"'The Judge" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American crime-thriller television seriesMillennium. It premiered on the Fox network on November 15, 1996. The episode was written by Ted Mann, and directed by Randall Zisk. "The Judge" featured guest appearances by Marshall Bell, John Hawkes and C. C. H. Pounder. Forensic profiler Frank Black, a member of the private investigative organisation Millennium Group, is asked to investigate a vigilante who uses newly released convicts to execute those he deems guilty. "The Judge" begins with a quotation from Moby-Dick, a novel that the episode has been compared to thematically. Guest star Pounder would reappear several times in the series, while fellow guest Ellis made the last of his three appearances in this episode. The episode received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
In a bowling alley, ex-convict Carl Nearman watches another man eat his meal before following him outside, where he approaches and kills him. Elsewhere, Annie Tisman receives a human tongue in a package. The Millennium Group sends offender profiler Frank Black and pathologist Cheryl Andrews to investigate, as several people have received body parts in the post over the past few years. No connection between the recipients has been found, nor have the bodies the parts have been culled from. Mike Bardale is a violent recidivist who has recently been released from prison again. He is approached by a man calling himself The Judge, who offers Bardale a position in his "court". The Judge is a vigilante, hiring convicts to mete out his version of justice against those he perceives as criminals. Bardale's first "execution" is that of his forebear, Nearman. The body of the man killed outside the bowling alley is discovered, missing a tongue. It is identified as a retired police officer, Detective Mellen, who had given false testimony that had sent Annie Tisman's late husband to prison. Black realizes that the killer is motivated by the need to right wrongs such as this, killing those who have gotten away with crimes. Meanwhile, The Judge passes sentence on another victim—a slumlord whose negligence caused a tenant's death. Bardale is ordered to cut the landlord's leg off while he is still alive; the leg is later found in a postal depot in a package. Forensic evidence on the package eventually leads to Bardale, and then to The Judge. The Judge is arrested for questioning, and knowing that there is not enough evidence to warrant sentencing him, he offers Black a job with him. Black refuses, but The Judge is released. Bardale is incensed that The Judge has manipulated the law to his own ends, and passes sentence on him for hypocrisy. Finding Bardale alone in a farmhouse, Black discovers that the convict had fed The Judge to his pigs.
Production
"The Judge" is the first of four episodes of Millennium to be written by Ted Mann, who would go on to write "Loin Like a Hunting Flame", "Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions" and the first-season finale "Paper Dove". The episode marks director Randall Zisk's only work for the series. The episode features the first appearance by C. C. H. Pounder as Millennium Group pathologist Cheryl Andrews. Pounder would go on to make another four appearances as the character, appearing across all three seasons. "The Judge" also marked the final appearance by Chris Ellis as Group member Jim Penseyres; Ellis had previously appeared in "Gehenna" and "Dead Letters". John Hawkes, who portrays killer Mike Bardale in the episode, would later go on to work with Mann again on the series Deadwood, first reuniting on that series' first-season finale "Sold Under Sin". The episode opens with a quotation from Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, taken from chapter forty-two, "The Whiteness of the Whale". Both Millennium and Moby-Dick have been described as "a basic conflict between good and evil". In addition, both are "focused on a then-modern view of the world".
Reception
"The Judge" was first broadcast on the Fox Network on November 15, 1996; and earned a Nielsen rating of 7.6, meaning that roughly of all television-equipped households were tuned in to the episode. "The Judge" received mixed reviews from critics. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode one star out of five, finding its "contrived" plot to be "barely a subtle premise", and noting that "the script unfortunately elevates the lead villain to high camp". Shearman and Pearson felt that the subject of vigilantism was a suitable one for the series, and that it had "been bubbling under the surface every since the concept of the Millennium Group... was first mentioned"; however, they ultimately felt that the episode contained "very little to engage the brain". Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk, rated "The Judge" 4 out of 5, describing it as being "a fine, moody episode". However, Gibron felt that Marshall Bell's character may have been better suited to a recurring role, rather than being killed off during the episode. Writing for The A.V. Club, Emily Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a B-, praising the acting of both Bell and John Hawkes. However, VanDerWerff felt that "The Judge" showed Millennium to be struggling with its own concept, growing "staid" as a result of only having "the one color to play with".
