The Dead Zone--Finding Rachel, Part 2
The second half of the third-season premiere of
The Dead Zone was, by far, the stronger episode. But then again, last week's episode did have the burden of establishing the storyline, and introducing us to new characters. Part two was all payoff--not only on the events of last week, but also on things that have been bubbling since last year. A couple of great movements foward in the plot--Purdy discovering Johnny's obsession with Stillson including the white board in the basement, Stillson pushing Purdy into giving him the last few remaining dollars from Johnny's trust fund, Walt and Sarah's growing rift over Johnny (I loved the scene where we saw J.J. overhearing their conversation. Based on an interview I saw with Anthony Michael Hall, I can sort of guess where all this is going) and Stillson has now ascended to power. Of course, as with any good on-going storyline, several key questions were left unresolved--did Rachel actually find something on Stillson that led to her death? (I refuse to believe that Purdy's accountant was the murderer) When Johnny touched the piece of paper in jail at the same time as Purdy, did he see something in a vision? (He certainly appeared to have a knowing look!). Will Johnny back off Stillson now or keep on going? Is his ascent to power creating the armageddon Johnny sees when they touch and if so, how? Is Johnny making things better or worse?
I liked that the storyline was told from an increasing sense of despration for Johnny. The scene in the beginning where he took the lie detector test and channeled the others who used the detector as well was nicely done. Also, I liked that as much as Johnny wanted to prove himself innocent, the more he did, the worse it appeared for him--even with having Walt on his side. And I like that we got a bit more exploration of Rebecca than just the angry sister who maybe later hooks up with Johnny. I will be interested to see the reason they come up with for keeping the character around for the rest of her run this season--though the lingering questions about why her sister was murdered may be reason enough.
Of course, my other question in all of this was--what happened to Dana? Surely you'd think a story about her favorite subject of Johnny Smith being in jail would have her come running. Also, she's been so vocal in her defense of him, that she would be right out there on the front lines as well. I certainly hope that Dana isn't being dropped from the show, simply because I think the character is good and, besides, seeing Kristen Dalton is NEVER a bad thing...
posted by Michael Hickerson at 6/14/2004 10:39:00 AM |
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