Millennium Season 1 Episode 21

“Behold ye scoffers,For I will work wondersin your days,which ye will not believe.” Book of Habakkuk

In the Brighton Beach area of New York City, a man named Yaponchik kills a Russian Elder by shooting him in the face with a 12 gauge pistol. It becomes the third such killing in which the perpetrator mutilated the body to prevent positive identification. Frank assists N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant McCormick, Yura Surova, from the Moscow Police Department, and undercover officer Andrei Medikov with the investigation. While inspecting the Elder’s corpse, Frank notices an odd mark in the shape of a inverted “V.” But he is unable, at first, to determine its meaning.

Frank enters the Novgorod, a nightclub frequented by Russians, where Yura and Andrei are supposedly working undercover. Yura approaches Frank, and while they talk, a man known as Yaponchik sits down with Andrei and points a 12 gauge pistol at his face. One of the Russian clubgoers recognizes Yaponchik, and calls out his name. Suddenly, a stampede of screaming people rush for the exit. During the confusion, a shot rings out. Frank rushes to the table where Andrei was sitting, and discovers his faceless body on the ground.

Yura explains to Frank that the name ‘Yaponchik’ is synonymous with evil, a kind of Russian bogeyman. Later, Watts confirms that the symbol discovered on a victim’s body is a portion of the monogram of Christ. He also states the Russian people believe Yaponchik was responsible for Chernobyl, a disaster some believe is predicted in the Bible. Frank examines a photograph of Yura and Andrei standing next to one another at Chernobyl. He realizes both men were at the power plant in 1986, and both believed in the Yaponchik prophesy. Later, he accuses Yura of staking out the night club for the sole purpose of assassinating their prey–the mythological Yaponchik.

A priest identifies one of the killer’s victims as a woman who restores religious icons. Frank, Watts and the priest inspect the woman’s loft, where they discover several parcels wrapped for shipment, addressed to the Russian Consulate. Frank realizes the dead woman had discovered Yaponchik’s identity, and was sending him religious icons as an offering. Frank also concludes that the man known as Yaponchik killed his victims to fuel the myth of his existence–creating even more terror amongst those who believe in the prophesy.

Frank and Watts pay a visit to the Russian Embassy, where they deliver an icon to the man the parcels were addressed to: Sergei Stepanovich. They address him as Yaponchik, who tells them they are fools for believing Russian superstition. Later, Lieutenant McCormick warns Frank and Watts that Stepanovich is protected by diplomatic immunity and cannot be prosecuted even if he is the man responsible for the murders. Frank concludes that Yura, Andrei and the Priest were all stalking (who they believe is) the Antichrist.

Yaponchik kills two more men inside a Russian bath house, but this time Yura is there. Yura steps forward with a gun pointed at Yaponchik’s head. Yaponchik tells him he can’t kill him. Yura shoots Yaponchik in the head, mortally wounding him.

Near death, Yaponchik is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. As Frank observes the carnage at the bath house, he realizes Yaponchik received the same mortal head wound as predicted in the Book of Revelation. Prophesy dictates that the Antichrist is man who will miraculously survive a fatal head wound. Fearing Yaponchik’s wound might heal, Frank and Watts make their way to the hospital. Yura, however, arrives first. He approaches Yaponchik’s bedside, pulls out his gun and prepares to shoot his enemy once again. But Yaponchik convinces him that he is “not the one.” Accepting his words, Yura lowers the weapon and helps Yaponchik access the hospital’s Medevac pad. Frank, Watts and the Lieutenant rush to the rooftop, but the a barred security gate blocks their access. As a helicopter lands on the roof, Frank…