The Dead Zone Blog

Written by Scott Shepherd
Directed by Holly Dale

This is an episode with very specific strengths and weaknesses, and it’s interesting to consider how the balance of each factors into the final product. In a sense, this is representative of the season as a whole, specifically the struggle to revamp the status quo and overcome the challenges of the previous production run.

The most positive development is the return, however fleeting, of Bruce. Bruce was critical to Johnny’s character evolution from the beginning of the story, and his absence has been palpable throughout the sixth season. Much of this episode seems to function as an epilogue to Bruce’s involvement in Johnny’s life. Johnny, intended or not, is helping to pay Bruce back for everything he’s done to keep him sane.

We also have the return of Greg Stillson to the forefront, following up on his unusual turn in “Re-Entry”. That episode presented a new Stillson, free of the damaging influence of Janus and no longer destined to bring about Armageddon (for now). This is the same character, but even more benign. Part of the fun in the Sarah/Stillson subplot was searching for the moment when he would reveal some sinister ulterior motive. That never happened, and it does much to support the notion that Stillson could, in the right circumstances, be a good man.

The goal, of course, was to present Bruce as a man finding love and contentment, his place in the world beyond his friendship with Johnny, so Johnny could realize that he wanted the same with Sarah, despite the current issues. As expected, this comes just a bit too late, since Stillson’s purpose in this episode is to begin a relationship with Sarah, pushing Johnny into the proper state of regret and semi-justified resentment.

One could predict that Sarah (and JJ, for that matter) will continue to get closer to Stillson, and Johnny will learn that Stillson has an ulterior motive. Johnny’s bitterness would be established as a reason for dismissing his concerns. This would help to overlap the character and plot arcs within the context of the mythology.

Despite all of the promising character and plot elements, this episode struggled. While it’s great to see Bruce happy in his new life, the mystery at the heart of the episode never seemed to strike a chord. Perhaps Bruce’s distance from the status quo left his current troubles too detached from the rest of the story. The horse race element also reminded me of stock 1980s detective shows, which is not a good association.

One would wonder why Sarah would be so open with Stillson when she was there, even tangentially, during some of his less savory activities in the past. Even if nothing was ever pinned on Stillson, he was knee-deep in enough of it. Very little past history came into their discussions, and that was a little disappointing. That said, Stillson avoided any shots at Johnny and respected Walt, so he may have scored enough points to overcome her concerns.

None of that would have hurt the episode overmuch. Instead, two other issues undercut the strengths of the episode. Throughout the episode, the editing was very rough, and particularly in the first half of the episode, the scene transitions were abrupt and the flow was ragged. It felt like the episode had been running long and needed drastic cuts to get under time. Far worse, however, was the extreme and jarring Visa product placement. It couldn’t have been worse if Johnny turned to the camera and launched into a commercial. Product placement is a necessary evil, but when it’s this intrusive, it hurts the overall production.

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

Final Rating: 6/10