(S06E13) You have got to be kidding me. They spent an entire season piddling around and then introduced about fifty different things into the season finale? They could have built an entire season around what was contained in this episode, but they didn't. I have no idea what the writers of this show are thinking half the time, and part of me is really hoping that tonight's episode was the last. No, I know it was the last in this season. I mean I hope it was The Last. But if you are fan of the show, I won't put any spoilers before the jump, and you should really watch the final episode.Okay, it is a big enough revelation that Johnny's father is still alive and has been all of these years. But the hugeness of the conspiracy that Greg Stillson has wrought is absurd, even by television standards. They created, underground, an exact replica of John Smith's house so they could keep his mentally incompetent father Herb there, stuck in front of a television? And they didn't think that Stillson could accomplish his plot to make Herb have visions on his behalf in a nursing home? It surely would have cost less to bribe a nursing home staff than to create an ancestral mansion underground. Not only do I not believe that Stillson had the time, money, or resources to do such a thing, I don't think that the number of people required to pull that off would have been able to keep it a secret. Look at Jacinta. So, Johnny's father is not only alive, but he has visions too? What, did he hit his head too? Why is it necessary to have the whole fan-damily have visions, anyway? That essentially negates Johnny's coma, which is sort of the whole premise of the show. His coma tapped into a part of the brain called The Dead Zone. Hmmm... where have I heard that phrase before. Oh yeah: It's the title of the show! But apparently, you can bump your head on the carpet and have visions if you are a Smith. Oh, and that is sure convenient that the phrasing of Herb's vision was that Sarah loves Johnny, Sarah has to marry Johnny or something terrible (Armageddon) will happen. So, if Herb was truly having visions about Stillson and calling him by the wrong name, then Sarah really does have to marry Stillson to prevent the end of the world. But if Herb simply knows that Sarah loves Johnny and that they have to marry to prevent Stillson from ending the world, well.. yawn.
How on earth could Herb not know that Johnny was his son if Jacinta managed to get that picture to him? Would that picture even mean anything to Herb anyway? And how did Stillson and his goons not see it there? Ah, I know the answer. None of that matters as long as Johnny gets to have his vision of Walt essentially giving his permission for Johnny to usurp his life. Teach J.J. to shave? Thanks for giving Johnny permission to raise his own son, there, Walt. Oh, and your daughter. I was half expecting Walt to dictate what name he thought Sarah should give the baby, which only would have been truly great if it had been something like "Honoria" instead of "Hope." Then Johnny would have had another secret to keep from Sarah.
I always like the kid who plays J.J. though. And I liked the fact that he started mistrusting Stillson when Stillson cheated at cards. It is cool that J.J. has visions and started to see the vision of Armageddon (that story line is baaaaack!); I just have problems with the fact that the whole reason that Johnny started having visions (let me finish beating the dead horse) was related specifically to his coma. It wasn't hereditary. We had no prior hints of Herb ever having visions before this episode. They could have been laying the groundwork for all of this with much more than "Brian Meeks left Walt a cabin." (And what a cabin that was!). At least this episode finally made mention of the fact that Sarah needs to get a job.
The premise of this show is so good. It has so much promise. It used to be so much better. [Don't even get me started about the huge Visa promotion in this episode -- at least they didn't say the word "Visa,"] I think if they fired their entire stable of writers and hired new ones who were instructed only to read the book and watch the original two seasons, then maybe a seventh season might have a chance. But unless that happens, I am not interested.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-17-2007 @ 7:58PM
PurpleSlog said...
A much earlier episode implied that Johnnie had the visions as a kid also in a flashback. They have been implying for sometime that the kid also has them.
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9-17-2007 @ 9:47AM
Jimmy said...
I totally get what you're saying. How many times did Stillson and Johnny touch and he received no vision about his father, even after Stillson had also touched Herb? This was a wasted season. The episodes beginning with the Jennifer Finnigan guest role have been the best of the season; too bad they were the last of a very long, boring season.
Actually, and it's hard for to remember since the episodes of this series tend to run together for me, but I think they've been hinting that Johnny's father "suffered" from the same visions for several seasons now. Yeah, it's a little contrived that a knock on the noggin unleashes the dead zone, but there is definitely potential in that for another season, especial now that Sara seems to be returning from her short trip to the dark side.
That being said, if the series didn't come back next year I wouldn't cry over it. It would be better if USA did a series of 2 or 3 movies -- straight to DVD maybe? -- that tied up all the loose ends and finally brings the Armageddon storyline to fruition. I just don't think the mystery of the week format is going to keep working for this series.
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9-17-2007 @ 10:47AM
Misty said...
It was bad enough when, earlier in the season (or maybe last year? I'm not sure) they started giving JJ a bit of the old "psychic whoosh", but when Jacinta said Johnny's father saw things, I turned off the TV and went on to bed. If the writers can't be bothered to stick with their own backstory, why should I bother watching?
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9-17-2007 @ 11:18AM
Marggy said...
This season was pretty boring. They just wasted it all. But I do have to say, it makes sense that his visions are hereditary. Well...not so much the visions as the semi-visions that Johnny used to get. Even when he was little, he got "feelings" about things, like at the carnival. But yes, it pissed me off big time when JJ hit his head on the ground and was automatically allowed to have the kind of visions his dad has. Ridiculous. This show really needs to end.
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9-17-2007 @ 11:27AM
clgbutterfly said...
Let's just say that if the series ends this is a good ending. It felt nice. It was rather strange that both 4400 and DeadZone both had very nice endings. A pleasant change from gut-wrenching cliffhangers that have become mundane to season finales. That said...
Alot of what was revealed has been hinted at over the years and I think even the Armagedon storyline is closed, because Johnny and Sarah are together. (Remember when they do a flashback of his first meeting with Stiltson and Johnny as kids and Johnny had bumped his head, they even said Herb suffered from some sort of stroke, which would also activate the Deadzone)
Yes this season has been hard and only enjoyable for half the season. I think the Deadzone has always struggled with its writing staff. I don't know if they suffer from strikes or simply can't get a plot together. Often it feels as if the show has two different writing staffs that do not consult with each other. Plus one of the main reasons we have seen alot (ALOT!) of promotions in the show is because the Deadzone is practically solely funded by AMH (he became executive producer around season two or three) and it appears he finally found a solution to keep production going.
I would be happy if this was the end of Deadzone though it was wrapped up frantically I think they did a good job especially the last line when J.J. says "Thanks, Dad."
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9-17-2007 @ 3:28PM
slagar said...
did you even watch all the shows this season? as much as they were stand alone episodes, the one taking place in the train station pretty much explained why Johnny gets his visions the way he does. (this is the second time you've criticized the show for that reason and this is the second time i'm pointing it out.) his visions, as explained this season, follow a specific track. he can't get a vision unless he touches something at the specific time he is supposed to get that vision. it's a pretty cheap way for the writers to define it but they did.
the one at the horse track, also. he didn't get visions until he touched the horses, despite having touched the kidnappers.
i didn't think this season was all that great, but the writers did address what you obviously missed.
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9-17-2007 @ 3:49PM
LordPaul said...
Whilst I agree with most of what has been said, it was touched on in an earlier season that it wasn't the coma that started the visions, and that is what Herb was talking about with the ice skating because it was the ice skating when he was younger that showed he had visions - the car accident just brought it to the fore.
Oh, look, the book (that I've not read) has the same backstory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(novel)
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9-17-2007 @ 4:14PM
sam said...
That essentially negates Johnny's coma, which is sort of the whole premise of the show.
Actually, even in the original Stephen King book, it was pretty clear that Johnny got visions even when he was a kid (I think the book had him "seeing" a classmate fall through the ice while playing hockey, but it's been years since I read it).
The accident only caused them to become more "focused" and frequent, rather than appear in the first place.
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9-17-2007 @ 4:37PM
Oreo said...
The best part is that the whole first paragraph can be used in The 4400 review too!
I have only seen a few episodes of this show, and from I have seen it sucks. They might as well call it "Visa!" Is there any other all plot to the show? All I know is that they like visa and the Vice President is in the show.
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9-17-2007 @ 4:58PM
sher said...
The fact that Johnny's father had visions was dicscussed in episode 53 titled "Babble On" in 2005. In that episode, Johnny discovered that his father was committed to an asylum for schrizophrenia due to recurring visions of a young girl dying in an explosion. His father wanted to prevent the accident but, of course, it was believed he was unstable. Turns out that the accident actually takes place in the future when the girl is an adult and Johnny prevents her and others from dying in the explosion. Herb had a doll belonging to the girl which he had hidden in the floor of his study. Due to contruction in Johnny's house, Johnny had visions of his father, the doll, and the explosion.
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9-18-2007 @ 9:50AM
Joe Garrison said...
Ok, So the story line of Johhny's father having visions has been there for years. Johnny when he was a little boy, i think they showed it in the first or second season, hit his head skating on the ice and had his first vision...so the coma wasn't the only thing to trigger the coma. Johnny has had psychic potential the whole time, the coma just brought it back. This season finale set up season 7 to be the best one yet. Armeggedon is back, JJ has visions, Stillson is evil again (always knew the niceness wouldn't last). I can't wait, bring it back!!...except this time with less filler episodes...focus on dooms day every episode.
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9-18-2007 @ 12:26PM
Ian said...
It's decent entertainment. It has a nice "love story". It's got key charactyers with all usual failings, but trying to do the right thing.
Thats' one heck of a lot better than the average show on TV these days. IMHO of course.
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9-21-2007 @ 2:40PM
Happy Steve said...
Huh, I just realized that Tom Skerritt was in the original The Dead Zone movie. He played Sheriff Bannerman.
Tom did a fine job in the role, but seriously, how cool would it have been if Christopher Walken was Johnny's dad?
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9-23-2007 @ 5:13PM
Michael Chick said...
If you all would remember. In the first episode of The Dead Zone. When Johnny was a kid on the ice, and he fell. He had a vision of the boy falling into the ice when it broke. And, as far as his dad having visions. Remember the episode that the building exploded. It was showing that his father had the little girls doll, and he went to the girl and told her that she had to stop it. His vision wasn't from then. It was of the future. That little girl was the woman in charge of the building crew.
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11-28-2007 @ 2:32PM
Quentin said...
If everyone would remember that this is a science fiction show and maybe johnny's vision aren't as far as some people hoped. He can only see but so far ahead of his visions. Or at a current point according to the issue at hand. The issue at hand when Johnny shook Stillson hand wasn't about his father because he couldn't see that far ahead and didn't even know his father was alive. As far as JJ they could have waited to let him see more like his father in a two part episode in the next season. Oh well Its done now. The series is great and it should continue. The show is alot better than some of the stuff on television I have seen. The storyline can be tremendous now that him and his son can see visions. My advice for everyone is give this show another chance for the next season. The 4400 started off very slow but now I am looking forward to the next season. The Dead Zone now that Stillson is known to be a snake himself instead of his advisors should shape up next season. I can guarantee it so everyone don't give up there. Be open minded. This is fiction not true stories. Fiction stories can makeup off the wall ends.
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