Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Air Date: November 29, 1996
Opening Quote: And there will be such intense darkness, that one can feel it. Exodus 10:21
"Kingdom Come" deals with theological themes, specifically, the horror of losing one's faith. A series of violent acts directed towards clergymen gets the attention of the millennium group and they put Frank Black on the case. Frank partners with a former colleague in the FBI Ardis Cohen played by Lindsay Crouse. Years they both worked on a similar series of murders involving clergymen that went unsolved.
The antagonist of the episode is killing off men of the cloth who he believes are responsible for the death of his wife and daughter in a house fire. The middle of the episode focuses on Frank and Ardis putting together a profile of the killer.
Eventually, he's located at the church of his family's funeral. He has taken the congregation hostage and is threatening to blow up the church. Frank convinces him his faith in God had never wavered, despite all the tribulation he was being put through.
The killer's rage against an indifferent God manifests itself through violence is an extreme reaction. Frank's ability to understand the killer's motives also makes light of his own crisis of faith in humanity, an ongoing thread that would hold the show together.
An unnervingly quiet episode, "Kingdom Come" manages to successfully blend theme with action.
