Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Summer TV Rewind: The 4400 1.05: “Trial by Fire”

“I was born in 1922 in Missouri and my skin was as black then as it is now. So I’ve had to worry about fire bombings and lynchings and beatings my entire life. If there’s anything I learned, it’s this. Eventually a man has to take a stand. I’m making mine right here.”
- Richard Tyler

Our journey with the 4400 this summer is nearing a close, folks. Only one more episode to go after this one. When we last left everyone, someone had published the names and addresses of all the 4400 and Shawn had finally brought Kyle out of his coma. Kyle is having some trouble adjusting to being awake and going home. His doctor says they need to put him back in as familiar an environment as possible so Tom is moving back in despite having signed the divorce papers. But Kyle keeps saying that it isn’t his room or his house and he starts shuffling through items in his room as if looking for something. Elsewhere, Jordan Collier is condemning whoever published the list of names on Barbara Yates’ show. Unfortunately, it appears that the public is not reacting well to having members of the 4400 in their midst. Shawn has a procession of cars driving by his house daily. Tom pops by to ask Shawn what he did to Kyle and Shawn admits all he did was put his hands on his cousin and Kyle woke up. Shawn gets defensive when Tom says they need to figure out more about his ability. I can understand that. He doesn’t want to be poked and prodded.

Across town, Lily and Richard get back from a movie and as soon as they open the door to their apartment, it triggers a tripwire and the apartment explodes. That really pissed me off. Not just because they are the cutest couple on the show right now, but because the sheer level of violence and brutality is just uncalled for. And it turns out it was just one of three bombings that day targeting returnees. Understandably, Tom and Diana are concerned about the returnees in their personal orbits. I doubt they’d go after Maia though. For one thing, she’d probably see it coming and I have to believe TV villains aren’t stupid enough to go after someone in basically federal custody.

Diana does some chemical analysis and figures out the bombs are pretty amateur hour. Ryland goes to take of Barbara Yates’ head while our duo tries to track down anyone who could have check out a “how to build a bomb” sites. Ryland doesn’t get far because a DC suit named Warren Lytell arrives and he’s there to clean house. I don’t trust him (though I do feel like I recognize the actor. A quick IMDB search confirms that he was Detective Tommy Sullivan in the final season of Body of Proof). Anyway, yeah I just don’t trust him at all. Meanwhile, Tom and Diana stumble onto a theory that might be helpful in finding their bombers. Tom suggests that the bombings are the ripple effects of Oliver Knox. And we the viewers soon see that Tom is right and the two brothers of one of the victims are targeting the 4400.

Elsewhere, Shawn has to deal with sibling and girlfriend drama when Nikki tells him she’s going to break up with Danny. I get the feeling she liked Shawn when she was younger and then latched on to Danny because he was still there. Sad but probably true and Shawn is not interested. Since Lily and Richard have no place to live, they go see Jordan who offers to make them the first residents in his 4400-exclusive community. A bit creepy but they’ll take it since they are kind of desperate. And while bombers run amok, Kyle is still struggling. Tom comes home to find him ripping up photos because he doesn’t remember having the memories. It’s like he’s a different person. Shawn gets to see this first hand when he comes by ad finds Kyle sitting out in the rain with no shoes on. Weird.

Richard and Lily are settling into their new home and Richard reports that twelve more families will be moving in within the week. Tom and Diana stop in to warn Jordan that it might make him a bigger target by gathering all in one place but Richard says it’s time to make a stand. Unfortunately, it may be a little late for that as we see another returnee who seems to be able to perk plants up just by talking to them gets blown up in a car bomb. And Maia’s been booted from school for the safety of the other children. In a slightly disturbing conversation, she tells Diana that someone is coming that will save them all. Sometimes having a clairvoyant 8-year-old is just plain bizarre.

It seems Ryland is having a better time getting rid of Barbara Yates. She apparently covered up a pretty gruesome hit-and-run she was involved with. So he’s called the police and she’s going to be charged with numerous crimes. Good riddance. She was a far bigger menace than the 4400 ever could hope to be. Lytell is starting to muck up our team by dragging Tom and Diana in and questioning them about their objectivity given their connections to Maia and Shawn. It seems he’s after Ryland really and he’ll use them to get what he wants. We have some slightly annoying Shawn and Nikki drama going on as well. She’s broken up with Danny and Shawn takes her to where the 4400 return and they hookup. I’ll be happy when Nikki is gone.

Things really kick into high gear when Diana makes the connection between one of Oliver Knox’s victims and her siblings. They think they’ve found the right truck (since one brother worked construction and the other worked for the phone company) but it’s a decoy. It’s almost too late when they figure out that the real van is heading for Collier’s community. That’s no big surprise at all. Tom and Diana had a point when they said gathering them all together would make them bigger targets. But with some combined shooting efforts from Tom in a helicopter and Richard and his security team on the ground, they take out the truck before it can do any real damage (it explodes but at least no one is hurt) and the brothers are arrested as terrorists. I had to smile as Tom basically told them they had no right to due process. These guys don’t’ deserve any, even if their sister was murdered. Vigilante justice is never helpful.

It seems that Lytell isn’t done digging into the personal lives of our two favorite agents. He stops by the hospital to inquire about Kyle. Speaking of, Tom and his wife find Kyle sitting under the sprinklers in the back yard naked. Kyle proclaims that he finally understands why he doesn’t fit in. it’s not his friends and family who are the strangers. It’s him. He doesn’t fit or belong. I can’t wait to see how this all resolves. Yes, I know I’ve seen this before but it’s been a while and I don’t quite remember all the details.

No comments:

Post a Comment