4400 2.9: "Hidden"

Written by Frederick Rappaport
Directed by Vincent Misiano

In which NTAC follows the trail left by Collier’s assassin, while Tom discovers on his own that Kyle was the shooter, forcing him to choose between the law and his family…


This episode has a lot of great tension. It’s essentially a race against time to save Kyle from the consequences of the “future humanity” and their decision to use him for their own gains. The season is definitely building towards a major confrontation between Tom and Diana and NTAC, and it’s not going to be pretty.

Moving back to the main story in this episode avoided many of the pitfalls that I felt hurt the previous installment. It’s all about character, and this time, everyone is acting in a manner consistent with earlier episodes. I still suspect that Tom’s anger in the previous episode was related to his underlying resentment towards the “future humanity” and their manipulation of his family, especially after seeing the beginning of this episode.

Tom is just about ready to lose his mind. His support system is essentially a “wife” who was all but forced into his lap for reasons that are still hard to pin down and a partner who is also dealing with her own secrets and personal agenda. It takes him a little longer than I would have expected for him to figure out that Kyle killed Jordan Collier, but once he does, his actions are consistent with a desire to protect his son from paying for decisions that weren’t his own.

Unfortunately, that involves some seriously illegal actions. Tom is completely compromised now. He’s attempted to destroy evidence, but his methods were haphazard at best. He’s left his fingerprints all over the place, and it should soon be clear that he was impeding the investigation. The real question is whether or not Diana will be the one to find out about his involvement first, and whether she will feel more loyalty to him than to NTAC.

This is likely, from my point of view, because Diana has Maya speaking in her ear. NTAC believes that they have a suspect in custody, so they won’t be looking for anyone else until the prints don’t match. Maya’s comment should have Diana suspicious of something beyond the obvious, and Tom’s behavior has been more than a little unusual. Taking all of that into account, I can’t help but think that this will bring Tom and Diana, by virtue of Kyle and Maya, in direct conflict with NTAC. (I’m also seeing that warning that Tom received at the beginning of the season with respect to all of this.)

Of course, the fun part is that it’s impossible to predict where events will force the characters to go. Even taking into account character consistency issues, there are a ton of factors that play into the coming maelstrom. Tom has a tendency to work outside the box of protocol, and Diana has a tendency to rely on the comforts of procedure. But how long will that continue to work for them? Diana is already making choices against NTAC as it is.

The whole Sean/Liv thing finally comes back into play, and since history repeats itself, there’s tension with Danny when both brothers realize how incredibly hot the redhead is. Frankly, I felt Sean was completely justified in telling Liv that a kegger wasn’t a great idea, but he failed in the most important respect: he should have immediately explained that her recovery from addiction was the root cause of his decision. Leaving it open left both Danny and Liv thinking that Sean was being a jealous tool.

Liv continues to be a great foil for Sean. Liv represents the kind of personal connection that Sean would certainly prefer to make, all things being equal. His treatment of her, however, has changed since he has taken over control of the 4400 Center. How Liv reacts to Sean is reflective of how much he’s changed, even if he doesn’t see it.

This was a classic transitional episode, with all of the major plot threads in play. Considering how often the major plot threads are relegated to subplots behind some “4400 of the Week” story, this is a refreshing change of pace. This is a lot better than the previous episode, and it plays on many of the strengths of the premise. While I hope there are still some strong stand-alone episodes in the works, I also hope that the producers continue to let the story evolve more consistently, like in this case.

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

Final Rating: 8/10