The 4400: The Complete First Season

Review by: Faetra Petillo
FaetraPetillo @TheCinemaSource.com

Way back when I used to read TV Guide constantly, I remember that once a year the magazine would do a front page feature titled “The Best New Show You’re Not Watching”. Now, I’m not sure if they still do that but if they do, The 4400 should be on the front page. Maybe I am alone in not ever hearing much of anything surrounding this series, but after watching the entire first season (in ONE afternoon, by the way), I am astonished as to why promotions for the show were not better.

I think part of the reason this series is so incredible is the completely original idea that drives the plot. The show was created Scott Peters who is most known for his writing credits for shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Outer Limits . So, the premise. Between the years of 1945 and 2003, four thousand and four hundred people from all over of the world disappear. Then, one day (the first episode of the season) all 4,400 people suddenly reappear in Seattle, Washington in the outskirts of Mount Rainier from a giant ball of light government agents originally thought was a comet. “The 4400” do not remember where they were when they were missing (some for fifty years, some for as little as one year) and have not aged a bit. They are held in quarantine by government agents but eventually released because of lack of substantial reasoning to hold them when they have committed no crime. Now, thrown out into the world the 4400 try to solve the missing pieces as to what happened to them and try to get their lives back on track. For some, it is harder than others because of special “abilities” that they seem to have acquired since returning. Taking special interest in the case is agent Tom Baldwin ( Joel Gretsch ), whose nephew is one of the 4400 and son witnessed his “abduction” and quickly went into a coma after. His partner, Diana Skouris ( Jacqueline McKenzie ) and his boss Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote), both try to assist him in getting to the bottom of the case of the 4400 and simultaneously protecting them.

If anything, I will tell you that this show is seriously addicting, definitely in a good way. I’m usually not the biggest fan of science fiction television series, and found this story to be incredibly interesting. I think it is because the story is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and with every episode you peel off another layer of the onion. Even in the final episode, where much about the “abductions” are revealed, you still are left with a thousand and one questions (which hopefully for all us fans will be answered in season two). While the writing leaves a little ...