Second Sight: "Wide Open"

“Wide Open” (3 January 1997)

Writer: Charles D. Holland
Director: James Charleston
Editor: Chris Willingham, A.C.E.

Quote: “Hi, Bob... Came down to see what I didn’t see.” --Frank Black


Overview: Millennium defies traditional genre labels but, over the years, it has most often been described as horror. Indeed, a tagline printed on promotional posters prepared by Fox Broadcasting for the show’s second season declared, “We don’t want to scare you. We want to terrify you.” The series employs many tactics in order to strike fear into the hearts of its viewers but among the most complex and captivating of these is to be found in the show’s preoccupation with spectatorship, the act of looking. Though it is a subject matter we don’t often stop to reflect on in our daily lives, there is an inherent power in the gaze, there is an undeniable threat in a stare, and these ideas are embodied in the serial killers seen so frequently on the series. It has been evident since that first blood-drenched private strip show the Frenchman paid to see in the visually arresting “Pilot.” On Millennium, spectatorship inevitably gives way to the threat or menace of voyeurism, which inevitably gives way to sudden and brutal death.

No episode thus far has explored this theme more clearly, perhaps, than “Wide Open.” Here we have an installment concerned with the relationship between fear, security, and spectatorship, a story about a voyeuristic killer and a traumatized young witness whose experiences prove pivotal to the ensuing investigation. A trademark Ten-Thirteen sight gag reinforces the themes of the episode when we are shown a sign promoting the selling points for Emerald Shore Realty: “Killer Views, Killer Price$.” Such visual cues abound, from Detective Giebelhouse’s futile efforts to peek in apartment peep holes to a realtor’s viewing of a harrowing videocassette. Nothing sells the dominating menace inherent in the act of looking more strongly, however, than the penetrating, unblinking stare of guest star Pablo Coffey in his chilling portrayal of the aptly named Cutter. His is the watchful eye behind the peep hole, the controlling hand behind the camcorder. There is threat in the man’s very look, a prevailing menace that cannot be blocked or avoided or deterred. As Hannibal Lector explained to Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, “We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don’t you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don’t your eyes seek out the things you want?” The key to this case, our investigators soon realize, is in the gaze.

The only hope for security, in fact, is offered not by police patrols or burglar alarms but by the gaze of Frank Black. Cutter is not the only character possessed of a watchful eye. Opposing voyeurism with vigilance, “Wide Open” shows us the power provided by our eyes and thereby reinforces the unique power of the protagonist. Frank Black is a hero whose might lies not in his lightning reflexes or his unrivaled strength but in his eyes and in his mind’s eye, in his often astonishing facility for observation. It is what Frank Black sees that sets him apart. The strobe-like imagery of his trademark visions--some of which, in this episode, focus directly on the eyes of young Patricia Highsmith, who is emotionally scarred by what she has seen--are there to remind us of this. These visions are a mixed blessing--both a gift and a curse, as the profiler has told us--and “Wide Open” remains a frightening example of horror television. There is hope in the profiler’s visions but they are, as ever, jarring and deeply upsetting to see. As viewers participating in our own sort of voyeuristic engagement with the violence and gore that flashes before us on the glowing TV screen, it is impossible not to be unnerved by the implications.

Trances in Total: 4 (0:10)

Gore Score: 4/10

Ezekiel Editorial: Content and Balance

Hello my snug cuddle-wumps and cushy-plushies! Just a small editorial again. Details details and more details. It's all in the details.

First off, later today we have a lovely interview with Pablo Coffey on the podcast. Pablo played the rather unforgettable house invader "Cutter" in season one's "Wide Open". He talks a lot about Millennium (with a lot of love), so please tune in for that whenever you have a spare moment.

On the end of the podcast we talk a little about this writing thing, a little of the background and a little why we're being such dreadful teases.

So what's coming up? Morgan and Wong week. As with all BacktoFrankBlack, things can't always go to schedule. It's the nature of this very large beast. We had hoped we could stave off the week so we could get another interview fixed, but being human and fallible as we are, we might not be able to kick that one between the goalposts. So we've moving on with that. There is a lot of risks in these campaigns - sometimes things don't go to planned. We've been asked where has the James Morrison interview gone, and like with John Muir, busy men are notoriously hard to schedule. They don't get paid, so we're really at the mercy of whatever free time they can give us. James has been a hard man to schedule and we've lost windows many times through the year (John was the same), but we'll do our best to get that lined up. You can ask myself, Troy - or Mark - and we'll all tell you the same: there is a LOT of hard work in getting these interviews and events to pan out (yes, events too, auction delayed by actors and crew being SO giving they want time to send more stuff), and for every 10 successes, you'll get 1 fail. But we will keep pushing. We waited a year for BacktoFrankBlack and Mr Muir to find a window that suited both parties, we'll do two years for Mr Morrison if needs be.

Bottomline, and I'll leave you with this point, is when it's quite on the blog front, more likely than not, it's because its busy behind the scenes. We have had some queries as to where some of the content has gone from the blog (any non related post feedback, please send to info@backtofrankblack.com and we'll address it without disrupting the blog), and that's the answer: if its quiet our front, it's because we're focusing on work behind the scenes. 90% of the work on this campaign is stuff you never see on the blog or social networks. Doesn't mean it isn't happening.

See our concern - and we'll openly share it with you - is when a campaign loses its novelty, we have to look at what we can do to make sure the campaign aspect isn't lost (and we're so glad to have people like Lance to throw ideas against our brain boxes to stop that happening: see the teasing!) . It would be easy to fall into a trend of related articles, fun interviews and commentaries for the blog, but we'd be in danger of losing out on what the campaign is about: a campaign. The more we focus on the blog, the less we can focus on the media, industry and Millennium crew. As I was forced to say (I hope not too rudely) to a colleague recently, we're not a fanzine, we're a campaign, so we can't always be on the blog to deliver fun and fab content - but we WILL try. And as always YOU can help.

If you have any ideas (the bumper sticker idea was an awesome one of late - and sooo obvious!), or want to contribute to the article or the campaign, email me at jim@backtofrankblack.com or troy@backtofrankblack.com We have some new contributors lined up this year (first will début on Morgan and Wong week), but if you feel we should have more "fan focused" content on the blog (and we know some of you do), step up to the plate: give us a hand in providing.

In the meantime, enjoy a little teasing, a little Pablo, some more Seven and One, a little Video Avatar and more website updates - all in the next 5 days!