text: sacrament ( millennium ) " ' sacrament " is the fifteenth episode of the first season of the american crime - thriller television series millennium . it premiered on the fox network on february 21 , 1997 . the episode was written by frank spotnitz , and directed by michael w. watkins . " sacrament " featured guest appearances by philip anglim , dylan haggerty and brian markinson . millennium group consultant frank black ( lance henriksen ) faces difficulty when his sister - in - law is abducted after her son 's baptism . meanwhile , black 's daughter jordan begins to show signs of experiencing the same seemingly - psychic visions that have plagued him . spotnitz 's script for " sacrament " , which he has called his favourite of those written for millennium , draws inspiration from real life serial killers john wayne gacy and dennis nilsen . the episode has received mostly positive reviews from critics , and was viewed by approximately 6 . 81 million households during its original broadcast . plot millennium group member frank black ( lance henriksen ) joins his brother tom ( philip anglim ) and sister - in - law helen ( liz bryson ) for their newborn son 's christening . after the child is baptized , black joins his daughter jordan ( brittany tiplady ) , finding her in hysterics . she claims to have seen a man hurting helen ; when black and his brother rush outside , they find the baby in the back of tom 's car , but helen is gone . black 's contact in the seattle police department , bob bletcher ( bill smitrovich ) , insists that black should not get involved in the case as he is too close to the victims . however , black insists he can be of assistance , and reviews security footage of a stranger investigating tom 's luggage after their flight . bletcher reports that a stolen car has been found abandoned , with helen 's blood inside . fellow millennium group member peter watts ( terry o 'quinn ) helps black identify the kidnapper from a set pictures of sex offenders in the seattle area — black recognizes richard green ( dylan haggerty ) as the man from the airport footage . tom later searches black 's office , stealing his gun and finding green 's name and address . tom confronts green at his home , demanding to know where his wife is . the police , who have been watching green 's house , intervene and take tom home before anyone is harmed . black apologizes for keeping information from tom , but warns him that his outburst is exactly why he did so . watts has meanwhile tracked forensic evidence from the abandoned car to a cabin in the woods ; blood found there matches both green and helen , and a ring is discovered which is identified as helen 's wedding ring . meanwhile , a mysteriously ill jordan continues to ask about helen 's whereabouts , and her remarks about helen 's conditions lead black to believe she is starting to experience the seemingly - psychic visions he is capable of seeing , which allow him to see the evil people are capable of . elsewhere , green is arrested . his property is searched but helen is nowhere to be found — although another corpse is dug up in the garden , evidently killed nine years before . black deduces that green could not have killed helen at the cabin as his house was already being watched by the police . he sees a set of tools in green 's home which he realizes were not used for murder or torture , but to helen in the basement . black and the police dismantle a newly finished plaster wall , finding helen injured but alive ; it is at this point that black realizes green was simply a pawn , used by his father to lure victims to the house . production " sacrament " was written by frank spotnitz and directed by michael w. watkins . spotnitz had previously written " weeds " earlier in the first season , as well as penning " teotwawki " , " antipas " and " seven and one " in the series ' third season . spotnitz was a prolific writer for millennium 's sister show the x - files , receiving his first writing credit for that series for the episode " end game " . spotnitz has described " sacrament " as his favourite script for the series , finding the character of richard green to be " creepy " and believing that " the solution to the mystery [ was ] sufficiently unexpected " . " sacrament " is the only episode of millennium to have been directed by watkins . watkins ' work on the episode led to him becoming a director and executive producer for the x - files when that series moved production to los angeles . the episode features the last appearance in the series by brian markinson as seattle police officer teeple ; markinson had previously portrayed the character in the earlier first season episodes " the judge " and " blood relatives " . the treatment of the two victims seen in " sacrament " — the of helen black and the burial in the garden of the unidentified second victim — appear to have been based on the methods used by real life serial killers john wayne gacy , dennis nilsen and dorothea puente to dispose of their victims . both gacy and nilsen habitually murdered men they had taken home as lovers , with gacy storing bodies in the crawl space of his home , and nilsen keeping corpses in wardrobes and under the floorboards . puente would kill her tenants for their money and bury their bodies in the gardens of the properties they were renting . broadcast and reception " sacrament " was first broadcast on the fox network on february 21 , 1997 . the episode earned a nielsen rating of 6 . 4 during its original broadcast , meaning that 6 . 4 percent of households in the united states viewed the episode . this represented approximately 6 . 81 million households , and left the episode the seventy - seventh most - viewed broadcast that week . the episode received mostly positive reviews from critics . the a.v. club 's zack handlen rated the episode an a − , noting that it " subvert [ s ] our expectations " when dealing with the fallibility of a protagonist . handlen felt that the episode 's plot was somewhat inevitable following the introduction of black 's family , but that it was handled well ; he also felt positively about the episode 's symbolism of the vulnerability of innocence . bill gibron , writing for dvd talk , rated the episode 5 out of 5 , calling it " millennium at its best " . gibron felt that " sacrament " was " a taut , well - executed thriller " whose events " unfold with logic and authenticity " . robert shearman and lars pearson , in their book wanting to believe : a critical guide to the x - files , millennium & the lone gunmen , rated " sacrament " three stars out of five . shearman felt that the plot was " a bit humdrum " , finding that some emotional development was simply treated as " padding " ; however , he praised guest star philip anglim for his performance .