Another mystery has hit primetime television.
4400 on The CW is a reboot of The 4400 that aired back in 2004, and while it’s unclear how much the two shows will have in common, the one common denominator seems to be that a whole lot of missing people have traveled to the present-day and are being held against their will by the government.
Time travel isn’t exactly a new trope, but it’s one that continues to be explored as provides plenty of riveting storylines, especially when looked at through a lens of present-day realities.
Much like on Manifest, the “returned” appeared in the present day, they haven’t aged a day, they don’t know what happened to them, and many either don’t understand their newfound powers/ don’t even know they possess powers.
In the original, the returned were thrust into the future by a comet, so it’s possible that the green light they all reported seeing (just like the one we’ve seen on La Brea) is a side-effect of a comet as well. Only time will tell if that’s the case or if there’s something more sinister or otherworldly at play. At one point, one of the government agents reveals the pentagon is looping in NASA, so there’s definitely an inkling that this could be extraterrestrial.
Much of the pilot’s focus is on Shanice, a new mom who is pulled into the future from 2003 on her way to work at a law firm. It’s her first day back from maternity leave, but she never makes it. Instead, she finds herself in 2021 and desperately wanting to get back to her loving husband and 4-month-old baby.
Once she is able to escape captivity thanks to a young girl from the 70s named Mildred who seems to have some kind of special mind control powers, she gets help from a social worker named Jharrel.
Unfortunately, tracking down her family isn’t the heartfelt reunion she assumed it would be. While virtually no time has passed for her, in her family’s eyes, it has been 16 long years. Her husband, Logan, has remarried, and her baby is now a teenager who never knew her mother.
The scene stings, as it’s meant to. You can’t blame them for moving on, but you kind of want to.
And that sadness is just one glimpse into what a collection of people may have lost.
4400 — “Past is Prologue” — Image Number: FFH101b_0325r — Pictured (L-R): TL Thompson as Andre and Jaye Ladymore as Claudette — Photo: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
It’s even more heartbreaking because Logan assumes Shanice walked out on the family after finding a note she wrote in the early days of motherhood when the postpartum depression was hanging over her.
Since Logan and Mariah didn’t think of Shanice as a missing person and instead thought she abandoned them, there’s going to be a lot of work that needs to be done to remedy the lost time and make any kind of amends.
Of course, it’s frustrating to see Logan so certain that Shanice left rather than question why Homeland Security was so quick to whisk her away when she was so emotionally invested in finding them.
When Logan realizes that there’s truth to the eerie surroundings of Shanice’s return to Belle Isle, he’s going to be a bit more concerned about those 16 years.
While seeing 4400 people show up unexpectedly from varying time periods shouldn’t be taken lightly, it’s a little concerning to see them treated so poorly.
I know the point was to make emphasize that despite all the time that has passed, relations between Black and white, and more specifically, between Black and cops, haven’t improved as much as they should have, but is it necessary for the guard to be so heavy-handed?
These people haven’t done anything, nor were they being a threat to anyone. While it is an interesting way to explore such heavy and necessary topics, it didn’t feel like any law officials would’ve resorted to that kind of behavior given the circumstances.
Though, maybe like in the original series, someone will accidentally kill the guard by testing their powers and thus set off alarms that they are a dangerous bunch after all?
I would think that there would be more agencies involved and they’d be less focused on keeping the order on more concerned with getting to the bottom of what’s going on.
What’s the common denominator, if there is one?
In a sci-fi series, the government is never to be trusted, but in this case, it seems as though two of the leads, Jharrel and Keisha, are going to help the returned rather than penalize them for something that’s beyond their control.
Keisha was more by the book at first. As Jharrel put it, she justified doing whatever it took for her job, but by the end of the episode, she was seeing things in a new light.
She realized that there was something bigger than all of them at play here, but also, that these people weren’t dangerous at all.
As she got to know Jharrel on a deeper level, she found out that his desire to treat Shanice humanly and reunite her with her family stemmed from his hope of finding his missing brother one day. He claimed to have seen the green light shortly after his brother Manny’s disappearance, but since he didn’t see him in the facility, he figured that all hope was lost.
All of that changed when Hayden, the mute kid, assured Keisha that Manny’s alright and sorry for everything.
What does this kid know? Is Manny being held at a different facility?
Claudette, Dr. Andre, and Rev Johnson were all in for a rude awakening when Shanice figured out that they were in 2021.
While times are different now than they were when Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay” topped the charts, there at least was a Rihanna, cell phones, and social media.
Johnson came from the early 1990s when Michael Jordan was still playing for the Bulls, while Claudette, a civil rights activist from Mississippi, and Dr. Andre, a WWII doctor, came from a time where segregation existed and women didn’t serve on the Supreme Court (RIP, RBG!).
They aren’t just going through a shock that they’ve ended up in a different place, they’re going through a culture shock of things they never knew were possible.
Aside from the core mystery that involves the two W’s — what and why — it’s going to be interesting exploring the differences between all these diverse people.
They all have different ideas and beliefs.
However, they also have to band together to make it out of this alive, especially now that some of them have superpowers.
Claudette realizes early on that she has super healing, while Mildred can seemingly control things with her mind.
What powers have been endowed on the others if any?
Overall, it was a solid pilot with a well-crafted mystery and not only likable but believable characters.
CraveYouTV gives this pilot an “A.”
Could this be the sci-fi TV revolution that needed to happen? Emergence and Debris couldn’t find their footing, Manifest was saved through the sheer force of the people, but so far, the sci-fi offerings of the fall season, including La Brea, have outdone themselves in terms of storytelling.
If they keep the promise alive without getting buried in the mystery and fear of giving answers, The CW might just have a hit on their hands.
Let us know what you thought of the 4400 pilot in the comment section below!