The 4400

Welcome to Promise City: Built on the graves of 9,000 people.

What a sad yet awesome episode. We said goodbye to the Bill Gates look-alike NTAC geek, Danny Farrell, Mrs. Farrell, Isabelle and Penny Johnson’s Rebecca Parish. For whom did I shed the most tears (yes, that was me you heard bawling through the whole episode)? Danny Farrell. He was estranged from his brother for so long because of Shawn’s abilities, and yet his newly acquired ability caused the deaths of at least 9,000 — and he went to all that trouble to make sure it didn’t kill him. Maybe it was only fitting that he had his brother kill him, in some twisted sort of poetic justice. It didn’t make it any less sad. As Shawn put it, he didn’t want to lose his brother and his mother on the same day. At least it’s brought the whole remaining Baldwin/Farrell clan closer — perhaps our only consolation.

And what has become of those who didn’t die? Everyone in Seattle who survived now has an ability, except Diana, because of Kevin Burkhoff’s bizarre experiments on her last year, and apparently Tom, who for some reason still needs to take the shot (maybe one of you guys can fill in that plot hole for me; you’re always so on the ball). Meghan can make flowers out of pens, Garrity can create clones of himself and Marco… well, Marco kind of ripped off Hiro’s power from Heroes. Hey, I said kind of.

But what’s really happened to the Marked? We know that Tom told Jordan how to get the nanites out of him, but we never saw him actually following his advice. How do we know Jordan isn’t already one of the Marked? If he is, then Isabelle sacrificed herself and her future with Kyle for nothing. Plus, if he really is "naming himself dictator of Seattle," as Diana put it, the world couldn’t be in worse shape. Actually, considering his goals are still so nebulous (what does he want beyond a Promicin-positive world? What happens after?), the world is probably in bad shape regardless of whether he’s Marked or not. Then again, Maia did say that the P-positives are in charge now, and she’s never wrong. You know, except for all the times she has been.

I have to say, this show really does bang-up season finales with beyond-amazing music, and this episode’s use of the Pixies’ "Where Is My Mind?" just made me fall a little bit more in love with the producers. I really have to hand it to them, if they don’t get renewed, they delivered a series finale with a lot of closure, but they weren’t lying in saying that should the show come back, there are plenty of jumping-off points. Will Tom take the shot (if he does in fact need to)? What happens to Seattle? What can possibly stop Jordan Collier? Will Maia grow another 70 feet?

But seriously, this was a fantastic episode, regardless of whether it ended the season or the series, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.


For more 4400 clips, visit our Online Video Guide.

Let’s take stock of where we stand going into the season (series?) finale: Tom, Meghan and Diana are no longer pretending that Tom is really Tom, and in order to save him, Diana may have killed him. Kyle distrusts Cassie more than ever now that pretty much everyone she’s told him to trust has betrayed him. Shawn and Danny’s mother could be dying, and Collier is possibly Marked. Think they could have packed any more in?

The Baldwin/Farrell clan really can’t catch any breaks, can they? On the upside, Shawn, Kyle and Danny are now all Promicin-positive with few ill effects. On the downside, it looks like Mrs. Farrell may be dying from the shot and Tom is lying in the back room of a home-goods store with two bullets in him courtesy of Diana. Isabelle needs to extract herself from that extended family posthaste.

On the whole, the episode really was one of those good-news/bad-news kinds of nights. We got Curtis Peck back (good), then Tom killed him (bad). We can kill off the nanites that apparently hold Tom’s marked personality with high doses of radiation (good), but the process will probably kill the host (bad). Collier won’t be hell-bent on killing off those who can’t process Promicin, but he’ll probably be hell-bent on killing those who can. You see where I’m going with this.

And what was going on with Collier at the end there? I thought the Marked could just inject the nanites with the shot — I wasn’t aware radical surgery involving tubes and gauze was involved. For the first time, we saw Collier looking genuinely scared at the prospect of becoming one of the Marked and using his powers for something he considers evil. I wonder whether this personality will actually take, though, considering his powers.

It was hard not to feel for Isabelle, whose heart was quite obviously not into the whole betraying yet another Baldwin/Farrell boyfriend (especially the one that she actually loves). She has her powers back, but this time she seems to have a moral compass, and knows that helping the Marked abduct Jordan was wrong; at the same time, with all of her powers, she could probably have just run away and managed to avoid detection. But maybe I’m just being overly judgmental, because Tom did tell her that she only had 24 hours to accomplish her task, which could have meant that he had some way to kill her otherwise.

If you’re interested in a few teasers (that aren’t particularly spoilery) about the finale, check out what producer Ira Steven Behr shared with TV Guide. In any case, I’ll see you all back here next week to discuss what could quite possibly be the end of the series.

For most of the episode, I was really feeling sorry for Diana, since she was being betrayed by just about everyone she cared for. Then Drew Imroff blew his brains out. Not only did this guy lose most of his fortune and have his company’s reputation ruined, but his Marked buddies decided this made him too much of a liability. What’s that saying? True friends stab you in the front?

Their plan is to implant Drew’s personality into Jordan Collier — not exactly a low-security candidate. I’m not sure about the long-term viability of the plan, but then again the Marked know how the future turns out, and I don’t, so I’m not going to judge. On the other hand, based on what we’ve seen in the last two episodes, it might be a moral step up for Jordan to be someone else for a while, as he presumably won’t be intent on seeing half of the planet die. Of course, considering the Marked hate P-positives, maybe it’s trading one side of this genocide for the other.

On a disheartening note, it doesn’t look like a Marked personality can be removed without killing the host, and it may not be possible to get the real Tom Baldwin back, despite what Diana and Meghan want. The good news is that at least they now know that he’s not really Tom, no matter how many medical scans he brandishes saying he is.

I don’t think the Marked are as smart as they think they are, giving Isabelle back her powers. Just because she personally can’t attack them now, doesn’t mean she can’t send one of the Promise City dwellers to do so. It doesn’t seem that the Marked have any special powers (other than being creepy in an, "I’m watching you sleep," Lifetime-movie kind of way), so it would seem a simple thing for, say, the guy who induces terrible headaches to kill them, especially now that Isabelle knows the identity of at least one of them. OK, so it’s her boyfriend’s father’s body, but it isn’t him.

There’s no new episode next week, so we have a couple of weeks to breathe before the last two episodes of the season air. You guys always have the best insights into the more conspiratorial aspects of the mythology, so I’m going to leave the theorizing to you. Here are a couple of things I’ve been pondering lately: Is Kyle really a true believer? His conversations with Cassie prove him more skeptical than he lets on, but he does seem to follow Jordan blindly. Will that change if/when Jordan becomes a member of the Marked? Where does Maia fit in with all of this? We haven’t heard much about the future from her lately. Finally, on which side of the aisle do you think Isabelle will end up? Is there even a "good" side to be on?

Holy flurking shnit. Best part of this truly stellar episode? It had to be Richard’s line about his daughter not being a moody toddler (“Oh, Isabelle’s had her moments”). It looks like she’ll be having more of those types of moments in the future, considering “Tom” wants her to get her powers back, but at this point, that should almost be the least of everyone’s worries.

Not only did we find out that Tom is in fact one of the Marked, we now know that he’s got Matthew Ross’s old personality. Oh, he’s also got Isabelle locked up in Kyle’s old room, he shot poor Richard and Cora with enough tranquilizer darts to take down a rhino, and his Marked personality is responsible for Isabelle — who, by the way, is an adult again — coming into being in the first place. OK, this new Tom is a total jerk, but it’s great to see Joel Gretsch stretch his acting muscles a little bit and play someone completely different.

On the other hand, knowing what we do now about what Collier is planning to do, maybe the Marked are actually the good guys. Shawn and Dr. Burkhoff’s plan sounded perfectly reasonable to me: devise a test to ensure that no one needs to die from taking Promicin, meaning that only those who could process the neurotransmitter would take the drug. This didn’t sit well with Collier, who apparently wants everyone to take it so that those who can’t become P-positive will die off, probably leaving him in charge of the whole world. Shawn rightly pointed out that this would be genocide. I hope the History Channel makes room in its non-stop coverage of Hitler to add Jordan Collier to the mix.

Semi-related to all of this was the reunion of Lily and Richard, which improbably ended up being the weakest part of the episode. Yes, I did tear up when Lily disappeared and Richard looked utterly defeated, but we should have had more time to see something we’ve all waited a long time for — especially considering Lily’s death was so sudden. Lily’s part of the plot felt a little shoe-horned in since we never got to hear Cassie or Kyle explain why they were making this random 4400 create Lily for Richard in the first place. It didn’t seem like this Byron fellow was actually giving them any information. Maybe I shouldn’t be complaining; it was still a pretty terrific episode, and even the worst parts would have ranked among the best had they been placed in say, the "ghost" or "trapped in a dream" shows from a few weeks back.

I’m interested to see how far they take the Marked Tom story in the next couple of weeks. The previews have him acting pretty creepy, but I have a feeling that we’ll have normal Tom back by the end of the season.

It would be really nice if just once Tom could have a fun, conflict-free day. Getting lucky and having a lucky day apparently do not go hand in hand. It’s good to see that he and Kyle are, if not exactly back to being a normal family, at least not averse to working together. I’m not sure if they’re more or less dysfunctional than the Tylers, but at least they don’t seem to be on totally opposite sides anymore.

As for the Tylers, well, it could be an SVU plot if it didn’t also involve telekinesis and reverse aging. Let’s not forget that Richard did try to kill Isabelle at the end of last season, and has now kidnapped her, drugged her and turned her back into a toddler. I’m shocked any parent would voluntarily return to the diaper days, but to each his own. What’s interesting about this whole situation (besides, you know, the whole going from 20 to 2 in a day via the amazing antioxidant powers of water), is that we’ve witnessed a complete role-reversal. Last season Isabelle was the one making dangerous unilateral decisions and hurting government agents with psychic power while Richard tried to help keep her under control and stay in line. And now? Isabelle is sort of respectable and Richard is the one pinning people to ceilings with his mind. Oh, and he’s smoking hot. Did I mention that?

Meanwhile, on the other side of Seattle, there were some really exhausted would-be bobby-soxers. To be fair to Tess, she didn’t realize that making people dance for days on end to golden oldies was torture; she had no idea where she was or when it was or even that she had schizophrenia. It looks like she’s been cured since Shawn helped her out, so now she and Kevin can go back to being the most adorable couple on this show since the death of Lily.

But now it’s time to cue the ominous music and take stock of the questions raised in the last three minutes. What’s all this about Kevin devising a way to test Promicin tolerance? What’s the deal with Tom’s Marked mole growing back? Can little Isabelle remember everything? It was a lot to set up, but this show has always been really good about not leaving us hanging for too long.

What are you all hoping to see resolved by the end of the season?

I wanted to like this episode, really I did, but was there even an episode there? All I can remember is what seemed like hundreds of commercial breaks. Perhaps I’m just profoundly disappointed in this episode. It was such a great setup: The NTAC-ers and Collier & Co. wake up in NTAC headquarters with the place in lockdown with no knowledge of how any of them got there. Before we’ve even reached the end of the first half hour, Megan and Shawn are dead. And then, with bated breath we wait for the big reveal (Is it the people from the future? The Marked?), only to find out that it’s all the work of... PJ’s dream? PJ, the third anonymous member of the NTAC geek squad? It almost made me want to flip to the rerun of that Pussycat Dolls show.

PJ, despite being a government agent with access to sensitive materials regarding the 4400 and Jordan Collier, apparently decided a couple of months ago to take the shot for no discernible reason whatsoever. His power allowed him to put together people who hated each other (first victims: his fiancée and his mother) in a video-game-like dream sequence in order to make them cooperate. So, with this admirable "can’t we all just get along" thought, he decided to do the same thing for these two groups, with mixed results. Nothing has really changed, after all, with the exception of Tom and Jordan now being on a first-name basis, and PJ himself being put in jail for being Promicin-positive. Like I said: profound disappointment.

I couldn’t help but notice that the title of this episode — "No Exit" — works on several levels. Obviously, they couldn’t get out of NTAC, a) because it wasn’t real and b) because the goal wasn’t to get out, it was simply to kill the building. Beyond that though, it’s the title of a Sartre play in which hell is other people. We had several former couples all stuck together, not to mention Jordan and Kyle (who, if I didn’t know better, I would describe as certifiable nut jobs), and a tween born in the 1930s. As much as it was a relief to find out that no one had actually died, it also made me wonder why I’d just spent the previous hour watching this show. What purpose did this episode serve?

There is a silver lining to this episode, and it’s that it’s over. It was the weakest of the season by far, and so there’s (hopefully) nowhere to go but up. I don’t want to give anything away, since I know there are many out there who strain to avoid those spoilery previews at the end of each episode, but an old favorite is returning next week, and it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts (especially if any of you strenuously disagree with my assessment of this episode), and especially what your hopes are for the rest of the season now that we’re officially on the back half.

Being a former citizen of “Charm City” (Baltimore), and a current citizen of “The City of Brotherly Love” (Philadelphia), I can’t say that the thought of a place called “Promise City” really appeals to me. Blighted, polluted, crime-ridden places tend to have hopeful names, and Jordan’s new compound — lovely as it may one day be — is somewhat less than a shining beacon. On the other hand, if there’s anyone who can make the situation better, it’s probably him.

Just to refresh everyone’s memory, here’s our situation: Jordan has taken over the worst part of Seattle to transform into the precursor to heaven on earth. Anyone with an ability is welcome to join him, but if he gets attacked, he expands the perimeter by 100 percent. Did I mention that the perimeter markers cause massive headaches in those who aren’t Promicin-positive, therefore displacing “normal” people? What a generous guy.

But even with all of this, Maia thinks he’s a good guy. I, however, am even less sure than I have been in the past. Granted, Maia is never wrong (though how Ben and Diana are supposed to get married now is anyone’s guess), but there could be any number of interpretations for the future she sees going black in the event of Jordan’s death. And as Diana said, “If he’s one of the good guys, what does that make me?”

We’re at the halfway point of the season, and so this episode was about setting up the showdown that’s going to comprise the last six episodes. Considering this, it’s tough to really say too much about it. The only certainty we have is that Jordan is gearing up for a fight, not only against the government but against anyone unwilling to take Promicin — this from a man who said he never wanted to force anyone to take it.

Shawn’s side of the episode had potential but wasn’t really given enough time to develop. He’s in an interesting position considering that, in trying to walk the all-inclusive path, he’s making himself into an enemy of both sides. While everyone else in his life is taking sides (with the possible exception of Tom), Shawn has effectively placed himself in neutral.

Here are some questions to consider as we gear up for the latter half of the season: Where are Tom and Diana going to end up? They work for the government but have a major interest in keeping Promicin-positives (not just 4400s) safe. Also, what are your theories on Maia’s vision going dark in the end?

In honor of the upcoming Simpsons Movie, can I just say it? Best. Episode. Ever. There was a wonderful, vintage X-Files vibe running the whole way through, complete with Lone Gunmen analogue and everything. Plus, that final shot of Tom staring into the mirror while the evil software CEO proclaimed, “When we need him, he’ll be there for us,” gave me goose bumps.

OK, I admit it: This show has me psyched again in a way that I haven’t really been this season. The idea that there are nine other Matthew Rosses out there — 10, if you count Tom — doesn’t bode well for our original-recipe 4400s. I’m not sure what it means for the extra-crispies, but I doubt it’ll be all sunshine and rainbows for them either. Plus, I’m going to venture a guess here, but somehow I doubt that Gabriel Hewitt’s newly restored health means that he’ll change his mind on the 4400, despite the fact that it was Shawn who cured him. In fact, how do we know that Gabriel Hewitt himself isn’t one of the Marked? But enough speculation on my part.

We were certainly presented with an interesting character in Curtis Peck. I had him down as a crackpot conspiracy theorist (we know that there have been plenty of 4400s in this category) until the scene in his The Marked trailer portraying the final showdown between Isabelle and Matthew. If my memory serves me, the dialogue matched exactly, and we know no one else was a witness to that. Alas, by the end he’d been corrupted by who I can only assume were the Marked, and was off to make more truly terrible movies on a bigger budget.

Of course, now that Tom has been Marked (or something), what does this mean for Jordan and Kyle’s plans? It seems that they’ll attempt to eliminate anyone who tries to hurt the 4400, so that certainly places Tom in a strange category when and if his Marked persona manifests itself. On a related note, I think Kyle’s faith in Jordan might be a bit shakier than it was last week. When Collier proclaimed himself innocent in Hewitt’s stroke, Kyle said he believed him, but not with the same conviction that we’ve heard from Kyle previously. Not that it isn’t possible for Hewitt to have had a stroke naturally, but based on what we’ve seen Isabelle do when she had her powers, and what Collier did to Graham Holt in this season’s premiere, it’s hard not to suspect someone of his caliber.

As always, I have a couple of questions for all of you for the next week: Do you think the Marked are good or evil in relation to Jordan and friends? Which side do you think will end up in control of Tom? Also, don’t forget to check out Curtis Peck’s MySpace page for any possible clues regarding the Marked.

I could have really used that mechanic who can create incredible machines on Sunday night when my computer died. To tell you the truth, I could also have used that nice anxiety extractor. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get this up for you all sooner, especially considering that this was by far the best episode of the season. The upside is that I got to view it a second time, which I think allowed me to better digest what is being set up.

This show does ambiguity like no other. I’m not talking about Hewitt, who is an opportunistic little man with a hateful heart — and good for Shawn for telling him so. Shawn usually doesn’t realize what a bad spot he's in until he's well past the point of no return, but he’s definitely gotten smarter this season. — and he is undeniably evil. I’m talking about this bizarre cult of Jordan, which has morphed into something semiapocalyptic.

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’m undecided about whether these people are — to paraphrase that ubiquitous Collier quote — the enemy, or salvation. My gut tells me that when someone tells you he’s not the enemy, he probably is. But who knows? Jordan is definitely a figure that can’t be boxed into any column. He certainly doesn’t think he’s evil, and his little town didn’t seem like a bad place to live,; on the other hand, he can bring out the worst in people.

Kyle is the most egregious example of this. Sure, Kyle brought the book to Jordan, but even with his new “ability” and lying behavior, I still have a hard time believing that he would have been so manipulative towards his father, had Jordan not validated his thoughts about the book and his sudden wish to turn his cult of personality into a religion. At least in the end they didn’t force Tom to take the shot, but this seems to only have emboldened both of them, and given them a new sense of purpose. At least when Shawn was working with Collier, he had respect for Tom and went to him for advice. Kyle seems to want to set himself up opposite his father, and it seems like Tom realizes this, which may be one of the reasons he was so distraught at the end.

Even with all of this gloom and doom, I have nothing but positive things to say about this episode. It’s nice to have Maia back in her prophet mode, even if she sees only really terrible things. She was always a huge part of what this show was, and the first couple of episodes this season seemed to lose sight of that.

On an unrelated note, I loved the Invasion of the Body Snatchers moment with the little boy pointing and having that unearthly scream come out of his mouth. It’s these little nods to other pieces of the science-fiction genre that make me appreciate The 4400.

My question for you until Sunday is this: Do you think Jordan (and/or the book and cult) is — you guessed it — indeed salvation, or the enemy?

The computer gods conspired against me this week and about 10 minutes before I needed to start watching this (so far fascinating) episode, my computer decided to have a couple of massive malfunctions. I need to shut it down, but I wanted to let you know that if I can't get something up by next week's episode, I'll definitely make next week's recap extra-long. Feel free to use this space to talk about the show.

Till next week (or possibly sooner, if the good folks at the Apple store can help me out).

Update: Good things come to those who wait. I'll have a write-up done by the end of the night on Tuesday.

I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I’ve always been an April fan. It’s been like a look at the bizarro Diana. Of course, now she’s more like Diana-lite — or the female Gary Navarro (Sharif Atkins’ character, who could read minds and was therefore hired by the government). Yes, it was a little like a rehash of that second-season episode, but it seems in keeping with the cyclical nature of this season in the context of the larger mythology of the show.

It certainly seems convenient that all of our main characters’ loved ones who’ve taken the shot develop abilities instead of dying (as 50 percent are supposed to), but it’s to be expected. In terms of abilities, April sure developed a convenient one. OK, maybe not convenient considering it got her boyfriend killed, but if she can prevent murders by getting corporate bigwigs to confess to hiring hit men to kill whistle-blowers, she’s at least contributing positively to society.

Even though we knew it was coming, it was still a relief to hear that our other Skouris girl would be staying in Seattle. I’m a little uncertain as to her situation with Ben (is Maia ever wrong?), but I wouldn’t be crushed if they didn’t stay together.

But let’s consider the Baldwin family’s side to this episode. Shawn is going to run for city council and seems to have the makings of an excellent politician, and his stand puts him on the same side of the Promicin battle as his uncle. At the same time, Kyle is hiding Isabelle while becoming a fierce defender of Collier’s policies. Are Isabelle and Collier on the same side now? Or is this one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of things? I have to admit that I found it surprising that Kyle wouldn’t want his father to take the shot. It’s understandable that he wouldn’t want Tom to be in that other 50 percent of takers, but he’s seemed so adamant about his mission that I guess I thought he would go for it without hesitation.

Here’s something to ponder for next week (pretend you hear that scary truth-telling sound): If you could have April’s power, would you use it for personal gain?

When Jordan said, “We’re not the enemy, we’re salvation,” do you think he was including Isabelle? That last scene certainly set up some big questions for the show. If, as Cassie kept insisting, that was where it all starts, are we really not out of the woods with Ms. Tyler yet? I can’t believe she’ll manage to elude the law for too long after the police find the van that transported her wrecked. Call me a dope, but somehow I think she’ll regain her powers and then she’ll be — dun dun dun — back with a vengeance. Actually, I found myself wondering before her escape whether that whole future crisis had been averted at the end of last season, and if so, where was the show going to go? Those crazy Promicin-puffing producers must have been reading my mind.

Audrey Parker’s story seemed so familiar (it was like a certain Star Trek: Enterprise episode crossed with that Michael Keaton movie about ghosts), but it was nevertheless engaging. The poor woman got killed for being rich and arthritic (though at least her good deed went unpunished — sort of), but at least she inspired people to go out and live their lives when she couldn’t physically do so herself.

She also got Diana to stop and think about her own choices. She seems more ambivalent than ever about whether it’s worth it to be part of NTAC. As she put it, “My entire life just feels like a bunch of compromises all strung together.” She and Tom certainly seem more separate than they used to be, and though I like the relationship forming between Tom and Megan, I still can’t help but pine for Tom and Diana.

On the other hand, Shawn’s change has definitely been for the better. He’s simply grown up, and perhaps not helming an international organization (not to mention not having to deal with Isabelle) has helped him become more self-assured. It’s not about changing the world for him anymore — it’s just about doing what he can to help people. It’s great to see the show back on track after last week.

Audrey Parker must have had a patriotic spirit (excruciating pun not intended), because she kept quoting Ben Franklin. In her memory, I hope you all have a wonderful Fourth of July!

“I forgot how much I liked this.” Shawn, you are wise. We’re only two episodes in and this season is so dark that it’s nice to see someone doing something good with his ability. I’m hoping that these first couple of shows were just setting up something big for the rest of the season, because in comparison to the first couple of episodes last year, both the stories and the characters, though grander in scale, are much less dynamic. What can I say? Cassie Dunleavy is no Isabelle Tyler.

Speaking of Isabelle, Megalyn Echikunwoke is somehow doing much more with the denuded character than she ever did as the personification of evil, so brava to her. Her reaction to finding out that Promicin would kill her was so heartbreaking and understated (and quick) that I almost wished she were once again the main focus.

Things are going only slightly better for her former fiancé. His cousin has taken the drug, his brother, once rabidly anti-4400, wants to, and he himself has a really, really bad haircut. His main problem, though, is that he just doesn’t have enough to do, either as a person or as one of our main story lines.

It was nice to see Tom and Diana working together once again, and I was thrilled to find out that Diana will be sticking around, at least for a little while. And good on Diana for talking Tom out of trying to kill himself again in order to talk to the future. I guess I just wish that we got to see more of them. All parts of the plot this week felt a little rushed, and their scenes more than most.

The main story line, though, set up an interesting question: Is it right to inject Promicin into someone who may not have anything to lose in the hopes that they’ll develop an ability that could be beneficial? The original recipe 4400 had no choice in the matter, much the same as Brandon Powell, but no one (strike that, no one in our time frame) knew what would happen to them, or whether their abilities would be good or bad. On the other hand, Mr. Powell must have followed the news over the past four years and knew what he was getting himself into. I wonder how long he’ll be in jail.

Try to avoid any hallucinations (phobias or creepy redheads) till we next meet, and if you haven’t already done so, check out Matt Webb Mitovich’s Q&A with Meghan Doyle herself, Jenni Baird. She has some interesting insights into the show and her character and just seems like an all-around swell gal.

I suppose it’s time to add Seattle to my running list of the most dangerous places on television. As if Meredith Grey and Co. weren’t bad enough, we were almost subject to growing legions of 16-year-olds with really bad taste in clothing and music (and gym class activities — thumb wrestling, anyone?). But seriously, this Promicin distribution is shaping up to be a catastrophe in and of itself.

The past three seasons have all been about controlling a limited group of people with unpredictable powers, but now the whole premise has been turned on its head. What do you do when people are given a choice in the matter and that group expands? The 4400 were all torn away from their families, and many seemed at best ambivalent and at worst downright scared regarding their abilities. Remember Maia just wanting to be a normal kid two years ago? Graham Holt reveled in his power and grew more ambitious by the minute. Basically, the third-season finale (“50/50”) and last night’s opener pushed the reset button on the show.

Think about it: Tom’s lost someone important to him again (once Kyle, now Alana), one of our major characters just came out of a coma, and we’re yet again unsure whether or not Jordan is good for the world. We left off last year with a sense that the benefits would outweigh the risks of passing out Promicin, but this season is presenting us with a much darker view of events. Even Collier seemed unsure, for perhaps the first time ever. But by the end of the episode, I was left with the sinking feeling that Jordan is now more convinced of his role as a savior than ever; that maybe he even saw Graham Holt as a means to reassure people that he is their “true” leader. “The world doesn’t need you anymore, it has me,” sounded more like a threat than a declaration. He’s also more than willing to cast aside those who helped make him (poor Tess and Kevin!), which may hurt him later on. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of Tess in any condition, especially if, like Marco says, Jordan doesn’t have any control over the original 4400.

Where do we stand with everyone else? Diana, Maia and Ben are headed back to Seattle, thank god. Not that San Sebastian doesn’t look gorgeous, and sure, Marco could save the NTAC scenes all by himself — at least judging by the IM I got from a friend saying, “So much Marco love,” in the middle of the episode — but I need my Tom-and-Diana relationship. Speaking of missing pieces, what happened to Richard, Nina Jarvis and Dennis? And who is this mysterious Cassie Dunleavy? A future agent à la Matthew or Sarah Rutledge? A nefarious influence with motives of her own? Consider me intrigued.

So heading into this season we have a lot of new information to consider. How many of you would take Promicin knowing the risks? Sure, I’d love to dictate everyone’s favorite music (and it would totally be Ben Folds), but I’m not the risk-taking type. If anyone missed the opener, or just wants to watch it again, it’s available in full on the official website.

The 4400 starts up its fourth season this Sunday night, June 17, at 9 pm on USA.

In the meantime, check out some clips from seasons past in our online video guide.