The 4400
Season Two

Available on DVD

1. Pilot Episode
2. Voices Carry
3. Weight of the World
4. Suffer the Children
5. As Fate Would Have It
6. Life Interrupted
7. Carrier
8. Rebirth
9. Hidden
10. Lockdown
11. The Fifth Page
12. Mommy's Bosses

Pilot - Wake Up Call

It's six months since the last episode of series one and not a lot has been happening, apparently. Tom (Joel Gretsch) has been relegated to a desk job whilst his son Kyle is held in confinement for testing. Diana hasn't got very far with investigations on her own, but is at least adopting Maia as her daughter. There is a new female head of the division and she is, unsurprisingly, a bitch. Maia has stopped seeing premonitions. Richard and Lily are still hiding out from Jordan Collier with their daughter, Elizabeth. Shawn is working for Jordan, healing rich people in exchange for donations to the cause and helping Jordan get over bouts of severe pain that are the legacy of his encounter with the unborn Elizabet last time round.

Starting off with a feature length story again, this series sees an investigation into one of the 4400 who is locked up in an asylum. She has drawn strange diagrams and now the inmates are starting to build. Soon enough the warders and doctors start joining in. Can Tom and Diane stop what they're doing? Should they? If they build it will they come?

It's an intriguing story that centres on the 'what is it?' question. When it is finally built (was there really ever any doubt) and the truth about its purpose is revealed, it's a bit of kicking idead, though one that is fraught with the time paradox issue that plagues the whole set up of the show.

Lily and Richard's story is more straightforward as they come under the eye of vigilante 4400 killers and take off into the woods to be hunted in an amalgam of Deliverance and Village of the Damned. It's nicely played out, but a bit on the predictable side.

Shawn's dawning realisation that he is more of a prisoner than a guest and that Jordan is not the good guy appears is to obvious to really work, but might still go places.

The final moments, when Diane realises that Maia is still seeing the future, just not telling her is a fantastic and chilling moment as she reads a prediction that sets up the show to go in a whole new direction if it so chooses.

The 4400 is back and is looking a lot better than the shaky start of the first mini-series. The question is, does it have places to go that we haven't been before?

Voices Carry

Garry was an aspiring baseball player when he was abducted and now his star is really rising. He seems to be able to predict the ball that is about to pitched with uncanny accuracy. It turns out that this is because Garry can hear what people are thinking. First it was just the pitchers, but now it is getting more powerful and he is all but overwhelmed by the noise in his head. There are drugs that will help and further assistance is promised, but first they need Garry to go talk to Jordan Collier and find out what he is doing dealing with a known arms smuggler.

In the meantime, Diana's sister turns up to upset the newly established family and Kyle sets off back to college. Shaun is still finding out that Jordan is not the saint he would have everyone believe and Richard is also finding out that his daughter's abilities are growing stronger and can be turned on him as well.

A telepath huh? And just at the time when the good guys need him? This is a pretty flat story that doesn't exactly go anywhere in any great hurry. None of the main stories are in a hurry to progress and there's not a lot of interest going on. The playing by the main actors is still pretty good and it's nice to see that the authorities can be just as ruthless and untrustworthy as the Colliers of this world.

Weight of the World

Trent Applebaum is a returnee with the envious ability to affect body weight. What, the ability to make people lose weight? Not surprisingly, pharmaceutical comapanies are on his case within seconds and testing on humans in minutes, just about the time that it takes to realise that what he starts can't be stopped and those he affects are unable to take in enough sustenance to survive no matter how much they eat.

Kyle takes the college life one stage further by freaking out at a party. Is it just the reaction of a recent coma victim to alcohol or is something more happening?

Lily and Richard think that they have found a place to stay, an end to their running. How long is that likely to last?

Robert Picardo, one time holographic doctor aboard the Federation starship VOYAGER, shows up as this week's returnee, but even he can't do anything to lighten up an otherwise dull outing of a show that really needs to up its game in a hurry. Once again, the main plotlines are all in a holding pattern and unless something starts moving along soon then this show is going to sink under its own lack of movement.

Suffer the Children

When a schoolteacher returnee is arrested for child abuse, Tom and Diane drive out to her aid. The children in her class have discovered talents that were hidden only a week before. Not all the children are so gifted, but what they have, she can bring out. Trouble is, not all of the parents agree with that sort of thing and what of the kids who are left behind?

Richard gets himself arrested so Jordan Collier drives out to his aid. He's not too keen about his rescuer, but Jordan convinces him that he has changed and that the baby that nearly killed him before she was born will be able to judge if he is still threat.

Shaun has found a bunch of homeless kids and drives to their aid (do I detect a pattern emerging here?). One of them starts to form a relationship with him, but then her boyfriend turns up.

Well, at least this week's show has a little more life in it than the last couple. We have a gun siege in the school, parent demos outside, Kyle realising that his blackouts are not drink related and Shaun realising that (christ symbolism laid on with a trowel aside) he heal the whole world alone.

Better then, but still with a ways to go to prove that its a show with legs.

As Fate Would Have It

Maia wakes up screaming that Jordan Collier's going to die. Relucatantly Tom and Diane offer to help keep him alive, but he rejects their offer. Consulting another child, Richard and Lily's daughter, he is gifted with visions of his being honoured in his old age. He goes ahead with the gala he had planned and is immediately shot.

Wow, did this week's writers get out of the other side of the bed this morning or what? There was so much plot going on that the pace was almost frantic and it raised far more questions than it had any right to. Can Isobel be safely brought into contact with anyone? Will Diane give up Maia's diary as the court has insisted or will she defy her bosses? Where did Jordan's body go? Is he really dead? Why is Shaun suddenly acting a whole lot more like Jordan now the older man is dead? Just what was Jordan's talent anyway (it couldn't be a bit of bodyswapping could it?)? Why was Kyle getting rid of a whole bunch of gun parts into the lake during one of his blackouts and does that mean he's the killer?

Someone has slapped the writing staff round the face with a wet fish and not before time too. If this is going to be the new level of the show then it just might merit the third season that has just been announced. The next episode is certainly a must see.

Life Interrupted

Tom wakes up one morning to find that the world is not the same as when he went to bed. For one thing, the 4400 never existed. Kyle was never in a coma, Jordan Collier was never killed and the future of earth is not in threat. Oh, and he has a new wife. It turns out that the wife remembers about the 4400, but knows nothing about him or his life, so why is she suddenly in it? More importantly, should he really care when the life he is now living is so much better than the one that he thinks of as real? Perhaps he could relax and enjoy it if it wasn't for the door in the Collier museum that he sees as black and leading into a strange kind of medical room, whilst for everyone else it's just a wooden door and leads into a broom cupboard.

Wow and, indeed, wow again. After lifting its game last week, The 4400 raises its bar clean out of sight. Admittedly, the plot is now a staple of almost every sci-fi show going and we can certainly remember the same basic plot appearing in Star Trek The Next Generation and Stargate Atlantis off the tops of our heads. Thing is, this story usually brings about some of the better episodes of those shows and that's the case here as well. Whilst you're figuring things out (and yes, it pretty much works out the way you think it will in the end, but there's a lot of mystery and stylish photography along the way) there is some pretty fine writing that translates into some very fine acting, especially from Joel Gretsch as Tom, on whose shoulders the whole thing lies.

We also have to say that we really liked Diane's hairstyle at the renewal of the wedding vows. Maybe she should keep it that way.

Carrier

Whilst Tom is coming to terms with his new wife (see last episode), he and Diane are faced with a new threat. This week's guest returnee is 'blessed' with the ability to wipe out everyone around her with a deadly virus that can penetrate even the strongest environmental protection suit when she is upset or angry. The problem is, she is out there and losing her mind. The chase is on before she decides to take out a major city, or worse. Shawn, meanwhile has decided to quit the 4400 centre until Lily comes up with a new plan to help him work out his problems. There is also help from a new man, Matthew, who is just like Jordan Collier, but without the charm. Maia tries to help out Diane's sister by telling her how to bet on sure things, but wonders whether she is liked for herself or her powers and Kyle, well, Kyle has just had a flashback revealing that he killed Jordan Collier. Guess that medical degree's going to have to wait a little.

Picking up its pace after last week's brilliant, but irrelevant in terms of main plotline, episode, The 4400 does what it does best, telling a fast-moving central story whilst progressing the main characters along their own tracks. This is what the show should be about and continues the strong showing of the series over the last few weeks. Intrigue is spiralling all around and there is a real sense that something is building up somewhere and it's all going to go to hell in a handbasket - and soon.

Roll on next week.

Rebirth

Last week's returnee was a loner out to cleanse mankind through disease. This week's is a mass-murdering war criminal (or close to it). His power is that of 'fixing' defects in foetuses before birth. This talent could be seen as his redemption for his crimes, though not in Tom's book, except that each child he saves is adding to his own degeneration. Still, he could always go back to Rwanda and be executed.

The writers seem to have taken a dislike to the 4400 at the moment. They aren't turning out to be a generally likeable lot. The main plot here is as inconsequential as the others have been this season and the added twist of his being a war criminal doesn't freshen up the plot that much. As for the running stories, well this week's show feels a lot like filler. Things are beings set up, true, but more than that is needed.

Richard is meeting up with his old war buddies and coming to terms with his past. Diana has kicked her unreliable sister out and Kyle is trying to cope with his secrets alone. None of these characters are strong enough to hold the attention and some progress on any of these main plotlines would be good.

Hidden

No returnee of the week this time around because the hunt is on for Jordan Collier's killer and there are clues that are driving NTAC straight to him. Tom, meanwhile, is trying to figure out where Kyle went and what might be so upsetting him. As he learns the truth about just who killed Collier, he comes into direct conflict with Diane's investigation. Maia has told Diane that when they catch the killer someone is going to get hurt, but can't say who.

As we are approaching the end of the series, the pace is picking up. Playing off Diane's search for the killer with Tom's uncovering of the truth is a great move, building up tension and drama. Having the unnamed threat of Maia's prediction hanging over them serves to underpin the tension. She also gets the killer last line.

This is what we want; pacy, exciting adventure. the series is going from strength to strength.

Lockdown

Diane wakes up to find that Maia is ill from some kind of a rash and so takes her into the NTAC centre for the doctors to look her over. Tom wakes up to find that he has an e-mail reminding him that it is Jordan Collier's birthday. Then all the men within the building go ballistic. One of the 4400 in for a physical has turned them all into anger timebombs. The women are not affected, but everyone is going to have to work hard to survive the day. Oh, a Shaun has developed the same rash as Maia and lost his healing powers.

A nice episode that for once could have used a longer running time to develop it some more. There is plenty of tension as various people face off against each other, the big boss gets shot and Tom and Diane end up pointing guns at each other. It's probably short odds that the cute doctor Diane has found has something to do with the plague that is about to sweep the 4400 (Ok, it's only two so far, but this is how script writers think) and there is at least one 4400 who does not have NTAC's beast health at heart.

The end is nigh and you can feel it in the way that the pace is increasing towards a number of potential cliffhangers. Can't wait for next week.

The Fifth Page

4400s across the world are falling sick under the rash. Their powers are being removed and they are catching other diseases through a failure of the immune system. Shaun can't heal, Maia can't see the future and Lana, the new lady in Tom's life, can no longer tell the real world from the world that she created for Tom and her. Diana finds that Maia's medical record has been tampered with and the titular Fifth page has been removed. Dennis Ryland is back in charge and he is all set to put the 4400 back in quarantine, whether they want to go or not. NTAC medical refuses help from one of the leading researchers on the 4400, so Tom and Diana sneak out the files to him and learn the truth about the illness.

There have been some dodgy moments in the two series of The 4400, but all of that has been forgotten. As we rush headlong towards the series cliffhanger there can no longer be any doubt that this is a quality sci-fi show. The crisis bubbles up in the lives of all the major characters and there are several touching scenes in which the sick and the well face up to their new reality. Shaun meeting Maia back in quarantine is particularly effective.

There is one episode to go and it is, in every sense of the word, unmissable.

Mommy's Bosses

NTAC has poisoned the 4400 and now Tom and Diane know about it. What are they going to do? What can they do? First thing is to take Maia's doctor prisoner at gunpoint and force him to tell all. It doesn't take much. He is tortured by what he has done to the 4400, but it was sanctioned by higher ups, starting with Dennis Ryland. But how can they prove it? There was a memo called Firewall, sure, but Ryland would have had all copies shredded - except perhaps his ex-secretary might know something. In the meantime, the Doctor brought back to sanity in the feature episode at the beginning of this season can synthesise a cure, if he can find a 4400 who has never been poisoned. Enter Isobel.

When you come up with a title as loaded with menace and foreboding as 'Mommy's Bosses' how can you possibly live up to it? Answer is, you can't. That said, this is a pretty good episode. All of the stories are coming together and it's all going to play out in the next 50 minutes.

And that's the problem. There is more plot here than you can work out in 50 minutes. Everything is rushed and credibility is hard pressed to survive. I mean, excuse me, but a secretary who just happens to have the document that they need and they just happen to remember her at the right moment? Lily runs away, but comes back with Isobel at just the right time. The good doctor figures out the cure for the problem and synthesises it in about 6 hours flat, but there's only enough for one dose? I don't think so.

What is good is the way that the characterisations stand up in the face of the plotting. Neither Ryland nor Max come across as true blue villains, but rather as men driven to extreme measures by circumstances beyond them. Both Tom and Diane are driven to actions almost as extreme.

So, you wanted a conclusion to this series of The 4400 and you got it, but the last five minutes is a quick set up for series 3. What are we going to get? Richard has got telekinesis, Isobel has grown up instantly, but not learned to put clothes on, Kyle has admitted to killing Jordan Collier, but Jordan Collier has shown up at the beach.

It's been a rocky road, but The 4400 has done enough to deserve its third series and we'll be looking forward to it.