The 4400 - "The Marked"

Tonight's episode felt like the show was finally trying to return to form and make sense of some of the disconnected bits that have accumulated over the last season and a half – albeit through the awkward exposition in the rantings of a crazy guy. Surely the fact that the episode revolved around an “original recipe” 4400 and actually had involvement from “the future” were the main reasons that this episode didn't grate on my nerves like the last couple. Of course, maybe it was because I half-watched it while doing some ironing. Maybe I set myself by sometimes paying closer attention to television than the people that are creating it.

We begin with a positively Ed Wood-style black and white film production. It turns out that its the creation of one of the “original recipe” 4400s and Marco and the rest of the Lone Gunmen suspect that simply being able to create these films, which are an inside look into the greatest conspiracies of our time (the Kennedy assassination, the disappearance of Hoffa), may actually be the result of Curtis Peck's ability. He disappeared in 2001, which was more than a little confusing to me since everything about the films was completely Ed Wood, making it seem like they were produced in another era. Marco and co. are concerned because Peck has disappeared off the face of the earth. Tom and Diana agree to check it out.

Elsewhere, Kyle's visions have led him and the rest of the Collier crew to an old bomb shelter that will function as their new home and base of operations in Seattle. Collier is thankful, Kyle is full of pride and Isabelle is dissatisfied.

Tom and Diana check out Peck's house, but only find his neighbor who is a part of his stable of thespians. He puts them onto a secret stash that Peck kept of his “inspiration” where they find a tape of Peck's addressed to anyone that may be looking for him. He tells of a new movie idea and how “they” are trying to stop him from making it. Jordan Collier and the 4400 aren't what they should all be afraid of, there's something else out there that is much, much worse. Peck shuts off the video just before someone breaks in to get him.

Cue obsolete credits. Well, slightly less if The Marked are the people lost in time...

Back at NTAC, Diana is working through Peck's movies. Tom has discovered that he's extremely deep in debt and he questions if he simply skipped town. But Diana believes how scared Curtis was in the clip. He's not that good of an actor. They follow Peck's trail to the current producer of his movies. But he's running scared. He knows that someone called The Marked got Peck and now they're after him. Curtis made him a trailer to encourage him to make an investment.

At the 4400 Center, Shawn receives a package from his new secretary. It's a photocopy of the Book of Collier. At that moment, Kyle calls telling Shawn that he needs to read the book and that a car will come to pick him up to come see Jordan.

Back at NTAC, the crew checkout “The Marked” and again it looks like it was made in a different era. The writers of the show then proceed to cram as much exposition as possible into our heads through Curtis Peck's words. It's lazy writing disguised by it being spoken by a lazy writer. Here are your bullet points:

• The Marked are the elites who want to stop the 4400 and keep the future exactly the way it is.

• Ten of them were inserted into the bodies of ten prominent people today.

• They've hijacked the minds and bodies of these people to stop the 4400 and guide events.

• They have a mark behind their left ear lobe left behind by the procedure that inserted them.

• Matthew Ross, Shawn's old advisor, was the first marked and was supposed to guide Isabelle to destroy the 4400. (Is this retroactive continuity? I think it is.)

• The group of ten gathered only once together at the behest of Bill Gates- I mean Drew Emmerof. (and the pope may be Marked as well- or was that a cardinal?)

Also in the movie we watch a horrible dramatization of when Isabelle killed Matthew, but the girl playing Isabelle Tyler here is freaking great, nailing Megan Whatsherface's style of speaking perfectly. It sounds crazy, but NTAC is entertaining the thought that there is truth in the film. They did always suspect that Isabelle killed Matthew. New Boss proclaims that Curtis is no Fellini and orders the troops to bring in the producing partner. Tom and Diana go back to retrieve the man, but find him dead (of his own hand?) of carbon monoxide poisoning. Tom and Diana don't buy it and are interested enough to actually interview Bill Gates regarding being Marked. Tom sticks around to write a suspicious email to New Boss.

The next day, Tom and Diana meet with Bill Gates. They explain the situation and Gates is suspicious, but not enough to put your finger on. I mean its obviously true that he's Marked, otherwise what's the point of the show. It's even more obvious when they ask to see behind the man's ear and he actually shows them his Marked mark.

Elsewhere, Kyle takes Shawn to see Jordan with a side trip of Isabelle. They try to brush last season under the rug and march forward with their new storyline. Shawn and Collier butt heads over Promicin and the Book of Collier. Shawn doubts the whole thing, but tells Jordan that he has to stop SeattleHitler and just doesn't have time for Collier. Jordan leaves him to it.

At NTAC, Tom and Diana return just in time for Tom to get committed. Yep, committed for his crazy conspiracy email that New Boss made him write. Diana is freaked out and suspects that she's being followed in a parking structure. And she is... by Curtis Peck. He's been on the run and is looking for a safe place to finish his script. He doesn't know the facts until he can write it all out. Diana agrees to hide him with Marco. Marco is thrilled, not only to have a director that he likes in his house, but also to have an awkward moment reminiscing about his ill-fated relationship with Diana. Is this the remember the go-nowhere plot threads episode?

More bullets:

• The Marked have no abilities.

• They all met together in Tunis in Africa in 2005.

At the loony bin, Tom is attacked in the night and injected with... something. At NTAC, Diana is pissy at New Boss who claims innocence. She shows New Boss that there is a lot of circumstantial evidence supporting Curtis's claims. New Boss looks nervous and suspicious. Marked? At the hospital, Tom checks his ear to find that he is now also Marked.

• The Marked have no way to contact the future.

• They can't just make more of themselves.

Diana gets a call from Tom. He's freaked out. He's Marked. She calms him down and Tom is still pretty sure he's him. But he suspects that Matthew Ross might be inside of him. Back at Marco's, Marco and Curtis connect for a moment with Curtis imagining Iron Maiden to himself, right before Marco takes his eyes off his man and he gets abducted.

At the 4400 Center, Shawn learns that SeattleHitler had a stroke and he immediately suspects Jordan. Jordan claims innocence, but Shawn can no longer trust Collier and that's that.

At NTAC, Marco, Tom and Diana bring New Boss in on Curtis Peck, but she tells him that Peck just walked in for his checkup. He claims that he got a big movie deal and he's dropping his conspiracy movie. He claims he made up the whole thing. Tom checks him for a mark, but nothing.

In the garage, Tom and Diana are visited by an insanely suspicious Bill Gates. He talks sideways, trying to toot his own horn as one of The Marked, without saying anything outright. He makes himself known to Tom and Diana, but avoids saying anything directly. But why? In case he has to go to court? There just doesn't seem any reason to speak tricky about it. Tom tells him that his plan didn't work on him.

Elsewhere, Collier tells Kyle he had nothing to do with SeattleHitler's stroke. Kyle believes him. Collier has the follower that he should have had all along. At the hospital Shawn heals SeattleHitler. One suspects that they will join forces against Collier. At Bill Gates's house, he talks on the phone to the other Marked. He tells them that Tom thinks that it was a mindgame, but really, he's now Manchurian Tom.

NEXT WEEK: Shawn gets laid.