USA’s The 4400 This is a Good Sci Fi Show

This is the forth season of USA networks The 4400, the story of 4400 people who were abducted at various times in the past and then returned to the present in one big group. They all have 4400 ‘abilities’ which make them superhuman in some unpredictable way. The first season was kind of cheesy and the main focus was that we met a new 4400 each week and saw how their power was really screwing up their lives. They have pretty much given up on that kind of story now, though they still have a little slug line at the bottom the screen when we met a new 4400 that tells us what year they were abducted.

The science part of this science fiction series has to do with a special substances in the blood of the 4400 called Promycin that gives them their abilities. Once this is discovered it is also discovered that anyone can take a shot of Promycin and have a 50/50 chance of getting an ability. The current plot line involves a group of time traveling body snatchers that are trying to stop the 4400 from taking over the world. The 4400 have found a book that tells them they will bring about heaven on earth, the time travelers from the future say they will destroy the world. But we know and like most of the 4400, while the time travelers are a nasty bunch of cold blooded types that don’t mind killing anyone that gets in their way.

Like all modern shows with massive story arcs, there is a lot of stuff that happens every episode that doesn’t seem to make much sense. The feeling is that in the fullness of time all will be revealed, but who knows? Each episode also has a couple of subplots that are dealt with, but they often have their own long story arcs as well. Just watching one or two episodes would be confusing. I’ve seen just about all of them and still need to pay attention to the opening re-caps to figure out what is going on sometimes. But The 4400 is still a fun show to watch.

Laceym thinks it’s a great show and gives a good review of Ghost in The Machine. Burdorff does his usual fine job of novelizing the episode and thinks the story is getting a bit complex.

Well, yeah.