Tom Baldwin Wants Some Answers

Just how far will a father go to protect his son? Well, if your father is a mid-level government official and you have been accused of murder, apparently he will go pretty far. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the second season of The 4400 was Jordan Collier’s death, or assassination to be more exact. The drama from the last few weeks has centered around Kyle Baldwin, who believes be blacked out and killed Jordan. Along with the uncertainties of his whereabouts, Kyle is also having fairly detailed visions of exactly how Jordan was killed, right down the the feel of the gun and Jordan’s appearance through the scope. As the noose was tightening around Kyle, he decided to run, but his dad was determined to get him back.When Tom found out that Kyle was missing, he decided that he was going to take some time off of work and look for him. Tom and Kyle don’t have the greatest relationship, but after losing so much time with Kyle because of the coma, he really doesn’t want to squander any more of their time together, even if it only involves a lot of arguing. Tom starts the questioning where Kyle spent most of his time, the community college, and the person Kyle spent the most time with (other than that teacher he is hot for), his cousin Danny.

Danny tells Tom everything, including the reoccurrence of Kyle’s blackouts and the reason why he believes Kyle left. He knows that Kyle was worried about something, and told Tom that Shawn had offered him safe haven at the 4400 center so he could sort things out. Tom gets to the 4400 center, sees Shawn, and demands to see Kyle. Now, Shawn has no idea where Kyle is, because Kyle bailed on him as well, not that it makes Tom feel any better. Even as he is leaving, you can tell he wants to tear the place apart.

Shawn is growing to become an ever bigger presence within the 4400 center, and as a consequence, he is growing to become an ever bigger asshole as each minute passes. OK, it’s not a cult, but people nearly worship him. Remember that druggy Liv that he cured and placed in the center? She cleans herself up fairly well, and even has moved up to “Second Key”. When Danny comes by to visit, Shawn even asks her to take him on the tour. One thing leads to another, and the two of them hit it off pretty well, and Danny invites her to a party later that night. No problem. right? It’s not a cult, people are free to come and go as they please, or so they say.

When Liv and Danny meet up with Shawn and they mention the party, Shawn says that Liv can’t go. Part of the reason is because, you know, she was a drug addict, but a large part of it was because Danny and Shawn have always fought over women. Even though Shawn hasn’t admitted it, he has taken a liking to Liv and he doesn’t like his brother’s competition. But the fact that Shawn disapproves is all the more incentive for Danny and Liv to go out anyway.

This image has no context in the recap, but God is Alana hot or what?
If you wanted to build a woman for J-Unit, this would not be a bad start.

Oh look, there is Tom again. He has finished questioning Danny, so he goes on to some of Kyle’s teachers, including one who happened to find Kyle passed out in front of her apartment. Throughout this whole thing, Tom has been wondering why Kyle didn’t trust him more. Well, I don’t know, could it have anything to do with the fact that he killed somebody and his dad used to work for the FBI? Next up are some of Kyle’s classmates. Yeah, they remember some strange behavior on Kyle’s part, especially this one time, when he just got up in the middle of biology lab and walked out. Oh, and she remembers the exact date because it was the night that Jordan Collier was killed. Suddenly, Tom has a sinking feeling. He takes a look at the mugshot, realizes that it must be Kyle, and decides that he has to find him.

It looks like Tom is going to take his merry time getting back to work at NTAC, so Diana goes on with her case load with the help of the director. There was a new lead on the Collier murder from, where else?, Los Angeles. A drug dealer says he knows who sold the gun that killed Jordan Collier. During the actual interrogation, what he had wasn’t all that great. It was a 50 caliber rifle with a scope, just like, well any sniper in the entire world might use. What this guy does have is an address of the dealer, Victor Rios.

Diana has a name, she has a last known whereabouts. The only thing left is to go after the bastard, right? Well, you know that things couldn’t be as easy as that. When Diana and Maia are making brownies, she gets a call to go into work, and Maia begs her not to go. Usually when Maia intervenes like this, it’s a sign of bad things to come. And this time, Maia has a vision of her own mother. If they catch this guy, somebody is going to get hurt.

Knowing that Maia made the prediction, Diana still goes to work. I can only imagine how scared she must be. She has seen how accurate Maia can be, so when Maia said somebody is going to get hurt, she is really playing against some fairly bad odds. Diana does go to work, but initially just to tell her friends on the case to get off the case. This includes her little geek friend in whatever they call Q Branch at NTAC. He’s such a nice guy. He can tell that she is worried, so she offers to give her a hug to help her feel better. This is the most body contact this guy has ever had with a human female, and I am surprised Diana didn’t run away after the inevitable tent-pitching that must have occurred.

Keep this up, and he won’t be a 40 year-old virgin.

So no we have Tom who thinks his son is guilty, and Diana, who is probably going to find out soon. Now although Tom was very self-righteous last week when one murderer was in need of protection, Tom isn’t so worried about ethics when it comes to his own son. He is racing against the clock to find Kyle before NTAC, because he can’t imagine his son living in prison, and to be quite honest, he probably blames himself just a lil’ bit.

Tom’s search leads him to a locker at a train station. Alana found a key in Kyle’s room, and when it was opened, he found a gun, a lot of information on Jordan Collier, and some money. Verdict – not so good. As it were, the NTAC team also made it’s way to the same station, although they weren’t sure about which locker it was. Knowing that his presence their may seem a little bit fishy, Tom gives the evidence to Alana and tells her to go home. Tom now realizes that he is going to have to actively take a part in hindering the investigation, at least until he can find Kyle and get him out of the country.

This might be a good time to fill you in about Danny and Liv’s little date. Well, of course she is going to get wasted, she was an addict. Danny just thinks that he is going to be in for some nice cult chick cooter. He just has to say he believes in whatever she says, and that he feels a connection, and he’ll be in within no time. Things are going to his liking as she straps him into some strange testing device that is supposed to give you an idea about what kind of 4400 student you would be, but she’s asking some suggestive questions and telling him that his night is nowhere near to being over. Yes! Nothing better than a little bit of action while you are sitting in a brainwash device.

Well, unfortunately for Danny, Liv’s idea of a good time is not some beer and a tug job. She’s more of a “stolen Percoset from your friend’s party” type of girl. Danny was up for anything, except maybe for drugs, but it;s not like he is going to have to worry about that, because the guards catch them in the room anyway.

As you might imagine, Shawn is pretty upset, and not just because it’s Danny. Liv was an addict, and she sort of gave up on what the 4400 meant. A lot of this was bullshit because he was mainly upset that she went against his word. Liv had jokingly called him “your majesty” earlier, but now he was acting like one. He didn’t make her leave, but he demoted her to first key, which is like being a rookie in the NFL, and then being told you suck, aren’t good enough, and they make you go back to college.

Even though Shawn was an asshole to Liv, he did have a little more forgiveness for his brother. Shawn is sick of the fighting, and he goes to see Danny who is expecting a lecture. Instead, Shawn assures him that it’s nothing, and they frolic around in the water while Danny is washing his car. It’s like a scene of Americana, with the only exception being most people don’t have half a dozen bodyguards staking the perimeter while all of this is going on. Quite honestly, Shawn is becoming more of a cult figure than Jordan ever was. Hey, maybe that is why the future decided Jordan needed to be dead.

With all of his leads running out, Tom decides to try his ex-wife Linda. She and Kyle were always close because Tom was often away from the house. He suspects that she knows where he is, and tell her that Kyle may be in trouble. She denies knowing his location, but Tom decides to follow her that night anyway. Wouldn’t you know it? She drives to a home that is for sale, walks in with some groceries, then walks out a little bit later. Tom enters the house and finds Kyle upstairs. He is so happy, but Kyle is not, and even tries to bolt. Tom catches him, and they begin a long talk that probably needed to happen a long time ago.

After Kyle spills his guts, you can tell he is relieved to be caught. At this point, he just wants it all to end. How surprised is he when his dad tell shim they are never going to let some other people take him away. The person who was controlling Kyle during the blackouts was not Kyle. The “i was possessed by evil future humans” defense is probably not going to fly in court, so Tom arranges for Kyle to fly to Brussels with Alana.

Tom still has to continue with his work on the Collier case, and he is really on edge watching the forensics team comb through the lockers at the train station. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, a call comes in. The police have a suspect, and he is in custody. Tom and Diana go to the police station and watch as somebody who looks nothing like Kyle makes his way out of the back of a cruise. Whoa? Did they get the wrong guy? Apparently not. This kid looked like Kyle, owned the type of gun used in the shooting, and had a vendetta about Jordan Collier. During the transport, the kid was able to grab a police weapon and fire off a few shots. Diana was completely paralyzed because of Maia’s vision, and would have taken a bullet in the arm or chest if Tom didn’t knock her out of the way. It’s nice to have a partner, especially when his head is actually in the game.

Wow, so we got a lot of things taken care of, no? Maia’s prediction and Kyle’s innocence all in the last few mintues! Hold it, not so fast. Maia is happy to see that Diana is back, but when her mom suggests it is all over, Maia is still petrified that her mom is going to be hurt. Her vision hasn’t actually come to pass. As for Kyle, when they were questioning the wife of the drug dealer, she said a man bought a 9-mil as well as a sniper rifle. The suspect shooter had no 9-mil, but Kyle had one in his airport locker. Coincidence? I think not. We’re going to need a lot more answers soon.