The 4400 - Season Four

The first thing that jumped out at me about the fourth and final season of The 4400 is that Diana Skouris was suddenly piling on an overabundance of makeup. This bothered me for the entire season, and I will not buy it if anyone tries to sell me the excuse that it's because she was dating Ben and he made her feel better about herself. No, it was probably because the network thought they could save the show's plummeting ratings by dolling up their female lead (and replacing the head of NTAC with a hot blond to boot.) Didn't work, guys, it just became annoying.

I also had some problems with the writing this season, although they were only continuing from last season - in other words, unnecessary cheesiness. It was funnier than it should have been when Jordan Collier created Promise City and decorated it with giant banners of himself that always appeared to be looking in the direction of whoever was nearby. However there was also The Marked, an episode about a guy whose ability is spreading truth by making really cheesy home movies, and that part was supposed to be funny. I also had a problem with Jordan and Shawn's battle over promicin. It made Jordan look irrational because he never gave a reason why he didn't want people to wait to take the shot, instead acting like Shawn was saying to stop taking it altogether.

But all of that being said, I was satisfied with the ending. I knew the show had been canceled and I worried about an unresolved cliffhanger, but instead they did something along the lines of how Heroes ended (also after four seasons): wrapping up most things but leaving it a little open for a possible fifth season. The 4400 had its ups and downs, but it was always entertaining and I liked how every season had a "time out" episode, i.e. one where we take a break from the regular plotline to explore some weird situation that is happening to someone.

Best episode: Usually I choose the aforementioned "time out" episode for this one, which in this case would be "No Exit", and that would probably be my second choice, but I have to admit I really liked "Tiny Machines" for all of its great character moments. One of the better written episodes this season, I think.

The 4400 - Season Three

Current TV shows will be back in a couple of weeks but until then I'm working on this bad boy. Only one season of The 4400 left after this one!

When we left off at the end of last season, baby Isabelle had inexplicably grown into an adult overnight. Her character arc then proceeded to unfold almost like that of Anakin Skywalker on his journey to becoming Darth Vader. I won't go into detailed comparisons, but I'm sure you could see the similarities yourself if you watched the show. I was fascinated as she went from cute and innocent in episode one to downright psychopathic and highly dangerous in the season finale. Her character brought some of the best storylines in a season that had weak points - like the whole arc about Diana stealing her sister's boyfriend: totally boring to me. I actually found it more entertaining when she was with Marco, or in the episode "Blink" where she spent half of it arguing with an ex (which was great only because the writers introduced a unique way to give us some of Tom's and Diana's back stories). I also felt that the promicin stuff was growing stale around the second half of the season, but it was nice to see Jeffrey Combs and Summer Glau return as Kevin and Tess, and even nicer to see Collier, who I'd previously disliked, finally show up again to own the episode and hand out a verbal smackdown to Isabelle. I was hoping there would be an epic battle between those two in the finale, but they went a different route and instead the season ended with pretty much a ripoff of that shot on The Simpsons (which was probably parodying something else) where Dr. Hibbert says he can't figure out who shot Mr. Burns and then turns to the camera and says "can you?" I guess maybe they were trying to make the viewer think, or feel involved, or at least say "Whoa!", but I only laughed because it was so corny and did not belong in a show where nobody ever acknowledges the camera.

Best Episode: "Gone", which is actually two episodes in two parts, but screw it, I'm counting them together. Like last season's "Life Interrupted", this was another of those cool episodes where we almost take a break from the main storyline to investigate some weird parallel scenario where Maia and other 4400 children are kidnapped and then seemingly erased from the minds and lives of everyone who knew them. A close second would maybe be "The Gospel According to Collier", but only for Billy Campbell's performance.

Retroactive Post - Best Episodes of TV Shows on DVD

I promised it in an earlier post, so here it is: my picks for the best episodes of all of the TV show seasons I've watched on DVD so far. It's something I'm adding to future posts on TV DVDs and I didn't want previous posts to miss out.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume One
I don't know if I have a favourite on this one... Maybe "Revenge of the Mooninites", because I enjoyed Carl's expression of his love for 80's rock band Foreigner, which of course culminated in his head becoming a Connect Four board. Bonus: I didn't review the Volume Two DVD because I didn't really know what I could say about it that I didn't say about the first one, but my pick for best episode on that one is "Super Trivia", because watching the characters sit around a bar playing trivia turned out to be a lot of fun and really funny.

The IT Crowd - Season One
I almost chose "Calamity Jen" because of the hilarious fire brigade commercial, but I'll go with "Fifty-Fifty" because I loved the storyline about Roy wanting to prove that women love bastards. That is an age old debate that may never be settled.

The IT Crowd - Season Two
"Moss and the German", which may be one of my favourite IT Crowd episodes ever, because everything about it is classic - the anti-piracy ad, the weird cannibalism story (which, even weirder, was based on a true story), Roy desperately trying to avoid movie spoilers, and Jen's smoking habit evoking depressing Russian visuals. Definitely one of the most memorable episodes.

The IT Crowd - Season Three
I said in the post for this one that it was the strongest season, and really I could choose any of the six and be fine with that decision, but on a personal level I'd have to go with "Are We Not Men?". As someone who has no interest in sports, I found the conversation bluffing idea to be funny and probably true, though I've never tried it because even in that context I still wouldn't want to discuss sports with anyone.

Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes
I don't think the episodes have titles, but my favourite on this set was the second of the three lost episodes, in which Dave plays "Black Howard Dean" and security guard Gary Coleman, and puts George Castanza's "sex trifecta" to use. It's also the one with the controversial "stereotype pixies", but I don't care so much about that one. If only the Tupac sketch were in this episode instead. And as a bonus, Wikipedia says this episode originally aired on my birthday!

Dexter - Season One
I already mentioned in the post (although not as officially as I'll be doing in the future) that the best episode here was "Return to Sender", because it brought the tension and excitement from about a 4 to an 11, and solidified my enjoyment of the series. I would later be pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire second season is like that one first season episode.

The 4400 - Season One
The 1.5 hour pilot is what sold me on buying the complete series, but I think I'll have to go with "White Light", the season finale, because it had some cool stuff and really showed us where the show was going. Plus, you know, the trees were bending.

Breaking Bad - Season One
I said the first three episodes were the best, so that narrows it down, but I think my favourite is episode three, "...And the Bag's in the River", because the whole Krazy 8 situation was handled amazingly, and the moment where Walt puts the yellow plate back together is one of my favourite parts of the entire series so far.

The 4400 - Season Two

With a longer season than the previous one, we're allowed to get deeper into things, although the season one finale explained quite a bit. Now that we more or less know the reasons behind the whole 4400 situation, we can sit back and watch their destinies fall into place. Luckily that keeps it interesting, because this show could've taken a nosedive after revealing their biggest mystery so soon.

I have to admit there were a couple of laughable moments that took me out of the experience (one was acceptable because it turned out to be a hallucination, and the other was baby Isabelle's killing powers, which was funny more for the way it was shot than the concept itself), but overall I am still enjoying this show. Some of the episodes have that X-Files/Fringe feel because they focus on individual 4400's struggling with their abilities on a case-by-case basis, but they always include the continuing plotlines with our series regulars in every episode as well. I appreciate that balance, although there are two episodes this season (one of them being my favourite, which I will discuss more below) that sort of throw the formula out the window and do something different, which I appreciate even more.

Danny and Collier are douchebags, but Kyle, who we didn't get to know very well last season anyway, became more likable and Shawn a little less so because of his obsession with Collier and wanting to follow in his footsteps. It was also cool to see some familiar faces as guest stars, including Summer Glau and that weird guy from The Frighteners who I really have never seen in anything else. Knowing very little about the series as I watch each episode, these appearances come as pleasant surprises to me because I am a man who enjoys cameos and guest appearances. And finally, I just want to say that the end of the season finale felt a little rushed because they threw about five different plot twist cliffhangers at us, as if they didn't have the time to build up to them while writing the season. But it will at least make the season three premiere more interesting, so I suppose I can't complain.

Best episode: "Life Interrupted", a cool little self-contained mystery where Tom awakes in an alternate world in which the 4400 don't exist and a random stranger is supposed to be his wife. As I said, that episode took a wild left turn from the general story, and it was an awesome and unique way to introduce a romance and phase in a new character without being too intrusive.

The 4400 - Season One

I started getting into The 4400 because I heard it was a Lost type show, and with Lost over I needed something to fill the void for a while. Season one is a mere five episodes long (an odd number, because I thought the shortest a season of any show could be was six episodes), but I picked up the entire series on DVD so you'll be seeing the following seasons on here soon enough.

The 1.5 hour pilot reeled me in fairly quickly because of the cool concept: 4400 people disappeared over the course of about 50 years, then were returned in a mysterious ball of light in present day, none of them having aged but all of them given special gifts or abilities. When my dad saw the DVD cover he guessed that there would be a religious theme due to a belief he'd heard that only 4400 people would get into heaven, but if that is the case then the show has not yet gone in that direction. As of this season, the show basically has two parts: the FBI running an investigation on what happened to the 4400 while they were gone (and what's happening to them now), and the 4400 themselves as they try to adjust to their new lives and abilities upon returning. I have to admit the whole FBI angle is getting tiring after watching Fringe, Flash Forward, and V this season, but I can tolerate it because I, too, am interested in the mysteries behind the 4400. And, mysteries aside, I find the characters likable and sympathetic (as a refreshing change of pace I even like Shawn, the high school student who can give and take life, and I don't really have a track record for liking high school student characters). As the season closed they hinted at a sense of destiny, which I like because that's the kind of thing that makes a rewatch more enjoyable, as you can see everything coming together. Also it was kind of cool that the first four episodes all ended with Kyle, who was sent into a coma when Shawn interrupted his near abduction, because in episode 5 he gave us some important exposition that sets us up for the next season. I love stuff with weird mysteries. This is going to be cool.