The War for the Future Will Be Fought in the Past

Only one more episode to go before the finale of The 4400 and while I thought the season started out kind of slowly, things have really picked up. My main complaint with this season is that it feels like nothing is happening, even though there is a lot going on. Now that Jordan Collier is back in the picture, I don’t think I’l be complaining about that any more. If nothing else, Jordan is a man of action. Sure you have to listen to him talk about how great his action is going to be, but when he has his mind set on something, it’s going to happen. We aren’t positive what he has his sights set on at the moment, but whatever it is, it’s going to happen soon.I know that Jordan Collier fancies himself a nouveau messiah, but you would think that after the last resurrection of the person with initials of JC people would have learned a few things. For instance, why not cut your hair? People have had a few thousand years to study this, so why must all resurrections begin with somebody who looks like a backup singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd? You can’t blame the first JC for his look, but JC 2006 should know better. Who wants to go on the talk show circuit looking like they were homeless?

And by the way, I have another reason to strive for the life of a billionaire industrialist: you can go around telling everybody that civilization is on the verge of apocalypse, but instead of putting you in a mental institution, you get to do the talk show circuit. Haven’t these folks learned anything? Jordan decided on the big media push because he wants to make sure that everybody knows that the 4400 are not a danger. When he first came back, he treated the 4400 center and all of the returnees as sort of this exclusive club. The 4400s were supposed to save the world, and only 4400s could save the world.

Nowadays, Jordan realizes that saving the world is a lot of work. He talks about the war of the future being fought in the past, but it’s not about 4400s and non-4400s, it’s all about good vs. evil. He says that many people have made sacrifices and more sacrifices will be necessary. What are they fighting for? Well, only the fate of mankind.

While all of this is going on, we cut to a shot of NTAC. It looks like everybody is slumped over their desks, and downstairs; it looks like all of the people in custody have escaped. Minutes later we see that the people in NTAC were sleeping, and haven’t been harmed, but the loss of all of those prisoners really is troubling. Among them were several members of the NOVA group, and if they were killers before, what is going to stop them now? They obviously have a lot of scores to settle and Shawn, Dennis Ryland, Kyle, and Alana could all be targets.

As a courtesy, Tom and Diana visit Dennis Ryland to tell him that his life may be in danger, and offer their protection. Ryland is a jackass, but when he laughs at the thought of NTAC protecting him, he does have a point. When the NOVA group first tried to kill Ryland, NTAC was charged with protecting him, and the NOVA group still had a couple of pretty good attempts at his life. Besides, he now has his own security, but seriously, what kind of army does he have that will protect him from the NOVA group? Haspell might be a little more secure, but whoever beat NTAC security can get past a bunch of mercenary lackeys, don’t you think? Well, if one of those mercenary lackeys were named Isabelle Tyler, I would have to give a slight edge to Dennis Ryland. While NTAC has a poor record against the NOVA group, Isabelle is batting a thousand.

As soon as Tom Isabelle, he told Shawn, and Shawn told Richard. Shawn and Richard have been struggling to figure out their roles after Collier’s return, and while they were happy with the tough stance he took with Isabelle, Shawn didn’t think that sending her away only to have her land in the hands of Haspell Corporation was going to help anybody. Richard, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. He said that he has always tried to see something good in Isabelle, and now thought that maybe he was just wasting his time. Even when she was a baby he gave her trouble, and he realizes that maybe that human part of her he has been looking for just never existed.

Last time, I mentioned how Diana started sneaking around behind her sister’s back with her sister’s old boyfriend. Of all the things that have been making sense about this show, this relationship is not one of them. Anyway, I speculated that it would only be a matter of time before April realized that Diana was dating her boyfriend, but I was wrong. I thought April had some street smarts, but apparently she is just an idiot. Luckily, Maia is too young to realize that it’s not a good idea to tell aunt April that mommy found the right man, because it allows me to skip a bunch of this worthless story line and focus on the rest. Anyway, after coming home to find April crying in her closet, Diana tells her sister that they never planned this. After complaining that she just couldn’t find guys who would cared about anything more than banging her and taking her to the fetish ball, April acts like a complete wuss and just forgives her sister saying that she can’t hate Diana because she’s busy hating herself. What the hell? If you are going to create a stupid love triangle, the least you can do is give the viewers a stupid catfight! But we got nothing. The only thing April destroyed was a box of tissues. Totally weak.

Richard and Shawn decide that they have to tell Jordan Collier, but when the two of them reach his office and tell him what’s going on, it seems like he really doesn’t care. Hey, I know that the most powerful person on the planet getting a job with a person who wants to kill off the 4400 is bad news, but Jordan is a busy man as well. When Shawn and Richard walked into his office, it looks like he was doing a little “personal consultation” with Devon, the hottie Brunette head usher of the 4400 center. Back when Jordan was using his power to get lots of women, Devon was among the notches on his bedpost, but on closer inspection, it wasn’t really Devon. It was our favorite shape shifting 4400, Boyd Gelder.

If you didn’t realize it right away, Jordan Collier explained everything. Yes, he was the one that sprung all of those dudes at NTAC and no, it doesn’t matter that the NOVA group has at several times in their history wanted to kill members of the 4400. The most important thing is that the NOVA group doesn’t consider anybody at the 4400 center their enemy anymore, including Shawn, who ratted them out. While Shawn still thinks it’s wrong to aid and abet terrorists, Jordan believes that the NOVA group was only playing their part in a greater struggle. When it comes to the larger conflict on their hands, you know, the one for all of humanity, the NOVA group would be an important ally. Shawn tries to protest, but Shawn’s biggest ally, Richard, actually agrees with Collier.

While Shawn contemplates his options, Diana and Tom head straight for Ryland’s little compound to tell him that he should really think about his security. They want him to move his operation, but Ryland really isn’t scared. He promised the government genetically enhanced troops, and he is going to give them those genetically enhanced troops if it kills them. Ryland, having already survived two assassination attempts, doesn’t really care about others lives. The name of his game is results, and with Isabelle he is going to get those results. However, just in case things do go badly, he decides to maximize the promicin in the hopes of more soldiers gaining abilities in as little as two days.

Tom comes home, where Alana has decided that she has no reason to fear the government coming after her and has moved in, which is nice because Kyle is back and Alana, who is not only gorgeous and smart, but a great cook as well, give the house a woman’s touch that is sorely needed when Tom and Kyle are under the same roof. And what about Kyle? Well, he was getting whiny about how his life will never be normal because people will always remember him as the person who killed Jordan Collier, but he no longer has a problem with any of that.

Kyle was worried he never would be able to get out of the house due to tall of the reporters in blocking his way out, but Alana helped distract them (with cookies in case you had other dirty thoughts in your mind), and Kyle went to visit Shawn. By the way, why is it that people always tell folks who have just been in prison that they look great? Shawn told Kyle he looks great, but if Kyle had to explain that he looks good because everybody in the house called him “Sugar”, maybe that question never gets asked. Small talk with Shawn is great, but Kyle really wanted to see Jordan. I always wondered why Jordan wanted to help Kyle. Sure Kyle didn’t kill him, but wasn’t he worried that Kyle might snap out of his normalcy and try to kill him again. We know from last year’s finale that Shawn snowballed the bad out of Kyle, but Jordan doesn’t.

Jordan did meet with Kyle, and once again gave his long speech about his death having to happen, and how Kyle made sacrifices, and how he doesn’t know how important he is in the grand scheme of thing. It sounds kind of cheesy, but is exactly what Kyle had to hear. Jordan must have inspired Kyle, because the next time we see him, he isn’t sporting his usual Neo-grunge wear, but has picked up some clothes from that store that supplies Shawn with all of his shirts and skinny pants. Of course his dad is upset to learn that his son is working for Collier, but thankfully they spared us the “I’ve already lost you once! I don’t want to lose you again!” type of Emmy-baiting speech. Instead, Kyle leaves relatively quietly and says that he knows what his purpose is, and he is going to follow in his father’s footsteps, doing whatever it takes to help the 4400. Awww.

While Jordan had some big plans for Kyle, he had some even bigger plans for other members of the 4400. Tom had learned from Alana that one of her students at the center had the ability to raise and lower body temperatures. The next day, he and Diana poke around the center and ask Shawn a few questions. He doesn’t know about this Michael kid, but he decides to ask Jordan. Jordan knows all about Michael, the reason they were able to get into NTAC and get everybody out without loss of life is because Michael can lower body temperatures, putting people into a sort of instant hibernation. Shawn is appalled the Jordan would use a teenage in any of his plans, but you have to admit, if the options are kill a bunch of people to get past security, or put them all to sleep, putting them to sleep is a good option.

As disturbing as all of that is to Shawn, what he hears next is even worse. Jordan tells him about the big plan that he is devising that needed all of those people from the NOVA group; an attack on Ryland’s base where he is experimenting on all of the soldiers. This nearly sends Shawn over the edge, and he decides that he must tell Tom and Diana.

As Shawn is putting on his narc cap for the second time this season, Jordan is using another 4400 to find Dr. Berkhoff and Tess. He finds the two of them in a remote part of Washington, trying to convince people to take pictures of a big tree stump. No seriously, I only wish that was a joke. I applaud Kevin and Tess for trying to start a life without distractions from the outside, and hey, the last place corporate mercenaries would look for a great scientist is working at a gas station. That being said, the least time we saw them, Berkhoff was still nuts about his research, so why did he change his mind all of a sudden? Unfortunately, the producers don’t tell us. The only thing we see is Jordan pulling up to them in a limo taking the two of them away without much of a fight.

When Shawn informed NTAC of Jordan’s plans, they immediately went to ask him questions. Collier denied everything, saying that only a psychopath would declare war on the US Government. Well, one could say that only a psychopath would travel around the country preaching to the homeless saying he has had visions of the future, but again, since Collier is rich, everybody seems to have given him a free pass. When Shawn says that it is all a lie, Jordan explained that he said all those things as test of loyalty. He wanted to know who he could trust, and who would run off and tell people about his plans. But what about Boyd Gelder? The government wants him, Shawn saw him in Jordan’s office, and Richard was there to witness it. Unfortunately, right when Shawn needed Ricahrd the most, Richard denied ever seeing Boyd Gelder. Shawn is left hanging, and Diana and Tom have to leave.

Although there is not enough evidence to put Collier in custody, there is enough probably cause that they decide they should tell Ryland. Ryland is still not scared, and actually hopes that the 4400 attack. If the 4400 come after the government, that will prove who the real enemy is, and Ryland wants to be at ground zero to defend the human race.

Meanwhile, back at the 4400 center, Jordan is having a few words with Shawn. It’s always tough when your protégé betrays you, and Shawn is just as upset at Jordan for continuing trying to manipulate him instead of treating him with respects. I thought that Shawn’s transgressions would be enough to get him kicked out, but if Jordan can forgive the guy who tried to kill him, he can also forgive Shawn, even after Shawn says that Jordan has a messiah complex and it’s gone to his head. Jordan laughs that off and says he is more like John Brown, the man who worked so hard to free slaves. When Shawn says that John Brown died for his beliefs, Jordan reminds him that he already died once. I guess that means he’s going to take those odds.

Ryland may have acted like he was invincible with Diana and tom, but in reality, he was scared enough that he decided to move all of the promicin out of Haspell corporation, or so we think. This is the first time we saw it, but when the security camera panned by Ryland, what we actually saw was Boyd Gelder. Oh Collier, you genius! While Ryland had everything at the base fortified, Collier went deep into the belly of Haspell Corporation and took all of the promicin right from under their noses. Not one person was hurt, and if Ryland is going to build his army, he basically will have to start all over again.

The real Ryland, of course, is pissed, but Collier has been one step ahead. But the big thing, of course, is trying to figure out what is next on Collier’s to-do list. He has a warehouse full of a promicin, so is he going to destroy it? No, he is going to give it away. To who, you ask? To everybody. Wow, you have to admit that is a bold move. This stuff might kill people, and will surely make some people go crazy, but if you thought you might learn how to heal people, control their minds, read their minds, tell the future, or any of the thousands of other 4400 abilities, wouldn’t you take a few weeks off of work to try it? And what is the government going to do? Promicin is not illegal, and even if it is illegal, we’ve all seen how effective the so-called war on drugs has been. How will a war on promicin be any lmore effective?

Now admittedly, there are some problems with the way Jordan is handling things. Who guarantees that the people getting the promicin want to help the human race and aren’t simply interested in getting rich quickly? And Ryland still has Isabelle, so his army may still become strong and powerful; it might just take a little more time. That being said, it sets up for a very interesting season finale this week.

What did you think of the episode? Is Jordan smart for giving away the Promicin