Awakenings

As much as I complain about The 4400 for not moving quickly enough, I have to admit that this show is doing a much better job of answering all of those nagging questions that have accumulated in the two plus seasons on the air. It seems like the writers want to make sure that we all know what the focus of the show is going to be, just in case you had fallen asleep in the last, I don’t know, three seasons. It’s all about Isabelle folks; the one girl who can make the apparent resurrection of former 4400 leader Jordan Collier seem insignificant. I never thought I would say it, but it’s kind of nice to have Jordan back.I’m running out of adjectives trying to describe how highly anticipated Isabelle and Shawn’s wedding is, but I’d have to say it is at least as exciting as running into Anthony Stewart Head on your way to Jamba Juice. So when Jordan Collier randomly walked into the ceremony, I wasn’t that surprised, except that HE DIDN’T HAVE AN INVITATION. I’ve seen weddings at the Elk’s Club that were had better security than this event. And hey, perhaps I could understand if he rolled up in a Bentley and the security thought he was just another rich guy, and didn’t want to make a fuss, but Jordan basically looks homeless. Who lets the homeless into their wedding? Not even Richard Branson is that crazy.

Now what did Jordan do after he made his way to Shawn? He ran away! Shawn saw him and Tom saw him and they both ran after him, but apparently all of that time as a transient has put him in pretty good shape and he got away. Tom tells the security officers not to let anybody out, but seriously, if Jordan Collier managed to find his way in, how do they expect to keep him out? Is there any branch of law enforcement that has EVER been able to maintain a hard perimeter?

As expected, Jordan got away, and like I said last week, Shawn thought it was the perfect reason to call off the wedding. OK, now I understand that Jordan Collier meant a lot to Shawn, but is Jordan’s appearance really enough to call off the wedding? It’s not like Shawn was in love with Jordan, right? Shawn thought that Jordan’s appearance was enough to stop the wedding, and so he tells Richard to delay the wedding while he helps NTAC look for Jordan. Richard thinks his daughter is crazy, but seriously, if there was one person that had a chance of keeping her at least partially sane, it is Shawn.

Not the bride you want to leave at the altar.

For some brides, you might be able to say that delaying the wedding is not the end of the world, but with Isabelle, you sort of expect the end of the world, literally. That’s why I was really surprised when Isabelle was completely calm when Richard came in to tell her that they would be delaying the wedding. Isabelle was not only calm, but she didn’t even try to kill anybody. She was confused, but I guess realized that it’s bad form to annihilate all of the people at your wedding party, but I thought she would at least fry the brain of the cheap bastards who only bought those wooden spoons from the registry.

Jordan Collier’s reappearance means a lot for many people, but it might me the most to Kyle Baldwin. We haven’t seen a lot of Kyle Baldwin this year, and I don’t really want to complain because really, his has always been a whiny bitch. OK, so he was in a coma for a couple of years, so you can understand that he is a little irritable, but from all the past evidence, he was kind of a fuck up as a teenager. When the future humans put him into a coma, he was getting drunk by a campfire. When he came back, he complained that his father didn’t spend a lot of time with him, maybe not realizing that his dad is only trying to prevent the destruction of civilization. Therefore, when we find out that somebody brainwashed Kyle and was the one who killed Jordan Collier, I kind of thought he deserved it. Maybe if his dad wasn’t worried about making Kyle feel special, he could have stopped all of this.

Anyway, Tom visits Kyle in prison, and although his hair is shorter, it looks like he is still a whiny bitch. I would think that several months in the prison showers would change his attitude, but I guess I was wrong. Kyle was upset that his father was visiting him. You know, if Tom was smart, he would have sent Kyle some of those psychotropic cookies so Kyle could deal with some of his issues. Sure, Kyle might have hung himself by a shoelace, which would have upset Tom, but it would have made the rest of us happy. Kyle continues to bitch and moan until his father says that Jordan Collier is alive, and Kyle knows that might mean that soap on a rope is a thing of the past.

So, Shawn has a reason and Tom has a reason to chase after Jordan and Diana doesn’t want to leave the fun to all of the boys, so the three of them try searching all of Jordan Collier’s old properties to see if he may be around. He had a number of safe houses, and while you may think that you don’t need safe houses after somebody is dead, you must remember that the 4400 foundation uses them every now and then whenever the government wants to exterminate them, which happens more often than you would expect. They actually find something in one of the houses. There was a sleeping bag and some food wrappers, and a notebook.

Inside this notebook, somebody had written about “the last city” and that it’s 1000 miles wide, and the walls are a 100 feet high, and nothing grows on the outside. Uh oh! It sounds like somebody is having drunken delusions about a future apocalypse. Then again, maybe the person was taking notes for a review of Judge Dredd, which just happens to be my favorite Diane Lane, Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante action thriller ever produced. Handwriting analysis confirms that Jordan Collier wrote the notes. And after all of that talk about the future city, he also had several pages that repeated one phrase: “The war of the future will be fought in the past”. Again, I wonder if this Jordan has seen the future or got drunk and watched Terminator 2 or The Highlander.

I have to admit that I was one of those people that thought Diana and Marco were cute together. He’s a pushover, but she likes pushovers. Besides, it’s not like some hunky, charismatic dude was just going to walk into her life and sweep her off her feet. Well, not so fast. Maia is having another one of her visions, and tells her mom that she is excited because their family is getting bigger. Diana laughs because she doesn’t have a lot of prospects on the table, and the only company she has enjoyed most nights is a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, but still, she wants to hear the name. Again, I was sort of expecting to hear Marco, but instead we heard Ben. Who is Ben? Oh, that would April’s new boyfriend that she is completely in love with. And who is April. That would be Diana’s sister. Wow. This is going to get pretty interesting.

So, one wedding is off, and another may be on, but we still have to search for Jordan Collier. A good place to start searching for people you thought are homeless are to look for the soup kitchens, and that is exactly what Tom and Diana do. One of the workers at one of the soup kitchen even recognizes Jordan, but has no clue where he is. When that worker points them into the direction of somebody who may know, the homeless guy they see calls Jordan “the preacher” and says that he has never left. Tom and Diana turn around to find a huge mural of Jordan Collier. They call him the preacher, his initials are JC. Hmm, sound like somebody you might have heard of from a couple of thousand years ago? And this most recent JC seems to have plenty of disciples. Sure they may be homeless and crazy, but they believe, and if you are starting a movement, that is all you need.

Even though Jordan may be back, who says that he is even going to be able to do anything? Back when the 4400 were taking promicin he might have been able to wow people with his money, but now? He might have an ability, but until then, he is just another dirty guy who thinks he has seen the future. Give me cigarettes, some fried chicken, and a case of malt liquor, and I can find a couple of those types in a bout thirty minutes.

There are some indications that Jordan is different. Isabelle, who we believe to be the most powerful creature on the planet, dreams of Jordan and is scared. Jordan believed that Isabelle was the future, and would try and talk to her even when she was a baby. Right before he was shot, Maia had warned that he would be killed, but when Jordan touched Isabelle he saw a happy future. In her dream, Jordan sees Isabelle and says, “You lied to me”. This shakes her up so much she goes to see her father. She explains everything that happened, how she gave him the vision of what he wanted to see as if she knew that he would be hurt. It all seems very quaint and, but really, are we supposed to have sympathy for a person that threatens to kill anybody who doesn’t go along with what she says?

Hey, did you guys know that there is a national graffiti database? No really, there is, and I’m glad. I couldn’t think of any better way to spend that money. I mean, I may not be able to take a 1.5 ounce container of eye drops on a plane when I travel, but at least I’ll know if some asshole is painting two story murals of a Neo-Jesus in dozens of cities across the country, and isn’t THAT really important. OK, I am not sure if there is really a national graffiti database, but Marco used it to find that there are plenty of murals similar to the one found in Seattle depicting Jordan as some sort of preacher. Now they just need to find him and maybe they can sort through some of this shit.

Luckily, Jordan seems to have finally messed up. He visits Kyle in prison, and Kyle freaks out, but at least the prison guards restored my faith in perimeters by not letting a homeless guy escape from a maximum-security facility. Jordan is brought into NTAC, but his memory is not all there. He thinks his name is Jeffrey Paulson, because that was what was on the library card of hone of his jackets. Note to self: when trying to hide your identity while visiting maximum-security prison, steal Javier’s library card.

Jordan might not remember his name, but he remembers a lot of other things. He says that he has wandered for hundreds of years, no food, no sleep, and the skies were filled with smoke. Again, did he actually go somewhere or is he just describing his experience trying to get parking at the Meadowlands? Then he said he saw the streets and the rivers were filled with bodies, and really, he could be talking about Spring Break in Mexico, but he seems pretty serious, so everybody kind of believes him. Still, DNA tests show that he is Jordan Collier, so at least they got the right guy.

Tom is glad that Jordan is back, but if Jordan is going to testify in front of a judge that Kyle wasn’t responsible and drop attempted murder charges (shouldn’t Tom talk to the DA in that case?), Jordan should have a little more confidence in his name than what is posted on a library card. Tom wants to bring Alana back into the country so she can use her power on Jordan and jog his memory. Even Tom is not good enough to sneak Alana into NTAC without Jarvis knowing, but why would Jarvis look the other when all of this was going on? Alana is a wanted fugitive and the only reason why Tom wants to do this is to get Kyle out of jail. Noble yes, but shouldn’t he be more interested in, I don’t know, SAVING CIVILIZATION?

We all know that Maia has a pretty good track record, but Diana was determined not to let her latest prediction come true. When Ben came over to show Diana some pictures from the trip he took with April to India, Diana explained everything that was going on. She thought that was the end of it, but a couple of days later, April comes over pissed off because Ben broke up with her. Wow, this is not how it was supposed to happen at all.

So, what went on? Well, Ben is a photographer and there are certain things that go along with being a photographer like driving some sort of vintage Volkswagen or Jeep, eating organic foods, and believing when 10 year-old girls that you have never met say that you are supposed to be with somebody else. Hey, I can understand why you might question your current relationship if a fortuneteller told you that you were supposed to marry somebody else, but wouldn’t you give it some time? How do you give up on somebody you loved just because somebody else said you were meant to be with somebody else? What if Maia just wanted her mother to marry a cute guy with a patchy beard? Despite this latest sign, Diana is still loyal to her sister and refuses to see Ben.

Tom was able to get in touch with Alana, and she returned by boat, still as hot as ever. He takes her to NTAC and she works her magic on Jordan. He sees his past, and remembers his name. Jordan goes on to say that he knows why they sent him back. He’s seen the catastrophe and knows what they must do to stop it. Sweet! Although I guess that means we don’t need seasons four and five if Jordan knows all the answers. Luckily for those of us who like our summer sci-fi, the Government is always ready to get in the way. Jarvis says that they are not going to release Jordan, and Jordan says he’s waited long enough and that he won’t speak until he is released.

Normally, Tom would care less if Jordan was in prison, but his son is involved and Jordan says he is not talking to any judge if he is still in custody. As Tom is taking Alana back to her rendezvous point out of the country, Richard and Shawn find them. They want to know why Jordan is not free, when Tom tells them the situation, Richard says that if the 4400 know he is at NTAC, they don’t need anybody’s permission to go in there and get him. Luckily, Tom has a solution. He just happened to print out a nice glossy 8×10 of Jordan Collier from the NTAC security camera and hands it over. If the public demands the release of Jordan, how is the government going to hold him?

Now it’s obvious that they are going to know that the picture came from Tom, but it seems to have worked. Thousands of people are outside of NTAC demanding Collier’s release, and they aren’t just 4400s, so the government can’t just shoot them all and say they resisted arrest. Collier is released, and when he’s outside he gives his first sermon, saying that saving humanity has to be everybody’s problem. He knows that humans and 4400s must work together to save the future, and that is how he is going to dedicate his life. Collier then uses his mob to visit the judge presiding over Kyle’s case. The judge makes a good point that Kyle might not be responsible for killing Jordan, but he still fired a gun into a public space and injured federal officers. But the mob! Jordan will get them to do crazy shit if she doesn’t release Kyle, so the judge caves in. Must have been a Carter appointee.

Before we go any further with Jordan, we should talk a little bit more about Diana and Ben. I can see why Ben is a great guy, but he really does seem like he was made to be with April. Diana and Ben run into each other in the supermarket, and for some reason we are supposed to believe that Diana has the type of personality that say that trendy jeans and strappy sandals are necessary gear when you are out buying frozen pizza. Ben and Diana go “shopping” together, and even share a bit of a kiss, but for as much as Ben thinks that is fate; Diana thinks that it is cheating.

I really hoped that Diana would resist the urge to do what Maia told her was meant to happen, and like I said, the only chemistry was forced, but Diana decided to go to Ben’s art show, and there she kissed him, and didn’t feel guilty about it this time. Well, she didn’t feel guilty until she got back home and April asked where she had been out so late. Diana said she was working, but I have a feeling April realized that Diana doesn’t work in a little black dress and three inch stilettos that were under that jacket of hers.

But now, the event we have all been waiting for. Jordan is back at the 4400 center and he visits Isabelle. He’s not pulling any punches either. Isabelle apologizes, but Jordan says that he can’t blame her because he needed to die to lose all of the pride, ambition, and vanity that was holding him back. Isabelle says that she has done bad things, is supposed to do more, but she appears like she wants help. She asks Jordan what she should do and he tells her straight up that she should leave. She might have been human at some point, but she will never win the struggle with that part of her that is not human. When Isabelle asks why she should just kill him now, Jordan says that she can try, but it won’t work, because he’s ready. Finally, he says that the place is his, and she is not welcome anymore.

So, I really liked this episode. It’s strange how Isabelle is all of a sudden showing remorse because we haven’t seen her like that in a long time. It kind of makes you wonder what sort of ability Jordan Collier possesses if he is not scared of her and especially because she seems scared of him. I am not sure where they will take Diana’s love affair, but it really seems boring. There are only a couple of episodes, and it looks like we are going to have a pretty big cliffhanger. Shawn got out of his wedding, but with nowhere else to go, I guess Isabelle is going back to Haspell Corporation and Ryland. Meanwhile, Jordan is about to start a revolution. Who is going to win? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

What did you think of this episode?