The 4400 is fast, fun, bizarre, and beautiful. Great Series!

As many people find their days to hectic to rearrange their busy schedule around specific viewing times of favorite shows, while at
The same time not ready to invest in cable/Tivo packages, the DVD-series publishing of TV series is at an all time high. Now on DVD
You can enjoy shows of old or catch up on news ones. One show I wanted to check out was the 4400.

First off, let me say that this Season one edition is very affordable! I picked up mine for under 30 dollars. You get 2 discs that include 4 episodes and also include the pilot premier! Can’t beat that. Unless of course, it’s not any good. That is not the case with the 4400.

The series centers on a premise that is a cross between the Bermuda triangle, Lost, and a cop drama. You are introduced to the characters via a timeline, showing them getting taken to the sky by a bright light. The years range from the 30’s to 2003. Then one day, a comet is heading towards earth. It’s going to land right in Washington State, and it looks like the world will end. Naw…it slows down, dissipates, and in its place are 4400 people that come to find out, vanished at one time or another. From a Korean War Era Air Force pilot to a little girl who walked into the woods one day in the 40’s, the cast of the 4400 range in age, occupation, race, religion, home country, and date taken. What have changed are two things, and the first one is noticed right off the bat: They haven’t aged a day from the time they vanished!

As they are investigated and processed, they are soon released back upon society as, shall we say refugees? This is where things start to get interesting as well as heart felt. Neighborhoods they once knew are gone. Spouses have remarried. For some half a lifetime, or even half a century has passed, leaving some with a feeling of being outcast and forgotten, lost and misguided. Soon strange things start to happen to specific ones as it seems they came back with some abilities that are not quite human. This starts to lead the Homeland Security Division in Seattle to begin investigating strange cases that are occurring all over the place and are connected directly or indirectly with the 4400.

The series centers on the Seattle Washington area, and this time we’re not messing around with “Twin Peaks”. This is one of the most well written sci-fi crime drama’s written and produced that I have seen for some time. I am hooked! There is suspense, action, and intrigue as we follow two agents on their path towards finding more answers to the mounting questions and concerns that arise for the 4400. Themes of segregation, racism, and abandonment come through strong as a shoulder charge as we feel the plight for the key members of the 4400 that the series profiles, as well as the two agents who have personal vested interests with relationships among the people. Soon things get out of control though, and Washington D.C. sends in a G-man goon to tighten the noose on the 4400 and begin treating them more as a lab experiment gone wrong instead of people who need help.

Joel Gretsch plays Tom Baldwin. Tom’s been spending the last three years of his life at the hospital bedside of his son, who is in a coma. His son went into the coma after hanging out with friend Sean (Patrick Flueger). Sean disappeared that fateful night at the lake, but now of course, he’s back! Tom immediately goes back to his old boss to get back on with the department so he can further delve into the mystery that indirectly put his son in a coma for three years. Soon however, the son wakes up, and the series starts to take another major twist. Jacqueline McKenzie plays Diana Skouris, who is teamed up with Tom. She’s a no nonsense kind of gal and is not happy to be with an agent that just up and quit three years ago. She also tackles the case of the 4400 with little to no humanity or compassion. A little girl that is part of the 4400, and also seems to have a special gift, soon comes into her life, and she is changed forever.

The series follows the various members of the 4400 and how they try to adapt back into society, while at the same time discovering that they are not exactly the same people they were when they left! The show does a great job of melding the law enforcement and investigation side of things into the eerie, eccentric, X-Files/X-men Persona that is now starting to associate itself with these citizens who one day, returned to earth on the tail end of a comet. Time/Space conundrums are revealed a little in the final episode of season one as we start to see an amazing puzzle from a simple looking plot suddenly expand into an awesome display of story writing. The creators of the 4400 really should get a pat on the back for their efforts, I was on the edge of my seat during the final episode. Other things are going on throughout the series, as we find a man and woman enter a community designed for the 4400 and owned and operated by one of their own. Soon they realize this man is after something…and will stop at nothing to get it. How can the couple leave? The man now employs him and he pays for the roof over their heads as well. And how is the woman pregnant immediately after being gone over ten years? We follow their journey as they discover that not everything is as it seems in this cozy little subdivision that was supposed to shelter them from the people out in the “real” world that intend to do them harm.

Families will be reunited, others will be torn apart. Heartless heathens will prey on opportunity, and strong willed agents will do everything they can to protect their loved ones while at the same time trying to return answers to the government that knows nothing more than red tape and statistics. We see some good vs. evil themes mixed in as well of course. The characters created for the 4400 are colorful, enigmatic, and sound. A strong cast is needed but not necessarily a well known one. Each person whether they are Government goon, Homeland Security agent, mother father or brother, all the way down to the 4400 people now added back into earth’s population, has a purpose in life. It is the 4400 that end up having more purpose than they are ever given credit for. I won’t spoil it for you, so you’ll have to go check this out. The neat thing about this series is that we really feel we can identify with the 4400, I mean after all, some bizarre behavior aside, and they are people just like you and me. They were lawyers, pilots, college students and waitresses. Bus Drivers, Accountants, Farmers, and Sailors. Somewhere in their life they left us, but now they are back, and it’s best that we listen to anything they have to say. Be wary though, some were bad seeds before they left and will continue doing dastardly deeds when they return, picking up where they left off. This is apparent in the one showcasing a series of murders by a serial killer whose killing spree begins again, but with a strange new twist. You’ll feel the pain of Tom as he realizes that something is seriously wrong with his son who has come out of his coma. You’ll adore a little girl named Maia Rutledge who for some reason is having a hard time finding foster parents that want to keep her (well you will find out why) until she is taken into the care of a female agent (Skouris). That is all the more I will tell you without spoiling anything. Check out this great series. It’s like Lost, X-files, and CSI all wrapped into one great roller coaster of relationships, strange happenings, and new beginnings. Mankind didn’t forget about them, but Humanity will soon find its hands full!