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By
WAYNE KLEIN
A terrific second season for
"The 4400" the best kept secret on cable. At the
conclusion of the first season of "The 4400" we
found out why 4400 people from various points
during the last century and were abducted and
returned to Earth in the present. It seems
humanity is dying and these people hold the key to
changing the time line for the future insuring the
survival of our species. One woman Lily (Laura
Allen) returns pregnant with the child of Richard
(M. Ali) who had an affair with the woman's mother
during World War II. The only problem is that she
wasn't pregnant when she was abducted. Isabelle
their child may be a savoir or not but the three
of them are being hunted by others with their own
agenda. Many of these people such as Sean the son
of government agent Tom Bishop (Joel Gretsch) have
the ability to heal sick people while a little
girl has the ability to see the future. Bishop and
his partner Diana Skouis (Jacqueline McKenzie)
keep tabs on the 4400 trying to protect them from
those seeking to kill them. Diana adopts Mia the
little girl who can see the future when the two
bond. Jordan (Bill Campbell) a wealthy member of
this exclusive club sets up a philanthropic
organization to help others. Jordan has his own
agenda though as he establishes a cult surrounding
the individuals that come to live in the exclusive
community he establishes for members of the 4400.
We meet a new member of this club Tess (Summer
Glau from "Firefly" and "Serenity") who diagrams a
device made of common household items. She's
committed to a mental institution when she begins
hearing voices. The blinding headaches that Jordan
began experiencing after touching Libby's abdomen
while she was pregnant continue. It also seems
that the baby has some supernatural powers that
allow it to manipulate the minds of others and
kill just with a look.
Produced by "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" writer
Ira Steven Behr and created by Scott Peters ("The
Outer Limits") and Rene Echevarris ("Deep Space
Nine," "Star Trek: The Next Generation,""Medium"
and "Dark Angel") "The 4400" seems the natural
successor to "The X-Files." While the show's
premise will probably lead to the same limitations
that hemmed in "The X-Files" the fact that most of
the 4400 (if not all) have unique gifts allows the
story arc to develop naturally and with a lot of
story potential. While the Scully and Mulder of
this show Tom Bishop and Diana Skouris have their
own issues with each other and their agency the
two actors have nice chemistry that insure the
appeal of the series.
The anamorphic presentation looks extremely good
with a crisp presentation. The 5.1 and 2.0
presentations of the sound doesn't take advantage
of the format all that well but the show does
sound terrific even if the sound mix doesn't take
advantage of the format.
Unlike the first season set the second season has
some very good extras. We get commentary tracks on
three episodes featuring actors Jacqueline
McKenzie, Joel Gretsch, writer-director-creator
Craig Sweeny and producer/writer Ira Steven Behr.
All three are quite good with interesting insights
and observations about the episodes they're
watching.
The featurettes are quite good as well. "Creating
the Ball of Light" features the cast discussing
their take on the show and their characters.
"Return of the 4400" allows cast and crew to
discuss the developments during the second season
of the show. A warning is to watch this
particularly featurette after having viewed all
the second season episodes as those interviewed
reveal developments over the course of season two.
"A Stitch in Time" has interviews with various
scientific experiments about the science behind
the show. We get the usual assortment of previews
included as well.
The second season set is a marked improvement over
the first with some nice featurettes and
commentary tracks. The second season had a number
of fascinating developments for the show. We get
quite a few more episodes for the second season.
If any show is following in the steps of "The
X-Files" successfully it's this show. It manages
to do so without being imitative. |
