By Jennifer Larson
When is a lie better than the truth? It doesn’t really matter if you find yourself around Diana’s (Jacqueline McKenzie) little sister, April (Natasha Gregson Wagner). After taking Promicin to soothe the sting of losing her fiancé to Diana, April finds herself with the ability to get the truth and nothing but the truth from everybody she talks to. This is another example of the power of the subconscious, which the creators of THE 4400 delve into week after week in intriguing and powerful ways.
This week’s episode deals with storylines featuring the regular and semi-regular cast — the true strength of the show, IMHO. The ongoing relationships — and how the return of the original 4400 impacts them all — is what ties this eclectic group of people together. The lines between right and wrong and good and bad seem to merge and cross over time and time again, leaving the viewer to wonder whose side they should be on. In a perfect example of just that, the new head of the National Threat Assessment Command (NTAC) is glowing over the miraculous recovery of her father, who was near death until Shawn (Patrick Flueger) used his healing ability to save him. But wait — doesn’t the government strictly prohibit the use of any 4400 ability? I guess nothing is impossible when you are the government. Well, maybe not everything is possible. I mean, poor Diana can’t seem to keep April out of trouble, no matter how hard she tries.
It appears that getting people to spill their innermost secrets isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Diana’s little sis has been using her ability for evil instead of good, by hooking up with some scam artist and blackmailing the poor shmucks that fall under her spell. But, it looks like their ride on the Promicin gravy train has ended, what with the boyfriend being shot and all. Fearing the same fate, April hightails it to the one person she can always count on (except, of course, if you count the whole stealing the fiancé thing), Diana. Maybe it’s the never-ending guilt that keeps Diana running back, time and time again, to save April, or maybe it’s just the fact that she is a career girl at heart. Whichever it is, Diana comes through once more. Not only does she save her sister, she manages to help get her gainful employment in the process. After helping NTAC expose a corporate cover-up, April is offered a job with all the perks a former wild child could want.
Meanwhile, it seems as if the 4400 are eeking their way closer to the seat of power, with Shawn being asked to run for city council. This is very good news to his cousin, Kyle (Chad Faust), who has finally accepted his fate — as written in “The White Light Handbook” — of helping Jordan Collier (Bill Campbell) lead the world to salvation. Considering that Kyle hasn’t told Shawn he has Isabelle (Megalyn Echikunwoke) tucked away in a safehouse somewhere, I’m not sure if he can be completely trusted, and apparently neither does his own father.
Word has gotten out that Shawn may have awoken from his coma with a mega dose of Promicin, and according to NTAC, Kyle is the only person who could have administered it to him. Poor Tom (Joel Gretsch), it looks as if he must save his son from himself yet again. Now NTAC’s top agent is forced to cover for his own family member — who has illegally taken and administered Promicin — while chasing down and arresting strangers who have done exactly the same thing. Oh well, nobody said government work was easy.
And, speaking of government work, the powerful people who are putting Shawn up to run for city council have one condition: oppose the actions of Jordan Collier. I called this one; it appears that there will eventually be some type of power struggle between Jordan and Shawn, his one-time apprentice. Perhaps the calamity the mysterious people from the future predicted starts with the battle between the followers of these two powerful and one-time allies. The real question is: whose side will you be on?