Dead Zone 4.5: "Heroes and Demons"

Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by James Head

In which Johnny is contacted by an autistic boy who finds a way to communicate, seeking Johnny’s help to prove that his father, on death row, is an innocent man…


Like the previous episode, there’s a feeling that the writers are struggling to find the hook into each new story. Having played with most of the obvious variations on psychic murder mysteries, the writers seem to be struggling to keep the series from slipping into a serial mode in terms of the mythology. As much as I like the overarching concepts of the story and how it diverges from the original novel, I wonder if the writers need to take advantage of the large episode order (a total of 20-22, IIRC) to delve into the Stilson mythos.

My wife happens to work as a teacher in a “second chance” school for behaviorally challenged children. Since many of those children have a mild form of autism called Asperger’s, she’s been taking the necessary training and extended educational courses to understand the condition. She also has a cousin with a form of autism. The bottom line is that she is often skeptical of how the condition is treated in the media, and in this case, in her opinion, the pattern holds. (Yes, I know that she’s not an expert, but she knows more than I do on the subject and so I defer to her on this one.)

This episode is no better at portraying the intricacies of autism, since inevitably, story concerns trump reality. Frankly, realistic depictions of autism would be incredibly frustrating and boring. This is inevitably where Johnny comes into the picture, since his ability can cut through the communication barrier to a certain degree. But the writers can’t get over the fact that the information would be nearly impossible to interpret, so a consistent rationale is established.

I’m not sure that I liked the whole Tolkien-esque fantasy theme. The opening sequence neatly incorporated elements of the opening to “Fellowship of the Ring” and Galadriel’s monologue, right down to a bit of Elvish. It communicated the idea that Thaddeus is completely immersed in his interpretation of the world. But that’s something I found hard to accept: how could a child so focused on that frame of reference manage to travel on his own without anyone raising an eyebrow.

The story requires Thaddeus to be a silent witness to events critical to his father’s survival. Therefore one would have to accept that the child was regularly following his father around and basically interacting with the world on enough of a level to accomplish perfect surveillance. Yet it’s also made clear that the child was often completely unable to interact with his father. Apparently, this is possible with autism, but funny how it also happens to serve the exact needs of the story.

Perhaps it’s just that episodes centered on autistic children are troublesome for me, based on the personal angle. I’ll admit that possibility. I will say that the young actor who played Thaddeus did a very good job. But that final scene, where Thaddeus opens up to his father? It rubbed me wrong. It seemed a bit too dishonest, designed purely for the emotional payoff. It broke the spell, in a sense, created by the concept of a child with so many challenges accomplishing something profound. I thought it would have been far better to have Thaddeus’ father simply recognize that his son loves him dearly, even if he can’t express it directly.

I don’t want to make it sound like that’s the only problem I had with the episode. I found the “mystery” to be rather predictable as a whole. I immediately guessed that the partner was the true crooked cop (isn’t that always the way it goes?), and that made the rest something of an exercise. If I had enjoyed the shift in perspective a bit more, the predictable elements might have been less annoying. But as it stands, I simply didn’t like the episode.

One aspect, quite apart from the story itself, is the music. I actually like the new theme, because after the initial disappointment, I let it slip past my defenses. But the music within the episode has been spotty at best, and this time around, it really got on my nerves. Television scoring is largely done by computer these days, and sometimes, it’s all too obvious. (Early “Stargate SG-1” episodes were particularly guilty of destroying a fine episode with cloying synthetic music.)

It’s way too early into the season to be worried about a decline in quality, especially when this is an episode that might simply be ranking low for purely personal reasons. But I’m still holding out hope that the next episode will reach my expectations!

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 0/4

Final Rating: 5/10