S01.E06: If You Love Something

[AnimeMania]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - Jharrel (Joseph David Jones) and Keisha (Ireon Roach) must earn the trust of the 4400 if they truly want to help keep them safe. Hayden (AMARR) convinces LaDonna (Khailah Johnson) and Andre (TL Thompson) to visit Ypsi Med and Rev (Derrick A. King) continues to grow his flock. The series also stars Brittany Adebumola, Jaye Ladymore, Cory Jeacoma, and Autumn Best. Rachel Raimist directed the episode written by Shomari Kirkwood.

Original Airdate: 11/29/2021     (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET)   CW

[rwlevin]

Today I learned not to torture a telepath in order to strengthen her powers because revenge will be very very painful.

[shapeshifter]

8 minutes ago, rwlevin said:

Today I learned not to torture a telepath in order to strengthen her powers because revenge will be very very painful.

Yeah.

But except for the gratuitous violence, it was a better than the average bear episode.

[Chicago Redshirt]

This was the first episode in a while that seemed like there was some forward movement in the big picture story of the 4400 and an interesting arc in the present and interesting character development in the past simultaneously. I liked Hayden's backstory, I like the development that at least some part of the government knows some of the 4400 have powers.

I loved how Doc was so convinced that he had recorded the code but only recorded himself being giddily pleased with himself. 

I like that Jharrel and Keisha (aka the Muggle Twins aka Brand X Mulder and Scully) are now in the know about the powers and here to help. 

The notion that the government is actively oppressing the 4400 from the jump IMO is far more realistic than the OG 4400's take. And maybe I can fanwank that the mistreatment was purposeful -- an attempt to provoke people into revealing their powers so that the government can study them further.  And maybe Mr. Greene's agenda is to expose them to more stimuli so that others whose powers haven't revealed themselves might? But what all tipped the government off in the first place?

That said, a lot could have been better.

It is blatantly stupid to have the government commandeer a wing of a public hospital to conduct their SECRET experimentation and torture in, as well as to have the one security measure be a four digit code and random dudes with assault rifles. Also, they tried to explain away the lack of cameras by saying that they didn't want any evidence of what was being done. But it's easy to have a closed-circuit video system that doesn't record, so...

Logan should have some more consistent characterization. An episode or two he was pissed because Mariah put a video she received on social media -- something completely legal and within her rights -- and basically screamed at Shanice for inspiring her to do that even though she totally didn't. This episode, when she did something that was absolutely illegal and dangerous -- getting involved in freeing a person from government custody and going up against people without guns -- he's like "Well, no harm no foul and she'll be grounded but BACK OFF SHANICE for daring to be upset that she could have been killed." Time for the show to include a more sympathetic cis-het white guy or two. 

The notion of "They can't kick you out if you found a church here" deserves all the roll-eyes. 

A little Rev probably will go a long way. It seems dumb to have Light Lass shine a green light on the congregation when they should be keeping their abilities on the downlow. Not only could non-4400 see this, but presumably even some of the 4400 do not know that at least some of the 4400 have abilities. 

No Claudette at all other than a name drop and no Soraya makes me a little sad. 

[Boofish]

So did they change LaDonna's ability or am I loosing what's left of my sanity. One week she could think of something like her phone and it just appears and now this week she is shapeshifting. I see they finally revealed Doc's power. I assume Claudette can only heal herself (maybe she is 2021 Isabella without being annoying and unlikeable) and Doc can heal other people.

[AnimeMania]

58 minutes ago, Boofish said:

So did they change LaDonna's ability or am I loosing what's left of my sanity. One week she could think of something like her phone and it just appears and now this week she is shapeshifting.

LaDonna creates illusions that look real but have no substance.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The scope of their powers is interesting to me.

LaDonna's illusion-casting is apparently sophisticated enough to dupe a computer. She was able to fool the government doctor's computer into giving her access by some level of biometrics. This suggests that she manifests something visible as opposed to tricking people's brains into seeing what she wants them to see. Yet she can't (or can't yet) do audio illusions on any level. When she was portraying the government doctor, she wasn't able to mimic his voice. And when she was pretending to be Keisha's girlfriend, Keisha immediately recognized LaDonna's voice.

I am curious (as with all clairvoyants) if what Hayden envisions is the unavoidable future or if it's just one of a possible set of futures.  

They seemed to say that Doc can heal. But what was the deal with him seeing his pet rat a couple episodes back?

Shanice's memory retrieval apparently has the equivalent of an "zoom and enhance" function in that she could establish the four-digit code even though Doc didn't independently remember it and was probably too far away to see it clearly. Also, she could pick out a particular memory at least with Doc's consent. But she was able to semi-randomly slip into another memory of Doc's that she wasn't looking for. It also seems the person whose memory she's retrieving knows what she is seeing, judging by Doc's embarrassment over Shanice murmuring that she loves her husband. But that also somewhat contradicts the earlier notion, because Doc should have had access to the code on his own same as Shanice if Doc could see what she saw.

I think it is also worth noting that generally speaking the main 4400 we've seen have only developed budget-friendly powers.  No CGI or anything is necessary for any of the main or secondary cast, and only a little for what we saw of Bird Lady and Lava Guy.

[JonasArm]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

They seemed to say that Doc can heal. But what was the deal with him seeing his pet rat a couple episodes back?

It's interesting, I took that scene as the baddies experimenting to give themselves powers.

[peachmangosteen]

I was so confused by the ending. Who is the 'she' Mildred is leaving to save?