Love blossomed on the 4400 Season 1 Episode 7.
Three ships made it official official much to the delight of fans all around.
Andre and Shanice explored their feelings for each other, after he apologized for using Mariah as a getaway car during the Ypsi Med heist, Soraya and Keisha got together after a few drinks following Keisha’s breakup from Jess (bye, girl. She was only useful for information and she barely gave us any of that), and Jharrel and Claudette locked lips after he helped her get her first real job.
That’s a lot of progress for one hour, and puts the 4400 — who are more than just a number — on the same side officially as their case workers.
This also sets the stage for the battle between team 4400 and the government. You know it’s bad when government workers no longer trust the people that employ them and side with time travelers who may or may not be human.
Soraya, Keisha, and Jharrel have all done something the “higher powers” haven’t — they’ve gotten to know the 4400.
While they might have powers, powers that are potentially dangerous, they are so much more than that.
They are people with feelings, emotions, and a world of backstory.
Claudette’s backstory was explored, which helped paint a better picture of the woman who spent most of her life saying “yes” and “sorry” to a misogynistic, narcissistic husband.
While others called her a lucky woman for being married to the man of a leader of the revolution, he was the lucky one to have been married to a woman with such a spark.
And yet, he tried to silence her spark. When she finally spoke up and suggested taking the fight to the white devils, he scolded her for being out of line and called her a divergent woman.
He tried to get her committed, which is when the green light came to the rescue.
We’re seven episodes in, and aside from wondering what the 4400 are, the big question has been “why them.”
It’s at this moment that I thought of my latest theory — they are all connected because they all needed to be saved.
They all needed an out from the lives that they didn’t want to lead.
4400 — “Empowered Women Empower Women” — Image Number: FFH107b_0005r – Pictured (L – R): Derrick A. King as Rev. Johnston and Crystal Park as Ji-Eun — Photo: Sandy Morris/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Claudette was about to be committed and stripped from her freedoms, La Donna was falling to her death after being trapped in reality TV show hell, Andre almost lost the love of his life after getting her into what he hoped was a groundbreaking trial, the Rev was torn between choosing his family/the church and the mother of his future child, and Hayden was in a place just like Ypsi Med after his mother’s death.
They all needed a second chance, and it’s hard to deny that 2021 has been just that.
Of course, Shanice’s story doesn’t actually fit the narrative because she had just welcomed a baby with Logan and was returning to work from maternity, however, she did have a moment of weakness where she wrote a letter about leaving, so maybe there’s still something to this theory.
Either way, it has been a second chance, for better or worse.
Claudette made the most of her second chance thanks to Jharrel. She got an apartment, which previously belonged to his missing brother Manny, and decided she didn’t want to rely on anyone else for money, so she got a job at a bar.
And she was damn good at that job.
The difference between Claudette and Barney was that she cherished the job as if it was the most glamorous gig in the world.
She knows what it’s like not to be able to have the freedom to work, so she took joy in the things that other employees scoff at including cleaning and taking out the trash.
Claudette got a slice of freedom. And when she found out her friend, Barb, because the leader of the Black Panther movement following her disappearance, well, that empowered her to take a stand against Barney.
She exclaimed that the years may have changed but times didn’t, but she was wrong. It may still be difficult being a person of color — especially a 4400 of color as that’s double the fear for the white man — but at least women have a voice.
And Claudette found hers with the backing of her returned friends.
Barney’s bigotry was put on full display, and he was quickly stripped of that job. Good riddance.
The series focused on Barb’s obituary and noted that she died in 2005, so there’s a chance that Claudette’s husband, Jimmy, is still alive.
I hope, for her sake, that she tracks him down and finally gives him a piece of his mind.
She deserves it for all that he put her through and wanted to do to her.
As for the powers, her healing abilities also seem to be connected to the injury she sustained right before disappearing.
However, Andre’s powers were explored on a deeper level as he became violently ill following the episode at Ypsi Med.
As a refresher, he accidentally healed a guard that Mildred was taking her frustration out.
Up until now, Andre has always been a healer, but that healing was making him sick. The next person he touched — which just so happened to be that arrogant guard — was injured in the same way the Ypsi guard was.
Andre and Shanice later tested the theory and proved that Andre heals the injured and then becomes violently ill himself until he passes on the injury to someone else.
I don’t know what the purpose of that power is, but it proves that he, and likely the remainder of the 4400, are able to cause a lot of pain when in distress.
Keisha, Jharrel, and Shanice also dug deeper into the contract allowing the 4400 to stay at the hotel if they so chose.
There was something seriously “sus” about the contract as the 4400 weren’t encouraged to read it on a deeper level, and by the end of the episode, we found out why — it was the groundwork for a conservatorship (yes, like Britney Spears)!
Anyone who signed it could legally be stripped of their rights and freedoms.
The worst part is that the Rev was in on it. We know he talked to Bill Greene, so my guess is he made some kind of deal with the devil. Shanice always suspected that the Rev couldn’t be trusted, but I wonder what Greene promised him in return for helping him secure souls.
The Rev has to know that the government cannot be trusted.
If everyone else figured out how they are mistreating patients at Ypsi, I don’t believe for a second that he’s blind to the truth.
He’s leading his flock to damnation, which might be worse than what his father was doing by lying and abusing the trust of his congregation.
Elsewhere, LaDonna also got a call from her father and decided to leave. I truly hope she’s not gone for good because she was such a force of nature. She shook up the 4400 in the most positive of ways.
And I was really looking forward to her friendship with Claudette blossom and the whole “wonder triplets” situation.
What did you think of the episode? Will Shanice feel guilty about getting with Andre since her marriage to Logan is still so fresh?
Is Jessica going to retaliate against Keisha? What does she know about their bloodwork that she claimed they weren’t human?
Are you enjoying The CW version of the 4400? Let us know your thoughts and theories in the comments below!