Dead Zone 5.3: "Panic"

Written by Adam Targum
Directed by Kevin Speckmaier


With the seasons of “Dead Zone” being so short, this episode is more or less a third of the way down the line. This is, unfortunately, also the third episode in a row to disappoint me. I think it’s clear why the producers wanted to swap the previous episode out and air this one during the holiday weekend. It’s certainly not an hour that stands up to close inspection, and it highlights a number of the issues that began in the fourth season and continue during this stretch.

This is the second time that I saw the episode in first run while visiting with my sister, who loves the stand-alone episodes and generally likes the elements I find lacking. (She’s a big fan of episodic TV, and I am certainly not.) I was surprised to find that she was just as disappointed by this episode as I was, and for the same general reasons.

In particular, this story had a lot of nagging logical issues. A lot of things happened and decisions were made in ways that made little sense in terms of basic physics or motivation. One example would be the ultra-convenient disabling of the alarm system, which somehow managed to disengage one or two mechanical locks while leaving the rest firmly in place. That makes very little sense. Wouldn’t it have been more logical for the assassins to break a window and crawl in, rather than gloss over a major plot point?

Then there’s the decision to leave Walt alive. Given that the assassins are ready to kill everyone in the way, and they are more than happy to beat Walt to a pulp, their reasons for keeping him alive don’t track. By that point, Johnny and JJ had plenty of reason to expect an execution, so all the assassins gain is a chance for someone else to get in their way.

Johnny’s rescue of Walt was ridiculous. Why would Johnny’s house have an industrial-sized air vent system? And why didn’t the assassin, looking for a way into the basement, wonder how Johnny had gotten to Walt and notice the massive hole in the wall? And this is after two assassins drill a dumb waiter shaft with about a dozen bullets and manage to miss Johnny with every single shot! By the time the federal agents arrived just in time to save Johnny, I was shaking my head, wondering how a script like this could get past the writing staff.

Usually I like it when the writers try to forge a link between stand-alone elements and character exploration. And in general, I liked the idea of exploring Johnny’s family history. It’s just that the revelations, and how they pertained to the “home invasion”, were utterly predictable. This is also an episode where the musical score just added a pretentious quality to the historical scenes. I got the message easily enough (Johnny is a selfless individual with a desire to do the right thing, something inherent to his family), but it was incredibly overdone.

The advance information for the next episode sounds a bit more promising, but thus far, this season has been disappointing.

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

Final Rating: 4/10