Episode 13: The Great Leap Forward
It's over. The 4400 is 86ed, so to speak. Sorry, that's the best I've got.
This was definitely a series finale episode. Sure, life goes on for most of our characters at the end, but all the lingering questions are answered. I was afraid that they were going to leave a lot of openings, perhaps even create a couple, just in case, you know, there was a grassroots ground swell that got the show brought back. But they did the honorable thing and put her to bed.
In the very first episode we're introduced to Tom who has been recruited into NTAC from the FBI and Diana who has been recruited into NTAC from the CDC and for about the first half of the season they would reference her training as an epidemiologist. It got brought up again in season two when they needed a reason for Diana to be helping Kevin with his research. Throughout the course of the show, however, she acted more like an FBI agent than Tom ever did. I only bring this up because I would like to mention that it would have been nice if they had actually utilized her medical background, and because the way they arrive at the "Great Leap Forward" in the finale is through a power induced promicon virus. Suddenly there were quarantine and airdrops and Diana coordinating with FEMA and the Red Cross. It was nice to see it come full circle.
I've mentioned several times about episodes that remind me of episodes of Alphas, which while coming later than the 4400, I saw first. There have been a lot of similarities and even whole plots lifted by Alphas and I had complained away from the blog about one show ripping off another one. Then, after watching the finale, I watched some of the special features on the dvd, and lo and behold the two main producers for the 4400 are the two main producers for Alphas, also known as the shows creator and shot-caller. Too bad that they made the same show twice. There are so many interesting possibilities that one could do with the super hero genre, it's kind of sad that they limited themselves to this one vision. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed both shows. When the third season of Alphas starts up, and I guess I need to make sure that has not happened already, I will watch it. I do feel like I understand it's characters quite a bit better now, and while the motivation behind certain characters has remained shrouded, I think I know what they're up to.
So, here's the deal with the 4400. Watch the first season. If you like, it, the rest of the series will prove to be worth it. If you can force yourself to get through the first season and are unsure, or maybe just hate Laura Allen, I mean her character. No, I think I actually mean her. If you can hold on just a little longer, the show will change for the better and you will be rewarded. If you can't make it through that first season, it's okay. I understand. Try giving Alphas a shot, it's actually quite good from the very beginning. And yeah, Summer Glau is in both, so you'll be okay on that front.
The 4400 at IMDb
Showing posts with label 4400. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4400. Show all posts
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
The 4400 Season 4 Disk 3:
Episode 9: Daddy's Little Girl
Summer Glau! I was just mentioning not even an hour ago that I wanted her to come back to the show. I should have said it yesterday. Tess is back, but she's kind of broken since she's not been on her meds. She imagines that she's at her sweet 16 party and holds a diner full of people hostage making them dance to songs on the jukebox. Not a bad little storyline at all.
Another one of the original 4400 regulars is back, too. Richard comes to Promise City to meet with Isabelle and then kidnaps her and tricks her into drinking this water that has been changed by a 4400 that makes her grow younger both physically and mentally. He wants to have a normal life with her so that she can grow up normally instead of aging 20 years physically in one night. That's pretty messed up when you think about what he's doing. He's taking an adult, albeit a 3 year old adult and forcing her against her will to be a child again, well for the first time really, but wiping away all of her memories, presumably including her knowledge which was literally encyclopedic.
Episode 10: One of Us
So (yes, I know I shouldn't start a thought off this way), looks like the showrunners have revealed their hand. The new plot device they shared with us a few episodes back about a group from the future who have taken control of the bodies of influential people to work against the 4400 has put into full action with one of them taking over Tom. Aside from the fact that he's now some crazy mad scientist, he's a lot more personable.
I'm guessing that the Marked (that's what these time traveling muckrakers are referred to as) were an idea that was going to be played out across a couple of seasons, but when finding out that they've been cancelled, they decided to spring them on us now.
The show did one very cruel and mean thing to me...they brought Laura Allen back, but thank god it was only for this episode. Probably. How mean, they give me Summer Glau one episode and then Laura Allen the next.
Episode 11: Ghost in the Machine
The thing about having the main character possessed by another person's will is that you will want to give the audience some satisfaction at some point by having the main character fight back and regain control of his own body.So, (there's that word again) if you spend episode 11 making the possessed Tom being more and more manipulative and evil and don't even show us a little hint that the old Tom is still there, what are you going to do in the final two episodes to show us a struggle and eventual victory of the protagonist? I have this funny feeling that they're going to skip that all together and have the other two main agents figure out a way to get him back. And we already know how they'll do it, since they have been telling us all season that a (roughly) 100 year old book has a list of names of people that must take the promicon and it implies that they'll live through the ordeal.
Episode 12: Tiny Machines
Beware the nanite invasion! I'm positive that at least one other sf franchise has used the name nanites to describe self-replicating nanobots. I'm glad that it was finally revealed to us how the Marked took over Tom and the others. It was a bit predictable since when I brought the season 4 dvds home I read the episode names. There aren't too many things that 'tiny machines' can refer to in this context.
The shooting has started. I guess I should be impressed that they were able to wait until the second to last episode before steeping into the fracas. They did start wrapping up some of the characters story lines, like Tess and Kevin, which means I am unlikely to see Summer Glau in the final episode, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I would like to say that they managed to dazzle me with a twist I didn't see coming, but they didn't. They also did disappoint me by missing any steps. Predictable but good quality television is something I can live with.
The 4400 at IMDb
Summer Glau! I was just mentioning not even an hour ago that I wanted her to come back to the show. I should have said it yesterday. Tess is back, but she's kind of broken since she's not been on her meds. She imagines that she's at her sweet 16 party and holds a diner full of people hostage making them dance to songs on the jukebox. Not a bad little storyline at all.
Another one of the original 4400 regulars is back, too. Richard comes to Promise City to meet with Isabelle and then kidnaps her and tricks her into drinking this water that has been changed by a 4400 that makes her grow younger both physically and mentally. He wants to have a normal life with her so that she can grow up normally instead of aging 20 years physically in one night. That's pretty messed up when you think about what he's doing. He's taking an adult, albeit a 3 year old adult and forcing her against her will to be a child again, well for the first time really, but wiping away all of her memories, presumably including her knowledge which was literally encyclopedic.
Episode 10: One of Us
So (yes, I know I shouldn't start a thought off this way), looks like the showrunners have revealed their hand. The new plot device they shared with us a few episodes back about a group from the future who have taken control of the bodies of influential people to work against the 4400 has put into full action with one of them taking over Tom. Aside from the fact that he's now some crazy mad scientist, he's a lot more personable.
I'm guessing that the Marked (that's what these time traveling muckrakers are referred to as) were an idea that was going to be played out across a couple of seasons, but when finding out that they've been cancelled, they decided to spring them on us now.
The show did one very cruel and mean thing to me...they brought Laura Allen back, but thank god it was only for this episode. Probably. How mean, they give me Summer Glau one episode and then Laura Allen the next.
Episode 11: Ghost in the Machine
The thing about having the main character possessed by another person's will is that you will want to give the audience some satisfaction at some point by having the main character fight back and regain control of his own body.So, (there's that word again) if you spend episode 11 making the possessed Tom being more and more manipulative and evil and don't even show us a little hint that the old Tom is still there, what are you going to do in the final two episodes to show us a struggle and eventual victory of the protagonist? I have this funny feeling that they're going to skip that all together and have the other two main agents figure out a way to get him back. And we already know how they'll do it, since they have been telling us all season that a (roughly) 100 year old book has a list of names of people that must take the promicon and it implies that they'll live through the ordeal.
Episode 12: Tiny Machines
Beware the nanite invasion! I'm positive that at least one other sf franchise has used the name nanites to describe self-replicating nanobots. I'm glad that it was finally revealed to us how the Marked took over Tom and the others. It was a bit predictable since when I brought the season 4 dvds home I read the episode names. There aren't too many things that 'tiny machines' can refer to in this context.
The shooting has started. I guess I should be impressed that they were able to wait until the second to last episode before steeping into the fracas. They did start wrapping up some of the characters story lines, like Tess and Kevin, which means I am unlikely to see Summer Glau in the final episode, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I would like to say that they managed to dazzle me with a twist I didn't see coming, but they didn't. They also did disappoint me by missing any steps. Predictable but good quality television is something I can live with.
The 4400 at IMDb
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The 4400 Season 4 Disk 2
Episode 5: Try the Pie
This was a building episode, laying the groundwork for things to come. We had Maya back in the story, so that was good I guess, except that the actress still kind of gives me the creeps. I don't know what it is about her, but she gets the hair on the back of my neck standing up sometimes. Weird.
The road map for the rest of the show has been laid out in this episode. Sure, I have the advance knowledge that the show was not coming for a fifth season, but I think even without that, I would have known. It is much better to know for sure though, since I have hope that they actually will wrap the show up, where if I was watching this when it aired I would be afraid that they were just going to drag it on forever.
Based on the name of the episode and the fact that this show is set largely in Washington state, I was hoping for a nod to Twin Peaks, and maybe I got a little one when Tom finally ate a piece of the pie and as he finishes turns to the room and calls for a cup of coffee. Kind of weak if it was a nod, likely my just wanting to see a connection.
Episode 6: The Marked
This episode kind of rocked. It reminded me of the Lone Gunmen episodes of the X-Files, whacky and conspiracy filled and in fact so whacky that what they would claim was going on made a warped kind of sense. Not the confused with the series spin-off The Lone Gunmen, which was for the most part, lame.
This was the introduction of a conspiracy of agents sent back from the future to battle against the 4400. The revelation was handled in a pretty unique way, I thought. One of the 4400s makes really bad movies - he writes them, directs them and stars in them. He claims that his ability is manifested while writing the scripts and that the movies are real, in which case he revealed where Jimmy Hoffa was married and the real assassin who killed JFK. The movies look so awful that even Mystery Science Theatre 3000 wouldn't watch them. But, like several of the regulars, i would so watch every one.
The drawback to this episode was that the revelation of the conspiracy was somewhat heavy-handed. The X-Files took three years to reveal what the 4400 did in 20 minutes or so. How are we going to be drawn in if they give away a lot of their secrets at the start? Wait and see, I suppose.
Episode 7: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
I appreciate when a series focuses on telling a story and uses elements from earlier seasons, proving that they weren't just a throw-away plot device. What I really like is when they reward me by not wasting time explaining something that I already know. It's like my fanboydom gets to be it's own reward.
I know that this is episode 7 and there are 13 episodes in the final season. While this was probably the best episode this season thus far, I have to wonder about why it happened so early. There was a confrontation between the government and the 4400 and both sides showed their hands, albeit a brief peak, to the viewers. I hope that they don't do what a lot of shows do after a big episode and just give me a couple of throw away episodes, but I have to wonder what they are going to fill up the last half of the season with. Obviously, my promicon ability is not seeing the future.
Episode 8: No Exit
Remember that bit above where I was fearing that since ep 7 was a big episode relatively early in the season that they were going to give me a throw-away episode next? Totally called it. Wished I'd been wrong.
I was hoping with a name like 'No Exit' that there would at least be allusions to Sartre's play, but instead we got a literal interpretation. In some respects, I am willing to concede that there was a slight similarity to the play, but really it's only in the set up. In the play, we discover that hell is other people, in the episode we discover that people we didn't like really aren't too bad when a building is trying to kill us. That, and Tom has a little ting for his boss, but mostly the first bit.
I've got to say that if my ability were to trap people in a game like scenario while we were asleep so that they would lean to work together, I would feel totally ripped off. I guess if it could be just a game that was cooked up from our collective subconsciousness (esseses) that might be cool, but only if I knew going in that death in the game did not mean death in the real world. Still, it's an ability I would want my friend to get, not me, because it's a pretty lame ability.
The 4400 at IMDb
This was a building episode, laying the groundwork for things to come. We had Maya back in the story, so that was good I guess, except that the actress still kind of gives me the creeps. I don't know what it is about her, but she gets the hair on the back of my neck standing up sometimes. Weird.
The road map for the rest of the show has been laid out in this episode. Sure, I have the advance knowledge that the show was not coming for a fifth season, but I think even without that, I would have known. It is much better to know for sure though, since I have hope that they actually will wrap the show up, where if I was watching this when it aired I would be afraid that they were just going to drag it on forever.
Based on the name of the episode and the fact that this show is set largely in Washington state, I was hoping for a nod to Twin Peaks, and maybe I got a little one when Tom finally ate a piece of the pie and as he finishes turns to the room and calls for a cup of coffee. Kind of weak if it was a nod, likely my just wanting to see a connection.
Episode 6: The Marked
This episode kind of rocked. It reminded me of the Lone Gunmen episodes of the X-Files, whacky and conspiracy filled and in fact so whacky that what they would claim was going on made a warped kind of sense. Not the confused with the series spin-off The Lone Gunmen, which was for the most part, lame.
This was the introduction of a conspiracy of agents sent back from the future to battle against the 4400. The revelation was handled in a pretty unique way, I thought. One of the 4400s makes really bad movies - he writes them, directs them and stars in them. He claims that his ability is manifested while writing the scripts and that the movies are real, in which case he revealed where Jimmy Hoffa was married and the real assassin who killed JFK. The movies look so awful that even Mystery Science Theatre 3000 wouldn't watch them. But, like several of the regulars, i would so watch every one.
The drawback to this episode was that the revelation of the conspiracy was somewhat heavy-handed. The X-Files took three years to reveal what the 4400 did in 20 minutes or so. How are we going to be drawn in if they give away a lot of their secrets at the start? Wait and see, I suppose.
Episode 7: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
I appreciate when a series focuses on telling a story and uses elements from earlier seasons, proving that they weren't just a throw-away plot device. What I really like is when they reward me by not wasting time explaining something that I already know. It's like my fanboydom gets to be it's own reward.
I know that this is episode 7 and there are 13 episodes in the final season. While this was probably the best episode this season thus far, I have to wonder about why it happened so early. There was a confrontation between the government and the 4400 and both sides showed their hands, albeit a brief peak, to the viewers. I hope that they don't do what a lot of shows do after a big episode and just give me a couple of throw away episodes, but I have to wonder what they are going to fill up the last half of the season with. Obviously, my promicon ability is not seeing the future.
Episode 8: No Exit
Remember that bit above where I was fearing that since ep 7 was a big episode relatively early in the season that they were going to give me a throw-away episode next? Totally called it. Wished I'd been wrong.
I was hoping with a name like 'No Exit' that there would at least be allusions to Sartre's play, but instead we got a literal interpretation. In some respects, I am willing to concede that there was a slight similarity to the play, but really it's only in the set up. In the play, we discover that hell is other people, in the episode we discover that people we didn't like really aren't too bad when a building is trying to kill us. That, and Tom has a little ting for his boss, but mostly the first bit.
I've got to say that if my ability were to trap people in a game like scenario while we were asleep so that they would lean to work together, I would feel totally ripped off. I guess if it could be just a game that was cooked up from our collective subconsciousness (esseses) that might be cool, but only if I knew going in that death in the game did not mean death in the real world. Still, it's an ability I would want my friend to get, not me, because it's a pretty lame ability.
The 4400 at IMDb
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
The 4400 Season 4 Disk 1
Episode 1: The Wrath of Graham
W00t! I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to finish this series, but thanks to the wonderful librarians at Dora Library (one of the member libraries of the Coos County Library Service District).
It's 3 months after the end of season 3, coincidentally the length that the show was on Summer break. Literally nothing has changed at the beginning of the episode until we meet the new head of NTAC who is conveniently an attractive blonde roughly Agent Tom's age. Everyone who was going to go do something has come back, and Tess runs off because she's off her meds and not dealing well with Schizophrenia at all.
We finally get to see what Jordan Collier's power is, though it's already implied that he's immortal. It turns out that he has the ability to take the powers away from people who were not 4400s but had injected with promicon.
I'm excited because it was terribly melodramatic, focused on 3 stories and used lots of extras. You can tell how well a network it backing a show by how many extras they use for crowd scenes. The crowds in this episode actually looked like crowds.
Episode 2: Fear Itself
The show is still using the double opening format. You would think by their fourth season that they wouldn't need to explain the premise at the start of each episode. The start is the same as the previous three seasons, and now I understand why they chose not to focus on any of the characters during the credits rolling sequence - they can keep using it year after year.
This episode is very interesting. The main story is about an autistic child who has had promicon administered to him by his father in an attempt to combat the autism, or so the father claims. The kid survived the shot and develops a power that induces primal fear in people when he is feeling threatened. The dilemma is what to do about the kid who is not consciously doing this.
We also get the lowdown on Kyle's ability - that's right, he took the promicon during the break. Hey, I hear all the kids were doing it. I knew from the first episode that there was something different about the girl he met. I assumed she was a ghost, but in this episode she said she is his ability as it was being verified that only he could see her. I'm still holding out for her being a ghost, perhaps she is kind of his spirit guide, which would feed into the story arch they've spun for him for this season.
Episode 3: Audrey Parkers Comen and Gone
One of the things I like about this show is that not all of the 4400 or the people who took the promicon injections are young and pretty. Actually, so far this season has largely been about the people who took promicon. This episode is about an elderly woman with debilitating arthritis that developed the ability to project her astral form to anywhere she wanted. She uses this to do good, and when she is murdered later, uses it to tell the NTAC crew who the killer is. She and Diane bond as Diane sees the life that could have been.
They are keeping their focus with three stories an episode, two of them always closely intertwined. I might be making it sound a bit formulaic, but I am not speaking to what happens in the stories, just that they are continuing to use a narrower focus, that stylistically is a much more effective manner of telling their stories. We get enough time with each story to care about what is going on. Fortunately we've been spared the melodrama so far, but that is likely due to the absence of Laura Allen as much as anything. Actually, most of the regular 4400s are gone, just Sean and Jordan. Diana's daughter, Maya, was in the episode where she comes back, but only a very minor bit and not in this one. Having the use of a 4400 ability be illegal has allowed them to shuffle up the cast.
Episode 4: The Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Diane has come back to search for her sister, April. So far, all we knew is what we saw at the end of the last season when she had gotten the promicon. Now she pops up and she obviously survived and has the ability to make people tell the truth. So, of course she uses it to find out the dirt on people so that she and her boyfriend can blackmail them. As you would guess if you had watched the show from the start, April is going to find a way to screw things up. Which she does. But, Diane fixes it.
This episode kept it's focus, but wrapped up the Diane/April arch, pretty much writing April out of the show, though leaving it open for the occasional visit. We got some melodrama in the Kyle storyline and I predict more because he is now pitted against his dad, well sort of. There are going to be lots of arguments about Kyle taking promicon which Tom now knows about and Kyle has to convince Tom to take promicon based on the book he and Isabelle have been translating. It might go okay, but it might go totally South. I know that the show didn't get picked up for a fifth season and I guess you really can never know why a show falls out of favor, but I think you can guess. I think they dropped Laura Allen because people were not happy with her character and storyline. They made other changes that really brought the show around. It will be a shame if slipping back into the old ways is what got them cancelled, but will also be a valuable lesson to anyone trying to write a show for broadcast television. If you want to write something more complicated, with more characters, you need more time because if you rush it, it will end up that the audience doesn't care about any of them.
The 4400 at IMDb
W00t! I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to finish this series, but thanks to the wonderful librarians at Dora Library (one of the member libraries of the Coos County Library Service District).
It's 3 months after the end of season 3, coincidentally the length that the show was on Summer break. Literally nothing has changed at the beginning of the episode until we meet the new head of NTAC who is conveniently an attractive blonde roughly Agent Tom's age. Everyone who was going to go do something has come back, and Tess runs off because she's off her meds and not dealing well with Schizophrenia at all.
We finally get to see what Jordan Collier's power is, though it's already implied that he's immortal. It turns out that he has the ability to take the powers away from people who were not 4400s but had injected with promicon.
I'm excited because it was terribly melodramatic, focused on 3 stories and used lots of extras. You can tell how well a network it backing a show by how many extras they use for crowd scenes. The crowds in this episode actually looked like crowds.
Episode 2: Fear Itself
The show is still using the double opening format. You would think by their fourth season that they wouldn't need to explain the premise at the start of each episode. The start is the same as the previous three seasons, and now I understand why they chose not to focus on any of the characters during the credits rolling sequence - they can keep using it year after year.
This episode is very interesting. The main story is about an autistic child who has had promicon administered to him by his father in an attempt to combat the autism, or so the father claims. The kid survived the shot and develops a power that induces primal fear in people when he is feeling threatened. The dilemma is what to do about the kid who is not consciously doing this.
We also get the lowdown on Kyle's ability - that's right, he took the promicon during the break. Hey, I hear all the kids were doing it. I knew from the first episode that there was something different about the girl he met. I assumed she was a ghost, but in this episode she said she is his ability as it was being verified that only he could see her. I'm still holding out for her being a ghost, perhaps she is kind of his spirit guide, which would feed into the story arch they've spun for him for this season.
Episode 3: Audrey Parkers Comen and Gone
One of the things I like about this show is that not all of the 4400 or the people who took the promicon injections are young and pretty. Actually, so far this season has largely been about the people who took promicon. This episode is about an elderly woman with debilitating arthritis that developed the ability to project her astral form to anywhere she wanted. She uses this to do good, and when she is murdered later, uses it to tell the NTAC crew who the killer is. She and Diane bond as Diane sees the life that could have been.
They are keeping their focus with three stories an episode, two of them always closely intertwined. I might be making it sound a bit formulaic, but I am not speaking to what happens in the stories, just that they are continuing to use a narrower focus, that stylistically is a much more effective manner of telling their stories. We get enough time with each story to care about what is going on. Fortunately we've been spared the melodrama so far, but that is likely due to the absence of Laura Allen as much as anything. Actually, most of the regular 4400s are gone, just Sean and Jordan. Diana's daughter, Maya, was in the episode where she comes back, but only a very minor bit and not in this one. Having the use of a 4400 ability be illegal has allowed them to shuffle up the cast.
Episode 4: The Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Diane has come back to search for her sister, April. So far, all we knew is what we saw at the end of the last season when she had gotten the promicon. Now she pops up and she obviously survived and has the ability to make people tell the truth. So, of course she uses it to find out the dirt on people so that she and her boyfriend can blackmail them. As you would guess if you had watched the show from the start, April is going to find a way to screw things up. Which she does. But, Diane fixes it.
This episode kept it's focus, but wrapped up the Diane/April arch, pretty much writing April out of the show, though leaving it open for the occasional visit. We got some melodrama in the Kyle storyline and I predict more because he is now pitted against his dad, well sort of. There are going to be lots of arguments about Kyle taking promicon which Tom now knows about and Kyle has to convince Tom to take promicon based on the book he and Isabelle have been translating. It might go okay, but it might go totally South. I know that the show didn't get picked up for a fifth season and I guess you really can never know why a show falls out of favor, but I think you can guess. I think they dropped Laura Allen because people were not happy with her character and storyline. They made other changes that really brought the show around. It will be a shame if slipping back into the old ways is what got them cancelled, but will also be a valuable lesson to anyone trying to write a show for broadcast television. If you want to write something more complicated, with more characters, you need more time because if you rush it, it will end up that the audience doesn't care about any of them.
The 4400 at IMDb
Thursday, August 08, 2013
The 4400 Season 3 disk 4
Episode 11: Terrible Swift Sword
This episode was a little more reminiscent of the classic 4400 because the main story had a lot of fuzzy edges, but it was still coherent. The minor story line is still Diana secretly dating her sister's very recently ex boyfriend. The minor story is so repetitive, I was bored with it last episode. My only hope is that they're using it to endear this guy to us so they can do horrible things to him.
This episode was made better by Summer Glau.
The story is getting rather complex, well, relative to this show. With Collier back and working towards a goal that he is literally willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for, it's hard to tell when he's lying because he at times is telling all parties exactly what they want to hear no matter how contradictory it seems.
Kyle is back as a player, but they're using him differently so it has not been bad so far.
Episode 12: Fifty-fifty
This was a nice season finale. They wrapped up all the season-long arcs, most of them the way you thought they would go, but not all. Some characters, particularly Tom and Richard, were asked to make the big decision and they did, even the consequences didn't turn out to be what they thought they were going to be, which is actually good since even though they were both ready to kill, and I guess tried to, they didn't. Some characters got broke in this episode and one got fixed. But mostly, the characters did what they said they were going to do which was completely expected for most, but I wasn't sure if Collier's game was straight up or not. Turns out it was.
This final episode isn't really a cliffhanger and I think one can get some closure to the series treating this as 'the' final episode - which I only mention because the library system does not have the final season so this might be it for me. Oh sure, I could inter-library-load it, but I'm not willing to spend the $3 when there are lots of other mediocre shows out there that I can watch for free. Maybe I'll just start putting in requests to the library that had these first three seasons to see if they will pick it up sometime. Of course I've been doing that with season 4+ of Doctor Who for a couple of years now and they still haven't done it. But, I get it, maybe I'm the only one requesting it (okay, so I actually know that I'm not) and they are expensive. I just need to find someone that owns it and wants to donate it to the library, or to me, heck they could just lend it to me.
The 4400 at IMDb
This episode was a little more reminiscent of the classic 4400 because the main story had a lot of fuzzy edges, but it was still coherent. The minor story line is still Diana secretly dating her sister's very recently ex boyfriend. The minor story is so repetitive, I was bored with it last episode. My only hope is that they're using it to endear this guy to us so they can do horrible things to him.
This episode was made better by Summer Glau.
The story is getting rather complex, well, relative to this show. With Collier back and working towards a goal that he is literally willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for, it's hard to tell when he's lying because he at times is telling all parties exactly what they want to hear no matter how contradictory it seems.
Kyle is back as a player, but they're using him differently so it has not been bad so far.
Episode 12: Fifty-fifty
This was a nice season finale. They wrapped up all the season-long arcs, most of them the way you thought they would go, but not all. Some characters, particularly Tom and Richard, were asked to make the big decision and they did, even the consequences didn't turn out to be what they thought they were going to be, which is actually good since even though they were both ready to kill, and I guess tried to, they didn't. Some characters got broke in this episode and one got fixed. But mostly, the characters did what they said they were going to do which was completely expected for most, but I wasn't sure if Collier's game was straight up or not. Turns out it was.
This final episode isn't really a cliffhanger and I think one can get some closure to the series treating this as 'the' final episode - which I only mention because the library system does not have the final season so this might be it for me. Oh sure, I could inter-library-load it, but I'm not willing to spend the $3 when there are lots of other mediocre shows out there that I can watch for free. Maybe I'll just start putting in requests to the library that had these first three seasons to see if they will pick it up sometime. Of course I've been doing that with season 4+ of Doctor Who for a couple of years now and they still haven't done it. But, I get it, maybe I'm the only one requesting it (okay, so I actually know that I'm not) and they are expensive. I just need to find someone that owns it and wants to donate it to the library, or to me, heck they could just lend it to me.
The 4400 at IMDb
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
The 4400 Season 3 disk 3
Episode 7: Blink
I have to remind myself when watching this, that they are not ripping Alphas, that the 4400 aired several years before Alphas even went into planning. There is an episode of Alphas that I thought was groundbreaking in the way it portrayed a drug derived from an Alpha that ended up with several people killing themselves under the influence. Well, guess what, they totally ripped it off from the 4400. I can't even say that they did a better job with it.
This is actually one of the better episodes of the 4400. It's focused. The main story is Tom and Diana being dosed against their will with a hallucinogenic drug, and the minor story is Shawn dealing with the fallout of having sex with Isabelle. Tom and Diana interacted, but also had their own personal story lines. This was great. Each story was given enough time to develop, and while not groundbreaking cinema, each story not only got a decent amount of development, they all received conclusions appropriate to the arc of the episode which may mainly or majorly affect the larger arcs of this season.
Since this was the seventh episode of the third season and it's the first really solid episode, I hold out little hope that there is more to come. I guess the real surprise is that the show lasted four seasons.
Episode 8: The Ballad of Kevin and Tess
Summer Glau! Summer Glau! Summer Glau!
I guess there might have been some other people in the episode, too. Actually, there is a bit of a trend going on as they picked three stories again and only went with them. It wasn't quite as tight as the Blink episode, but it was one of their better efforts. Plus, Summer Glau!
Episode 9: The Starzi Mutation
Kudos to the 4400. This was another good episode. It was tight, and only had two storylines going on, which were fully developed and nicely executed. The shows seems to be stepping away from the melodrama somewhat this season and going more towards the mystery-suspense-drama much like the way the X-Files were handled.
I think this whole season has been significantly better than the first two, and the second part of it here is better than the first part of it. I guess part of it might be that they got rid of the two actors that were really annoying me every time they were on screen, but also because they are putting some effort into actually developing the characters beyond name, rank and special ability.
Episode 10: The Gospel According to Collier
"My messiah's back and you're going to be in trouble." Or something like that. Jordan is back, and thanks to Alanna being brought back he remembers who he is now. It will be interesting to see how this angle plays out - the man who has actually seen the catastrophe that the the 4400s were sent back to prevent. Visionary businessman as prophet, could be very interesting.
The other story line this time is Diana hooking up with her sister's boyfriend, whom Maia has seen her marrying. It raises some interesting questions about free will, which they briefly touch on at one point, but it mostly feels like a set up for something that is going to happen later, and I hope that something is not a lot of melodrama. I'm kind of getting used to this show not having very much of it.
The 4400 at IMDb
I have to remind myself when watching this, that they are not ripping Alphas, that the 4400 aired several years before Alphas even went into planning. There is an episode of Alphas that I thought was groundbreaking in the way it portrayed a drug derived from an Alpha that ended up with several people killing themselves under the influence. Well, guess what, they totally ripped it off from the 4400. I can't even say that they did a better job with it.
This is actually one of the better episodes of the 4400. It's focused. The main story is Tom and Diana being dosed against their will with a hallucinogenic drug, and the minor story is Shawn dealing with the fallout of having sex with Isabelle. Tom and Diana interacted, but also had their own personal story lines. This was great. Each story was given enough time to develop, and while not groundbreaking cinema, each story not only got a decent amount of development, they all received conclusions appropriate to the arc of the episode which may mainly or majorly affect the larger arcs of this season.
Since this was the seventh episode of the third season and it's the first really solid episode, I hold out little hope that there is more to come. I guess the real surprise is that the show lasted four seasons.
Episode 8: The Ballad of Kevin and Tess
Summer Glau! Summer Glau! Summer Glau!
I guess there might have been some other people in the episode, too. Actually, there is a bit of a trend going on as they picked three stories again and only went with them. It wasn't quite as tight as the Blink episode, but it was one of their better efforts. Plus, Summer Glau!
Episode 9: The Starzi Mutation
Kudos to the 4400. This was another good episode. It was tight, and only had two storylines going on, which were fully developed and nicely executed. The shows seems to be stepping away from the melodrama somewhat this season and going more towards the mystery-suspense-drama much like the way the X-Files were handled.
I think this whole season has been significantly better than the first two, and the second part of it here is better than the first part of it. I guess part of it might be that they got rid of the two actors that were really annoying me every time they were on screen, but also because they are putting some effort into actually developing the characters beyond name, rank and special ability.
Episode 10: The Gospel According to Collier
"My messiah's back and you're going to be in trouble." Or something like that. Jordan is back, and thanks to Alanna being brought back he remembers who he is now. It will be interesting to see how this angle plays out - the man who has actually seen the catastrophe that the the 4400s were sent back to prevent. Visionary businessman as prophet, could be very interesting.
The other story line this time is Diana hooking up with her sister's boyfriend, whom Maia has seen her marrying. It raises some interesting questions about free will, which they briefly touch on at one point, but it mostly feels like a set up for something that is going to happen later, and I hope that something is not a lot of melodrama. I'm kind of getting used to this show not having very much of it.
The 4400 at IMDb
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
The 4400 Season 3 disk 2
Episode 3: Gone (Part 1)
Oh first there was a Maia, then no Maia, then there was. Any chance to quote Donovan, right? We don't get to learn Lindsey's power, but Tyler and wonder twins are pretty darn good candidates for Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Children. People always underestimate hydrokinesis. or maybe they just haven't thought about it. In the Marvel comics universe, the characters that have control over it pretty much end up like portable fire hydrants. But in George R. R. Martin's Wild Card series, the girl with hydrokinesis can do what these kids did and suck all the water out of a human being if she is so disposed, fortunately since she's a hero, she only does it when it'er her life or their's.
I hope they're building up to something with Isabelle. She seems to powerful, to perfect. If the government knew about her, they wouldn't be letting the 4400 Center have her. It makes me wonder who Matthew is really working for, because we know it's not Jordan Collier because Matthew is one of the few people that know he is still alive and he doesn't want him back in the picture.
Episode 4: Gone (Part 2)
I guess the future heard my musings about Isabelle. It seems the Baldwin men are destined to be assassins. if Tom doesn' accidentally commit suicide before he gets the chance. That was a pretty ballsy leap of faith he made.
What I don't understand is if Isabelle was created by the future folk, why can't they create her perfect nemesis? Htey've shown that they're not afraid to mess with the timeline, so why don't they go back and kill Lily before I have to watch her in this series? I mean before she has Isabelle. Or, they could just not take her to begin with - send themselves a memo from the future. Maybe ther is some kind of space-time paradox that won't allow that, though it seems they could pluck the kids from wherever and whenever. It will be interesting to see the reasoning behind why it has to be Tom Baldwin that kills Isabelle. I hope they reveal it this season, or that I can somehow convince the library who got these to get season 4.
Episode 5: Graduation Day
Well just like that they reveal a major plot mystery and snuff it out 20 seconds later. The makers of the 4400, by which I mean the producers, writers and directors, don't have a very good take on suspense. For them it is all about the personal struggle. Kyle struggling to remember becoming an assassin and dealing with the fallout. Tom struggling with his 'future' mission to become an assassin. They spend so much time on showing these guys making their serious faces and running their hands through their hair that they can't really develop the backstory at all. What a shame. There are all of these interesting power struggles happening now and in the future and we're stuck watching these two get all angsty. If they're going to work that angle, why not go all the way and think up reasons for them to take their shirts off and prance about? I mean, they might as well go for it.
Episode 6: The Home Front
Again we are shown the hero who is considered by all to be a great patriot, sell out his country in hopes of saving his loved one. I'm saddened to see the Alanna character go as she was one of my favorites. The issue is exacerbated by how quickly they did this. It was done all super quick to make it fit.
There is no a new conspiratorial element to the story.
The 4400 at IMDb
Oh first there was a Maia, then no Maia, then there was. Any chance to quote Donovan, right? We don't get to learn Lindsey's power, but Tyler and wonder twins are pretty darn good candidates for Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Children. People always underestimate hydrokinesis. or maybe they just haven't thought about it. In the Marvel comics universe, the characters that have control over it pretty much end up like portable fire hydrants. But in George R. R. Martin's Wild Card series, the girl with hydrokinesis can do what these kids did and suck all the water out of a human being if she is so disposed, fortunately since she's a hero, she only does it when it'er her life or their's.
I hope they're building up to something with Isabelle. She seems to powerful, to perfect. If the government knew about her, they wouldn't be letting the 4400 Center have her. It makes me wonder who Matthew is really working for, because we know it's not Jordan Collier because Matthew is one of the few people that know he is still alive and he doesn't want him back in the picture.
Episode 4: Gone (Part 2)
I guess the future heard my musings about Isabelle. It seems the Baldwin men are destined to be assassins. if Tom doesn' accidentally commit suicide before he gets the chance. That was a pretty ballsy leap of faith he made.
What I don't understand is if Isabelle was created by the future folk, why can't they create her perfect nemesis? Htey've shown that they're not afraid to mess with the timeline, so why don't they go back and kill Lily before I have to watch her in this series? I mean before she has Isabelle. Or, they could just not take her to begin with - send themselves a memo from the future. Maybe ther is some kind of space-time paradox that won't allow that, though it seems they could pluck the kids from wherever and whenever. It will be interesting to see the reasoning behind why it has to be Tom Baldwin that kills Isabelle. I hope they reveal it this season, or that I can somehow convince the library who got these to get season 4.
Episode 5: Graduation Day
Well just like that they reveal a major plot mystery and snuff it out 20 seconds later. The makers of the 4400, by which I mean the producers, writers and directors, don't have a very good take on suspense. For them it is all about the personal struggle. Kyle struggling to remember becoming an assassin and dealing with the fallout. Tom struggling with his 'future' mission to become an assassin. They spend so much time on showing these guys making their serious faces and running their hands through their hair that they can't really develop the backstory at all. What a shame. There are all of these interesting power struggles happening now and in the future and we're stuck watching these two get all angsty. If they're going to work that angle, why not go all the way and think up reasons for them to take their shirts off and prance about? I mean, they might as well go for it.
Episode 6: The Home Front
Again we are shown the hero who is considered by all to be a great patriot, sell out his country in hopes of saving his loved one. I'm saddened to see the Alanna character go as she was one of my favorites. The issue is exacerbated by how quickly they did this. It was done all super quick to make it fit.
There is no a new conspiratorial element to the story.
The 4400 at IMDb
Monday, August 05, 2013
The 4400 Season 3 disk 1
Episode 1: The New World
So, Isabelle is all grown up, literally in a moment and Lily ages 50 years in a minute. I wonder if this story came about because they couldn't get Laura Allen back, or if it was always planned. i think it must have been the former. At the end of season 2, Isabelle is grown up and presenting her nekkid self to Shawn, while Lily, still young and annoying is running around looking for her. I wonder why they killed off the character after doing this - it seems they could have worked with a suddenly older Lily.
So, the Nova group are terrorists because they made wheat grow in the desert.Gotcha. This whole story line could really rock or really suck. It is very reminiscent of what they did in Alphas, of course I know it's really the other way around, it's just that I watched Alphas first. I like the notion of a 4400 underground resistance that is both righteous and scary, and I like the notion of a government agency that will throw the Constitution out the window to protect 'normal' humans. We could so totally go down the X-Files path here and have some great commentary on society and politics. But, the 4400 is going to have to go more indepth on both accounts. As I mentioned before, this could be accomplished if they didn't try to do so much at once. Though, with people dying and getting disappeared, and the disappeared still out of the public eye *cough* Jordan Collier *cough* maybe they are thinning the field at least a bit.
It's nice to see Deputy Andy as the gruff, pessimistic NTAC agent. Though, now that I think about, he was playing this role first. Last season, we saw the actress that played Lupo on as Kyle's lab-partner-with-benegits for one episode. It just kind of makes me wish that they hadn't cancelled Eureka and that I'd rather be watching that. Even though it was as a sci-fi procedural with strong comic overtones, they handled the conspiracy element and long story arcs much better than the 4400 is doing. Not that I am not enjoying watching this show. I do like it, but let's be honest, without the sci-fi element I wouldn't be watching this - the stories aren't that strong and the acting isn't that good.
Episode 2: Being Tom Baldwin
So Shawn, pedophile much? Isabelle is like a year old, but in the body of a 20 year old. This has been established by all parties involved. What's moreso is that she's only been in this adult form for a month or so. Is this someone you should me hooking up with? It seems the answer on television and in the movies is always that the guy doesn't want to have sex, but the gal wants to so he has no choice in the matter. Perhaps this is only used for dramatic purposes or for moving the story along or perhaps a bit of wish fulfillment on the part of the writer. But, I kind of think that lots of guys really feel this way. Maybe it's a biological imperative that (most) men will shag anything offering it a chance to be shagged. I don't know what my hang-up is here. If both adults are consenting, then happy-happy-fun time, I don't think there is a requirement to have this consent be a good decision on either participants part. I guess I am bothered because the guys are always shown doing this, and if they don't then something is wrong with them (I'm talking about television/movie portrayals here). If you have a moral system that stops you, or personal choices or have different standards, you are somehow deficient. Meh.
I was wondering how long it would be before there was a 4400 with a mimic ability. I was wondering how they were goign to handle it, like would she or he physically change shape, or would it be trick of the light, or would it be psychological. They didn't go into that in the episode, not because they didn't ask, Tom does posit a possible theory for how it's accomplished, but they didn't go into it because they needed to study it first. What feels like a cop-out at first blush, is actually a very believable way to deal with it. If you don't know what it is, study it. I've got to say that every time I saw the double on screen or someone I thought might be an impostor, my thought was "doppledeaner".
The 4400 at IMDb
So, Isabelle is all grown up, literally in a moment and Lily ages 50 years in a minute. I wonder if this story came about because they couldn't get Laura Allen back, or if it was always planned. i think it must have been the former. At the end of season 2, Isabelle is grown up and presenting her nekkid self to Shawn, while Lily, still young and annoying is running around looking for her. I wonder why they killed off the character after doing this - it seems they could have worked with a suddenly older Lily.
So, the Nova group are terrorists because they made wheat grow in the desert.Gotcha. This whole story line could really rock or really suck. It is very reminiscent of what they did in Alphas, of course I know it's really the other way around, it's just that I watched Alphas first. I like the notion of a 4400 underground resistance that is both righteous and scary, and I like the notion of a government agency that will throw the Constitution out the window to protect 'normal' humans. We could so totally go down the X-Files path here and have some great commentary on society and politics. But, the 4400 is going to have to go more indepth on both accounts. As I mentioned before, this could be accomplished if they didn't try to do so much at once. Though, with people dying and getting disappeared, and the disappeared still out of the public eye *cough* Jordan Collier *cough* maybe they are thinning the field at least a bit.
It's nice to see Deputy Andy as the gruff, pessimistic NTAC agent. Though, now that I think about, he was playing this role first. Last season, we saw the actress that played Lupo on as Kyle's lab-partner-with-benegits for one episode. It just kind of makes me wish that they hadn't cancelled Eureka and that I'd rather be watching that. Even though it was as a sci-fi procedural with strong comic overtones, they handled the conspiracy element and long story arcs much better than the 4400 is doing. Not that I am not enjoying watching this show. I do like it, but let's be honest, without the sci-fi element I wouldn't be watching this - the stories aren't that strong and the acting isn't that good.
Episode 2: Being Tom Baldwin
So Shawn, pedophile much? Isabelle is like a year old, but in the body of a 20 year old. This has been established by all parties involved. What's moreso is that she's only been in this adult form for a month or so. Is this someone you should me hooking up with? It seems the answer on television and in the movies is always that the guy doesn't want to have sex, but the gal wants to so he has no choice in the matter. Perhaps this is only used for dramatic purposes or for moving the story along or perhaps a bit of wish fulfillment on the part of the writer. But, I kind of think that lots of guys really feel this way. Maybe it's a biological imperative that (most) men will shag anything offering it a chance to be shagged. I don't know what my hang-up is here. If both adults are consenting, then happy-happy-fun time, I don't think there is a requirement to have this consent be a good decision on either participants part. I guess I am bothered because the guys are always shown doing this, and if they don't then something is wrong with them (I'm talking about television/movie portrayals here). If you have a moral system that stops you, or personal choices or have different standards, you are somehow deficient. Meh.
I was wondering how long it would be before there was a 4400 with a mimic ability. I was wondering how they were goign to handle it, like would she or he physically change shape, or would it be trick of the light, or would it be psychological. They didn't go into that in the episode, not because they didn't ask, Tom does posit a possible theory for how it's accomplished, but they didn't go into it because they needed to study it first. What feels like a cop-out at first blush, is actually a very believable way to deal with it. If you don't know what it is, study it. I've got to say that every time I saw the double on screen or someone I thought might be an impostor, my thought was "doppledeaner".
The 4400 at IMDb
Saturday, August 03, 2013
The 4400 Season 2 disk 4
Episode 12:
In what universe does it make sense to split up a 12 episode season (all shows the same length) across 4 disks by going 4, 4, 3, 1? Was that because of all the extras packed on the final disk? Ya, I didn't think so. Dumbasses.
Nice to see that all complex situations can still be wrapped up in 45 minutes of t.v. There is a conspiracy that reaches all the way up the ladder at NTAC and Ryland just goes along with turning himself in. People have killed and been killed over it, and the dude thinks that he made the right decision - and all of his bosses signed off on it. So, why exactly did he just give himself up? I'm a little confused.
Kyle is "healed" of whatever caused him to to be a secret assassin. Good for him. I hope they lock him up and he no longer appears in future episodes.
We finally see what Richard's power is and we see an awful lot of a suddenly grown up Isabelle, in the very literal sense.
As predicted, Jordan Collier is not dead, just really hairy. I guess that means Kyle won't go to prison for killing him. Though, Kyle did "take out" a couple of NTAC agents, and I can't remember if that means he killed them or not. I hope that his taking out was enough to keep him taken out.
And finally, Marco gets some lovin' from Scouris, well, until creepy little daughter shows up and tells them all that the war has just begun.
Last but not least, we see Doctor Whack-a-mole injecting himself with the promiocin so maybe he'll get all super-powery now.
This seemed like a series wrap-up. All the loose ends were tidied up and taken care of. Every single ongoing story arc has some level of resolution. Sure, they tossed out a couple of provacative things, but they seem on the ridiculous side - just the kind of thing you might do if you didn't think your show was coming back. If I remember when I am done with all the seasons of this show, I will look into that. I don't want to check now and accidentally ruin something.
I am excited to start season 3, because I have it on very good authority that Laura Allen will be gone from the show. She assures me that this time it's for real. So, yay to losing the one thing that has stopped me from really buying into this show.
The 4400 at IMDb
In what universe does it make sense to split up a 12 episode season (all shows the same length) across 4 disks by going 4, 4, 3, 1? Was that because of all the extras packed on the final disk? Ya, I didn't think so. Dumbasses.
Nice to see that all complex situations can still be wrapped up in 45 minutes of t.v. There is a conspiracy that reaches all the way up the ladder at NTAC and Ryland just goes along with turning himself in. People have killed and been killed over it, and the dude thinks that he made the right decision - and all of his bosses signed off on it. So, why exactly did he just give himself up? I'm a little confused.
Kyle is "healed" of whatever caused him to to be a secret assassin. Good for him. I hope they lock him up and he no longer appears in future episodes.
We finally see what Richard's power is and we see an awful lot of a suddenly grown up Isabelle, in the very literal sense.
As predicted, Jordan Collier is not dead, just really hairy. I guess that means Kyle won't go to prison for killing him. Though, Kyle did "take out" a couple of NTAC agents, and I can't remember if that means he killed them or not. I hope that his taking out was enough to keep him taken out.
And finally, Marco gets some lovin' from Scouris, well, until creepy little daughter shows up and tells them all that the war has just begun.
Last but not least, we see Doctor Whack-a-mole injecting himself with the promiocin so maybe he'll get all super-powery now.
This seemed like a series wrap-up. All the loose ends were tidied up and taken care of. Every single ongoing story arc has some level of resolution. Sure, they tossed out a couple of provacative things, but they seem on the ridiculous side - just the kind of thing you might do if you didn't think your show was coming back. If I remember when I am done with all the seasons of this show, I will look into that. I don't want to check now and accidentally ruin something.
I am excited to start season 3, because I have it on very good authority that Laura Allen will be gone from the show. She assures me that this time it's for real. So, yay to losing the one thing that has stopped me from really buying into this show.
The 4400 at IMDb
The 4400 Season 2 disk 3
Episode 8:
This show is all about justice. Interestingly, they show the flip-side of justice as being forgiveness. They set up this false dichotomy of either seeing justice prevail or forgiving. They do and try to show the permutations, like in certain particular and personal instances you can mete out justice and forgive the person as long as you still punish them. When I think of the opposite of justice and the opposite of forgiveness, the other does not spring to mind. Opposed to justice, I see what, not injustice because using that term in this context wouldn't get me anywhere, but a kind of amoral favoritism. Opposed to forgiveness is spite. I think this episode would have been much more interesting had they not been running four stories simultaneously operating in this (to me) artificial justice-forgiveness spectrum and instead examined maybe two using the double para metrics of two spectrum's an dhow they intersect. I know. I'm asking way too much from this show or any other show.
Episode 9:
Finally the Kyle storyline is starting to get some play and while I'm sure it won't wrap up until the end of the season, I'm glad to see something other than him running around having flashbacks to stuff that I've already seen. While following up a lead on who might have sold that rifle that killed Collier, Diana says to the suspect's wife, "Where is he?" Wife responds with a generic Eastern European accent, "I only married Victor to get my green card. I don't know where he's at." Diana responds, "We know he left the country two weeks ago and went back to Puerto Rico." Seriously? An epidemiologist from the CDC on load to the NTAS (National Taskforce something something) and the boss lady who is working the case with her think that Puerto Rico is an another country? Also by the end of this interview, the wife's accent has shifted several times, at one point sounding vaguely Hispanic and at another point Russian. There is some bad writing going on here, not just as mentioned above, but the whole way they are going about following up leads is pathetic. Look, you can be a sci-fi police procedural and screw a little with the sci-fi aspect because, well, there is no real world precedent for it, but you can't fuck up the procedural part because you look lazy and stupid.
Is it ironic that the last episode was all about justice, or did the writers actually set us up to see the other side of agent Tom's personality? When it's not someone in Tom's family, he is blind justice incarnate, but as soon as he finds out that not only may Kyle have been involved in a murder, but finds pretty good circumstantial evidence, he puts everything on the line to get Kyle away to a foreign country. I'm okay with this hypocrisy, I mean as far as the character goes. I think it makes him more interesting. Now we have a man who wants justice to be served no matter the consequences or situation, except when it's someone he loves. Tom just got a whole lot more interesting.
Episode 10:
This was a particularly annoying episode. Laura Allen was one of the main players, and by players, I mean whiners. Her character has this kind of paranoia thing going on with regards to her daughter, and nobody takes her seriously, even when it really is something, which might actually explain some of her character's whining. Still annoying. Please note that I do know the difference between the actor and her character, what I don't know is how much of her annoyance-causing is her and how much the character. I suspect a fair amount of both.
The main thing going on in this episode is that something is effecting only the male 4400. Okay, I can buy that. But it's transmitted by a specific soundwave that only men can hear. That I can't buy. Maybe most men, or people of a certain age because of frequency. But, all the men and none of the women? Give me some science here, people. The effect being caused by a sound is integral to how it is resolved, so I get that. Now, they could have easily side-stepped this by any number of real or made-up scientific explanations. But they didn't. They suck.
Episode 11:
The 4400 are getting sick and losing their abilities. The government is invoking a quarantine law that allows NTAC to round up all the 4400s and hold them indefinitely in camps. Both sides are talking about a war, the 4400s are afraid of it, but will fight to stay free, and the government higher-ups are denying it. This season is finally getting good. Well, it has had it's moments, like when they took out Collier and almost revealed Kyle as the killer. This is a "to be continued" episode, so I don't know how long they will keep this up, but it now occurs to me that this show at least partially laid the groundwork for Alphas, where the government rounds up and imprisons every single one that they can't make work for them. I would really love to see this show transition into using longer story arcs on a more regular basis. I feel like they should be building on shows like the X-Files, where they are experiencing new and weird things all the time, but against a consistent backdrop that is ever developing as well. I think the folks running this show might have done better to maybe go with three ongoing story elements and really develop instead of the six or seven they have going, especially since a couple are just melodrama and have done very little to advance the story or character development.
This show is all about justice. Interestingly, they show the flip-side of justice as being forgiveness. They set up this false dichotomy of either seeing justice prevail or forgiving. They do and try to show the permutations, like in certain particular and personal instances you can mete out justice and forgive the person as long as you still punish them. When I think of the opposite of justice and the opposite of forgiveness, the other does not spring to mind. Opposed to justice, I see what, not injustice because using that term in this context wouldn't get me anywhere, but a kind of amoral favoritism. Opposed to forgiveness is spite. I think this episode would have been much more interesting had they not been running four stories simultaneously operating in this (to me) artificial justice-forgiveness spectrum and instead examined maybe two using the double para metrics of two spectrum's an dhow they intersect. I know. I'm asking way too much from this show or any other show.
Episode 9:
Finally the Kyle storyline is starting to get some play and while I'm sure it won't wrap up until the end of the season, I'm glad to see something other than him running around having flashbacks to stuff that I've already seen. While following up a lead on who might have sold that rifle that killed Collier, Diana says to the suspect's wife, "Where is he?" Wife responds with a generic Eastern European accent, "I only married Victor to get my green card. I don't know where he's at." Diana responds, "We know he left the country two weeks ago and went back to Puerto Rico." Seriously? An epidemiologist from the CDC on load to the NTAS (National Taskforce something something) and the boss lady who is working the case with her think that Puerto Rico is an another country? Also by the end of this interview, the wife's accent has shifted several times, at one point sounding vaguely Hispanic and at another point Russian. There is some bad writing going on here, not just as mentioned above, but the whole way they are going about following up leads is pathetic. Look, you can be a sci-fi police procedural and screw a little with the sci-fi aspect because, well, there is no real world precedent for it, but you can't fuck up the procedural part because you look lazy and stupid.
Is it ironic that the last episode was all about justice, or did the writers actually set us up to see the other side of agent Tom's personality? When it's not someone in Tom's family, he is blind justice incarnate, but as soon as he finds out that not only may Kyle have been involved in a murder, but finds pretty good circumstantial evidence, he puts everything on the line to get Kyle away to a foreign country. I'm okay with this hypocrisy, I mean as far as the character goes. I think it makes him more interesting. Now we have a man who wants justice to be served no matter the consequences or situation, except when it's someone he loves. Tom just got a whole lot more interesting.
Episode 10:
This was a particularly annoying episode. Laura Allen was one of the main players, and by players, I mean whiners. Her character has this kind of paranoia thing going on with regards to her daughter, and nobody takes her seriously, even when it really is something, which might actually explain some of her character's whining. Still annoying. Please note that I do know the difference between the actor and her character, what I don't know is how much of her annoyance-causing is her and how much the character. I suspect a fair amount of both.
The main thing going on in this episode is that something is effecting only the male 4400. Okay, I can buy that. But it's transmitted by a specific soundwave that only men can hear. That I can't buy. Maybe most men, or people of a certain age because of frequency. But, all the men and none of the women? Give me some science here, people. The effect being caused by a sound is integral to how it is resolved, so I get that. Now, they could have easily side-stepped this by any number of real or made-up scientific explanations. But they didn't. They suck.
Episode 11:
The 4400 are getting sick and losing their abilities. The government is invoking a quarantine law that allows NTAC to round up all the 4400s and hold them indefinitely in camps. Both sides are talking about a war, the 4400s are afraid of it, but will fight to stay free, and the government higher-ups are denying it. This season is finally getting good. Well, it has had it's moments, like when they took out Collier and almost revealed Kyle as the killer. This is a "to be continued" episode, so I don't know how long they will keep this up, but it now occurs to me that this show at least partially laid the groundwork for Alphas, where the government rounds up and imprisons every single one that they can't make work for them. I would really love to see this show transition into using longer story arcs on a more regular basis. I feel like they should be building on shows like the X-Files, where they are experiencing new and weird things all the time, but against a consistent backdrop that is ever developing as well. I think the folks running this show might have done better to maybe go with three ongoing story elements and really develop instead of the six or seven they have going, especially since a couple are just melodrama and have done very little to advance the story or character development.
Friday, August 02, 2013
The 4400 Season 2 disk 2
Episode 4:
Well, the DVD had this episode and ep 5 in the wrong order, so I watched 5 first and there is no point in watching this one since I already know the outcome to everything in it.
Episode 5:
It's been a long time between this and the last episode for me. Not that I wasn't enjoying this show, but I guess i get easily sidetracked. Somewhere in that time I watched a couple of seasons of other shows, some cable, some British and almost all of them were good. Now, I'm back to this show and I forgot how serious it was, with this weird vibe of comedy like Eureka! especially the opening and interlude music.
This show was trying to be an action, melodrama hybrid with the occasional funny slash quicky character, usually represented by the IT guy. Well, they go the melodrama part down pretty good. And I must admit that most of their action is not too cheesy. But some of the storylines are bugging the fuck out of me. That's right, I'm unleashing my full vocabulary on this mofo. The two are the whole son with black outs who has a thing going on with a professor and the crazy mom with the psychotic baby.
The blacking out son, also known as Kyle, reminds me of some of the characters in Veronica Mars where some of the characters are trying way too hard to portray teen-aged angst because they're actually in their late 20s. If the actor would tone it down just a bit, and maybe brush his hair once in a while, he would lose that annoying factor. But you know who is more annoying is the young professor who has taken a shine to him. One moment they're all talking about wild parties and the next she says him in her hallway outside of her apartment in the middle of the night and she's saying it's the weirdest thing she's ever seen. Really? You went to a college and now work at one, one where I might add that fraternizing with the students does not seem to be off-limits, and some student who has the hots for you is out in your hallway and that is super weird? Now, if she found him hiding in her bedroom closet dressed as Hitler in a tutu, holding a roasted turkey leg in one hand and gold fish bowl in the other with three very dead gold fish floating on the top and when you ask him what the fuck? he is all slurry with a bad Southern drawl, now that would be some weird shit.
Crazy mom and psycho baby. That kind of sounds like the title for this weeks most popular vid on youtube. I really do not care for the actress that plays Lily. I didn't like her in Awakened or Avakenings of whatever it was called - the show about the cop who is in one reality when he's awake and as soon as he goes to sleep he wakes up in the other reality - she was really annoying in that show. She has too acting speeds: whine and whiiiiiiiiiiiine. My theory is that she is either the daughter of one of the executive producers or is an incredible lay. Now the baby on the other end is cute and adorable, yadda, yadda, yadda, it's the story that they've built around that is annoying. She has all these crazy powers and wields them as if she were an adult in an infant's body. Which would be fine, mind you, if that is how they wrote the character. Instead, Isabella seems to be about as advanced as any six month old (never mind that the young actor playing her is obviously quite a bit older) yet she understands clomp ex, adult thoughts like convincing someone to commit suicide or lying to someone else by showing him the Nobel Prize ceremony. I don't buy that one bit.
I am totally willing to overlook all of the other little issues like since when did they teach agents of the CDC to use firearms and combat tactics? Or, how is it that the shooter takes at least four shots at Collier, at least two of which hit, but when Tom looks up at the killer, there is only one bullet hole in the glass? Or that the junkie girl is actually a secret hottie who can kick smack because the cute guy smiles at her.
For the record, scout's honor that I haven't read anything about this show, I don't think that Collier is dead.
Episode 6:
This was an interesting diversion, as we get to see Tom living a life that might have been with a woman that he literally just met. He isn't in the alternate world for just a short time, either, but spends more than eight years there and pretty much gets everything he could ever want, just the way he wants it, including a hot new wife, Alanna, who is the 4400 who has created the world. And it's all because the mysterious powers that be from the future think that his life is about to turn to shit, so they want him to have some warm fuzzy memories to fall back on, and maybe Alanna as well. It is an interesting way to write a love interest into the story with virtually no back-story or preparation at all, and because of that also a bit contrived. But, I think television needs more strong, intelligent women, so I'm all for it. Plus she's old my American television standards, and check this out, she's the love interest and she's not blonde. I dare you to look at American television shows and find me the love interest of the main character who is not blonde, yet not supposed to be 'ethnic'. The only exception to this rule, in fact the opposite of this rule is the sitcom format, where the spouses slash long time girlfriends slash whatever, always have dark hair and the bimbos, if applicable, have blonde hair.
Tom gets a glimpse of Kyle all bloodied and in the backseat of a police car that is definitely not part of the contrived reality (since we see him being all doctorly and cleaned up right after that). Tom doesn't do anything with this, in fact he thinks he might be hallucinating again by the way he is acting, so I guess the producers stuck that in so that we don't forget? That seems kind of condescending, but then I might not be their target audience (if I were we would have longer story arcs and more science and philosophy explaining why things have happened) and I guess when this came out they weren't making episodes with the thought that someone was going to sit down and go through a season in a week or so.
Episode 7:
The opening for this show is so weird. It has a typical beginning, showing scenes from previous episodes, then a bit of story, sometimes you get the "previously on 4400" and then a bit more story, but then they roll credits - it's like they have two opening sequences. And I know I have mentioned the music being off-putting, and I think that at the start of every episode, I feel like I'm watching the start of Quantum Leap.
The 4400 of the week in this episode is from Granite Pass, Oregon. I love when they make up small towns in places that I am familiar with. In this case, she starts off about six hours South of Portland (which actually does exist) which is just about Grants Pass. Granite Pass - Grants Pass, I think we know their motivation for the town's name. Though, the made up city is only 273 people, yet the downtown has a stop light and what was a thriving downtown before everyone died. Obviously, they have never been to small town Oregon. Later, someone in the info chain to our two government agents at the NTAS reports the 4400 "going West on 99", which is a real highway in Oregon, kind of. You've got 99E and 99W so I'm guessing that the writer saw the W and made the mistake of thinking it meant the highway went East-West, which of course is not how it works and totally wouldn't make any sense. When she is finally confronted in downtown Portland, I'm tempted to be cheeky and say they couldn't have gotten that right because it wasn't raining, I won't. The only thing I will say is that showed pretty much everybody in downtown Portland jay-walking, and that just wouldn't happen - I mean everybody doing it - because you would get run over by a bus or the Max (Portland's light rail system), or likely first one and then the other.
Another character has just been introduced out of the blue, Matthew, who is helping to run the 4400 Center now that Collier is (supposedly) dead. It's kind of plausible the way they did it, except they refer to conversations that we weren't privy to. If they can just write people in and out all willy-nilly, then why don't they take Lily away? Laura Allen was less annoying than usual this episode, but that's only because she was giving little speeches and not really interacting with the baby, her hubby or really anyone. Sigh.
The 4400 at IMDb
Well, the DVD had this episode and ep 5 in the wrong order, so I watched 5 first and there is no point in watching this one since I already know the outcome to everything in it.
Episode 5:
It's been a long time between this and the last episode for me. Not that I wasn't enjoying this show, but I guess i get easily sidetracked. Somewhere in that time I watched a couple of seasons of other shows, some cable, some British and almost all of them were good. Now, I'm back to this show and I forgot how serious it was, with this weird vibe of comedy like Eureka! especially the opening and interlude music.
This show was trying to be an action, melodrama hybrid with the occasional funny slash quicky character, usually represented by the IT guy. Well, they go the melodrama part down pretty good. And I must admit that most of their action is not too cheesy. But some of the storylines are bugging the fuck out of me. That's right, I'm unleashing my full vocabulary on this mofo. The two are the whole son with black outs who has a thing going on with a professor and the crazy mom with the psychotic baby.
The blacking out son, also known as Kyle, reminds me of some of the characters in Veronica Mars where some of the characters are trying way too hard to portray teen-aged angst because they're actually in their late 20s. If the actor would tone it down just a bit, and maybe brush his hair once in a while, he would lose that annoying factor. But you know who is more annoying is the young professor who has taken a shine to him. One moment they're all talking about wild parties and the next she says him in her hallway outside of her apartment in the middle of the night and she's saying it's the weirdest thing she's ever seen. Really? You went to a college and now work at one, one where I might add that fraternizing with the students does not seem to be off-limits, and some student who has the hots for you is out in your hallway and that is super weird? Now, if she found him hiding in her bedroom closet dressed as Hitler in a tutu, holding a roasted turkey leg in one hand and gold fish bowl in the other with three very dead gold fish floating on the top and when you ask him what the fuck? he is all slurry with a bad Southern drawl, now that would be some weird shit.
Crazy mom and psycho baby. That kind of sounds like the title for this weeks most popular vid on youtube. I really do not care for the actress that plays Lily. I didn't like her in Awakened or Avakenings of whatever it was called - the show about the cop who is in one reality when he's awake and as soon as he goes to sleep he wakes up in the other reality - she was really annoying in that show. She has too acting speeds: whine and whiiiiiiiiiiiine. My theory is that she is either the daughter of one of the executive producers or is an incredible lay. Now the baby on the other end is cute and adorable, yadda, yadda, yadda, it's the story that they've built around that is annoying. She has all these crazy powers and wields them as if she were an adult in an infant's body. Which would be fine, mind you, if that is how they wrote the character. Instead, Isabella seems to be about as advanced as any six month old (never mind that the young actor playing her is obviously quite a bit older) yet she understands clomp ex, adult thoughts like convincing someone to commit suicide or lying to someone else by showing him the Nobel Prize ceremony. I don't buy that one bit.
I am totally willing to overlook all of the other little issues like since when did they teach agents of the CDC to use firearms and combat tactics? Or, how is it that the shooter takes at least four shots at Collier, at least two of which hit, but when Tom looks up at the killer, there is only one bullet hole in the glass? Or that the junkie girl is actually a secret hottie who can kick smack because the cute guy smiles at her.
For the record, scout's honor that I haven't read anything about this show, I don't think that Collier is dead.
Episode 6:
This was an interesting diversion, as we get to see Tom living a life that might have been with a woman that he literally just met. He isn't in the alternate world for just a short time, either, but spends more than eight years there and pretty much gets everything he could ever want, just the way he wants it, including a hot new wife, Alanna, who is the 4400 who has created the world. And it's all because the mysterious powers that be from the future think that his life is about to turn to shit, so they want him to have some warm fuzzy memories to fall back on, and maybe Alanna as well. It is an interesting way to write a love interest into the story with virtually no back-story or preparation at all, and because of that also a bit contrived. But, I think television needs more strong, intelligent women, so I'm all for it. Plus she's old my American television standards, and check this out, she's the love interest and she's not blonde. I dare you to look at American television shows and find me the love interest of the main character who is not blonde, yet not supposed to be 'ethnic'. The only exception to this rule, in fact the opposite of this rule is the sitcom format, where the spouses slash long time girlfriends slash whatever, always have dark hair and the bimbos, if applicable, have blonde hair.
Tom gets a glimpse of Kyle all bloodied and in the backseat of a police car that is definitely not part of the contrived reality (since we see him being all doctorly and cleaned up right after that). Tom doesn't do anything with this, in fact he thinks he might be hallucinating again by the way he is acting, so I guess the producers stuck that in so that we don't forget? That seems kind of condescending, but then I might not be their target audience (if I were we would have longer story arcs and more science and philosophy explaining why things have happened) and I guess when this came out they weren't making episodes with the thought that someone was going to sit down and go through a season in a week or so.
Episode 7:
The opening for this show is so weird. It has a typical beginning, showing scenes from previous episodes, then a bit of story, sometimes you get the "previously on 4400" and then a bit more story, but then they roll credits - it's like they have two opening sequences. And I know I have mentioned the music being off-putting, and I think that at the start of every episode, I feel like I'm watching the start of Quantum Leap.
The 4400 of the week in this episode is from Granite Pass, Oregon. I love when they make up small towns in places that I am familiar with. In this case, she starts off about six hours South of Portland (which actually does exist) which is just about Grants Pass. Granite Pass - Grants Pass, I think we know their motivation for the town's name. Though, the made up city is only 273 people, yet the downtown has a stop light and what was a thriving downtown before everyone died. Obviously, they have never been to small town Oregon. Later, someone in the info chain to our two government agents at the NTAS reports the 4400 "going West on 99", which is a real highway in Oregon, kind of. You've got 99E and 99W so I'm guessing that the writer saw the W and made the mistake of thinking it meant the highway went East-West, which of course is not how it works and totally wouldn't make any sense. When she is finally confronted in downtown Portland, I'm tempted to be cheeky and say they couldn't have gotten that right because it wasn't raining, I won't. The only thing I will say is that showed pretty much everybody in downtown Portland jay-walking, and that just wouldn't happen - I mean everybody doing it - because you would get run over by a bus or the Max (Portland's light rail system), or likely first one and then the other.
Another character has just been introduced out of the blue, Matthew, who is helping to run the 4400 Center now that Collier is (supposedly) dead. It's kind of plausible the way they did it, except they refer to conversations that we weren't privy to. If they can just write people in and out all willy-nilly, then why don't they take Lily away? Laura Allen was less annoying than usual this episode, but that's only because she was giving little speeches and not really interacting with the baby, her hubby or really anyone. Sigh.
The 4400 at IMDb
Thursday, August 01, 2013
-The 4400 Season 2 disk 1
-The 4400 Season 2 disk 1
Episode 1:
There are a couple of things about this episode that I found really annoying, but aren't really the fault of the episode. Let me explain. First, it's a year after the end of the first season. Okay, I'm down with that. In the year that has elapsed nothing has happened, and then inexplicably things start to happen to all of the various groups at once. Really? Give me a reason, even a vague and/or crappy one. This is annoying, but hardly the sole providence of the 4400. Lots of shows do this. If you're a sitcom, or a procedural, well you can get by with it. Those types of shows lead us to suspend disbelief and think that we are just watching another week in the lives of the characters. But, when dramas, or device driven stories do this, they always fall flat. Second, and this is likely only noticeable with the DVD version - to be read commercial free - and that is the way the show cuts to commercial and then comes back. The first half of this double episode the breaks are hardly noticeable, the editor was definitely doing her job, but the second half, it follows the pattern of 'scene ends, keep camera on for a random amount of time longer than one second but less than four seconds and then begin fade to black, cutting completely to black somewhere in the process. Very clunky, very annoying. I got the feeling the producers were about to turn in the show and discovered it was 30 seconds short of their contracted time, so instead of forking over the bucks for cast, crew and writer to add a scene or extend a scene, they just stretched the footage before cutting to commercial. And somehow, it wasn't near as annoying as the filler that Bones started adding in season 6 and relied on heavily in season 7.
Summer Glau. There, I said it. This episode could have been an hour and a half of Wilferd Brimley extoling the virtues of eating oatmeal, with Ms. Glau walking across the screen a coule of times and I would have watched and liked it and wondered why I had a craving for hot breakfast cereal. With that being said, I'm a little disbelieving at her portrayal as a 16 year old. But with that being said, Summer Glau. And H. P. Lovecraft. Oh! And not only Lovecraft, but they actually cited titles and scenes from said titles. That was awesome.
All the mains were back, except for Peter Coyote, who's character has been reassigned to Washington, presumably D.C., since the show primarily takes place in and around Seattle. I mean it wouldn't make any sense to say he's been reassigned to Washington and then they walk down the hall and we see him through the open doorway of a smaller office. Most of the returning characters/actors is a good thing. Most. I don't like Laura Allen. I mean as an actor of course. I'm sure she's a great gal, who probably whines just a little too much for her own good, but is nice enough just the same. You'd think that I would like her since that was my favorite grandmother's name. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I don't like about her, but she did it in Awaken, and is doing it in spades in the 4400. I'm thinking that it has something to do with whininess. That and when she kisses it's like watching Michael Jackson kiss Lisa Marie Presley.
Everyone else is pretty okay, though the little girl that plays Maya kind of gives me the creeps. That's silly. It must be the fine acting she puts into the character, so that the character gives me the creeps. In the story, she has precognitive visions, and is just matter-of-fact about them. That is a little disarming. But, the characters good, I think that she is supposed to give me the creeps a little bit.
Our pair of agents, FBI and CDC, are back together, which is kind of funny since to us viewers they were never really apart, it's all just back story. How cool is it that one of the agents is an epidemiologist? And that she even tries to apply epidemiological principles to her cases, at least once in a while? Pretty cool. There is a real Muldar and Scully vibe between the two, but not near as extreme. Tom Baldwin is not a true believer like Fox Muldar, and Diana Scouris is not a complete skeptic like Dana Scully.
It was also cool to see Kavan Smith in a role other than Deputy Andy Hey! I love me some Eureka. The only thing that could have made that show better than adding Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day - Summer Glau.
The season starts off promisingly, laying some good ground work and hinting at story lines that might develop. All in all I'm pretty happy with it, except for one thing. A certain person intimated that a certain blond would be gone after this first episode, and I just don't see how that can be - but in a spirit of fairness am holding off judgement until episode 2.
Episode 2:
Agent Navarro is a bit more of a bad ass than the old boss. And by bad ass, I mean playing loosy-goosy with the 4400 to accomplish her own goals.
Telepathy was the focus of this episode, that and the trials and tribulations of baby Isabelle. I thought they did something very interesting with the telepathy. They made it unbearable. They young 4400 with the ability, Gary, is overwhelmed by the "ocean of voices" in his head. He can't turn them off. He can't quiet some to only hear others. It's like being in the middle of a giant-crowded room while everyone is trying to talk over everyone else. Only with anti-psychotics that work as tranquilizers can Gary make it through the day, and conveniently only hear the mental voices of the people that he wants to hear. In comic books and other shows, it's all about hearing only the thoughts that the telepath wants to hear. Usually this comes through practice that is part of the backstory. Conversely, telepathy is often portrayed the other way, with the barest of whispers and the telepath has to learn to hear the thoughts that she wants to hear. I'm of the opinion, if the telepathy switch were just turned on one day, it would be overwhelming.
Isabelle, aka the psychopathic baby can apparently make anything she wants happen, whether it be killing, ripening food, making cash drawers open or giving daddy a slight myocardial infarction. If only she would want to give Laura Allen acting lessons. Since Ms. Allen is still part of the show, I spent more time trying to figure out what it is that bothers me about her characters, and I think I have made some headway. Approximately 80% of the time, she makes her voice sound as if she is about to cry. Combined with the whiney tone and the way that this character acts as if she has never been intimate with another human being before, and it's almost enough to make you want to stop watching the show and read a magazine until her scene is done. Okay, I didn't really read a magazine, I mostly just looked at the pictures.
Episode 3:
Yay for Robert Picardo. He was one of my favorite parts of Star Trek Voyager. I like the way he brings that hint of comedy to all of his roles even up to the comedic. He plays a 4400 who's saliva causes weight loss, more than the person wants. Eventually some people die and a whole bunch of others, including his daughter, get ill because it turns out that he is producing a protein which greatly increases the metabolic rate causing the people to burn calories faster than they can take them in. I would really like to have that problem for a couple of days, and then get the anti-bodies made from his liver like they did, stopping short of the actually starving to death bit.
Then there is the Richard and Lily story. At least in this episode baby Isabelle doesn't try to kill anybody, or you know succeed at it. Laura Allen tried out a new look this time - pouty. It started when Lily thought she might be pregnant (she wasn't) and just kept up no matter what the scene actually called for. I was hoping Allen would have been gone a couple of episodes ago, and I have got to say that the Richard and Lily storyline is not doing it for me because it's all build-up, no resolution or even foreshadowing of resolution.
Maya is back in the future-predicting business and while she raised a few eyebrows, she hasn't freaked anybody out yet, not even me.
Kyle is back in the story too. Technically, he was never out, but until this episode he had just been playing Tom's 21 year old teen-aged son. Just subtract the three years he spent in the coma from his actual age and voila! Teen-ager. He's suffering from some kind of black outs and perhaps delusions. Regardless, it was an excuse for him to take his shirt off so we could see how buff he is. Something about ___ reminds me of a character on Veronica Mars, part of which is that whole 90210-vibe where you strongly suspect the actor to be in his early 30s and playing a teen-ager in a 21 year olds body. I don't know where they're going with his character, but it's the mosrt interesting sub-plot, especially if he starts dating the hot professor.
Episode 1:
There are a couple of things about this episode that I found really annoying, but aren't really the fault of the episode. Let me explain. First, it's a year after the end of the first season. Okay, I'm down with that. In the year that has elapsed nothing has happened, and then inexplicably things start to happen to all of the various groups at once. Really? Give me a reason, even a vague and/or crappy one. This is annoying, but hardly the sole providence of the 4400. Lots of shows do this. If you're a sitcom, or a procedural, well you can get by with it. Those types of shows lead us to suspend disbelief and think that we are just watching another week in the lives of the characters. But, when dramas, or device driven stories do this, they always fall flat. Second, and this is likely only noticeable with the DVD version - to be read commercial free - and that is the way the show cuts to commercial and then comes back. The first half of this double episode the breaks are hardly noticeable, the editor was definitely doing her job, but the second half, it follows the pattern of 'scene ends, keep camera on for a random amount of time longer than one second but less than four seconds and then begin fade to black, cutting completely to black somewhere in the process. Very clunky, very annoying. I got the feeling the producers were about to turn in the show and discovered it was 30 seconds short of their contracted time, so instead of forking over the bucks for cast, crew and writer to add a scene or extend a scene, they just stretched the footage before cutting to commercial. And somehow, it wasn't near as annoying as the filler that Bones started adding in season 6 and relied on heavily in season 7.
Summer Glau. There, I said it. This episode could have been an hour and a half of Wilferd Brimley extoling the virtues of eating oatmeal, with Ms. Glau walking across the screen a coule of times and I would have watched and liked it and wondered why I had a craving for hot breakfast cereal. With that being said, I'm a little disbelieving at her portrayal as a 16 year old. But with that being said, Summer Glau. And H. P. Lovecraft. Oh! And not only Lovecraft, but they actually cited titles and scenes from said titles. That was awesome.
All the mains were back, except for Peter Coyote, who's character has been reassigned to Washington, presumably D.C., since the show primarily takes place in and around Seattle. I mean it wouldn't make any sense to say he's been reassigned to Washington and then they walk down the hall and we see him through the open doorway of a smaller office. Most of the returning characters/actors is a good thing. Most. I don't like Laura Allen. I mean as an actor of course. I'm sure she's a great gal, who probably whines just a little too much for her own good, but is nice enough just the same. You'd think that I would like her since that was my favorite grandmother's name. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I don't like about her, but she did it in Awaken, and is doing it in spades in the 4400. I'm thinking that it has something to do with whininess. That and when she kisses it's like watching Michael Jackson kiss Lisa Marie Presley.
Everyone else is pretty okay, though the little girl that plays Maya kind of gives me the creeps. That's silly. It must be the fine acting she puts into the character, so that the character gives me the creeps. In the story, she has precognitive visions, and is just matter-of-fact about them. That is a little disarming. But, the characters good, I think that she is supposed to give me the creeps a little bit.
Our pair of agents, FBI and CDC, are back together, which is kind of funny since to us viewers they were never really apart, it's all just back story. How cool is it that one of the agents is an epidemiologist? And that she even tries to apply epidemiological principles to her cases, at least once in a while? Pretty cool. There is a real Muldar and Scully vibe between the two, but not near as extreme. Tom Baldwin is not a true believer like Fox Muldar, and Diana Scouris is not a complete skeptic like Dana Scully.
It was also cool to see Kavan Smith in a role other than Deputy Andy Hey! I love me some Eureka. The only thing that could have made that show better than adding Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day - Summer Glau.
The season starts off promisingly, laying some good ground work and hinting at story lines that might develop. All in all I'm pretty happy with it, except for one thing. A certain person intimated that a certain blond would be gone after this first episode, and I just don't see how that can be - but in a spirit of fairness am holding off judgement until episode 2.
Episode 2:
Agent Navarro is a bit more of a bad ass than the old boss. And by bad ass, I mean playing loosy-goosy with the 4400 to accomplish her own goals.
Telepathy was the focus of this episode, that and the trials and tribulations of baby Isabelle. I thought they did something very interesting with the telepathy. They made it unbearable. They young 4400 with the ability, Gary, is overwhelmed by the "ocean of voices" in his head. He can't turn them off. He can't quiet some to only hear others. It's like being in the middle of a giant-crowded room while everyone is trying to talk over everyone else. Only with anti-psychotics that work as tranquilizers can Gary make it through the day, and conveniently only hear the mental voices of the people that he wants to hear. In comic books and other shows, it's all about hearing only the thoughts that the telepath wants to hear. Usually this comes through practice that is part of the backstory. Conversely, telepathy is often portrayed the other way, with the barest of whispers and the telepath has to learn to hear the thoughts that she wants to hear. I'm of the opinion, if the telepathy switch were just turned on one day, it would be overwhelming.
Isabelle, aka the psychopathic baby can apparently make anything she wants happen, whether it be killing, ripening food, making cash drawers open or giving daddy a slight myocardial infarction. If only she would want to give Laura Allen acting lessons. Since Ms. Allen is still part of the show, I spent more time trying to figure out what it is that bothers me about her characters, and I think I have made some headway. Approximately 80% of the time, she makes her voice sound as if she is about to cry. Combined with the whiney tone and the way that this character acts as if she has never been intimate with another human being before, and it's almost enough to make you want to stop watching the show and read a magazine until her scene is done. Okay, I didn't really read a magazine, I mostly just looked at the pictures.
Episode 3:
Yay for Robert Picardo. He was one of my favorite parts of Star Trek Voyager. I like the way he brings that hint of comedy to all of his roles even up to the comedic. He plays a 4400 who's saliva causes weight loss, more than the person wants. Eventually some people die and a whole bunch of others, including his daughter, get ill because it turns out that he is producing a protein which greatly increases the metabolic rate causing the people to burn calories faster than they can take them in. I would really like to have that problem for a couple of days, and then get the anti-bodies made from his liver like they did, stopping short of the actually starving to death bit.
Then there is the Richard and Lily story. At least in this episode baby Isabelle doesn't try to kill anybody, or you know succeed at it. Laura Allen tried out a new look this time - pouty. It started when Lily thought she might be pregnant (she wasn't) and just kept up no matter what the scene actually called for. I was hoping Allen would have been gone a couple of episodes ago, and I have got to say that the Richard and Lily storyline is not doing it for me because it's all build-up, no resolution or even foreshadowing of resolution.
Maya is back in the future-predicting business and while she raised a few eyebrows, she hasn't freaked anybody out yet, not even me.
Kyle is back in the story too. Technically, he was never out, but until this episode he had just been playing Tom's 21 year old teen-aged son. Just subtract the three years he spent in the coma from his actual age and voila! Teen-ager. He's suffering from some kind of black outs and perhaps delusions. Regardless, it was an excuse for him to take his shirt off so we could see how buff he is. Something about ___ reminds me of a character on Veronica Mars, part of which is that whole 90210-vibe where you strongly suspect the actor to be in his early 30s and playing a teen-ager in a 21 year olds body. I don't know where they're going with his character, but it's the mosrt interesting sub-plot, especially if he starts dating the hot professor.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The 4400 Season 1 Disk 2
Episode 3: Becoming
The flavor of the week this week is serial killer. Not just ol' serial killer, but one who convinces others that they're the real serial killer, and all he has to do is talk to the person for a little bit.
We also get introduced to Jordan Collier, one of the 4400 who is using his gift to get rich and ostensibly help out everyone else from the 4400. Of course, being the good television viewer that I am, I can recognize this kind of setup a mile away. We know this Collier's good will turn to no good, and then in the next season, the no good will have been revealed through some secret to be good after all. That kind of thing.
Episode 4: Trial by Fire
There's a new sheriff in town, pilgrim. And he's here with carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants. Like you might expect this character to be, youngish, good looking, a coldhearted prick, there was something added to show us this was not the character to root for, and that something is that he is completely incompetent. He's only seeing to further his career so he doesn't think much about the ramifications of his own actions. He can't quite seem to believe that the other agents aren't lining up to back him.
Episode 5: White Light
I'm not sure if I should be proud of the show for making us think that something was a red herring but it really wasn't and therefore my viewing enjoyment is enhanced incrementally in that area, or if I should be pissed off because I'm doing so much extra work to make the show interesting. Like he can't possibly be the answer because that's too obvious, so it must be a red herring. But then towards the end when it's obvious that the red herring is not a herring of any kind and I decide to credit the director and cast for making me think that something that wasn't a red herring actually was a red herring just to throw us off because it wan't a red herring at all. If none of this made sense to you, to not worry
The 4400 at IMDb
Monday, February 11, 2013
The 4400 Season 1 Disk 1
Episode 1: The Pilot
The premise of the show is great, 4400 people who have disappeared between 1946 and the present day, suddenly reappear en masse. For each of the returning 4400, no time has passed at all. Now, let them loose back into the population, stir and you have a t.v. show. Plus, only five of the returnees had their story told, so, we could have 880 episodes of just the first bit of time back and we wouldn't even have to repeat a character. Considering that this season was only 5 episodes long, that's 126 seasons of the show right there.
Of course, that assumes that all of the characters are roughly the same when it comes to being interesting and what are the odds of that? Plus, they might actually follow one of the characters throughout their story.
Episode 2: The New and Improved Carl Morrissey
We're still following four of the five from the pilot episode, so much for my plan for how many shows they could get out of this concept. Does this also mean that each episode will have a new cast-member-of-the-week? And if so, are they all going to be redshirts?
We're following, Maya an eight year old clairvoyant who may or may not have had these tendencies before she was taken (maybe I'm reading too much into a scene with her in the pilot), we have Sean who is 17 and can heal with his touch, we have Lily a 30-something mom-to-be that has a baby who can take empathic readings of a place and convey them to Lily, and we have Richard who is a man in his mid-thirties and hasn't yet revealed his ability. The other two members of the 4400 that have been shown also have abilities. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the majority if not entirety of the 4400 have some kind of special power.
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