MILLENNIUM: "A ROOM WITH NO VIEW"




WARNING!

The Grand Panjandrum sez: "This is a real 'spoiler.' If you hate a review which reviews everything, GO BACK TO THE CHRIS MASTERSON PAGE! Lee Record's review tells the entire story of this episode. (His critique, of course, is his own humble opinion. Personally, we would like to see Masterson do a feature film like this, but without the Millenium Group.) . . .
And Jose Chung is still alive and living in Roswell, New Mexico, dammit!"



Broadcast Sequence 2.20 (1st Run). Fox Production Code: 5C20. Second Season Air Date: (04/24/98)
Written by Ken Horton. Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Review by Lee Record. (c) April 26, 1998.

Guest Starring Stephen J. Lang as Det. Giebelhouse, Sarah-Jane Redmond as Lucy Butler, Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Landon Bryce, Mariangela Pino as Teresa Roe the Ho, Michael R. Coleman as Howard Gordon, Chad Todhunter as Ben and Timothy Webber as Waylon Bryce.

"Beware. The Devil shall send a seductress to seduce your children for his army... for he fears the coming of the Lord is near." -Lord Drocer

Hood River County, Oregon (Feb 5, 1998): In a secluded rural area, a young man pulls himself from a tunnel that connects to a nearby house. He runs through the woods toward a country road. He finds an empty car with no keys. He is about to hot-wire the engine when he hears something. He hides under the car, when suddenly the engine starts. He rolls out from under the car. A longhaired driver runs him down -- injuring the boy's ankle. A man gets out of the car, but he changes into a woman. She tells the boy that he doesn't love himself. She turns back into the man and throws the boy into the trunk. Before closing the trunk door, as a woman, she says: "My love... shall set you free."

James K. Polk High School, Seattle, Washington (April 22, 1998). The school counselor is trying to convince Howard Gordon that he doesn't have the numbers to get into collage. Gordon insists that he will be accepted by Stanford. He asks his friend, Landon, what he would do? Landon says that he has nothing to lose but the fifty dollar application fee. The counselor tells Landon that that's easy for him to say, because it doesn't take any money to apply for a job at the Quickie Lube! Landon and the counselor get into a shouting match. He says that just because she's a failure, it doesn't mean everyone else is. Needless to say, she is peeved.

Later, at Landon's house, Howard starts to tear up the application form to Stanford. Landon stops him, and says not to listen to Roe the ho. Fill it out, go to college, learn how to be an engineer, design some buildings, and maybe some guys will build them for him. "So, shut up." Howard says that Landon should be the one going to college, because he has the heart. Landon tells Howard that he has the grades. They hear a noise. Landon says that it's probably his father. He goes to check, but never returns. Gordon is promptly killed by a demon, 'cause that's what they do.

Frank and Giebelhouse observe a MG autopsy of Howard Gordon. After a bit, Frank is convinced that the boy died of fright. Giebelhouse finds it strange that Landon didn't call for help when Howard was killed. Instead, he disappears. Waylon Bryce, Landon's father, found Gordon's body. Meanwhile, Landon is bound and gagged and riding in the trunk of a car. "Love is Blue" is playing as the boy tries to get someone's attention. No one can hear his muffled calls for help.

Frank is sitting at Landon's desk where Howard was killed. He gets some strong visions of a demon and his old friend Lucy Butler. Mr. Bryce asks if he has come up with any answers? Frank says that he is just trying to get a feel for his son. Bryce asks if he thinks his son did it? Frank asks if he thinks his son could do such a thing? Bryce says that he has an interesting mind, but he's not a criminal. "He's not even mean." Frank asks about his interesting mind. Bryce points to some of the books he reads. He says that they are way beyond him and he doesn't understand why his grades aren't better. Frank asks if his wife has an interesting mind. Bryce says the smartest thing she did was to leave him. Frank asks if he thinks Landon went to be with her. Bryce says that Landon chose to be with him. "Somehow Landon knew I couldn't live without him..."

Back at the devil's house, the longhaired man drags Landon into the house. He throws him down the steps and gives him a couple of good kicks. Landon is moaning through all of this. The man pulls the tape from Landon's mouth and asks: "Got a gripe?" Landon spits in the man's face. He smiles, then throws him into a room. The man changes into Lucy who removes the tape from Landon's eyes and cuts his hands loose. She says: "It upsets me when you make him have to do that." She walks to the door and says: "I love you... so, please, be good." The strange, sexy woman closes the door and is gone. Landon hears someone humming. He turns to see his roommate huddled on a mattress. He is the boy who tried to escape earlier.

Peter comes into Landon's room. He sees Frank on the phone and asks if he's got something. Franks says that he just tried to call his daughter, but there is nobody home. Peter says that he saw some pre-radial tire tracks that indicate someone else may have been there. He asks what prompted him to call his daughter? Frank pulls a piece of tape from the desk that has strands of black hair stuck to it. He says: "Lucy Butler."

Back at Lucy's house of bad music, she brings Landon some food. She calls his name: "Landon, your favorite.... Apple cinnamon pancakes... just like home." Landon knocks the tray away. Lucy goes away mad as she says: "Landon? You'll never hear your name again!" She slams the door as Landon's roommate gobbles up the spilled food.

Peter tells Frank that it's quite a leap to Lucy Butler. Franks says that she killed Bob Bletcher in the cellar of his own house. Peter says that none of her murders were strangers -- not even the judge that sentenced her husband. She has no history of abductions, and no evidence of her was found at Gordon's crime scene. Frank says: "I felt her presence." Peter says that tests on the hair showed that it was from a male. After Lucy's release on suspicion of Bletcher's murder, the Group kept surveillance on her for nine months. She kept to herself at a farmhouse in Wauconda. She only left the house to get supplies, there were no phone calls. She didn't even use the internet. The mail were Bibles or religious texts. Frank says: "She's selling the idea that the Devil is born again." Peter says that nothing points to Lucy Butler. "But you're still going out to her place?" Frank says: "She killed Bob Bletcher. She took the boy Landon Bryce ... of course I'm going out there."

Back at the house of pain, the music continues. Landon says: "Oh my God! At least Noriega got Van Halen." Landon tries to find out what the heck is going on from his roomy. He asks if there is a way to turn off the music? Then he asks how freaked out he should be? The boy grabs a nail and scratches "THE TIME IS H..." on the wall. He stops and says: "Why would I want to stop the music? I love this music."

Frank and Peter are waiting outside of Lucy's house for Olsen. He's their contact who has been watching Lucy. They decide to go in before she spots them and disappears. When they get inside, they find the decomposing body of Olsen sitting in a chair. Lucy killed him and has been sending her own reports to the Group. (These demons can be cleaver at times!)

Landon is still trying to get his roomy to say something. He says that if he isn't going to talk, he will just call him Ben. Ben rubs his sore ankle as he watches Landon looking for a way out. Landon asks if they did that to him? He says: "No. I did it to myself. There is only one of them." Landon continues to look around. Ben says not to do that. She will just come in and love him, and you don't want that. He tells him to just sit down and mark his time. Landon is determined to get out. He breaks through the door and is about to leave through a window, when the longhaired man grabs him and kicks him down the hallway. The man turns into Lucy and she drags him into his room. Lucy tells him that he can't escape her. She is the only one that understands him. She is the only one who has ever loved him. Landon just looks at her and says nothing. Lucy kisses him and says: "And if you ever try to leave me... he will kill you." She leaves. Ben gives him his nail, and Landon marks his first day on the wall.

Frank calls Jordan again, but she's not there. He leaves a message with Anne to have her call when she and Catherine get home. Peter has learned that Lucy was able to gain access to the MG files. He suspects that Olsen was tortured into given his voice code. She has been filling her own reports for six months. They talk about Landon and how hard it is on his father not knowing if he's a murderer or an abductee. He had average grades and never registered to take the S.A.T.s. Even so, his peers voted him the most likely to succeed. Peter says that many great men were not considered to have potential -- Einstein, Washington, and Lincoln.

Back at Lucy's house of blue love, she caresses Landon's hair as the music plays. She says: "Love is blue. Not white, red, or yellow. Love is not green. It's blue. That's the brilliance of this music. When I touch you, what color do you feel?" Landon whispers: "Blue." Lucy smiles and says: "It makes me so mad when people call this elevator music. See ... Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn ... they could never compose this music. Here, with me... you've already come to know what only the truly gifted can understand. You've felt... the blue."

Frank and Peter have a talk with the guidance counselor, Teresa Roe, to see what she knows about Landon. She says that he was bright and intelligent, but a classic underachiever. He was popular with the students, but not the faculty. He spoke his mind and was usually right.

Landon asks Ben if he thinks they will ever get out of there. Ben says not to call him that; it's not his name. Landon asks what it is? He says that she took it. Landon says not to worry, she'll give him a new one . Ben says that he thinks she has let some go, but not until they learn to become ordinary. Landon discovers the tunnel that Ben dug. It's still there.

Peter, Frank, and Giebelhouse go over Teresa Roe's records. They are pretty standard for a teacher, but they discover that she has worked at a lot of schools. They do a cross reference with the MG database. They discover that there have been runaways from all the schools. They do an in depth check on the kids and learn that they were all average kids, but had signs of promise -- just like Landon Bryce.

Landon talks Ben into making use of the tunnel. They make it to the end, but Lucy and her demon dog are waiting for them. She says: "You will be rewarded with a new room. Disloyalty is a wonderful trait of the ordinary." Landon runs for it, but Lucy sends the dog to drag him back!

Teresa is questioned about the missing children. Frank asks why she referred to Landon in the past tense before. Does she know something they don't? She begins to ramble on about how you can possess "IT" and have a lot of heart, but if you don't have the numbers you're not going to make it. Landon didn't have the numbers. Frank gives her a disgusted look.

Back at Lucy's love shack, she sits on Landon and tells him that he is nothing. You think that you are special. You think you can make a difference, but you are nothing! She says that as soon as he realizes that mediocrity is all he is, the sooner his love will be blue. She holds his head and says: "I love you so much. I'm working to free you. When you choose to be ordinary, then ... then you will be special, because then you will be working to be ordinary. Unlike others who just are."

Back at the police station, they continue to question Teresa. Frank says that she was someone that wouldn't fight her way through the numbers. She wanted to help children, but instead she made a deal with the Devil! Teresa says that there was so much more to it than that. Gieb shows her a picture of Lucy Butler and shouts: "Where is she?"

Frank, Peter, Gieb, the police, and the FBI raid Lucy's house of blue love. They find many abducted children and Landon. Peter finds the music system in Lucy's room. He ejects the CD of "Love Is Blue" and breaks it into golden shards that fall to the floor. They find a newspaper clipping that was framed and hanging on the wall. It' s a picture of Lucy Butler. Her name was Annie Martin and she went missing from Winslow High in 1911.

Peter asks Frank where they should start to look for Lucy Butler. He holds his hands out in an unknowing gesture and says: "Everywhere"

Critique ***** (of five) This is definitely an episode that you shouldn't watch alone! Ken Horton's story is creepy and terrifying. It has all the elements: child abduction, murder, imprisonment, brainwashing, and a demon that changes from a seductress into a violent monster. Sounds like fun to me! "A Room With No View" comes closer to what the millennium is all about than even the superb "Anamnesis," because it deals with the Devil's fear of the possible return of GOD! The evil one begins his recruitment of those he believes can serve him in the losing battle that may be coming soon. I think the most terrifying part of this story is that we learn that elevator music is the Devil's favorite. That alone should give us all reason to be good. Really good. We learn that Frank has believed all along that Lucy Butler, in one form or another, killed his friend Bob Bletcher. We also learn who Lucy is. She was recruited in 1911 to become a member of the Devil's army. She is possessed completely by one of the Devil's demons. During the first watch, Love is blue didn't bother me that much, but I bet you could hear me cheering, along with the rest of the neighborhood, when Peter broke that CD.

Well, I've got to go. The sexy lady next door wants me to help paint her bedroom blue. "I picked up the paint, Lucy!"

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION

Episode 5C20

Lucy's Theme: "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra (01/68)


This is who we are,

Lee




We thought Ben was writing "THE TIME IS N . . ." Chad Todhunter, by the way, of whose name we always enjoy making fun, does a terrific job as the oh-so-"ordinary" Ben.




O Muse With the Jaundiced Eye, take me home!

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