The Dead Zone Blog

Written by Adam Targum
Directed by Kevin Speckmaier

Now that the fifth season has come to a close, there are number of questions surrounding “The Dead Zone”.  It’s not just a matter of renewal anymore.  It’s a matter of progress in terms of storytelling.  This season finale was an example of how the series could still deliver a competent episode, but it was also an example of treading water in all the wrong ways. 

First, the good points.  I like the fact that the story started off small.  It was fairly obvious to the audience that the situation was much bigger than Johnny could guess, but from his point of view, it was all about peeling back the layers of the onion and discovering how well he had been used.  Skipping over the major plot contrivance of Johnny accepting a free computer from a contest he didn’t remember entering (something he ought to know better than to ignore by now), the plot unraveled in a measured fashion that allowed the audience to stay one step ahead, dreading what must inevitably come next.

Seen as a whole, from the end of the third season to the end of the fifth, given that they were one big production order, the revelations about Janus, Stilson, and the conspiracy all made sense and build neatly on the sporadic mythology episodes to date.  The purpose of the “Armageddon” is revealed, and it follows a certain brand of logic.  Janus is not unlike the Shadows on “Babylon 5”: knocking over the anthills, ensuring that the nation(s) of choice emerge from the rubble stronger and better than everyone else on the planet.  Stilson is effectively a figurehead, and that allows Stilson to demonstrate some degree of humanity while remaining a figure of darkness. 

This episode also firmly establishes Janus as a figure with enough intelligence and influence to overcome Johnny’s gift.  Sooner or later, the writers need to explain why Johnny is completely unable to gain a victory against Janus, but for now, this episode avoids that problem by centering on a plot by Janus to inform Johnny of a certain reality in a certain way.  Johnny is meant to be a spectator, not to change events.  It’s a subtle point, but one missing from earlier episodes on a similar theme.

The problem, however, is that breaking the production order into two seasons gives the impression of nominal progress.  The two seasons end at essentially the same point: Janus giving Johnny an ultimatum.  If the season had aired 22 episodes, then there might have been a sense of the subtle shift: Janus giving Johnny a basic offer in “Saved”, and now making it more of a demand.  But the difference isn’t enough to make it feel like the fifth season advanced the story very much. 

I’m also disappointed that Purdy had nothing to do with the season finale, after a lot of apparent build-up towards a decision to help Johnny.  It’s hard to imagine how he would have been part of the episode, but the structure of the season and the character’s arc really demanded it.  Without that element, the finale felt incomplete.

It’s also hard not to notice that this episode was produced much earlier in the production order, because a lot of the cast chemistry problems hadn’t kicked in at this point.  Walt seems a lot stronger in this episode than the previous installment, for instance.  In a way, the effect is that the episode doesn’t feel much like a season finale at all. 

This is the part where the season finale review would usually launch into a discussion about the season as a whole, but things will be done differently moving forward.  The “Dead Zone” post-mortem (so to speak) will be the main focus of this week’s episode of “Dispatches from Tuzenor”, the podcast associated with my various reviews.  That episode should be up after the weekend, so anyone interested is invited to drop by the archive site (www.entil2001.com) and click on the link.  (It’s also available on iTunes.)

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4 

Final Rating: 7/10

(Season 5 Final Average: 6.5)
 

Written by Shintaro Shimosawa and James Morris
Directed by James Head

I have a feeling that this one will divide the fans a little bit. For one thing, a lot of people hated The Collector, and this is a direct sequel to that episode from the fourth season. (While the past 21 episodes have been far from cohesive, this proves that the writers had conceived the full 22 episode order as a whole.) On the other hand, this episode finally comes back to the core relationships, and there’s even the feeling that this is meant to be a final statement on those relationships. But the question is: did the execution match the goals?

I’ll look at the idea first. Maligned as it is, the whole connection to the Collector was just a device, a way to put Johnny, Sarah, and Walt through the emotional and psychological wringer. Linda annoyed me, but I understood why she was there. It was about establishing priorities. Sarah admitted that she really loves both Johnny and Walt, but that her future is clearly with Walt. It’s been said before, but there’s a feeling of finality to this particular version. Sarah made her priorities clear: the baby, JJ, Walt, and Johnny. The future, the present, and then the past.

Walt is challenged as well, particular in the possibility of losing his family. The characters have danced around the question of JJ, but this puts it into a very clear perspective. It was all about Sarah, especially once he discovered that a baby was on the way. When he thought that Sarah and the baby were gone, it came down to his feelings about JJ. In the end, he understood that he was JJ’s father, regardless of paternity. So his priorities were clearly aligned.

All of which provides the opportunity for Johnny to make a clean break from the Bannermans. Considering how all the promotion has been focusing on Johnny and Bruce, it feels as though the recent episodes have been about closure in nearly every other respect. Looking back on the past couple of seasons, that process of separation has been reflected in Johnny’s isolation. Unfortunately, it has also led to a degradation of the cast chemistry.

So conceptually, if the series is meant to continue with Johnny and Bruce and precious little else (as often speculated), then this episode is an important part of that process. And since I love context, this episode had plenty of what I enjoy? Why, then, was this not one of the best of the season?

It all comes down to the final act. Up until the final confrontation between Linda and Walt, the episode had been holding its own. And then there was Chris Bruno’s performance. I usually love Walt and how he’s portrayed, but this just felt wrong from the moment Walt started breaking down. It never felt genuine, and that immediately took me out of the story. And that did a lot to undermine the effectiveness of the episode.

(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Recent episodes have highlighted “The Dead Zone”, so it might be something of interest . Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Shintaro Shimosawa, James Morris, and Paul Coyle
Directed by John L. Adams

It’s taken five seasons, and possibly the entire run of the series, for Purdy’s past to take center stage. So was it worth the wait? Purdy has been a central figure in Johnny’s life for a very long time, and there has always been a great deal of tension. Purdy’s personality has been fairly complicated, especially in terms of the intersection of his faith and his ambition and greed. Where did all that begin, and will he and Johnny ever find common ground and peace between them?

In terms of how Purdy’s story was crafted, I think this is a past that makes sense. It might have been a bit much to make his name an alias, hiding some former identity, but it does fit the idea of a man who combines the best and worst of humanity. And his past jumps back and forth between the two extremes. Purdy uses his faith to fuel his greed, yet in the end, he has the potential to perform a selfless act of contrition.

So I liked where they went with Purdy, and the producers put a lot of money and effort into rendering it large on the screen. John Adams did a great job with the direction, and his casting choices were also top notch. And for the most part, I thought the cast chemistry was a lot stronger than it has been of late. Only one thing was bothering me throughout the episode, and it’s something that has been bothering me since the fourth season: David Ogden Stiers.

Looking back on earlier seasons, I felt his performance as Purdy was a lot more subtle. Over time, I think it has become a lot more strained, a lot less nuanced. A lot of his scenes have been rather ham-fisted this season (the end of the premiere, for example), and while it was a bit better in this episode, I still found that his line delivery took me out of the story on occasion. I’ll be gracious and attribute it to Stiers’ advancing age and the overall slip in the chemistry of the cast, but some of the scenes didn’t work for me because of that.

Also, I wonder if this wasn’t a plot point that would have had more impact within a larger context. The previous episode didn’t do a perfect job of it, but the stand-alone elements had consequences on the larger stage of the Johnny/Stilson battle. This episode could have been a turning point for Purdy, following up on “Forbidden Fruit” and the possibility of working against Janus. If this episode had provided Johnny a reason to sympathize with Purdy, or at least come to peace with him, then it could have also led to Purdy deciding to make amends by helping deal with Stilson. Just a few lines, a little context, and the episode could have been that much better.

(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Recent episodes have highlighted “The Dead Zone”, so it might be something of interest . Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Alexandra LaRoche 

Ever since the beginning of the fourth season, I have been annoyed with some of the creative choices for the series.  In particular, there has been a movement towards “message episodes”, where the story is more about preaching a moral than telling a story that makes sense for the characters.  While Johnny’s selfless personality traits do lend themselves to such a direction, it can get tedious week after week.

More than that, the chemistry of the cast has been degrading on screen, and in some instances, it has been distracting.  In terms of isolating Johnny, it would make sense, but it hasn’t been consistent and it doesn’t feel like something the writers and producers had planned.  As a result, a lot of the defining relationships from the earlier seasons feel weakened.  Contributing to that is a lack of connection to the overall mythology, fostered by the episodic structure of the season.  Add occasional bad dialogue, sketchy direction, and odd comedy choices, and it’s little wonder that some fans have been less than pleased. 

So I get the question quite often: what does the series need to do to meet my expectations?  The question is usually framed to suggest that I would never find an episode of the fifth season with the right stuff.  I now have a very good example, however, to counter that claim.  I think that “Vortex” holds up incredibly well.  If all the fifth season episodes were constructed with this level of confidence, things might have been very different.

I don’t intend to get into too much detail, but I think there’s a clear difference between the quality of this episode and, for example, “Panic”.  The writing for “Vortex” manages to tell a strong and compelling story without resorting to plot contrivances or shortcuts.  Johnny’s visions are integrated constantly.  The guest cast works very well, and scenes that could have been over-the-top are kept believable.  Most importantly, the direction and production of the episode is noticeably stronger.  None of the scenes pull you out of the story, wondering why they did what they did. 

The only gimmick is the courtroom drama, but that wasn’t really a gimmick, so much as a way to tie this particular story into the larger tapestry of the series’ mythology.  With that in place, the events are no longer self-contained; the broader impact and implication is also communicated.  This is what I have been looking for, and what has largely been missing.  But that alone wouldn’t have been enough; it was the tight production values that sealed the deal.

(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”.  Recent episodes have highlighted “The Dead Zone”, so it might be something of interest .  Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!) 

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10
 

Written by Loren Segan and Christina Lynch
Directed by Rachel Talalay

With the season already winding down towards the season (and possible series) finale, I’m rather pleased with the fact that the quality of the episodes has kicked up a notch.  I still don’t feel like it has hit the same heights as the first couple of seasons, but relative to the fourth season and the beginning of the fifth, things are looking up! 

A lot of people (including the producers) compared this episode to the classic “Precipitate”, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea.  “Precipitate” was a lot better, especially in terms of clean storytelling.  No matter the complexity, the audience had a good sense of what was happening.  This episode felt a lot more muddled and a bit more tentative in places.

At the same time, I think this was a lot more ambitious than I expected out of the fifth season, and it kept my interest for the entire hour.  Right up until the final revelation, I wasn’t sure how it all fit together.  Most of the recent episodes have been easy to decipher, so it was fun to have an episode that kept me guessing.  If nothing else, it distracted from some of the minor storytelling mishaps along the way. 

I wasn’t thrilled with Bruce’s involvement with the episode, since I’m still not sure how that was supposed to work, and I think some of the transitions between characters were hard for Anthony Michael Hall to communicate.  One thing I’ve complained about is the need for every episode to have an underlying “message”, so the relative lack of a message in this episode was a good thing.  Even so, it was a little easy for Johnny to defuse the situation at the very end, especially given how psychotic Cole had been right up until that point.

The director did a nice enough job of keeping the story straight and avoiding the most obvious drawbacks of the plot device in question, but there were a few moments where the story was almost impossible to follow.  I can easily see how people would get frustrated with the episode, but it did reward patience.  And considering how pathetic the continuity can be on this show, it was interesting to see the knife from “Panic” come back into play. 

This is the third episode in a row that I actually liked.  Even if I still don’t think that the episodes are better than average, especially relative to earlier successes, it is nice to see that the writing staff still has some measure of creativity left in the barrel.

(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”.  Recent episodes have highlighted “The Dead Zone”, so it might be something of interest .  Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!) 

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10
 

Written by Dan Truly
Directed by Michael Robison

All things being equal, I prefer the more serious episodes over the comedic installments.  The reason is actually very simple.  Most of the comedic episodes cast Johnny as a comic figure, which is something that I have a hard time believing.  I much prefer to see Johnny as a man filled with angst, destined to fight a losing battle, despite his gift.  It’s the small victories that give the character nobility, making the battle for the future that much more involving.

In this case, the comedy came from a different angle, using the guest star’s pathetic nature as the source of laughs rather than Johnny.  If anything, Johnny was the near-perfect straight man.  It was easy to believe that Johnny was caught between a desire for self-preservation and his well-established desire to save as many lives as possible, regardless of his personal welfare. 

As mentioned in the review for the previous episode, I sometimes find the “messages” a bit heavy-handed.  And like the previous episode, I thought this did a nice job of delivering the message without going too far.  The “money can’t buy happiness” message was hardly subtle, but it made sense within the context of the story.

The writers managed to make it all come together in an interesting and unexpected way, and in an unexpected twist, Johnny couldn’t prevent the future he foresaw.  That’s one thing that I always find appealing, because it would be easy for him to be right each and every time.  He also has to be wrong or unable to change things in situations that don’t involve Greg Stilson, because that would undermine the integrity of the series. 

One small disappointment was the barely-there appearance of Sarah.  I know a lot of people have been pleased with her absence, but I’ve always liked the character, especially in earlier seasons.  Her absence has been a huge factor in the lack of cast chemistry this season, because Johnny seems to be more isolated.  That supporting cast is a necessary element, and the series would be ill-equipped to survive without it.

I place this on par with the previous episode, and I think it is one of the better episodes of the fifth season.  This also marks the mid-point of the season.  Looking back, the season has certainly struggled to find its voice.  Not one episode has been above average, and that’s a rare circumstance.  With only five episodes left of the season (and possibly the series), there’s not much time to go out on a high note. 

(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”.  Recent episodes have highlighted “The Dead Zone”, so it might be something of interest .  Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4 

Final Rating: 7/10