TVSquad

(S06E07) I think this was probably one of the best episodes of The Dead Zone ever. I loved it. But before I talk about that, I want to talk about the fact that I am really enjoying the fact that the show seems to be doing "covers" or remakes of classic movies. In this case, it would be the movie Coma, which was about a plot to deliberately put patients into comas in order to harvest their organs. That is exactly where I thought this episode was headed. But of course, it steered off the tracks and deviated into its own little denouement instead.

Of course, I didn't really think Johnny was in danger, but I admit, I did wonder how long they would keep Johnny in a coma. And I am very happy to know that they didn't drag it out.

Dr. Cole was great. Superb. There was just something about him immediately that was hard to pinpoint. However, there were a few glitches along the way: Sarah's refusal to listen to Johnny's visions and his insistence on getting out of the hospital didn't ring true. She, more than anyone else, should have hustled him out of there immediately instead of keeping him there and telling him that they needed to see the doctor first. I didn't really buy the fact that she thought Johnny was just delirious from the fever. Nor did I believe, after all she went through with Johnny's first stroke, that she wouldn't just call another facility to have Johnny transferred after Dr. Cole's thin reasons why he couldn't be transferred. Hello, why does a coma patient need sedatives to be transferred?

But setting aside the fact that those weaknesses were there (God bless Nicole de Boer-- she does a thankless job in the role of Sarah, and she finally really got a chance to shine and to carry an episode, and she did it beautifully), the episode was suspenseful and well-paced. It was also great that Sarah was forced to swallow her pride and call Sheriff Turner, despite her history with the new sheriff. And it was also great that Sarah then didn't have to actually have done any of that by the end of the episode, though perhaps this will help thaw things between them. Even though, I was pissed when Turner told Sarah, "You seem a little... off." Condescending bitch.

There were wonderful moments in this episode: Sarah talking to the orderly whose father played with Charlie Parker and rebelled by wanting to play classical music. Sarah talking to naive nurse Carrie who thinks Dr. Cole is a good guy, even though he is scamming patients out of their bank accounts (which is a neat variation on organ harvesting-- still nasty in its own way, but not nearly as gross). (Another weakness-- didn't any of the staff besides Carrie think it was weird that there were so many patients there in a persistent vegetative state? And was Dr. Cole the only doctor there?).

I loved the spin that Sarah's kiss created a vision so strong in Johnny that it propelled him out of the drug-induced coma. It wasn't fear for his own life that saved him: It was fear for hers. It was love. Of course, the best part of the episode came even before their kiss at the end: When Sarah teared up at the realization that she was finally living the life she had once dreamt of living, long ago. It is tragic that she lost Walt-- but she lost Johnny first. And maybe now she gets to have the best of both worlds.