The 4400 - Season 3 [2006]

Amazon.co.uk Review

Season two of The 4400 ended not with one, but two shockers. First, baby Isabelle turned into a 20-year-old overnight (now played by Megalyn Echikunwoke). Then, it was revealed that Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell), who was believed dead, is still alive. The third year begins with more surprises. While Isabelle was aging, so was her mother, Lily (Tippi Hedren, replacing Laura Allen), who fast-forwards several decades. Suffice to say, her husband, Richard (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), is not pleased. Also, the Nova Group, a splinter organisation within the 4400, has started to eliminate those they perceive as their enemies—including their own. The 4400's third season was widely considered its weakest, but solid ratings justified a fourth. The pace doesn't pick up until Jordan's return--in real life, Campbell took off 13 months to sail the world--but the concept and the characters remain intriguing. For instance, Shawn (Patrick Flueger), head of the 4400 Center, embarks on a relationship with Isabelle, while his uncle, NTAC agent Tom (Joel Gretsch), gets bad news about wife Alana (Karina Lombard) and good news about son Kyle (Chad Faust). Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote), meanwhile, moves from the NTAC into the private sector where he continues to micro-manage the 4400.

Recurring characters include Gary Navarro (Sharif Atkins), who joins the Nova Group, Dr. Burkoff (Jeffrey Combs), who injects himself with promicin--the mysterious substance associated with the 4400--and the sympathetic Tess (Summer Glau), who assists in his attempt to see if he can develop similar powers. Guest stars include Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact) as a woman with a special interest in Diana's adopted daughter Maia ("Gone") and Brian Dennehy (Cocoon) as Tom's father ("Blink"). As with season two, three features commentary from the cast and crew plus a trio of featurettes. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

A lot more to offer.......2007-08-09

The 1st 2 seasons steadily improved upon a simple formula. 4400 people who disappeared without a trace return all at once. It turns out they were abducted and have each been given a special power, but by who & why? It's those 2 questions that season 3 really starts to get it's teeth into. The little pre-cog girl mya tells her adopted mum she's going to forget about her and the story that follows opens up a whole new area that is more important than anything thats gone before. Just who took these people & why starts to be shown and into the mix is thrown the former baby of 4400's Lily & richard, Isabelle. she has become an adult overnight at the cost of her mother rapidly aging too. isabelle it turns out has more power than the other 4400's. before long she is becoming dangerous & begins to frighten those around her, including Shawn.
As all this takes place doc Burkoff appears to slip into madness & near death as he injects hiself with the 4400 hormone pro-mycin. Ryland returns more nasty than ever and a character that was thought long gone returns to startling effect.
There are fewer of the stand-alone 'lets take a look at a single 4400 & their power' episodes as all the major characters begin to become more & more important time spent away from them begins to feel redundant. There are some terriffic plot twists & although it takes a couple of episodes to get going once it does it never looks back & just keeps gathering pace & urgency.
The only other programme of this type is really 'Battlestar galactica', a different setting I know but they share the fact that they are unaffraid to explore personalities, to change characters from good to bad quickly and to make thepeople portrayed appear as frail, greedy and unpleasant as in real life. The boundaries really begin to blur in season 3.
Production values have always been high & that hasn't changed here. picture & especially sound are spot on.
The extra's are fine incl. commentaries but it's the storylines that count here.
If you saw the 1st 2 and enjoyed them then this will not disappoint.

Just keeps getting better.......2007-07-31

4400 is one of the best if not the best TV series I have ever been into, back in season 1 I thought it was ok and worth a watch with a few good stand alone episodes, season 2 is where it really started to come alive and the program was given a serious direction in where the main storyline was heading also the main characters started to gain depth and develop. Season 2 impressed me but Season 3 is simply outstanding this to me is not probably but the best TV show around.

There are a few good twists and turns in this season however the main storyline involving, "why the 44 hundreds where taken and sent back to change the future and how they are to accomplish the mission forced upon them", opens up more clues and questions as the series continues to grow.

Again like other season's there good stand alone episodes that can be enjoyed but cleverly still help piece together a bigger picture, and full credit to all the production team and actors for keeping all the main characters coming back, again one has left the show or been killed off before there characters potential is fully achieved unlike many other shows by this point in a TV shows life line.

One of the things that makes this show so great is the fact it has direction you can see where its going or at least the options available, any sub stories are completed fully usually at the end of each episode and each episode usually also contributes another angle or piece of understanding to the main storyline without loosing you on the way.

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