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Finley was a prominent member of the Millennium Group. (MM: "The Beginning & the End") She worked with Peter Watts on several occasions and assassinated terrorist Helmut Gunsche. (MM: "Roosters")
History[]
Frank Black[]
In 1997, Catherine Black was abducted from Seattle-Tacoma Airport. A team from the Millennium Group that included Peter Watts and Finley traveled to the airport, where Catherine's husband, Frank, and their daughter, Jordan, were waiting. Finley offered to take Jordan home to 1910 Ezekiel Drive and did so while Frank Black and Peter Watts tried to find Catherine and her abductor.
After Frank returned to his home with Peter, unsuccessful in their quest, Finley told Frank that his daughter wanted to speak to him.
Shortly thereafter, Frank found his wife and brutally stabbed her abductor, fatally wounding him. (MM: "The Beginning & the End")
Two months later, in 1998, Finley was present at a tense inquisition in which Frank was questioned by members of the Millennium Group. He claimed that he was not sure who had founded the Group but had been told that he would learn that information when the time was right. When Finley wondered if he had yet been informed of the answer, Frank paused before he replied, "Apparently not". Referring to his wife's abduction, Finley later reminded him that he had stabbed a suspect to death in a case that the Millennium Group had been investigating. Frank corrected her by stating that the Group had not been investigating the case, which was why he had done so himself. An inquisitor was also in the room and glanced at Finley as he told Frank, "The Group has a history and a purpose that is alive in everyone in this circle". (MM: "Luminary")
Group Split[]
Shortly thereafter, the Millennium Group split into separate divisions - Roosters and Owls. Finley and Peter Watts were members of the Roosters, who believed that an apocalyptic event would occur in the next ninety-five weeks. They met at night with other Roosters in an abandoned warehouse to discuss the divide. When a man named Gordon Johnston exclaimed, "I never thought members would kill members", Watts questioned the others whether they actually believed that the Owls had stolen the crucifixion cross and killed one of the Roosters, a man named Robert Le Fur. In reply, Finley asked Watts to name another group that would know the Owls had finally found the cross. Watts recalled that the Millennium Group had been searching for the crucifixion cross for eight centuries, as had others. At one point in the discussion, Finley reminded the other attendees that the Owls blamed the Roosters for endangering the world with their beliefs and for creating hysteria by "crowing about the impending dawn". The attendees seemed shocked when Watts suggested that they could initiate Millennium Group candidates Frank Black and Lara Means, as they might help to heal and reunite the Millennium Group. Finley retorted that only one person could do that, referring to the leader of the Group, and that the same man was also the only person who both Roosters and Owls respected.
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Unknown to Finley, Watts, and the other Roosters, Johnston was actually a member of the Owls. Watts only discovered this revelation after the wreckage of Johnston's car was found burned and charred with a scorched piece of wood that seemed to be the crucifixion cross in the vehicle's trunk. Finley later learned of this deception and it was arranged that she would conduct an autopsy on Johnston's incinerated body, which had also been found in his car. However, when she entered the room at Bethesda Naval Hospital where the procedure was to take place, she was alarmed to find that Peter Watts had brought Lara Means with him. They were both dressed in white coats appropriate for the medical environment. When Watts explained that Means was there at his request and accepted full responsibility for her, Finley briefly nodded and glanced at Johnston's body. Looking back at Watts, she honestly admitted that she had been more ready to suspect him of working for the other side than she had been to suspect Johnston. At this, Watts briefly smiled.
Suddenly, two more men wearing white coats rushed into the room. Finley turned to them angrily and ordered them to leave because they were disturbing a Millennium Group investigation. However, one of the men replied that they were also members of the Millennium Group and the other man refused to leave, demanding to be involved in the autopsy as the Owls would not accept the Roosters' findings unless they were allowed to participate. Watts realized that both the Owls and the Roosters had to know if any evidence was found during the autopsy that would indicate either side had been responsible for Johnston's death. The two Owls consequently remained in the room while the autopsy was conducted. The procedure revealed that Johnston's stomach was flooded with gasoline and evidence of blunt trauma was also found.
- The roles that Finley and the two Owls played during the actual autopsy are not clearly established.
Following the examination, Finley entered Watts' office with preliminary reports of carbon-isotope dating on the scorched piece of wood found in Johnston's car. However, Finley notified Watts that the carbon build up from the fire was making a precise dating of the wood almost impossible. Finley placed the reports on Watts' desk and, as she left his office, Watts slammed a file he had been reading down on the table in frustration. (MM: "Owls")
Finley with Peter Watts at a Millennium Group meeting.
Once the results of the carbon dating were established, a meeting was held to discuss the implications of the results and the divide within the Millennium Group. Members from both factions attended the meeting. Finley and Watts, who were also in attendance, shared a glance as the chairman commented that no one was allowed access to the room unless they believed the monumental events that were forthcoming. Watts believed that the Millennium Group's disunion was similar to that of the Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland, who had been killing each other for decades because their divide had lost its basis in ideology and become about controlling the other side. Both Finley and Watts shifted agitatedly in their chairs when one of the Owls retorted that he was not ashamed to admit the Millennium Group's divergence was about control, and began to argue that the public would overlook the catastrophe which the Owls were convinced would occur in six decades if the Roosters prepared the world for an apocalypse depicted in "nonsensical" biblical prophecies.
Finley later noted that, if the piece of wood found in Johnston's car was indeed the crucifixion cross, the Owls had destroyed a sacred mystical icon. One of the Owls skeptically replied that, if the cross was discovered to be a fake, the Roosters had obviously planted it to discredit the Owls. Eventually, the chairman chose not to reveal the results until after the two sides had settled their differences. Finley was sitting back in her chair with her arms folded as the Owls angrily stormed out of the room. She waved her hand in the air dismissively before resuming a more relaxed sitting posture.
The cross was actually a fake. The real cross had been stolen by an organization named Odessa which had been founded by the Nazis. A member of Odessa named Helmut Gunsche later murdered the Millennium Group's leader. Finley was present at the leader's funeral and helped the Group avenge his death by equipping Gunsche's car with a bomb when he was away from the automobile. She left in a car carrying a Washington licence plate while Gunsche entered his own vehicle. When the Odessa member tried to phone his leader, Rudolf Axmann, his car exploded. (MM: "Roosters")
- Finley is never seen equipping Gunsche's car with a bomb but the episode implies that she did so.
Quotes[]
"I'll take her home, Frank."
"Frank... Jordan wants you."
- "Luminary"
"And did you?"
"Frank, about two months ago you stabbed a suspect to death in a case the Group was investigating."
- "Owls"
"Well, Peter, who else would know we'd finally found it?"
"And of course, they believe the Roosters create hysteria crowing about the impending dawn; and that our beliefs endanger the world."
"There is only one person who could do that. Who both Roosters and Owls respect... and at this moment, is our only hope."
"You know, Peter, I will be very honest with you... I would have suspected you of working for the other side before I ever suspected Johnston."
"Get out! This is a Millennium Group investigation."
"Well, these are preliminary reports of carbon-isotope dating on the wood found in the trunk. But the carbon build up from the fire is making a precise dating of the wood nearly impossible."
- "Roosters"
"If the carbon dating confirms that it was the crucifixion cross, then the Owls have destroyed a sacred mystical icon."
Background Information[]
In early script sources, Finley's name was Ms. Kelcher and she was described as being in her early 50s. She was not named in any episode, although she is listed as Finley in episode credits.
In a version of the script for "Owls", Peter Watts and Gordon Johnston meet outside the warehouse as half a dozen people, including Ms. Kelcher (later to be named Finley) and Mr. Dean, wait inside the building. Once Johnston enters with Watts and notes that Millennium Group members Hall and Eads are not present, Ms. Kelcher remarks, "It's pretty clear which side of the split they fall on". After she recommends the Old Man, the leader of the Millennium Group, as the only person who could heal and reunite the organization, everyone in the room nods in agreement. Although Johnston notes, "He's never come down before", Watts confirms that he will contact the Group's leader. In the filmed episode, Watts contacts the Old Man but is not seen telling Finley or the other members of the Group that he is about to do so.
The script also makes clear that the scene in which Ms. Kelcher prepares to conduct an autopsy on Johnston takes place during the day. The timing of the similar scene in the episode itself is not established and there is no way to tell how much available daylight there is while Finley prepares to do the autopsy. There are also two pathologists in the script who help prepare the procedure, whereas there is only one in the episode. After Ms. Kelcher enters and tells Watts that she would have suspected him of treason before suspecting Johnston, Watts recalls that President Kennedy's body was examined in the same room and states, "Everyone's trust died in this room". In the episode, Watts recalls this fact before Finley enters. There are also three members of the Owls who delay the start of the operation, whereas only two appear in the episode. Once they enter and insist that they are also members of the Millennium Group, Kelcher retorts, "Not as far as I'm concerned".
In Watts' office, Ms. Kelcher places a file on Watts' desk just after entering that he puts to one side after she has informed him of the situation. However, in the episode, Finley places the same file on his desk just before exiting and Watts subsequently ignores it. The script also establishes that the file he slams down on his desk is an inconclusive report of tire imprint evidence from Johnston's car. In the episode, he strikes an unidentified file down on his desk as Finley leaves and the action could be incorrectly interpreted as being influenced by their interaction.
In filmed appearances of the character, Finley was played by Judith Maxie.