Although one could argue that the entire existence of The 4400 is for the purpose of throwing out a whole lot of questions that aren't necessarily going to be answered, the second season has come up with two big question marks in particular. Yes, there is the ongoing saga of Jordan Collier and just what his true motivations might be with the 4400 centers, not to mention that whole thing where Maia is predicting that Mommy's bosses will pay for betraying the 4400. However the real question marks, in my mind, start with Isabelle, Richard and Lily's cute, cuddly, and seemingly capable of serial murder at any whim baby. The other big question mark is Kyle Baldwin, the once-in-a-coma son of NTAC specialist Tom Baldwin, who channeled the future humans in order to tell us the purpose of the 4400, and recent victim of unexplained, random blackouts. In this last episode, we got a few more hints to the mysteries, but not a whole lot in terms of answers.
Since I didn't recap the last episode and want to get caught up at some point in time, you will have to have the one-paragraph version of events for the episode that I skipped. In short, Jordan tracks down Richard and Lily, but Isabelle has no problems with Jordan, so they decided to go back to the 4400 center. While that was going on, Kyle had another blackout, this time while his cousin Danny (older brother of Shawn and hater of all things alien, including Shawn, who tapped Danny's girlfriend last season, or so we think) was about to get into a fight with some meatheads. Diana and Tom spent their time trying to figure out why some parents accused a teacher of child abuse simply because she used her 4400 power to make them music and art prodigies. Got it? Sweet. I'll fill in more gaps as needed.
Jordan has always been obsessed with Isabelle. He believes that she is the key to the future. Now that she is back and she isn't, you know, warping his mind to kill himself with a shotgun, he enjoys talking to her, rolling her around in the stroller, etc., etc. And he has many happy thoughts on his mind, including the success of the 4400 centers, and the upcoming 4400 reunion. It was going to be just like old times, with as many of the 4400 coming back as possible, but we are assuming everybody is coming at their own free will and that there will be a lack of anal probes and/or memory loss.
As exciting as all of that is, Maia is here to rain on that parade. Maia is pretty darn accurate at her visions, and her latest vision was so scary that she woke up and had to tell her mom. "He's going to die!" and "he" == Jordan Collier.
I knew that they were looking to shake things up, but would they really kill off Jordan Collier? The 4400 movement is tied to him in so many ways, you wonder what would happen if he wasn't around any more. It seems like he has prepared a lot for his departure, with Shawn basically getting everything, but he is a powerful and charismatic figurehead.
Anyway, after Maia tells Diana, Diana has no choice but to tell her bosses, even though she has told people Maia is not having visions anymore. NTAC decides to tell Jordan, but they are met with a lot of resistance. I mean, it just sounds a little too convenient, no? "Well, uhhh, there's this girl, and, um, she, ahhh, can tell the future, and she like, said you were going to die. We want you to be safe so, ahhh, we thought that, like, maybe you should hide in a bunker, until, um, further notice? 'Time frame'? I don't know...forever?" Jordan really doesn't want to buy it because his indefinite detention would be of major use to NTAC as they see him as an agitator.
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Comments (7)
It is a crazy mystery. Add to that NTAC subpoena-ing Maia's diary and Diana defying the subpoena.
I wonder if Isabelle is a future person who's got all these powers to do her work until she's big enough to walk/talk for herself. She seems to be the true leader of the 4400 Initiative. Isabelle's behavior seems more amoral than evil. It's in a child's nature to be selfish and cruel. Perhaps Isabelle and Maia are destined to oppose eachother in the longrun.
Shawn running the Movement is crazy. He was in high school last year. (Danny is his younger brother, who is now the same age given Shawn didn't age while away those few years.) That closing scene of the girl watching as the office door closed was very "The Godfather."
What's interesting about Kyle's blackouts is that vision he saw in the mirror of himself in a hyper-rage or whatever. It's understandable how his abduction was interrupted by Shawn but his mind was already highjacked and the future could use him as a conduit. But what are the sideeffects of that link being open? Is Kyle Isabelle's sleeper agent? The Jekyll/Hyde thing is pretty scary.
What if the future people are wrong? What if their ideas about how to save mankind in their time are wrong or unreasonably cruel to their ancestors? Over on "The Dead Zone" John Smith's future self was reaching back from the Apocalypse telling Johnny what steps to take to thwart it. But John found the price too high and not only defied his future self but threw away the conduit of communications: his signature cane.
Who knows?
1 of 7 | Posted by Lady J | Posted on July 13, 2005 7:09 AM
I'm tired of this. Every week, you're left with more questions than answers. Where's this story going? It's getting annoying. Very annoying.
2 of 7 | Posted by Laura | Posted on July 13, 2005 7:48 AM
The Kills are a real band. They probably wanted the audience to think they meant the Kills.
3 of 7 | Posted by AC Slater | Posted on July 13, 2005 7:51 AM
what about the new usa logo....yikes
4 of 7 | Posted by mary | Posted on July 13, 2005 12:25 PM
I am so torn about this show. I started watching it with the other 5.3 million people when it premired last year, but when it all of a sudden went off the air I thought, good, it's stupid anyway. But now I got sucked back in. Part of me wishes that they would just do a big four hour mini series and get it over with.
PS I totally thing Isabell is going to kill Richard at some point.
PPS And also why would the future people take abduct people and not give them powers? That seems like a waste...
5 of 7 | Posted by smithie | Posted on July 13, 2005 12:51 PM
I enjoy the swipes at scientology, and the little Godfather nod at the end as well. ANd isnt it convenient that shawn befriends the hottest homeless person in the country? who also convenently already had a 400 dollar haircut. I mean cmon, a few swipes of grime on her face and were supposed to beleive shes a derelict? How come I never saw her on any of my bumfight tapes?
I think the babys gotta be plotting this whole thing far in advance, swiping the body, telling jordan to get killed.
Ah whatever, Battlestar galactica starts friday...
6 of 7 | Posted by Eddiebosox | Posted on July 13, 2005 2:10 PM
This whole episode was full of the religious imagery. I mean just take the end, religious leader is killed only for it to be discovered by a woman that the body has mysteriously disappeared even though the only possible exit was being guarded....
Also, didn't Kyle throw the gun in the river, not bury it?
I think Kyle's blackouts definitely are not random, didn't he have blackouts in the beginning? I think it kind of goes along with the whole him not being a 4400 but rather a conduit. The future is working through him without his knowledge instead of him electing how to use his gifts.
7 of 7 | Posted by Naty | Posted on July 13, 2005 3:02 PM