Season reviews:        Season One        Season Two        Season Three        Season Four

It is regrettable but an increasing number of quality television series are being cancelled before they have the chance to tell the entire story. Usually they meet their untimely demise one or two seasons into their run. The USA network had a show that lasted a little longer but still was cancelled while it was still fresh and innovative; ‘The 4400’. It started out its life as a science fiction oriented mini series which was well received enough to be given a chance as a regular series. They went on to count that as the first season and the show continued on for three additional years. Each season of this time it continued to grow in the quality it presented to the audience. DVD sets were released along the way so there is a good chance that if you are a fan you have most if not all of them Now CBS Paramount, who has the distribution rights, released a new full series set. Not only does it have all the discs from the individual season sets but there is a new bonus disc that helps cap off the ‘4400’ experience. If you have put off getting them all this is the perfect opportunity. This set not only has more content it retails for less than the combined cost of the four separate box sets so you can consider it a win-win situation.

The concept of the series is simple enough. One day near Seattle, Washington a huge ball of light appears. If disappears as fast and mysteriously as it came leaving behind 4400 people. These people are from all age, national, ethic and cultural groups. They only thing they seem to have in common is they were all reported missing. What turned out to be the truly strange thing are the dates of when they went missing. Some where gone for a few months or years while others where missing for up to five decades. In short order the authorities discover that some of the returnees now possesses unique and powerful paranormal abilities. What made this such a classic work of science fiction is it did what the best of this genre has to offer. It held up the social and political foibles of our day to the scrutiny of the public under the disguise of pure entertainment. This was a series that demanded discussion after each episode. My friends and I would talk for hours dissecting each nuance of the previous episode. You may have some water cooler chats about most television shows but this one was deep enough to provoke real conversation and that is special. Each season had a pervading theme that was explored throughout the episodes. It also had a set of series arcs; some of which were not resolved at the time of cancellation.

Season One

This mini series season had a pilot double episode followed by four one long episodes. It introduces the main characters and situations. The focus is the National Threat Assessment Command (NTAC). It is charged with the management of the 4400 returnees. The lead investigators are Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) and his partner Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie). When reports of 4400’s with extraordinary abilities are verified the agents are kept busy capturing them and returning them to quarantine. Throughout the short run of this season there was a tendency to go for the freak of the week format with a new 4400 power each episode. They did begin to establish the ground rules for the series by introducing a few major characters. There is Shawn Farrell (Patrick Flueger), Tom’s nephew. He was on a camping trip with Tom’s son, Kyle (Chad Faust) when he was taken. Kyle went into a coma at that point and has been unconscious since. Shawn has the ability to heal any disease or injury and brings Kyle back. The big reveal at the end of this season was the 4400 where taken by people in our future. They use Kyle as a conduit to inform Tom that something horrible will happen to the earth and the 4400 were taken, given their abilities and returned in order to change the time line. This took the story from the obvious alien abduction ploy and opened up the potential for alternate time lines.

Season Two

In this season the youngest of the returnees becomes more important. Maia Rutledge was taken at the age of eight back in 1938. She has the ability to see the future and begins to keep a journal of her visions. Maia became very close to Diana who legally adopts her at the start of this season. There were two main themes to this season. The first is that there is a ripple effect caused by the returnees. This became evident when one of the 4400, Tess Doerner (Summer Glau) was diagnosed with a mental problem and sent to a facility. There she met Kevin Burkhoff (Jeffrey Combs) a former neurobiologist suffering from a server disassociation disorder. Tess uses her power of coercion to force the staff and patients to build a tower. They think it is to communicate with the future but instead it cures Kevin. He goes on to do work on the neurotransmitter, promicin, which gives the returnees their power. The future used a ripple in the time line to ensure they would have the technology to create the 4400. The other theme here is an old one by always good; government conspiracy. The government has secretly been giving a promicin repressor to the returnees to prevent them from exhibiting their abilities. One returnee, Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell) was and remains extremely rich and builds the 4400 Center to provide help to all 4400. He also starts a program to help normal people discover the 4400 within; bordering on a cult. He is joined by Shawn who becomes a major member of the center. At the end of the season Jordon is shot and mysteriously disappears.

Season Three

After the very public conflict between the government and the 4400 a radial splinter group, The Nova Group, becomes increasingly proactive for 4400 rights to the point of verging on domestic terrorism. Some of the worse of their actions is the assassination of men involved with the promicin-inhibitor conspiracy. Becoming increasingly important is the child of two returnees; Lily Moore (Laura Allen) and Richard Tyler (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali). They fall in love and get married eventually having a daughter Isabelle (Megalyn Echikunwoke). All of a sudden the infant grows into a beautiful young woman overnight. As she ages her mother also ages rapidly and dies. Isabelle is extremely powerful. Whatever she thinks about happens. Several people with suspicious motives are trying to gain control of her. She is discovered to be an agent of another faction in the future that opposed creating the 4400 and who want the status quo to prevail unchanged by the past. At the end of the season Kevin as discovered a way to give promicin to regular people giving them 4400 type abilities. The catch is about 50% will get power the other half will die. Jordan arranges for promicin to be freely distributed as long as the people know the risk. Tom gets a romantic interest with Alana Mareva (Karina Lombard). She has the ability to create mental alternate universes. She created one where she and Tom were happily married for years. When they finally meet in real life they fall instantly in love since in their minds they have been together for years. The future strikes back by taking some of the 4400, including Maia, back and reseeding them in other timelines. The get Maia back but Alana is lost in the past.

Season Four

In this final season the conflict between the government and the 4400 comes to a head. With an increasing number of regular people taking promicin and gaining powers NTAC, under new management, is hunting the distributor and takers of the drug. Jordan is back and appears to be a new age messiah who wants all humans to have powers. The ones that dies are just the cast offs of evolution. With a growing band of 4400 and promicin positive people Jordan takes over a slum of Seattle and turns it into a paradise, "Promise City". Kyle takes promicin and his power is visions of a beautiful young woman who guides him to help Jordan. Another group shows up, ‘The Marked’. They are sent by the opposing faction in the future to disrupt the promicin movement thus ensuring their future will not be changed. They are able to send the consciousness of a future person back to inhabit the body of a person in our time. This is a much more politically charged season with conspiracies popping up everywhere.

This set has all the discs from the four season sets plus a really great new bonus disc. This disc has background and information not previously revealed. Included in this is a featurette called the Ghost Season. This goes into interviews with cast and crew including insight from Scott Peters, the series’ creator. A lot of background and first draft material is presented in this featurette. This is how the show was made ready for presentation to the studio. The inclusion of all this brand new material helps to make this a must have part of your collection.