Force Majeure (Millennium)

"Force Majeure"
Millennium episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 13
Directed by	Winrich Kolbe
Written by	Chip Johannessen
Production code	4C12
Original air date	February 7, 1997
Guest appearance(s)
Brad Dourif as Dennis Hoffman Morgan Woodward as Iron Lung Man Timothy Webber as Sheriff Camden C. C. H. Pounder as Cheryl Andrews Mitchell Kosterman as Lieutenant Sarah Strange as Maura Kristi Angus as Lauren/Carlin Peter Hanlon as Manager Cindy Girling as Myra Phillip Mitchell as Uniform No. 1 Merrilyn Gann as Carlin's Mother
Episode chronology
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List of season 1 episodes List of Millennium episodes

"Force Majeure" is the thirteenth episode of the first season of the American crime-thriller television series Millennium. It premiered on the Fox network on February 7, 1997. The episode was written by Chip Johannessen and directed by Winrich Kolbe. "Force Majeure" featured guest appearances by Brad Dourif, Morgan Woodward and C. C. H. Pounder.

Millennium Group consultant Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) investigates a pair of suicides connected to a cult which has been experimenting with human cloning. Black is dogged on his travels by a strange man interested in both the Millennium Group and doomsday predictions.

"Force Majeure" features stock footage of the 1996 Saguenay Flood, and makes mention of a conjunction of planets which occurred in May 2000. The episode was viewed by approximately 6.9 million households during its original broadcast, and has received positive reviews from critics.

During a hailstorm in Roseburg, Oregon university students run to find shelter. One girl, Lauren (Kristi Angus), stands in the rain, lights a cigarette, and goes up in flames. Millennium Group consultant Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) travels to the university to interview witnesses to the death. A teaching assistant tells Black that the dead girl was highly intelligent, pointing out an armillary sphere Lauren had constructed. She also tells Black that the previous Millennium Group contact had taken great interest in this sphere. Black did not realize the Group had sent another member, but on leaving, he meets the man in question—Dennis Hoffman (Brad Dourif). Hoffman describes his theories to Black, detailing how when several planets achieve syzygy on May 5, 2000, a series of natural disasters will bring about the end of the world. Hoffman believes that this cataclysm will be preceded by strange events and weather patterns.

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Wikipedia