ORBzine - The 4400 TV Review
[Season 1 !Season 2 !Season 3 ]
The 4400 [Season 1, Episode 1-2]
Pilot (1-2)
Shown 11 Jul 04
A Comet flies past Earth, and 4400 disappeared people appear in Washington State, USA. some FBI types investigate. Peter Coyote is in charge. his best agents, a Mulder/Scully pair, are a smart/tough FBI guy and the babe from Odyssey 5 . The Mulder character's son is in a coma [yes, the old personal motive cliche].
The returnees have psi powers [see the future, heal a dead bird, shatter glass and skulls]. They mostly live in Seattle [a good excuse, the show is probably filmed in Vancouver].
The 4400 [Season 1, Episode 3]
The New & Improved Carl Morrissey
Shown 18 Jul 04
An average guy becomes a superstrong vigilante.
The subplots involve the 6yo girl and the mixed-race couple.
The 4400 [Season 1, Episode 4]
Becoming
Shown 25 Jul 04
Lee Tergesen [Oz, Weird Science ] is a suspected serial killer, may be using psi powers. Is a Pattern developing?
The Fed's nephew has a flashback to his abduction. Coyote faces off with a journalist.
The businessman sets up a Corporation to help other abductees. He gives the black guy a job.
The 4400 [Season 1, Episode 5]
Trial by Fire
Shown 1 Aug 04
This ep was written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe [ Andromeda ].
Redneck terrorists bomb some returnees. The Token Black Guy moves into the Megacorp estate.
Billy Campbell is the FBI supremo sent to check on heroes. He threatens to reassign sculder and mulley [Seattle has 5 other investigative teams].
The 4400 [Season 1, Episode 6 - Finale]
White Light
Shown 8 Aug 04
Coma-son goes MIA. The climax is when we discover what's going on.
The Billionaire tries to control the pregnant woman.
Season 2
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 1-2]
Wake-Up Call
Shown 29th September 2005 - Thursday
Season 2 opens with a 2-parter, compiled into a feature-length ep. A year after the end of Season One, a lot of things have changed. The tough-guy MIB is trapped in desk-work, and the MIBs have their own nerds. Peter Coyote has been replaced as head MIB by a complete bitch, possibly inspired by Madeline in La Femme Nikita . A pity, since the character in 24: Season 4 was far more obviously derivative and yet achieved much better characterisation in the 5-minute trailer to that show!
Summer Glau is a mentally unstable psychic, not unlike the one she played in Firefly . Trapped in a lunatic asylum with the likes of Jeffrey Cooms [ Star Trek: DS9 ], run by Crazy Eddie [ First Wave, Smallville ] she has them build an antenna so she can return home ... Not unlike Glory in Buffy: Season 5 . Yes, they certainly stole a lot of ideas from Joss Whedon !
Meanwhile, the interracial couple are hiding out in a remote area. They fall foul of the local rednecks, and then chased
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 3]
Voices Carry
Shown 4th October 2005 - Tuesday
The tycoon is making a secret deal with creepy gangster type Stephen McHattie [ X-Files ]. The MIBs send in a telepathic 4400 guy to listen in on their thoughts.
Meanwhile, not-Scully's sister is in town and helps look after the adopted girl.
Also, the interracial couple find their superpowered child is still using its powers. The problem is, this could lead to big trouble in the future!
The teenage son starts at college. Lexa Doig is his lecturer!
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 4]
Weight of the World
Shown 11th October 2005 - Tuesday
Robert Picardo [ Star Trek: Voyager ] has a protein that helps people lose weight. He's obviously never seen the film Thinner , because he wants a big pharmaceuticals company to bottle it and sell it!
The mixed-race couple hide out with some African-American friends. They even consider settling down permanently. However, inter-personal relationships predictably complicate things.
The wee girl visits the Female Agent's sister's tattoo parlour. She's still having visions - and the Female Agent secretly tells her partner.
The Male Agent's son is still flirting with his lecturer, Lexa Doig . Also, he has a missing time experience that indicates he may have an unknown and unwanted power of his own.
Finally, the Corporate guy is giving Special Treatment to a sexy female celebrity. This spreads discord among his inner circle of employees. Those jealous bastards!
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 5]
Suffer The Children
Shown 18th October 2005 - Tuesday
A schoolteacher helps a few of her pupils uncover their hidden artistic talents. The jealous parents of the untalented kids have her arrested for Child Abuse!
The Billionaire guy is still injured, but claims to have been enlightened by the injuries. He claims to have changed his ways, and offers to make peace with the mixed-race couple. Can he be trusted? Will the baby add him to its list of victims?
The MIB's son is still having blackouts. Meanwhile, cousin Sean hooks up with sexy homeless babe Lindy Booth . Poor girl, she always plays the teenage girlfriend - what happened to her career? And will the on-screen relationship last?
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 6]
As Fate Would Have It
Shown 25th October 2005 - Tuesday
The psychic kid predicts that Corporate guy will be assassinated. The MIBs pull out all the stops to protect him. Suddenly he seems more sympathetic - which makes you wonder, who is trying to kill him?
The MIB's son is having more blackouts. And when we find out more about them, yet more questions are raised.
The US Government subpoenas the wee girl's diary.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 7]
Life Interrupted
Shown 1st November 2005 - Tuesday
The MIB guy finds himself in an alternate reality where the 4400 don't exist. He has a wife - and a feeling that all might not be as it seems. Will he stay in this perfect existence, or try to return to the world he is used to?
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 8]
Carrier
Shown 8th November 2005 - Tuesday
One of the 4400 has a communicable super-disease. She thinks the people who sent her back infected her on purpose, and want her to spread the disease.
Jackeline MacKenzie shows herself willing to do some rather extreme things when she has to. Her MIB partner is still with his wife, and his son is recovering his memory.
The cousin, now running the Foundation, decides to help Lindy Booth 's homeless friends. The suggestion is actually from the mixed-race couple woman, and the Foundation flunky who helps seems to have an agenda of his own.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 9]
Rebirth
Shown 15th November 2005 - Tuesday
A War Criminal has been given the power to cure unborn foetuses. Unfortunately for him, every time he heals one he weakens himself. But if he doesn't heal them, the US Government will extradite him for his crimes.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 10]
Hidden
Shown 22nd November 2005 - Tuesday
The MIB man discovers clues to the disappearance of his son.
Lindy Booth's addiction recovery hits a bump in the road.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 11]
Lockdown
Shown 29th November 2005 - Tuesday
MIB HQ is subjected to a sonic weapon that puts all men in testosterone overdrive. The lady bitch - I mean Boss - gets put out of action, and Jaqueline McKenzie locks herself up with the female non-combatants. The male doc tries to sedate himself, but since the lady MIB is probably too puny to tie him up or bludgeon him unconscious they discuss her shooting him in the head instead!
The military are called in - Roger R Cross [ First Wave, Taken ] leads a hit-team to execute any 4400 members they find. Only the nerd who likes the female MIB can save the day. Will she repay his kindness?
A strange disease begins to affect certain 4400 members. Also, the attack on the MIBs is on Jordan Collier's birthday!
The 4400 Centre gets revamped to make it less like a Cult, and Jeffrey Coombs makes a reeappearance as a 4400-linked scientist.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 12]
The Fifth Page
Shown 6th December 2005 - Tuesday
A strange disease begins to affect certain 4400 members. Jaqueline Mackenzie 's daughter, her partner's wife and nephew ... Peter Coyote is back as head MIB, and has all the 4400 quarantined. But some of them aren't hapy about this.
Jeffrey Cooms seems to be the only man who can find a cure.
The psycho who is accused of murdering Jordan Collier is going to trial. His girlfriend, who should be wearing a white coat in the MIB labs, is Keegan Connor Tracey . she gets Kyle to feel guilty.
The 4400 [Season 2, Episode 13 - Finale]
Mommy's Bosses
Shown 13th December 2005 - Tuesday
The 2 MIBs know the source of the infection, but still have to find a cure. However, Peter Coyote has blackmail info!
Meanwhile, the eeevil baby is causing her mommy to hallucinate.
Kyle is under yet more pressure. Will he confess?
MacKenzie finally hots up for the helpful Nerd. However, the ending just leads on to more trouble. The baby and the dead guy, Jordan Collier, are somehow linked ...
The 4400 [Season 3, Episode 1]
Shown 9th August 2006 [Wednesday]
Season 3 opens with a 2-parter, compiled into a feature-length ep. Peter Coyote is on trial for giving the mutants their medicine. A terrorist group, Nova, tries to assassinate him.
The baby becomes a teenage girl, like the Star-child in V . Her mother ages rapidly, and jeffrey Cooms tries to find a cure. He's also experimenting on himself - he's trying to develop superpowers like the 4400, but his transformation seems more reminiscent of Jeff Goldblum's in The Fly !
The African-American mind-reader from a previous ep is called in to help find the terrorists. One of them is a Beastmaster - he can make household pets attack and kill their owners! Ian Tracey [ Smallville ] is the terrorists' leader.
Return to the TV Reviews
Return to the ORBzine Homepage.
© Speculator 2002-8