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The 4400 season 3 premiere
(click on the names to see responses)
Sun, 11 Jun 2006 23:04:37 -0400
rec.arts.tv
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EGK...
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I have to say I've really liked the first two seasons of The 4400.
Unfortunately, the season 3 premiere left me cold. Talk about 2hrs worth
of nothing much.
Casey McDonald's Guidance Counsellor, Ian J. Ball...
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Totally.
To me, Lily was the emotional heart of the show. Without her, I find my
enthusiasm for this show more than halved. (And that's not including the
Robin Miller...
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Thank you, Ian, for putting it so well. "The emotional heart of the
show" perfectly describes how I've seen Lilly. While I've enjoyed the
show from the beginning, Lilly and Richard were the only two characters
who really grabbed me. I enjoy some of the others--Maia, and Peter
Coyote's character--but Lilly and Richard are/were the two that I really
cared about. Damn. This reminds me of how I felt after watching the
season finale of BSG: they've fundamentally changed a show I really
like, and I'm finding it hard to care about what comes next.
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whole "rapid aging baby" Skiffy cliche which already put this show on
shaky ground at the end last season.)
I'll probably continue watching it because there's nothing else on
Sundays, and it leads into TDZ. But, honestly, if it weren't for TDZ, I
might have just dropped it entirely after this premiere.
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It's a shame but it really smacks of a series where the creators really had
no thought to where it was going and are now having to work something out on
Daniel Damouth...
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Almost all TV shows are written on the fly. Some have a vague idea of
Anthony Cerrato...
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Y'all are wacko! The season premiere was great--lotsa
threads and action, lots happening (we're about to get the
psi war that we waited so log for with Bab 5 spin-offs (why
did JMS wait for so long after the end of the series, and
finally drop it, damnit?) What 4400 will become I think is a
better, more serious treatment of the X-Men theme...and
believe me, they damn sure know where it's all going! I'm
loving it! ...tonyC
Ken from Chicago...
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And just as gray. They all have valid points of view.
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shawn...
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It did lack a certain punch. I'm hoping that's something that they can
fix. They've had long enough to come up with a good idea of where they
are going. Actually I think the events that happened and what they
mean were pretty good ideas. It's just that things moved so slowly in
the episode that it detracted from the possible impact. Part of the
problem was in the trial sequence which tried to make us scared of the
4400, but it did such a poor job that there's no why a huge percentage
of the population would agree with what's his name.
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where they're going. Most don't really.
EGK...
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And that's too bad when the series is centered around an ongoing plot with a
supposed point. They invariably crash under their own weight.
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-Dan Damouth
vague disclaimer...
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Written as they go, not on the fly. There are totally sound (indeed,
Ken from Chicago...
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Jordan was missing.
Billy Campbell takes the series up pro-4400 another level onscreen, just as
Peter Coyote does for the anti-4400 side. Jordan was missing and Nyland was
hospitalized. That opening speech was riveting just with words.
Also there was a big build up for a major conflict in the climax and ...
psych!
No psi battle for you! Awww.
Robin Miller...
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Is the final scene going to stay true? I'll be very upset if that
character has left the show.
Brandy Alexandre...
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I watched that sequence a couple of times and I'm not sure if it was
"Isabel doesn't kill herself and so her mother dies." Or "Isabel
sensed her mother died and so didn't kill herself."
shawn...
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I'm going with mother dies and Isabel got all her memories. Notice
that she put on the wedding ring which is why I think absorbed the
memories as well as the life force.
Wayne Brown...
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That's exactly the same idea I got from that scene.
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ravenlynne...
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Really? I just kinda thought that she was moving on with her life and
accepting that her mom was willing to sacrifice herself for her.
shawn...
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Maybe.. We will have to wait until next week to see what is really
happening.
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ANIM8Rfsk...
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The former. Lily was still fine when Isabel dumped the poison.
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patty1...
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To me, it looked like neither of those, but rather, "Lily dies, and
coincidentally, Isabel decides to live." I wasn't picking up any vibes
that Isabel was particularly tuned into her mother, despite the doctor's
theories about their aging linking them. (And anyway, wouldn't Isabel
jayembee...
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Actually, there had been hints all throughout last season that there
was some sort of psychic connection between the two. There were even
some remarks by Lily to that effect.
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getting older have made Lily *younger*??) For example, she didn't sense
jayembee...
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Why? If Isabelle was absorbing "life energy" from Lily, it seems more
reasonable that Lily would get older (that is, have less life energy).
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that Lily was lying about going for tests at a hospital. She may have
had suspicions, but they looked no more pychic than any suspicions I
would have had under similar circumstances.
Donna B...
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Oh, I thought she definitely knew & still wasn't enough socialized to get
that from social cues!
And, I, too, thoroughly enjoyed the S3 premiere. The subthemes of mutants &
how humans treat anyone who is different are finally coming to fruition.
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If the former, is that saying she's decided to take a walk on the evil
side? If the latter, is she going to be vengeful about/to someone
because of the death of her mother? Hmmm.
Mark Nobles...
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Keep in mind the (reported) reason for the 4400. If what we have been
told is true, and there's no real reason to believe it is, then there
could either be some real bad things that have to be done to fulfill
their mission, or there could be some other force opposing their
mission. In other words, taking the X-Men theme another step, the real
war may not be between ordinary humans and the mutants, but between two
groups of mutants with ordinary humans simply bystanders in the line of
fire.
bklyntv...
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I'm beginning to wonder that too, if there are good mutants and bad
mutants too.
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patty1...
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She doesn't seem evil at all at the moment, which makes me wonder whether
she has no memory of lying to Jordan. I hope we get an explanation of that
storyline at some point.
jayembee...
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I never got the impression that she was lying to Jordan. He just
misinterpreted what she showed him. He saw that he wasn't going to
be dead. He isn't. He just hadn't factored into the equation that he'd
be resurrected.
The other possibility is that, for whatever reason, the plans of the
Future People required that Jordan be killed and resurrected. And the
vision Isabelle gave him was to ensure that that would happen. While
it's not exactly being honest with him, it's not a lie in the evil
sense.
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Rob Jensen...
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I can't see why Isabel would ever trust what's-his-name that gave her
the syringe enough to believe that whatever's in the syringe would do
what he said it would. If I were her, after he hit me, I'd have
patty1...
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Speaking of which, what's up with Matthew? (It is Matthew, right?)
I recall him being curt before, but why did he slap Isabelle?
Ken from Chicago...
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We have to ... stay tuned.
Then again, he seemed right ticked that she would waste so much
potential--especially since she was the cure to the 4400 disease not that
long ago.
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Rob Jensen...
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Because he's eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil.
-- Rob
Ken from Chicago...
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There, there, Rob, scantily clad females in tv shows will always be among
us.
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Brandy Alexandre...
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Hate when that happens. ;)
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plunged that syringe into his neck -- after introducing a few air
bubbles into the needle.
shawn...
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I agree that she shouldn't trust him, but I think the problem is that
she's still a little kid. She's easily misled at this point.
Ken from Chicago...
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Literally a babe in the woods. (That's "babe" as in baby, natch.)
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-- Rob
Brandy Alexandre...
Ken from Chicago...
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WHO DECIDES they really were abducted to the future and sent back to the
present?
Ultimately it's a matter of trust.
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Sadly, she's too naive for that. A nice "please to meet you too" slap
would have been interest. "Awww, I thought that was the custom..."
Ken from Chicago...
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Most babies are slapped on the bottom when born and she remembers her baby
memories.
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bklyntv...
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I agree, the premiere suffered most from the lack of Billy Campbell. I
can only guess that he was tied up with a movie or something. It was a
patty1...
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We knew last year that he was going to be away from the show for an
extended period due to his around-the-world sailing trip. The article
on SciFi's website that Ken posted the link to explains when he'll be
returning.
shawn...
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It also explains that they didn't really think Mr. Campbell would
stick with it this long.
jayembee...
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Well, Campbell was never a regular member of the cast. He was always
billed as just a guest star, so I never expected him to be around all
the time anyway.
I'm actually surprised that Jeffrey Combs is stilled billed as a
guest star. One gets the impression that he's going to be around
for the duration.
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bklyntv...
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Yeah, I caught that after I posted. It's a shame, he's the best part of
the series for me. But good for him, enjoying life on that big old
jayembee...
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I think it's rather cool that he's missing this season in order to
sail, as opposed to missing it because, oh, say, he's tied up with
THE O.C.
bklyntv...
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Yeah, cause as much as I like him on 4400, he kinda stunk up the OC
(which was stinky otherwise also)
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boat.
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drag that they ended up the finale with him alive and didn't follow
through on the premiere.
I thought the premiere overall was great. I'm starting to wonder about
Tom's wife. And it was a shame they killed Lily, but I thought it was
patty1...
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Yeah, I think he's going to regret getting involved with a 4400.
shawn...
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Well, he can't help being involved with the 4400 given the his son and
his friend. I do agree that they are going to introduce more drama
between Tom and his wife due to her 4400 connection. Which makes sense
since there would be little point in keeping her on the show if there
wasn't some kind of conflict between her and Tom.
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I enjoyed the episode, although I agree with those who've bemoaned the
loss of Lily. Great job by Mahershalalhashbaz Ali on showing how much
Richard loved her.
shawn...
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I think the show has lost something it is unlikely to recover by
losing Lilly.
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bklyntv...
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BTW, that whole kitchen blows up and everthing goes blowing around
scene was supposed to be the first we've seen of Richard's special
abilities? Is he now telekinetic? We'd not seen him display anything
before had we?
EGK...
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In last year's season finale. After all the 4400's were off the govt.
supplied inhibitor, they mentioned they would all start developing abilities
they might not have yet shown. Richard was sitting on a bench near the end
of the episode where he moved a coffee cup from one end of the bench to his
hand.
bklyntv...
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Oh yeah, I forgot that scene.
They haven't told us if Richard is Isabelle's biological father have
they? I would think SOMEONE would be curious. I mean, Lily was
ostensibly pregnant with her before she and Richard met, but that's not
to say whoever impregnated her didn't do so with Richard's seed.
EGK...
jayembee...
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It's been strongly implied that Richard is Isabelle's biological
father, and Lily and Richard seem to believe that it's the case,
but there's never been any definitive evidence that that's true.
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But we've got some good storylines going: Maia's new school, the actions
of the Nova Group, Isabel trying to acquire the knowledge and emotional
maturity of a young woman, Ryland trying to get back in the game. (I'm
glad to see Peter Coyote back; I wasn't sure what was going to happen
with him after Ryland was taken away in handcuffs last season.)
Nice to see Ian Tracey, btw, although I'm sure he won't be around much,
since he's in a new Chris Haddock series debuting on CBC sometime next
season.
Ian J. Ball...
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Forget about The Horatio!
YOU CAN'T STOP THE IAN TRACEY (on shows filmed in Canada)!!!!1!11!! ;)
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Oh, and the "Monk" promo with Tony Shalhoub and Patrick Flueger
was hilarious.
shawn...
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That was the best promo they've done yet. Much better than the
Monk/Psyche promos.
jayembee...
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Much, *much* better than the Monk/Psyche promos, but I can't decide
if it's better than the Monk/Johnny Smith promos from a couple of
years back.
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bklyntv...
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I LOVED it. Sometimes these second tier networks try harder. The big
four broadcast networks never made anything that anything that creative.
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done well and her charactor got a decent send-off.
I'm also suddenly suspicous about Diana's boyfriend (is it marco?). Why
did he recommend the Center for Maia? hmmmm... He also seemed a little
too interested in some of the questions he was asking her. Or maybe
I've been watching too many Alias and 24 reruns?
But Gallant (the mind reader, I'm referring to his ER name as I forgot
his 4400 name) was a great story thread, picking up where they left off
and twisting it around.
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unavoidable) business reasons for this, but not having the details
fleshed out is not equal to "a vague idea of where they're going".
Certainly things can be changed if something isn't working (or, indeed,
is working better than expected so that, say, more episode than expected
are ordered), but for any given order size I suspect the broad thrust of
most shows in known at the outset.
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the fly.
Bill Steele...
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This looked to me like a wrapup movie they had written to use as the
final episode in case the series was cancelled. It produced satisfying
conclusions but still left doors open.
EGK...
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I didn't think of it like that at all but I suppose the scene at the end
with the wheat field could be seen like that. "work with us for a better
future or perish".
I was thinking more about all the unanswered questions. It seemed to me a
lot like Lost. Rather than explain any of the past plot, they simply went
on to other things and in completely different directions.
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