --Catherine Black

Profile: Ricardo Clement is perhaps even more of a mystery at the end of his encounter with Frank Black than he at first appeared. What we do learn of him for sure, however, is his position as a sinister cult leader with a deadly agenda.

The cult leader tends towards a dictatorial regime, controlling his subjects through manipulation and often by preying on the weak. It is for this reason that former member become victim Eedo writes to his family with such genuine conviction about the beliefs of the cult to which he has fallen victim. We see evidence of this manipulation from Clement as he brainwashes his telemarketers with a series of slogans continually projected onto their gloomy office wall.

A cult leader’s inflated ego nearly always co-exists alongside a flagrant disregard for his subjects couched behind a veneer of charm and guile. This psychopathology is theorised to often stem from deep rooted feelings of anger such that other people become objectified to the extent that the cult leader experiences no feelings of guilt over their fates. This theory of suppressed rage may also explain Clement’s incredibly sadistic means of dispatching his victims; as Frank notes, he wants to watch them suffer and specifically wishes to see them burn alive. This is perhaps another thematic link to Gehenna since followers of Moloch, one of the false gods worshipped at the original site as referenced in the Hebrew Bible, used to sacrifice their children by fire. Furthermore Clement is another example of a highly organised killer, having his victims lured into his clutches whilst he looks on with night vision goggles before murdering them and disposing of their remains in a very specific and carefully orchestrated fashion.

Furthermore, the cult behind Gehenna International would be classified as a “destructive cult” in that it knowingly inflicts emotional and physical harm upon its own members, in this instance in a particularly violent fashion. It is a term sometimes extended in this new millennium to also include certain terrorist groups. Whilst the reference during the investigation by Mike Atkins to sarin attacks in Japan directly links to Aum Shinrikyo, practices of harm towards its own members are perhaps better exemplified by the history of the Branch Davidians. The belief in end of the world prophecies is common to both and another well-known attribute of such cults, exemplified here by Gehenna International’s ultimate design.

There is one further theme explored in this episode that is particularly pertinent to this column: that of the very source of evil itself. Brian A. Dixon recently discussed the introduction of the notion of Legion in his consideration of this episode in his Second Sight column, whilst the age old argument of nature or nurture was a point of discussion in the comments prompted by the very first edition of this column, witnessing the “birth” of a serial killer in “Broken World”. The brief representations of Clement as a demon and his eerie and knowing glares towards Frank even when he is hidden via one-way glass hint at the manifestation of some deeper evil power at work, a possibility Frank speaks of in the conversation with Catherine quoted at the top of this column. Catherine’s view is one more rooted in the developing field of psychology alongside science to explain such actions, whilst acknowledging that the debate on the subject continues. It is of course a dichotomy so superbly dramatised throughout Millennium and here personified in the enigma that is Ricardo Clement.

Kills: Unknown (at least 7)

Investigation: The investigation into Ricardo Clement and Gehenna International begins when quantities of ash dumped in the rose beds at a San Francisco public park are found to contain a human ear and then on further examination revealed to contain the remains of at least seven people. Traces of the gas phosgene lead to an abandoned dry-cleaning facility that suffered an accident some years previously, and a tooth found at this scene linking to a missing Russian first makes the connection to the cult via a letter sent by the missing man to his family six months previously.

Frank makes the connection to Gehenna International after consulting The Bible (and not for the last time in his work connected to The Millennium Group) back at home in Seattle. Sharing this with his mentor Mike Atkins, Frank unwittingly leads him into danger when Atkins decides to follow up this potential lead by investigating their facility alone. He barely escapes with his life but Frank’s hunch is proven correct, the cult is revealed and its leader, Ricardo Clement, is finally brought into custody.

What the Killer Sees: Steven Kiley

Killer: Steven Kiley (Tucker Smallwood)

Episode: “Goodbye Charlie” (9 January 1998)

Writer: Richard Whitley

Director: Ken Fink

Quote: “It is difficult to fit him into the psychological profile of a serial killer. His killings are organised yet he crosses gender lines. Doesn't fit. He believes his acts are altruistic yet his victims are bound. This is a matter of control... Under the guise of helping other people to die, he actually holds their lives in his hands. Now he has been diagnosed, terminally. He doesn't even have control over his own body... We had control over him today. In order to relieve that anxiety, that helplessness, he'll have to help others - his way.” --Frank Black

Profile: If Frank Black struggled to profile Steven Kiley, then there’s little hope for me! Nevertheless, the nature and method of the killings perpetrated by Kiley are interesting to consider, as well as highlighting the morality of assisted suicide. And this is to say nothing of Kiley’s true nature, hints of a more supernatural aspect that come hand in hand with a first foray for this column into the wonders of Season Two.

As Frank notes, Kiley is a highly organised killer. Being “organised” in this context refers to a level of sophistication, planning and competence in evidence at a murder scene. The dichotomy originated in the terms “organised non-social” and “disorganised asocial” as long ago as 1980, whilst the term psychopathic is applied to the organised killer in modern investigative terminology and the disorganised killer characterised as psychotic. Documented in 1985 by the FBI, this system is now commonly used as a relatively straightforward investigative approach to a crime scene. The organised killer typically targets a stranger and then exerts a high level control over his victim, as evidenced here by the way Kiley recruits his victims from his role at the Crisis Center and the use of restraints when administering them with a deadly dose of potassium chloride. He is more likely to be intelligent and successful too, as evidenced again by Kiley’s former career as Ellsworth Beedle before borrowing the moniker by which we come to know him from the drama series Marcus Welby, MD.

Another notable aspect of Kiley’s killings is the placement of a walnut in the mouth of the victim before death. This is symbolic of the gift of prophecy in Greek mythology, the implied meaning being that Kiley foresees the fate that would await his victims if he did not act to “save” them. Again, this implies a sense of forward planning and preparation common to the organised serial killer.

The whole notion of a health professional turning killer is of course particularly chilling, and represents a real dereliction of duty towards those who entrust their health into such hands. It is not, however, without precedent. Jack Kevorkian is probably the most well-known US pathologist to have been convicted of murder having been tried on multiple counts due to his defiant position on assisted suicide. In the UK, Harold Shipman is the only doctor every to have been found guilty of murdering his patients, with over two hundred suspected kills making him one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. Notably he also crossed gender lines, like Kiley, although most of his victims were elderly women. Whilst the only UK doctor to be convicted in this way, again his behaviour is not without precedent, as exemplified by the cases of John Bodkin Adams, Leonard Arthur and Thomas Lodwig.

Some of these cases raise the moral issue of assisted suicide, as is central to the case of Steven Kiley. Frank surmises that Kiley’s psychopathological behaviour is rooted in an epiphany he experienced as a hospital doctor, acting instinctively to save the life of a gravely ill woman who he came to realise did not wish to live at all. From thereon he acts “to save lives by taking them”, with his crossing of gender lines explained by his primary concern being with “the quality of a human life”. Whilst the moral maze of assisted suicide is a debate too involved for this column, what is clear from Kiley’s methodology is that he at best manipulates his victims into their fate and so denies them a true choice regarding it. This premeditated and involved approach is, then, surely murder. As with so many serial killers, and in particular those that fit the organised profile, it becomes about power and control over the life of another.

Kills: 10

Investigation: The investigation into Steven Kiley is as unorthodox as his methodology. The Millennium Group tasks Frank and Lara Means with investigating Kiley’s killings, posing the question to Lara Means, “Should we assist to arrest this subject? Or assist to protect?” Together Frank and Lara track down Kiley by first having the motel at which the previous killings have taken place staked out, although when he returns a staff member acting as his accomplice raises the alarm so he can escape.

Undeterred, they follow the trail by considering how he sources the materials for his suicide machine (an abandoned hospital that turns out to be where he previously worked and began his career as a killer) and how he locates his victims (the Crisis Center), before finally honing in on Kiley by a process of elimination and tracking him to the hospital where he now works as a nurse. Due to a lack of evidence, however, they have to release him. Tragically this leads to a further five deaths, as Kiley releases the anxiety of his interrogation by staging a multiple killing at the house of his former accomplice, who turns out to also be his assessor. Kiley leaves a note stating that this was not his choice.

Returning to the question posed to them by The Millennium Group in assigning them to the case and in light of the killer’s image appearing in the painting on which the note was posted, Frank re-interprets the quandary as questioning if Kiley was from heaven or from hell, leaving us to wonder yet more deeply as to his true nature.

What the Killer Sees: Connor

Killer: Connor (John Fleck)

Episode: “Blood Relatives” (6 December 1996)

Writer: Chip Johannessen

Director: James Charleston

Quote: “How could anyone abandon a child? But millions of people do it. Millions. God, it’s scary. We have home after home filled with kids like James. And we know they'll turn violent. How do I tell the survivors that no one saw it coming? They're out there, Frank... People full of holes.” --Catherine Black

Profile: The narrative twists of this episode remind us of the shades of grey involved in profiling and the investigative process as a whole. It is for this reason that James Dickerson finds himself under suspicion for so much of the investigation. In addition to insinuating himself into families during their grief at the funerals of men comparable in age to him, he is noted to have been collecting souvenirs from the personal effects of the deceased.

As we have seen before, killers will sometimes collect souvenirs from a kill to remind themselves of the experience, and in a different way Dickerson does the same thing here to remind himself of the personal connection he has made with the families he has encountered. As Catherine Black’s analysis of his history notes, “He's a classic lost child. And there's an army of them just like him. Put up for adoption at one-and-a-half, never placed, in and out of foster care, reform school, abuse. He essentially raised himself... No-one showed him how to connect with the world. Odd as this may sound, going to funerals is his attempt.”

Dickerson’s resulting absence of self-worth and self-concern is so acute that when his mother rejects him again to his face once he is in custody, he even admits to two murders that he never committed. This is the tragedy at the heart of this story, of the psychological damage wrought on him as a child from his experiences. Frank notes to Peter Watts that he fits the profile and that he is capable of committing murder. But, as it turns out, he is not guilty. Capability coupled with behavioural similarities to those exhibited by killers does not imply that someone necessarily has made or ever will make that leap to murderous violence.

We actually know much less about the killer himself: Connor, trustee of the halfway house at which Dickerson resides. From his attitude towards Dickerson and his reaction to the sight of his mother we know that he takes a great interest in him, even to the extent of concealing him from the police. Quite what his motives are we can only guess at, but it seems likely that his own background mirrors Dickerson’s in some way and that he is seeking to compensate for this, to create a family of sorts. They may well also be a sexual component in his apparent special interest in Dickerson, but there is no overt evidence to support this. We can, however, be almost certain that his previous record would have been unblemished in order for him to be able to hold such a position as trustee of the halfway house in the first instance.

We do learn a little more about Connor from his modus operandi, though, and in particular the mutilation of his victims. The nature and physical origin of a wound pattern can often inform an assessment of the motivation behind a murder and the character of the killer. This is true for injuries that represent overkill, control-oriented, defensive or precautionary force, or how or where on the body that force was administered, plus whether it was inflicted before or after death.
Frank is able to discern that the words “STOP LOOKING” that were carved into Tina’s abdomen were done with care and consideration. This mutilation and the same words traced in pollen on the clothing of Jeffrey Cort as discovered by Peter Watts, were both inflicted after death and therefore directed at someone other than the victim. With the style of the “S” copied from the style of the Skorpion Salvage yard where Connor concealed Dickerson and the wording itself copied from the motivational message on a board in the halfway house, there are strong indications that the messages were intended for Dickerson.

This was a warning from Connor to Dickerson to stop looking for a sense of family elsewhere, an attempt to retain control, power and ownership over him, whether or not there is an implied sexual aspect underlying these motivations. It is this same motivation that leads Connor to attack Mrs Dechant, seeking to strike at the heart of Dickerson’s estranged and fractured family. James Dickerson’s entire life has been devoid of any real sense of familial love, and Connor’s unnatural interest in him represents yet another failing of the system to support his welfare in its absence.

Kills: 2

Investigation: James Dickerson remains the prime suspect throughout much of the investigation, with his personal and criminal past plus his stalking of bereaved families all seeming to provide additional evidence of his guilt. Catherine Black also provides good insights into the social care system and the effects of its failings upon those caught up in it. It is only when tracking Dickerson to the halfway house that things begin take a turn, with Connor being obviously obstructive to the police. Discussing the case with Catherine, Frank makes the leap that the message “STOP LOOKING” is not a message from Dickerson but to him, and it is this realisation that leads Frank to visit Dickerson’s mother, narrowly rescuing her from becoming Connor’s next victim.

Halloween Week: Friday - What the Killer Sees: Marc Bianco

Just two days to go until Halloween. Somewhere demons are conspiring, spirits are stirring, witches are reading up on new dastardly spells, vampires are sharpening their teeth, zombies are groaning... you get the idea.

And meanwhile it’s Day Five of Halloween Week here at Back to Frank Black. Our focus upon Season Three’s “Thirteen Years Later” gives my regular column here the opportunity to come at its profile from a slightly different angle in this edition, and I hope you will find it as interesting as I did to research. You may never again be able to view the horror genre in quite the same way after this particular glimpse into What the Killer Sees...


Killer: Marc Bianco (Jeff Yagher)

Episode: “...Thirteen Years Later” (30 October 1998)

Writer: Michael R. Perry

Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I wanted to be like you, Frank. I wanted to see what the killer sees... But, you know, by killing them I learned something really important... I really like killing people. And now I know what you know.” --Marc Bianco

Profile: In considering the psychology of Marc Bianco, it is important to understand from the outset that the events surrounding his case as we witness them are at least to some degree – and quite possibly in their entirety – an unreliable account, given they are narrated by Bianco himself whilst incarcerated in a penitentiary for the criminally insane. Nevertheless, that narration in itself tells us something about him.

Undoubtedly, Marc Bianco is delusional. From the evidence we witness he very possibly suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, in which the subject displays multiple distinct identities or alter egos. Not only does Bianco immerse himself in his screen role as a ridiculous version of Frank Black, he also commits his killings in a series of otherwise irreconcilably diverse fashions. Such a diagnosis is normally linked to a major trauma or period of stress as a trigger originating earlier in life. We get no hint as to what this may be in Bianco’s case, but we certainly see evidence as to just how deep his psychosis penetrates as he rants to a room full of oblivious fellow inmates.

A word or two on schizophrenia is merited at this juncture also, since this is a diagnosis to which the layman might leap. Schizophrenia is a much misunderstood and relatively common disorder in which cognitive and emotional responses to stimuli are misappropriated. Paranoid schizophrenics are the most common subgroup and hit headlines since when they do resort to violent crime their dysfunction allows them to commit the most appalling acts, but this is incredibly rare. It cannot be stressed enough that schizophrenics are very, very rarely homicidal – possibly even less so than non-sufferers of the condition – in spite of what a slew of horror genre material would have us believe. As Reverend Goodman cautions us, “Never believe anything you see on Halloween”.

Another aspect of Bianco’s psychological make-up that marks him out is how he seeks to become Frank Black way above and beyond the demands of his starring role in an abysmal B-movie, to mimic him and his understanding of “what the killer sees” to the point of committing multiple murders himself. Bianco is so drawn to Frank’s ability to put himself into the killer’s head that he becomes lost to his delusions, and quite literally becomes capability, the thing we fear the most. It is perhaps a telling reminder of the toll that this line of work can take upon forensic psychologists, Frank Black included.

The other psychological effect that Marc Bianco forces us to examine is the purported effect of horror in the mediums of television and film on the perpetrators of violent crime. High profile examples include a murderer apparently motivated in turn by a book on barbaric murderers, a Zodiac killer copycat, any number of copycat killings attributed to the movie Natural Born Killers, a teenager who copied Dexter’s methodology in committing fratricide and, perhaps most chillingly similar to the case of Marc Bianco and also related in part to Dexter, the case of filmmaker Mark Andrew Twitchell.

Whilst a media favourite topic, however, there is no empirical evidence to suggest a link between the consumption of horror and the committal of violent crime. Moreover, it is often the preoccupation by media outlets with such links that is seen by some to risk propagating them. The very attention given to serial and spree killers in particular often serves merely to portray them as people of power that can elevate them to be all but anti-heroes, whilst Millennium is normally far more effective at portraying its antagonists as violent, disturbed individuals who may even be the agents of some deeper rooted evil. And as a further editorial aside, the mediums of television and film surely teach and reinforce far more moral values than they do destroy them, even – and perhaps especially – when they are this dark in tone.

Kills: 8

Investigation: Quite frankly, it’s anybody’s guess as to exactly how the investigation into Marc Bianco went down. Frank Black and Emma Hollis’ state of perplexity at the unfolding set of murders exemplifies how hard it is to fit Marc Bianco into a neat psychological profile. They do, however, spend an inordinate amount of time over a bowl of popcorn profiling a variety of preposterous yet entertaining killers from the screen, and Frank’s insights here are priceless whilst adding a whole new take on how the genre represents murderers and their motives. Just something to think about when you’re devouring your horror fare of choice this Halloween.