Directed by Winrich Kolbe.  Written by Chris Carter.

EPISODE RATING: (1 to 4) ****

Frank is called into to assist an FBI task force when notorious serial killer Dr. Ephraim Fabricant (Alex Diakun) escapes from a hospital, where he was donating a kidney to his sister. It appears that Fabricant was aided in the escape, in which a police officer beaten into a coma. Frank, whose profile allowed the authorities to catch Fabricant in the first place, is joined by Peter Watts, and together they visit Lucy Butler (Sarah-Jane Redmond), a seemingly harmless woman who married Fabricant via the internet following his capture. Before long, Cathering phones Frank and tells him an envelope has arrived, and inside are photos of the judge who convicted Fabricant. The judge turns up dead, and in an odd turn of events, Fabricant himself appears in the hospital, near death. Someone has brutally removed his second kidney…without anaesthetic. Meanwhile, back at the Black’s home, Catherine has discovered a human kidney in the refrigerator…

'Lamentation' is one of the best episodes of the first season, and is an incredibly crucial show for several reasons. Firstly, the death of Bob Bletcher hits like a sledgehammer; Bill Smitrovich was essentially one of the regulars of the show up to this point, and he was a great sidekick to Frank. Although he was a cop, he was a kind of anchor during the investigations. Frank and Watts both were involved with The Group and all the darker stuff, whereas Bob was a character the audience was more accustomed to…a nine-to-five kinda guy. The early sequence where Bob and Frank go mountain trekking is a tip off that something bad was gonna happen. Such bonding moments is the sort of thing that usually spells ongoing death for a character in films and TV. Agent Barry Baldwin and Frank had the same thing at the end of season three.

The introduction of Sarah-Jane Redmond as Lucy Butler is the kick in the pants the series was seriously needing. From here, it’s just a skip and jump to the glory days of Wong and Morgan. Butler would appear in three more episodes over the next two seasons, and, in my opinion, remains one of the greatest villains in the history of TV. She looks to be a small, fragile young woman, but soon reveals herself to be something like nothing we’ve ever seen before on what was pretty much a supernatural free show. But we never really learn what she is…it’s pretty obvious after her four appearances that she’s a demon, or an embodiment of evil, but exactly what is not revealed. Her motives also are a little vague. But that’s part of the character’s mystique.

Ultimately, this show doesn’t make much sense because we never get to learn why Butler does what she does. But it really doesn’t matter. What we’ve got is a show that is truly scary. In fact, the scene in which Catherine, and then Bletcher, confront Butler is most frightening than anything The X-Files has ever done. The demon-like manifestation that Bob sees is absolutely disturbing. Director Kolbe (who also helmed the excellent 'Force Majeure') deserves praise for what he does with this show, as does Carter who shows real guts in shocking his series in new directions. Alas, it did the same thing in season three, and that killed the product. It‘s also one of the few times we see Frank lose his cool, understandably, and Henriksen does some of his best work. Stephen James Lang also makes a real impression as Giebelhouse, who before this was a minor and pretty much uninteresting character. When the second season roles around, he’s a welcome and dependable character.

'Lamentation' is a remarkable show, and if the rest of the first season had been this good, Millennium would possibly have reached the heights of The X-Files.