Episode Title: Mommy’s Bosses
Episode Airdate: August 28th, 2005
You may be wondering why I’m doing a recap/review for this episode, when I had never done one for this show before. Well, I was so utterly amazed by this episode that I wanted to give it so much more attention than just mentioning it for a few paragraphs in my Monday flagship column. I felt that there were so many important things happening in this episode, in so many scenes, that it deserved a much more detailed look. Honestly, this finale competed with Smallville’s incredible finale, as one of the best endings for both the fall and summer seasons. Seeing episodes like this has made me retroactively feel under whelmed by astounding shows like 24 and Lost, which you will rarely hear me say a negative thing about. Along with that, I kinda bailed on doing the Dead Zone recap/reviews, so I felt I owed you summer readers something.
Episode Recap:
We begin the episode with a very helpful “previously” montage. Important scenes include: Maia’s diary being found, with an entry saying “Mommy’s bosses will be punished for betraying us,” Maia is in the hospital under Dr. Hudson’s watch, Shawn can’t heel anybody anymore and is in quarantine, Richard takes over the 4400 clinic, telling healthy 4400’s not to go into quarantine, the discovery that there is a synthetic substance (promicine—which I may be spelling wrong—inhibitor) in the blood of every 4400, Lilly and Isabelle running out on Richard, and Ryland telling Tom and Diana that the safety of the American people outweighs the well being of the 4400. This montage was particularly helpful because I had pretty much forgotten about Maia’s diary entry about her mother’s bosses from the beginning of the season. Very impressive continuity that helped tie the season bookends together.
Nate McCullough (a 4400) is frantically running through some alleys when he is captured by Diana and Tom, who regrettably tell him that he has to go into quarantine. After putting him in the squad car, Tom and Diana wonder why they’re doing this and that it’s wrong. Diana tells Tom that they may not be able to trust Ryland, and that until they know how far up it goes, they have to stay calm and handle this quietly. Meanwhile, McCullough crumples up a piece of paper with the safe house address on it.
At the safe house, Richard argues with Lilly about her and Isabelle running out of him. She tells Richard he admires what he’s doing, but it’s not her fight. After the conversation, Lilly looks at the mirror and sees that she’s covered in hideous rashes. She calls 911 in a panic, but then looks in the mirror again and sees that the rashes are gone.
At NTAC, Tom and Diana meet up with Ryland and Nina. Seven 4400’s have died, and there is no vaccine. I find it interesting that Tom mentions Alana and Maia when worried about the 4400’s dying, but not Shawn.
In quarantine, Tom meets up with Alana, but she doesn’t recognize him. Diana tends to Maia, but she’s asleep. A weary Shawn tells her that Maia talked about her earlier, and that she’d make everything okay. Diana grabs Tom, and they rush into Hudson’s office. Diana pulls a gun on him, as Tom shuts the shades. She tells Hudson they have some things to talk about.
A very strong beginning to the episode. Like I said in my Case of the Mondays column earlier this week, I like the underlying tone that nobody can be trusted. It adds to the frantic nature of Tom and Diana’s mission, and the fact that 4400’s are now dying only complements that. I also like how both Tom and Diana are so closely and emotionally linked to members of the 4400, that they’re willing to do anything to find the solution.
We return with a flashback to October 12, 2004 (eight weeks after the 4400 returned). Dr. Hudson is telling Ryland that they may have let the 4400 out too early, discussing Orson Bailey and his telekinesis ability (from the series premiere). Dr. Hudson explains that Bailey is displaying a fifth neurotransmitter, and that promicine is a “backstage pass to the brain.” Dr. Hudson tells Ryland that every 4400 that he’s tested on has promicine in their blood, and that in time each of them will have an ability. Ryland tells him to put everything on paper so he can explain it to DC.
In present time, Hudson explains that DC panicked and told him to create an inhibitor. Hudson made one, and gave it to each 4400 every time they came in. Tom says that it doesn’t work, because they still have abilities. Hudson counters that only a small percentage has abilities, but without the inhibitor every one of them would.
Kyle answers the door, and Allison is standing outside. She tells him that Roy was convinced to take a plea bargain for life in prison. Kyle assures her that Roy won’t go to prison. They’ve really added a lot of dimensions to Kyle’s character this past season.
At NTAC, Diana and Tom discover that there is no proof whatsoever of Orson Bailey’s existence. No pictures, no records, nothing. He was eliminated so that, historically speaking, there would be no casualties. Tom tells Diana they’ve done everything they can about getting a cure.
Tom and Diana want Dr. Burkhoff to move to a less exposed environment. In a very funny line, Burkhoff states “six years in a psychiatric hospital suffering from paranoid personality disorder….once I get out, you two put me smack in the middle of a conspiracy!” Matthew assures Tom and Diana that he can get Burkhoff to a safe location. Burkhoff says that if he can find one person who was not exposed to the inhibitor, he thinks he can neutralize it.
That brings us to the diabolical baby Isabelle! Lilly is in the kitchen when Brian comes by with some groceries. He seems to be acting very flirtatious and forward, and reveals that his wife kicked him out when she found out he was helping Lilly. He starts caressing her face and telling her he never should have left her in the first place. An uncomfortable Lilly tells him that she doesn’t want this. Soon, they start physically fighting, when Lilly smacks him in the face. Brian throws her to the floor, and Lilly grabs a knife. She stabs him, and he drops to the ground. The phone rings, and Lilly answers it. It’s Brian. A confused Lilly looks around the house, but it’s empty. Dude, that baby is gonna be SUCH a handful during her teenage years.
Matthew and Richard discover that one of the safe houses has stopped communicating, meaning that it’s probably been found. Richard says they should be fighting back, but Matthew reminds him that once they take that step, there’s no coming back. A frantic (and humorous) Burkhoff says he needs a 4400 that hasn’t been exposed to the inhibitor. Richard says he might be able to get him that.
Lilly’s cell phone starts vibrating. She slowly walks over to it and stares at the caller ID. She then puts on the silencer and walks away. Overall a great couple scenes. I was left actually yelling at Lilly, telling her to answer the damn phone. They’re doing a nice job of tying things together (such as Isabell never being exposed to the inhibitor).
Ryland and Tom are in Ryland’s office, talking pretty cryptically. They’ve done a nice job of slowly turning Ryland more and more sinister. During their disturbing discussion, we see Dr. Hudson walking to his car. Ryland hands Tom a manila envelope, with photos of Kyle acting all sniper-ish inside. Tom asks Ryland why he didn’t stop this, and he says he was letting the future take place. Ryland explains that setting up Roy was a gift. As Tom storms out, Ryland says “Kyle hated quarantine. I wonder what he’ll think of prison.” As Ryland takes a sip of his drink, we hear a gunshot. Inside his car, Hudson lies motionless. He’s dead.
Kyle is in his house writing something on some legal paper, when Tom rushes into the house and tells him that they know about him and Jordan. Tom tells Kyle he’s going to send him to Spain to be with Alana’s friends. We see that Kyle was writing a confession note.
At NTAC, Diana learns about Hudson’s death. Tom arrives, and hands her a file. There is a note from Hudson telling them to look for the firewall memo.
At Lilly’s house, an emotionally distraught Lilly asks Isabelle why she’s playing these mind games. Suddenly Brian arrives banging on the door. Lilly tells him to go away, but Brian insists he’s real. Brian comes in, and Lilly grabs a knife. Lilly is panicking, but Brian calms her down. After dropping the knife, Lilly turns around and sees a weary Shawn standing behind her. He tells her “We’re all gonna die, is this what you want?” Brian (the real one, I think) comes inside and asks what’s wrong. Lilly tells him that if he’s real, they have to go. Isabelle doesn’t want to be there anymore.
Marco explains to Diana and Tom what a firewall is. Marco explains that Ryland never typed, and that his secretary typed everything. Tom and Diana decide to find Jane Ormond, Ryland’s old secretary.
Lilly and Isabelle arrive at the safe house, where Richard greets them. Lilly tells Richard that Isabelle wanted to be with him. Burkhoff walks into the scene, and asks “is that her?” upon seeing Isabelle.
Tom and Diana arrive at Jane Ormond’s house, and it seems as if she was expecting them. She says “you’re here about firewall, right?” and invites them in. We then flashback to October 28, 2004. Dr. Hudson and Ryland are yelling at each other, with Ryland mentioning a 4400 that is a serial killer who is making other people commit murder. Hudson insists that the inhibitor is not ready yet, but Ryland tells him that DC already approved it at the highest level. Hudson says he is not doing this, as he storms out of the office and throws the memo into the trash. In present day, Jane says that she took it home with her, and that she handed in her notice the next day. She always thought Ryland was a great man, but after reading this she couldn’t work for him any more. She thought about reporting it, but the names go too high for a lowly secretary.
Tom and Diana walk out of Jane’s house, discussing how high the names go. So I’m wondering if they are implying that the president is on it. Diana does say “all the way up the chain of command.” Tom says that they can’t report it yet. At least Diana mentions Shawn when she says all the people they care about that can get hurt if they don’t. Tom reveals that Ryland has information on Kyle, and confesses that Kyle killed Jordan. Diana says that she can’t just sit on this, and that Maia is getting sicker. Tom asks for just one hour. This was another great scene, with both characters looking out for the well being of their children, without caring about who else it impacts. Very realistic, and it adds interest putting Tom and Diana somewhat at odds with each other.
At home, Tom and Kyle argue about what to do. Kyle tells him that he has to do it, with all the lives at stake. Kyle tells him that he is confessing to the murder of Jordan, saying that he can’t live knowing that that guy is in jail. Tom brings up that Roy shot at officers and that no matter what he’s going to jail. Kyle says he can’t lie any more. They hug. Tom tells him not to do anything until he gets back.
At quarantine, Ryland is talking to McCullough, telling him that he’ll give him perks if he reveals where the safe house is. Reluctantly, McCullough tells him.
At the safe house, Burkhoff explains the inhibitor and how he can neutralize it, and that it can happen almost instantly. However, since Isabelle is only an infant, he could only draw enough blood to make one shot. Richard tells him “if you can get into quarantine, one shot may be all you need.”
Diana and Tom rush into NTAC, where Nina tells them that Ryland is going to take down the safe house. They rush into the parking lot, where Burkhoff is waiting. He humorously tells them “Don’t shoot” only for Tom and Diana to confusedly ask “why would we shoot you?” He gives them the shot, and dramatically tells them “whatever you do….don’t drop it.”
Ryland and an army of NTAC agents are stationed outside the safe house. Ryland announces that everybody in the house are subject to quarantine, and that they have five minutes to come out peacefully. Tom arrives at the scene, and tells Ryland to call it off, and that the quarantine is over.
During the commercial break, they show an awesome “characters welcome” commercial for WWE RAW. I plan on talking about the overall USA characters welcome commercials in my Monday column, so stay tuned! Wow, that was like a commercial for my Monday column within this column….
We return, and we see that the army of NTAC agents came via an army of navy blue SUVs. Ryland asks Tom if he’s ready to give up his son, but Tom tells him that Kyle is turning himself in. Ryland says that when he wrote the memo, they had no idea where the 4400 were from, or why they had come back.
Meanwhile, in quarantine, Diana comes over to Shawn and tells him that she has medicine for him. She says she’d rather give it to Maia, but it’s not what she’s supposed to do.
Ryland continues telling Tom that there were many reasons to be worried about the 4400. Ryland asks what “save the future” means? Kill us all and start all over?
Diana helps Shawn to his feet, and he walks over to Maia and places his hands on her. Slowly but surely she begins to recover.
Ryland asks Tom who knows what will happen without the inhibitor. Unchecked 4400 abilities may make them regret things later. Ryland then tells his men to step down, and that they’re done here. Tom walks to the front door of the safe house, and tells them that they can all go home.
Tom returns to quarantine, where a healthy and happy Alana greets him. He asks what happened, and she answers “a miracle.” As they embrace, she sees Maia and Diana hugging, and then a (once again) weary Shawn being helped back to his bed. A smile? That’s all you’re going to give him? The kid is your nephew and almost died, and then saved everybody! Give him a hug, dammit.
Tom and Alana return and hope to see Kyle, but he’s not there.
At the 4400 clinic, Shawn lies on the couch reading, acting all wearily. Kyle walks in, strangely wearing some pinstripe pants. Shawn says that he feels like he did 15 keg stands. Shawn explains that Burkhoff took blood samples from the people he heeled, and that everybody should be okay. As Shawn starts talking about how there’s a plan, and that every 4400 plays a part in it, Kyle cuts him off and tells him that he killed Jordan. Kyle explains what happened, and that there’s something or someone inside of him. If there’s a plan, it includes him killing Jordan Collier. Kyle apologizes and begins walking away. Before he leaves, Shawn says “Kyle.” Shawn slowly gets to his feet, and walks over to him. The two embrace, in tears. The expression on Shawn’s face changes, as the music gets darker. Shawn then grabs Kyle’s face, as Kyle drops to his knees, struggling for breath. I’ll talk about this scene in the review.
We return from the commercial break right where we left off. Kyle, still struggling to breathe, begs with Shawn to stop. He says “you’re killing me.” Shawn responds “I’m freeing you.” Just then, Kyle’s face begins to glow and electric shocks of light crawl across Kyle’s face. Out of his mouth, a ball of energy emerges. It blows up, catapulting both of them across each side of the room. They both get up, unsure of what happened.
At Diana’s house, she is making a romantic dinner for Marco. That’s the least she should do for him. She gives him a kiss. Marco kinda reminds me of myself. Only employed. And his whippiness actually gets him the girl. Marco mentions that everybody who was on the firewall memo will be tried for murder. Maia comes into the room and says that nothing’s over, it’s just starting. When Diana asks her to clarify what’s starting, Maia answers “the war.”
Kyle comes home, and Alana gives him a hug. Kyle tells Tom that he’s ready, and Tom asks him if he’s sure he wants to do this. Kyle says he does, and Tom tells him he’ll come with him. A great song is playing in the background however I can’t seem to find the title or artist anywhere. Nevertheless, it’s adding tremendously to the aura of the series of scenes that close the episode. The lyrics are to the effects of: This is your life, is it what you thought it’d be? This is your life, is it what you dreamed it’d be? This is your life, are you who you want to be? If anybody knows what song this is, I’d appreciate an e-mail letting me know. The next scene shows Ryland being arrested as Nina takes back her office. Next, we have Burkhoff injecting himself with the promicine. We then see Richard reading the paper, and as he reaches for his drink, it slides towards him, showing that he has telekinesis. Next, we see Tom and Kyle walking up the stairs of a courthouse, with Tom putting his arm over Kyle’s shoulders. We then see Lilly frantically rush into Isabelle’s room, but she’s not there. We then see a naked dark skinned girl walking through the hallways. She walks into Shawn’s office. She then says “Hello Shawn, I’m Isabelle,” with Shawn having a priceless shocked look on his face.
The final scene shows a man walking through a deserted area. He’s got torn clothing, long hair, and a long beard. The camera pans around, finally revealing it to be Jordan Collier. He brushes his hand on his chest, and then walks away. Incredible ending.
Episode Review:
As I said in the introduction, this episode was amazing, and after watching it I firmly put this show on par with Lost and 24, which I am huge fans of (especially 24). On so many shows that revolve around mysterious happenings, particularly Lost, people on the show always promise you that all these questions will be answered in the finale. Ultimately, you end up scratching your head more than anything. A lot of the times that’s a good thing, but many times you feel like you didn’t get what you promised.
I think this episode was the perfect combination of answering a lot of questions, but leaving you wanting to know so much more. This episode did a great job of explaining a lot of little things, such as why don’t all of the 4400 have abilities? The show has focused around the powers of Shawn, Maia, Isabelle, and the Freak-of-the-Week (TM Smallville) so much, while skirting around the fact that other central characters such as Richard and Jordan are yet to display abilities. Now we know why they haven’t: The government was injecting them with an inhibitor to prevent their abilities from emerging.
Along with having that explained, I found it incredibly climactic when, at the end of the episode, Richard blindly reached for his drink, only for it to slide towards him. Anybody who reads my Monday columns knows that I’ve been fascinated with the fact that Richard was yet to discover any powers, and last week they finally made explicit reference to that. In a way, simple telekinesis was a bit disappointing, but I have a feeling he’ll learn that he’s capable of much more than that. Nevertheless, I found it to be an exciting, quick scene that fulfilled something I’ve been waiting for.
As I mentioned in the recap, the writers have really done a fantastic job adding layers to Kyle’s formerly pretty simplistic character. He was always very gimmicky, for lack of a better word. First he was the guy in the coma and then he was the guy getting controlled by somebody else. Ever since the episode with Alana and Tom’s fantasy world, we’ve discovered that there is a lot more to Kyle than meets the eye. In that episode, we learned what he may have been capable of if none of this 4400 stuff ever happened. After that, we learned that he has ambitions, and cares deeply about the well being of others, even perfect strangers. Even though he was in any way responsible for Jordan’s death, he’s still willing to take full responsibility for it. Like a man, he went to Shawn’s office and told him to his face what he had done. He knows how much Jordan meant to Shawn, and I think it showed a great deal of character that he was willing to tell him in such a respectful way.
Further, I think Kyle had two particularly strong scenes: One with Tom, the other with Shawn. In the scene with Shawn, I enjoyed the way he was nearly out of the office, when suddenly Shawn stops him. Shawn slowly walks towards him, and you really had no clue what he would do. When the two embraced, it really was a powerful image. Then when the music became much darker, and the expression on Shawn’s face changed, you knew there was more to it than that. Then, when Shawn grabbed Kyle and Kyle started struggling to breathe (in a scene reminiscent of the fights Shawn had at school and at home), it seemed like Shawn had really lost it. Soon, it became clear what Shawn was doing: He was trying to free Kyle from whatever was possessing him, in a scene that silently acknowledged that Shawn doesn’t blame HIM (but rather what’s inside of him) for what happened to Jordan. The special effects were cool, as was seeing both of them fly across the room after the explosion. Overall, a very well scripted and well acted scene.
The scene with Tom and Kyle at home and then at the courthouse were great in their subtleties as well. I like how Tom simply asked “Are you sure?” and didn’t try to stop Kyle when he said he was. After all, Tom had already tried to stop him, and Tom understood why he couldn’t continue living a conspiracy, and I thought it was nice how Tom proudly told that to Ryland. However, my favorite part of the scene where Tom and Kyle are walking up the stairs to the courthouse is how Tom puts his arm over Kyle’s shoulder. Much like Shawn, Tom knows that Kyle isn’t responsible for what happened to Jordan. Along with that, we know that Tom loves his son, and would never want anything bad to happen to him. Nevertheless, he’s really proud of him for making this difficult decision, even if he doesn’t necessarily want it to happen. In a lot of ways, this is the closest we’ve ever seen Tom and Kyle.
Another scene I liked because of its simplicity was at the end, when Ryland was getting arrested, and Nina was taking back control of her office. It happened very simply: Ryland put the name plate back on Nina’s desk and then the handcuffs were put around his wrists. Ryland and Nina stare each other down briefly, and then Ryland is taken out of the office by officers. What made the scene so enjoyable for me was the way Nina was initially introduced to the viewers. We were led to believe that Ryland was this great guy fighting the good fight, and that Nina was much less admirable and trustworthy. Yet, in the end, we learned that Nina was the admirable one, while Ryland was the underhanded villain.
This episode also did a really nice job of keeping you constantly guessing about the motives of a lot of the characters. Last week we saw a much darker side of Richard, to the extent that Lilly ran out on him. This week, it was Richard’s thinking and leadership that made thought of using Isabelle for the vaccine, and using the vaccine to heel Shawn so that he could heel others. Further, Matthew has always seemed like a sketchy character, yet it was him that talked Richard out of taking that step towards violence in retaliation. Dr. Hudson was originally really likable and then last week a lot of suspicion was put upon him. In the beginning of the episode the viewers were once again skeptical of him, but after some flashbacks we learned that he was actually against injecting the 4400 with anything. Along with that, he was really the only person involved that seemed to show any regret about what part he played in it.
We were also constantly kept on our toes about Isabelle, and, through her, Brian as well. Ultimately we learned that Brian is a good guy, which I liked (especially after the way he was initially introduced to the audience). We also learned that while Isabelle’s methods may have been unusual, she was actually playing a major role in getting Lilly back to Richard, which in the end led to them being able to save the 4400. And boy, I guess we’ll find out sooner rather than later what Isabelle will be like in her teenage years, huh? And what I found especially interesting in this all is the fact that she went to see Shawn, showing that his role in everything will be quite significant.
Just a note, but I also really liked the way the scenes shifted between Tom confronting Ryland, and Diana giving Shawn the injection. These two were the ones trying to save the 4400, and they’re also the ones most closely linked to them. It was cool seeing them split up, and each conclude the battle in their own way: Tom needed to confront and verbally tear down his once trusted friend and mentor, and Diana had to make a last ditch effort to save her daughter. The scenes were spliced together quite nicely. Along with that, I enjoyed the way that Shawn allowed her to inject him, as it showed a great deal of trust considering all the government had done to them. It was also a bit sweet that the first person Shawn went to was Maia. As I’ve said in my Monday column, these two are the poster children for the 4400.
Of course, I cannot do this review without mentioning the return of Jordan. I must admit, I wasn’t utterly shocked, but it still made for a fantastic ending. The fact that Jordan’s body disappeared after his funeral HAD to mean that he would return. However, the thing I find most interesting about Jordan’s murder, in general, is that it occurred due to two future entities: It was Isabelle who convinced him to go through with the press conference because of her visions, and it was a possessed Kyle that murdered him. Why did the future want him to die? And why did they want him to come back? Also, I like the way he brushed his bare chest upon his return, because that’s where he had gotten shot. I understand that, because he was gone for so long, his hair had to be long and his beard needed to be pronounced and busy, but I’m sure that it was also no mistake that he bore a striking resemblance to Jesus Christ (not to mention the whole dying and coming back thing). It is also no coincidence that he returned shortly after the ball of light exploded, and did he return in that same area that the 4400 originally returned at? As for how returned? I have a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that Shawn had touched him so many times in an attempt to heal him after he was shot. And where was he? My early prediction is that he returned to the future, and is now back, with full memory as to where he was and what happened. In my opinion, it’s no mistake that it’s Jordan saying “We’re salvation” at the beginning of every episode.
I’ll close this up now, but another thing I really enjoyed about this episode was how nicely it tied literally everything together. Mentioning Orson Bailey from the pilot, and using that as a mechanism to describe why events were happening in the second season finale was very logical. Also, using the events of the 4400 that could make people commit murder for him and the way the government panicked because of it was very rational. Along with that, using the early imagery of Shawn sucking the life out of people for his scene with Kyle was impacting. Tying all of this into a passage of Maia’s diary revealed in the first or second episode of the season showed incredible forethought. Like I’ve said, this episode managed to answer so many questions, all while making you wonder so much more. To say the least, I’m looking very forward to next season, and I really hope I don’t have to wait a full year for it.
