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Transcript of Millennium episode "Roosters"

Presented below is an episode transcript of Roosters from Chris Carter's Millennium TV series. These transcripts have been provided thanks to the dedication and time consuming hard work of Millennium fans Libby and Maria Vitale. Millennium - This is who we are is extremely greatful to Libby who has painstakingly checked, updated and edited each one for accuracy to make sure that they are as true to the actual episodes as possible.

 

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The transcript on this page includes all spoken and visual content providing a full written account of the selected episode of Chris Carter's Millennium television series.

Please note that transcripts are different to the original Ten Thirteen shooting scripts/screenplays in that they have been painstakingly transcribed from the actual broadcasted episodes (and subsequently later checked against the DVD released episodes) for the benefit of resource and interest of Millennium's fans.

The original episode screenplays and shooting scripts may include or exclude varying scenes, explanations and character descriptions and are always of great interest to fans of Millennium. Such scripts of Millennium may occasionaly be found for sale on Ebay and other online auction sites and make for ideal collectors items.

In 2004, Lance Henriksen (Millennium's Frank Black) teamed up with Sue Myatt formerly of website Lance Henriksen Magic to auction his personal signed collection of 63 Millennium scripts filled with Lance's comments, notes, production sheets, location maps and reminders.

Together they are to be congratulated for raising over £13,000 for international charities, which was a fantastic endeavour.

Unfortunately many, if not most of the auctioned autographed scripts were believed to have been purchased by internet auction traders, and therefore never got to be appreciated and cherished by Millennium's actual fans.

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Roosters - Transcript


Season:

2

MLM Code:

#MLM-216

Production Code:

5C16

Original Airdate:

1998-03-13



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Roosters

[MLM-216 (5C16)]

 

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Air Date: March 13, 1998

[Transcribed by Dan Owen
Edited by Libby]

[Editor's note: As with the episode "Owls", it's probable that Dan's transcript of this episode incorporated an early version of the shooting script. There were scenes in his transcript that don't appear on the DVD and there were quite extensive changes to dialogue. Rather than transcribe the episode from scratch, I have amended Dan's transcript in order to retain many of the excellent scene descriptions and details he provided.]

 

ELDER: (VO) Previously on Millennium.

[Frank's house – night. A number of Russian graphics fill Frank's computer screen. "Archive of the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service, Moscow, Russia." Frank is searching this site and brings up a page written in Cyrillic script with a name in western script: Adolph Hitler. Another page shows images of Hitler's fire-scorched uniform, his walking stick, his violin, then, a watercolor. Tensing at the sight, Frank moves the screen down – various watercolors pass by until Frank finds it: the same watercolor hanging in Ms. Knight's office. Behind Frank a car's headlights sweep across his front room. Frank gets out of his chair and moves quickly to the main window. He peers through the blinds and sees two men parked in a car outside, watching his premises. Frank is furious and opens a nearby drawer. Inside is a gun.]

[Outside Frank's house. Frank is holding his gun downwards as he walks determinedly down the driveway. He approaches the back of the car. The driver's door opens and a man steps out. Frank stops and aims his gun angrily.]

FRANK: Hey.

[The driver raises his hands.]

FRANK: You looking for me? You must be, because I'm the only one that lives here.
DRIVER: Easy, Mr. Black. This is who we are.

[Frank is surprised to hear the Millennium Group's password. Inside the car, the second man has a .45 Glock 30 handgun ready out of sight. He looks over his shoulder at Frank, and rocks the slide.]

[The episode now begins:]

FRANK: (to driver) Put your hands behind your head.

[He hits the back of the car and shouts to the passenger.]

FRANK: You too!

[Frank has moved slightly, keeping an eye on both men. The passenger starts raising his hands.]

DRIVER: Frank. Just let me call Peter Watts.

[The passenger moves suddenly. Frank sees this and ducks as the man aims his gun towards the back of the car at Frank. They both fire, shattering the back window. Frank dives down onto the grass verge. The passenger has twisted round and has partly fallen on to the driver's seat. The passenger fires again, a bullet hits the grass as Frank is still rolling away. Frank gets on to his knees and aims across the car at the driver, who ducks down and looks through the front and side windows. Inside the car the passenger, his face spattered with blood, aims his gun at Frank. Frank again ducks down and moves close to the car's back wheel. The passenger fires three times, the bullets exiting the car's front door. Frank shuffles to the back of the car, gets up and fires twice into the car, hitting the passenger. The driver stands up and fires at Frank who ducks down as the man fires. Frank is down on the ground and shoots under the car, hitting the ground where the driver is stood by the front wheel. Frank fires again. Sirens can now be heard. The driver dives into the car, starts the engine and drives off. Frank fires twice, a shower of sparks around the off-side rear wheel, but the car continues. Frank starts to sit up on the kerb as a police car drives by, pursuing the car. Another police car draws up, as Frank unloads his gun, exhausted and shocked.]

[fade to black]

[main titles]

[polaroid fade up]

"Roosters"

[A cigarette lighter is flicked, but doesn't light. Lara takes her cigarette out of her mouth and throws it on the desk. She sits back, arms folded, looking at her dormant computer and silent phone. Then she picks up the phone and dials.]

[Frank's house. His computer is still showing the watercolor painting. His phone rings, but the room is empty.]

[Lara puts down the phone and sits back with a sigh. She picks up some envelopes - one marked "duplicate". She takes out some files. One file is: Maryland State Police, Report of Investigation, Suspected Homicide, Gordon Johnston. The conclusion is: "Findings conclude the anomalistic failure of vehicle electrical system." Lara closes the file and looks at another from the envelope. This has "Le Fur - Amman, Jordan" written on it. Part of the report reads: "The security camera was then disabled - Cause: Undetermined malfunction of security camera. The crate was taken." Lara closes that file and opens another. "Photographic Job Order. Person requesting: Peter Watts. Incident: Johnston, Gordon. Number of views: 3. Request for alternative photographs." Lara checks in the envelope and takes out some photographs of the burned body, but there are only two photographs. Puzzled, Lara checks the job sheet again. "Completed full report (3 images) delivered to Peter Watts, 3 March 1998, 13:12. Request for alternate light photographs, 1 fluorescent, 1 infrared, 1 ultraviolet, Total 3." It's signed by Peter Watts. Lara closes that file, checks the envelope again, but it's empty. She puts a cigarette in her mouth.]

LARA: What is it you didn't want anyone else to see, Peter?

[She strikes a match, but then hears a rumbling sound. She takes the cigarette out of her mouth and stares at the flame. There's a roaring sound, like an animal, then like a stampede, horses neighing. The match has nearly burned down to her fingers when there's a knock at the door. Lara drops the match, is wary. She picks up her gun and slowly goes to the door. She looks through the peephole. It's the Old Man.]

 

[A night-time city street. An open-air car park. Watts and The Elder are standing, talking.]

THE ELDER: From what we understand, the two men introduced themselves to Frank Black as members of the Group.
WATTS: Considering the conditions, the division in the group between the secularists and the theologians, maybe they were.
THE ELDER: Everyone knows that Frank was a civilian. He was always reluctant to join the Group, period. Let alone tip his hand as to which Millennium he believed.

[There's an uncomfortable pause.]

THE ELDER: We have lost an exceptional candidate.
WATTS: I lost him. I'd like to go to him. Not to try to get him back. Just to make certain he's okay.
THE ELDER: I've been where you're at, Peter. I spent ten years at the level of Patron. You empathize with your candidate's doubts, you condole their fear, you elate at their revelation. You can't experience these emotions with another person and not feel close to them. But until the candidate becomes initiated and comprehends the secrets that we accept, the affinity is a one-way street. You are the last person he wants to see.

[Watts nods, understanding.]

WATTS: Yeah.

[Watts nods again, and walks away.]

THE ELDER: Peter.

[Watts stops and turns around.]

THE ELDER: I expect an explanation as to why you covered up the third infrared image in the Johnston investigation.

[Watts tenses, caught off guard.]

 

[Frank's house - night. Giebelhouse is present. They are standing in Frank's office.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Some of my uniformed guys found the car. It was abandoned up on Clyde Hill. No prints. Phony plates. VIN removed. It's gonna be a bitch to trace.
FRANK: Yeah.
GIEBELHOUSE: I see you're thinking about your own investigation.

[Frank confirms this with silence. Giebelhouse nods.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Between you and the Group, I know you got a good idea, if not definitive proof, who these guys were.

[The front door opens and Catherine enters.]

FRANK: I don't work with the Group anymore.
GIEBELHOUSE: What?

[Giebelhouse looks shocked, and slightly concerned. Catherine goes over to Frank.]

FRANK: Hi.
CATHERINE: Hi.

[They hug.]

GIEBELHOUSE: All right, then. We're gonna wrap up here. Frank, I might need you to come down for some official questioning.
FRANK: Yeah. Good.
GIEBELHOUSE: In the meantime, uh, I gotta take your gun.
FRANK: My gun?

[Frank takes out his gun, makes sure it's safe, and hands it over.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Any chance you're going to stay at Catherine's tonight?

[Frank shakes his head.]

GIEBELHOUSE: I'll keep a patrol car outside.
FRANK: Thanks, Giebs.

[Giebelhouse looks at Catherine.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Goodnight, Catherine.
CATHERINE: Night.

[Giebelhouse leaves. Frank and Catherine share an awkward silence. Then they hug again.]

FRANK: Hey. Are you all right?
CATHERINE: Mmm.

[They disengage and Catherine notices the watercolor image, with the caption "Painted by A Hitler, circa 1940", on Frank's computer. Frank notices this and switches off the monitor.]

FRANK: Where's Jordan?
CATHERINE: She's back at the house with Ann. You should stay there.
FRANK: It would be better if you two stayed here.
CATHERINE: Better, or do you mean safer? What is going on?

[Catherine glances back at the blank monitor.]

CATHERINE: Not revealing the truth is the equivalent of a lie. Why do you continue to lie to me?

 

[Street scene. Watts and The Elder continue their conversation.]

WATTS: We are on the brink of a decision that appears irreversible. Johnston, a member of great stature, accountable only to you and the Old Man, was destructively working both Owls and Roosters against each other. (pause) I was aware that the revelation of his murder, of his possession of the cross of the crucifixion, would determine the outcome of this disunion. The infrared image was my only lead. So, I wanted to consult with the Old Man before I made it admissible to the investigation.

 

[Frank's house.]

CATHERINE: You tried to keep our family safe and together by withholding the truth from me. And now we're apart. (pause) If this is happening again, haven't you learned your lesson?

 

[Watts and the Elder.]

WATTS: it's very difficult to know the truth, even to recognize the truth. But I don't believe it's a lie to reserve information that could create catastrophic consequences, until I understand it for myself.

 

[Frank's house.]

CATHERINE: The problem is you are not the only one it affects. You should have the respect to allow me to participate in decisions that are affecting me and my daughter. I don't think that that's self-centered. I don't think it's bitchy. I think it's just right.
FRANK: Suspicions are not truths. When I am sure, I'll tell you.

[Catherine turns and leaves.]

 

[Watts and the Elder.]

THE ELDER: Whether the events are theological or secular, to survive the events of the Millennium, Peter, our Group's purpose must be secret. Now, I understand your motives but we cannot lie to one another.

 

[Frank's house. Frank is on the phone.]

FRANK: Giebs, it's Frank. Yeah. I wonder if you could do me a favor. Would you position that patrol car outside of Catherine's apartment? Yeah. Just don't let her know it's there.

 

[Watts and the Elder.]

WATTS: What if the results of the carbon dating prove that Johnston, the Owls, stole the cross of the crucifixion? How then do we remain honest with each other?
THE ELDER: My concern is if the results show the wood to be a fake. If it is, where is the real one? And what does it mean for Millennium?

 

LAKE YPOA
PARAGUAY

[Rudolf Axmann is sat in an armchair. His sleeve bears cufflinks with the lightning bolt symbol. Gunsche enters the room, and walks over to where a large, blood-stained Nazi banner is displayed on the wall. The piece of wood is in a glass display cabinet beneath it.]

GUNSCHE: [subtitles] You must be very happy.
AXMANN: [subtitles] I have one last enemy to defeat. But, after seventy-five years, centuries really, we have won.

[They both look reverently at the Christian cross, and the Nazi crooked cross, together.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[Catherine's house. She leaves the house and walks up the path to the road. She is being watched from a car parked nearby. Catherine walks to her parked car and takes a piece of paper placed under the windshield wiper. Catherine opens the typed note which reads, "Do you like Ms Knight's artwork?" Catherine is puzzled. She looks around, but can't see anyone. Still confused, she gets in her car and drives off. In the other car, Frank starts the engine and follows her at a distance.]

 

[Millennium computer room. Numerous Millennium group members sit around a conference table. Watts, Finley and Dean sit across from Otto and Plunkett. The Elder sits at the head of the table, with a report. There's a tense atmosphere.]

THE ELDER: I have the results of the carbon dating on the wood discovered in Mr Johnston's trunk, allegedly at the time of his murder.

[They are all listening to him attentively.]

THE ELDER: Before disclosing them, it seems imperative to discuss the implications of the results, and the crisis at hand. Now, what I don't understand is, this is not a split caused by opposing inherent viewpoints. No one is allowed in this room unless they believe the monumental events that are before us and are about to come.
OTTO: In the next century.
DEAN: In the next ninety-five weeks!
WATTS: The Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland both believe in Christ as Lord. Yet for decades they've taken each other's lives, they've lost any sense of national direction or progress, because the split has lost its basis in religious or political ideology. It's become about who controls who. And that's what is happening here. And this is not who we are.
OTTO: I'm not ashamed to say it is about control. How many times can you cry wolf? If the Roosters are given the lead to prepare the public and direct them towards nonsensical biblical prophecies, the world will disbelieve, overlook, and be unprepared for the catastrophic astronomical event we know, beyond a doubt, will occur six decades from now. And no one will survive. Not my family, not a single member of the human race. And that is worth dying for. And that is worth killing over.

[Uncomfortable silence around the room.]

 

[Aerotech office, late afternoon. Catherine gets out of her car and heads towards the office. Another car parks and kills its light. Frank is watching Catherine enter the office. Inside, Catherine walks down the hallway, quite anxious. She approached Clear Knight's office where the blinds at the corridor window are open. Catherine sees the watercolor on the wall and reacts: she remembers Frank turning off his computer monitor which was displaying the same watercolor. Ms Knight is on the phone using a headset as she walks over to corridor window.]

MS. KNIGHT: I'm checking on the delivery of invoice #1567-AA.

[Ms Knight smiles at Catherine, and closes the window blinds.]

 

[Millennium computer room. Tension and hostility fill the air.]

FINLEY: If the carbon dating confirms that it was the crucifixion cross, then the Owls have destroyed a sacred mystical icon.
PLUNKETT: If it's a fake, the Roosters have planted it to discredit the Owls, to give an appearance that we are capable of anything.
DEAN: Apparently you are.
OTTO: Johnston was gathering intelligence on us!
WATTS: Johnston tried to recruit Lara Means to your cause.
OTTO: You dismissed her based on your bias!

[Watts tenses.]

THE ELDER: I will not disclose these results until these differences are resolved.
PLUNKETT: That's just hiding the truth, from both sides.
THE ELDER: From what I'm hearing, there is no truth to be had. How can this be?

[Both sides look at one another, nobody has an answer.]

OTTO: Apparently, the answer to that question is that it is.

[No disagreement from anyone. The Owls, Otto, Plunkett and others leave the room. Watts watches them go, turns to the Elder. The Elder has turned away from everyone, eyes focused on the envelope before him.]

 

[Aerotech office. Catherine is waiting in an office, anxiously. A knock on the door, and an Aerotech employee, Jim Ford, pokes his head round the door.]

FORD: Mrs Black? I'm Jim Ford. We had an appointment.

[Catherine stands and extends a hand, motioning him to a sofa.]

CATHERINE: Yes, Jim. Have a seat.

[Jim Ford sits down. Catherine sits opposite and forces a smile.]

CATHERINE: You aren't here, by any chance, to discuss Ms Knight's artwork?

[Ms Knight's office. She's wearing headphones, listening to Catherine and Jim Ford's conversation.]

FORD: (VO) Ms Knight's artwork? No. My supervisor here is a freakin' Nazi, that's what I want to talk about.

[A knock on Ms Knight's office door. She calmly takes off the headphones.]

MS KNIGHT: Come in.

[The door opens and Frank pokes his head inside.]

FRANK: Am I disturbing you?
MS KNIGHT: Not at all.

[She gestures for Frank to enter and take a seat.]

FRANK: I wanted to surprise Catherine. Go out for coffee. But she's not done with her work, so I thought I'd come and say hi.
MS KNIGHT: Are things better between you two?
FRANK: Oh, yeah. Catherine - she's great. You know how it is.

[Ms Knight looks at Frank coolly. Frank sees her cufflink and has an abrupt vision: figures walking between the massed ranks of a Nazi rally.]

FRANK: I just left this job I had. It was in the area of law enforcement. I was a consultant on homicide investigations. To see the things that people were capable of.

[Vision of bodies, concentration camp inmates.]

FRANK: Not any people. Degenerates, you know?

[Brief vision of a Nazi rally. Frank watches for some sign of reaction from Ms Knight. Instead, she just looks even more interested, leaning forward. Another vision of a Nazi rally.]

FRANK: I'm from Seattle. And I don't remember this many foreigners, or immigrants, what have you. They don't have any understanding, let alone respect, for order. I feel like the whole country is going down the tubes.

[Ms Knight hides her emotions very well, simply nodding and considering Frank's statement.

FRANK: it's like the degeneration of the species.

[He leans forward.]

FRANK: You know what I mean?

[Another vision of a Nazi rally.]

FRANK: Catherine said you'd be easy to open up to. [he stands] She must be done by now.

[Ms Knight stays seated. They shake hands.]

MS KNIGHT: Would you be interested in a position with us, Frank?
FRANK: I don't know anything about airplane parts.
MS KNIGHT: We're a large company. We have many interests.

[He sees her cufflinks again. She smiles at him.]

 

[Catherine's car in the Aerotech parking lot. Catherine opens the door and gets inside. Then the passenger door opens and Jim Ford gets in, fear in his eyes.]

CATHERINE: What the hell are you doing? Get out!
FORD: We can't talk in there. It's bad enough I might be seen here. Look, I've been to the police. I've been to the FBI. I don't know what your husband does, but you've only been hired to get to him.

[Catherine looks shocked.]

FORD: They are not Aerotech. They are Odessa.

[The car door opens again. Jim Ford is grabbed and hauled outside by Frank. Catherine is stunned to see her husband.]

CATHERINE: Let him go! Let him go!

[Ms Knight hears this and turns in her chair to look through the window.]

FORD: Please!
CATHERINE: Let him go, Frank.
FRANK: [to Ford] Hit the road. Beat it.

[Frank lets Jim Ford go, and the frightened man runs off through the parking lot.]

FRANK: Did he hurt you?
CATHERINE: What is Odessa?
FRANK: What did he say?
CATHERINE: What is Odessa?
FRANK: I don't know what you're talking about.
CATHERINE: You're a liar!
FRANK: A liar?

[Frank is stunned by her anger.]

CATHERINE: Let's just go!
FRANK: You go!

[Frank moves away, closing the door. Catherine starts the car and pulls away. She drives off leaving a concerned Frank in the parking lot alone.]

[Elsewhere, Jim Ford reaches his car and gets inside. His lights flash as he starts the engine. Ms Knight is still watching the scene.]

 

[Frank's house. Late at night and Frank is asleep downstairs on his bed. The front door unlocks. Frank snaps awake and listens, he reaches for the nightstand drawer where he keeps his gun, then remembers Giebelhouse has taken it. Frank eases out of bed and creeps across to the open door. Footsteps can be heard moving toward the living room. Frank looks out the door. He sees a silhouette move across the light streaming in through the front window. Frank moves into the hallway and reaches into the living room. He flicks the light switch, which doesn't work, but there's enough moonlight to see the intruders.]

THE OLD MAN: Hey, Franklin, sorry to wake you. You're gonna need that rest.

[Frank looks to Lara, who just shrugs.]

LARA: It's a thing with him. Where he comes from there's no locks on the door, or something. Well, we've all been there.
FRANK: Yeah. I'm not with the Group anymore.
THE OLD MAN: As far as I can see it, we're all that's left of the Group.

[The Old Man sits on Frank's sofa. Frank sits at the other end. Lara remains standing, her back towards the window.]

[Through the window can be seen a dark sedan parked outside. Inside it is Helmut Gunsche, talking into a cell phone.]

GUNSCHE: [subtitled] Where does Rome lie?
AXMANN: [subtitled] Rome lies on the Tiber.
GUNSCHE: [subtitled] He is here.

[In Axmann's house in Paraguay, Axmann is on the phone.]

AXMANN: [subtitled] I knew he would go to that one. Let me know when it is done.

[Gunsche ends the call. And waits.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[Frank's house - night.]

THE OLD MAN: There's not a single member of the Group that didn't pass by my home. That I didn't teach what we were all about. Not you, Frank, or you, Lara. Watts. Every Patron. Every Elder. [pause] Not that I'm so special, mind you. I've had my teachers. I was guided toward enlightenment. No matter how many decades have passed, no matter how much closer we are to the Millennium, I still see, feel, that moment, the magic moment of enlightenment each member attained. And the sadness, too, that anyone even had to live with such a responsibility. [pause] Now it's in ruins. Millennium became what we fight against. Damned Owls, Roosters, power and control. The world will end in 656 days, if we fail to act now. [pause] Somehow, I've failed. And I don't know what I can do to pull it back together.
FRANK: Why come to us?
LARA: You're aware that Johnston was murdered?

[Frank shakes his head.]

LARA: He tried to recruit me to the Owls.
FRANK: Johnston? He was a futurist, of the Book of Revelation.
LARA: No one really knows which side he was on. And the disunion is over who killed him.
FRANK: Did he say anything to you that would provide a lead?

[Lara looks to the Old Man, for permission. The Old Man gestures it's okay.]

LARA: Well, throughout history, the Millennium Group has had access to scientific breakthroughs that were banned, or withheld, by those in power at the time. Copernicus. Galileo. The German physicists. This enabled the Group to leap generations ahead of mainstream research.

[Frank seems to be accepting this.]

LARA: So, Johnston's claim, the Owls claim, is that six billion years ago, before the formation of the Earth, two neutron stars collided six billion light years away. This collision released cosmic rays, particles of such extreme energy, that the collision of these particles could transform the vacuum of space and cause a tear in the fabric of our universe.

[Lara pauses, preparing.]

LARA: The Owls claims to have proof, that this tear, this expanding cosmic bubble, will reach our solar system within the next sixty years. And a new universe, its properties calculated anywhere between apocalyptic and inconsequential, will be created.
FRANK: You believed him. You joined Johnston. That's why Peter Watts dismissed you.
LARA: Given the scope of the Group and the scientific credibility, I can believe it. But my visions, Frank, are becoming more frequent. More intense, altered. Not just an angel. These visions feel prophetic and frightening. I can't turn my back on what I trust. Something is closer than sixty years away. [pause] I told Johnston that I wouldn't joint the Owls. But Peter, he must have received hearsay that Johnston spoke to me, and then dismissed me from the Group.
FRANK: [to the Old Man] How can ex-candidates help restore the Group?
THE OLD MAN: At the moment, they're so busy infighting, they're blind to one simple fact.

[He picks up a pencil from the table.]

THE OLD MAN: It's a third party. They've recently been after you, Frank, and they've always been after me.

[The Old Man draws a complete lightning bolt symbol on a newspaper.]

 

[Ms Knight's office - night. Catherine approaches Ms Knight's office.]

CATHERINE: Excuse me, Clear? Have you seen Jim Ford? We were supposed to have an appointment.
MS KNIGHT: [angrily] He has an appointment with me, too. He didn't show up for work.

 

[Catherine's office. She is on the phone, which is ringing at the other end. An answering machine picks up, and a recorded message plays.]

VOICE: We can't come to the phone at the moment. If this is a question concerning Jim Ford, the family asks in lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the James Ford memorial fund.

[Catherine looks horrified.]

[Catherine walks quickly down the corridor, and goes down the stairs. As she gets to the bottom of the stairs she slows down and checks out Ms Knight's office and the hallway. Ms Knight is not in her office. Anxiety growing, Catherine moves off. She goes through the front door and starts running to her car. She grabs the door handle and the alarm goes off.]

[Ms Knight exits the front door.]

MS KNIGHT: Catherine!

[Catherine runs away from her car, and runs in the opposite direction from Ms Knight. As Catherine runs, a pair of headlights illuminate her as a car is driven into the parking lot. Even more scared, Catherine continues her run through the parking lot. The car swings to the side, pulls up ahead and stops.]

FRANK: Get in.

[Catherine quickly gets in.]

FRANK: I'll tell you everything I know.

 

[The yellow house - night. In the basement, The Old Man switches on a cassette player.]

THE OLD MAN: You know this? [pause] Wagner's Parsifal. A young man is brought to the site of the Holy Grail, but he don't quite get it. So he wanders around acquiring wisdom and experience until he becomes king of the knights.

[The Old Man is talking to Lara.]

THE OLD MAN: I hear this every night before I go to bed. Well, parts of it. The damn thing's five hours long or somethin'. [he listens] Ain't it beautiful? [sighs] But even so, for me, it's tarnished. When Adolph Hitler made a personal pilgrimage to Wagner's grave, emotional, he believed he could make a religion out of Parsifal. [pause] And, unfortunately, he did.

 

[Frank's house. Frank sits next to Catherine on the sofa.]

FRANK: Hitler's secretary, Martin Bormann, he began a project known as Odessa. It was an underground movement of high ranking SS officers to areas south of the equator.

 

[Yellow house basement.]

THE OLD MAN: The Nazi SS was a secret society. Heinrich Himmler modeled it after the medieval Order of Teutonic Knights. They displayed ritualistic insignia. The sig-rune. Two lightning bolts were worn on the left sleeve. The rune of power, the lightning bolts of the storm god, Thor.

 

[Frank's sitting room.]

FRANK: In the last days of the war, the Nazis established corporations with countries that would cooperate, Paraguay, Argentina. Not only did they transfer money from Germany, but Swiss bank accounts, already established, contained billions of today's dollars in plundered gold. But everybody knows that.

 

[Yellow house basement.]

THE OLD MAN: On November 23, 1923, the Nazis attempted to seize power. Sixteen members died. Their blood stained a swastika flag, known from that point as die Blutfahne, the blood banner. It is said that whoever maintains control of this banner would defeat communism. Rudolph Axmann, the oldest surviving member of Hitler's circle, the leader of Odessa, has possession of this flag, in Paraguay.

[Lara seems confused. The Old Man notices.]

THE OLD MAN: No, Lara. It wasn't Gorbachev or Reagan who brought down the wall. It was the involvement of Odessa and Rudolph Axmann that defeated their greatest enemy. And now Millennium is their greatest enemy. [pause] Was ...

 

[Frank's sitting room.]

FRANK: Aerotech Guidance Systems is an Odessa company, Catherine. Through the Group's database, Lara Means and I were able to track it all the way back to the Reichsbank and the SS Melmer account. The rune on Knight's cufflink. The watercolor is an original one of Hitler's, awarded to high ranking members of Odessa.

[Catherine is stunned.]

FRANK: They used you, to get to me. My reluctance to join the Millennium Group was monitored, seen as a potential willingness to work with their side - Odessa.
CATHERINE: What are you going to do?
FRANK: I don't know. That is the truth.

[Catherine considers her husband.]

CATHERINE: At least now I can believe you. And you can believe that I love you.

[They hug.]

 

[Yellow house basement. The Old Man lies down on his sleeping bag, tired. He puts his hat over his face. Wagner's music plays beside him through the cassette player. Lara watches him, preparing to leave.]

LARA: I'm sure Frank intended for you to sleep in one of the beds upstairs when he said he had a place for you to stay.
THE OLD MAN: Nope. This feels most like home. [pause] See ya in the mornin'. Don't let the bedbugs bite.
LARA: Goodnight.

[Lara heads up the stairs, switching off the light, but after a few steps she stops, doesn't turn around.]

LARA: Which side do you believe?

[The Old Man doesn't open his eyes.]

THE OLD MAN: My family were wealthy Poles. I was smuggled out of Europe and sent here. My mother and father came to me at the moment Rudolph Axmann had then gassed at Auschwitz. [pause] I've seen the end of the world.

[That is his answer. Lara restrains her emotions and continues up the stairs. She switches off another light, leaving only the light filtering in from outside. The basement door closes behind her.]

 

[Later. The house is in darkness. The basement door handle twists open, and the door opens slowly. Gunsche carefully treads down the steps. He eventually reaches the bottom without making a sound. He silently moves towards the Old Man's sleeping bag. He unsheathes a deadly blade, barbed and twisted for efficiency and pain. He reaches the Old Man, kneeling over him quietly. He lifts the knife, and suddenly the Old Man turns, wielding a knife of his own. He thrusts at Gunsche, but the German grabs the blade – which slices into his hand. Blood flows down the blade. Gunsche thrusts powerfully with his own knife. The Old Man grabs the attacking hand by the wrist. Both strain for control. As the Old Man struggles, white light pours across his face. The Old Man looks and sees a featureless angelic vision across the basement – the exact same one Lara saw. The angelic light intensifies, brighter and brighter. Gunsche plunges his knife into the Old Man, with viciousness in his eyes. The Old Man freezes in great pain, but doesn't give Gunsche the satisfaction of hearing him scream. Gunsche is angered by this. He lifts his knife and thrusts it again and again into the Old Man until the Group leader goes limp. His arm falls and Gunsche pulls his bloodied hand away from the knife and looks at it, angry. The Old Man is now still, his eyes closed. Gunsche stabs him one more time, ferociously. Then he sits back, triumphant.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[Yellow house – basement – next day. The blood has been mostly cleared away, but a visible stain still remains on the basement floor, and the body's position has been outlined in tape. Peter Watts comes part-way down the stairs, as Frank and Lara stand looking at the ground where the Old Man died.]

WATTS: May I come in?

[Frank nods. Tension fills the air as Watts moves towards the Old Man's outline on the floor. He pays his respects.]

WATTS: Standing here, considering this man, and all the horror and wonder and sense of duty that he brought into my life, I feel primarily ashamed at how I've treated the two of you.

[Both Frank and Lara just look at him.]

WATTS: My colleagues. My friends.

[Frank and Lara are silent.]

WATTS: I've allowed this crisis, this division with the group to create a disunion within myself that became directed at the only two people that I can trust, now that the Old Man is gone.
LARA: You said primarily. [pause] What else are you feeling?
WATTS: The serological analysis and skin sample of the suspect match a subject that's been on the Group's most wanted list for ten years. A man named Helmut Gunsche, who is a primary assassin for a group known as –
FRANK: Odessa.
WATTS: For half a century, they've sponsored terrorist acts, they've successfully conspired to guide social and political events in the direction of their own dark mysticism. They've tried to destroy the Group, so now the Group must destroy them.

 

[Forest – night. A dozen or so members of the Millennium Group, including Peter Watts and Finley, are gathered in a circle, each holding a candle. In the middle of their circle, a grave has been dug and the body of the Old Man has been wrapped in bandages. The body is in a sitting position, its arms tucked into the body with the hands crossed, and the legs bent at the knees and tucked into the chest. The head is lowered in a fetal position. "Parsifal" plays.]

THE ELDER: The position in which life begins, is that in which it ends.

[The Elder is at the front of the grave. There is something at his feet, covered in a red cloth.]

THE ELDER: And that in which it will return.

[Elsewhere, the inside of a cellular phone is being worked on with precision instruments and then the casing replaced.]

[The Elder holds a palmful of seeds, which he slowly lets fall into the grave. The other members do likewise.]

[A small plane lands on a cleared jungle runway.]

[The Elder opens a small old wooden box containing a compass. He looks at it, then closes the lid.]

[Night. A car is parked in a parking lot. The windows are misted up. One of the occupants adjusts the rear view mirror to watch Gunsche walking past.]

[The graveside.]

THE ELDER: There is an end of wrong in death and hell. And long wear of time and suffering effaces the stain ingrown upon the soul.

[Forest. Someone is moving quickly but carefully through the lush undergrowth.]

THE ELDER: (VO) And a cleansed spirit, long ages floating on the wandering winds, and the rolling deeps of space –

[Forest. The person is dressed in black, carrying a small backpack. His head and face is covered with a ski mask. He stops and looks at Axmann's house on the other side of the lake.]

THE ELDER: (VO) – renews itself –

[In the house, Axmann is looking at the wood and the Nazi banner.]

THE ELDER: (VO) – and doth regain its dwelling.

[The graveside. The Elder picks up a small handful of earth and lets it fall into the grave. Then Watts and the others do likewise.]

[Elsewhere. Frank is driving his jeep, Lara by his side. There are other cars, They all draw into Aerotech's car park.]

THE ELDER: (VO) Time calls, and change commands both men and gods, and speeds us on, we know not whither.

[Gunsche walks to a car. The watchers include Finley. They drive away. Gunsche gets into his car.]

THE ELDER: (VO) The old earth smiles spring after spring, and the seeds burst again.

[In the jungle, the man still watches Axmann's house. He switches on a remote control device.]

THE ELDER: (VO) And the dead lives renew themselves and rise aloft and soar –

[Aerotech office. Ms Knight is handcuffed. She appears very calm. Frank and Lara watch her being led away.]

THE ELDER: (VO) – clothing themselves with change –

[The graveside.]

THE ELDER: – until the last change –

[In the car, Gunsche presses a button on his cell phone and puts it to his ear.]

[The graveside.]

THE ELDER: – be done.

[Gunsche's car explodes.]

[In the jungle, the masked figure presses a button on his remote control. There's an explosion in Axmann's house. The banner is in flames and the glass of the display cabinet shatters. There are flames everywhere. In the jungle, the masked figure pulls off his ski mask. It's Peter Watts.]

[The graveside. The red-cloth covered object is unwrapped. It is a small stone obelisk with the ouroboros carved on its face. The Elder reaches for the Old Man's staff which had been stuck in the ground beside the grave and pulls it out. He looks at Peter Watts, then turns and walks away through the woods.]

 

[Lara is at home, sat at her desk but not reading the book in front of her. She is staring at a lighted candle.]

 

[Frank's house. Frank is working at his computer.]

FRANK: Soylent Green is people.

[The screen shows: Access granted. Connecting to Millennium Group. The ouroboros. Welcome Frank, there are 654 days remaining.]

 

[Millennium Group computer room. Watts sits alone at the conference table. He opens an envelope and takes out a file. The report's conclusion reads: "it is the conclusion of this report that the artifact in question, a piece of wooden board, was not carved or manufactured until approximately the fourteenth century." Watts sighs – sadness or relief?]

 

[A parcel, wrapped in brown paper, with Jordanian postage stamps. A knife cuts through the string and slits open the wrapping. Inside is a length of wood. A folded hand-written note reads: "As planned, the dust has settled and the real cross now belongs to Millennium." The note is unfolded. Further down it reads: "Are we just the Romans that cast lots for the robe of Christ?" The new Old Man, in his shack, picks up the piece of wood, looks at it, then goes over to a crammed bookcase and places it behind piles of books. He walks back to the desk, then looks back at the bookcase as "Parsifal" draws to an end.]

[fade to black]

[end titles]

Starring:

Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Megan Gallagher (Catherine Black)

Also Starring:

Terry O'Quinn (Peter Watts)
Stephen James Lang (Det. Bob Giebelhouse)

Guest Starring:

Kristen Cloke (Lara Means)
R.G. Armstrong (The Old Man)
Kimberley Patton (Clear Knight)
Ernest Lenart (Rudolf Axmann)
Philip Baker Hall (Group Elder (I))

Featuring:

Bob Dawson (Helmut Gunsche)
Judith Maxie (Finley)
John Juliani (Mr. Plunkett)
Barry W. Levy (Driver (II))
Gardiner Millar (Mr. Otto)
Steve Griffith (Jim Ford)
Charles Andre (Passenger (I))
Brian Downey (Mr. Dean)

Music by Mark Snow
Editor: Chris Willingham A.C.E.
Production Designer: Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Executive Story Editor: Michael R Perry
Associate Producer: Julie Herlocker
Associate Producer: Kathy Gilroy-Sereda
Associate Producer: Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer: Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producer: Darin Morgan
Co-Producer: Robert Moresco
Co-Producer: Paul Rabwin
Producer: Thomas J Wright
Co-Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Thomas J Wright

Executive Producers: James Wong & Glen Morgan
Executive Producer: Chris Carter



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