Content warning: mention of sexual abuse.
An intense penultimate episode — directed by Scott Peters, co-creator of the original The 4400 series — leaves us with plenty to look forward to for the season finale.
On 4400 Season 1 Episode 12, the Rev’s fate remains a mystery, and dark forces threaten our characters at every turn.
But, as always, there were also moments of light. A central theme of this episode was sibling relationships — love, loyalty, and betrayal.
The focus on Mildred’s past brought to light her relationship with her sister, Millicent, and the life from which they both were taken.
Abandoned by their mother at a young age, the two Millies were left to be raised in a commune with a creepy leader (played by John Patrick Flueger, who fans may remember from the original The 4400 series).
As Caleb, Flueger has that gentle hippie vibe down, with a pervy, power-hungry undertone that makes him utterly hateable.
To protect her little sister, Millicent agrees to stay, despite her obvious discomfort, which sets the sisters on a dangerous path that has led them to the present.
It’s strongly implied that Caleb is sexually abusing Millicent in some way — he uses classic abuser tactics.
It’s not uncommon for an older sibling to protect a younger one by taking the brunt of the abuse. It’s heartbreaking, and Raven Whitley does an excellent job navigating Millicent’s spectrum of grief.
(You can read our interview with Autumn Best (Mildred), in which she hints at much of what was shown here.)
What happened to Millicent in those subsequent years that turned her around? Was she just so traumatized that it was easier to cover up the trauma with the “zen” dogma? Did losing Mildred just destroy her psyche? Why is she with these protestors now? What is her super-power?
It’s like Occupy Wall Street but for white supremacists.
LaDonna
Both Millicent and Mildred are trying to save each other from what they believe is a dangerous cult. It’s terrible because Millicent seems to genuinely believe what she’s doing is right.
Even though Mildred didn’t go for it, it almost looked like for a moment she had a twinge of doubt in who she could trust.
It begs the question — do people in cults know they’re in cults, and if they have any doubts about their reality, how much convincing will it take to convince them they are being brainwashed?
The ‘we’ is more important than the ‘me.’
Mildred
The other siblings who had their moment were Manny and Jharrel.
Jharrel had to contend with the fact that maybe Manny was a killer — a fact that Manny freely admitted, though he justified his doing so as part of the bigger picture.
It makes sense that Manny came from the future. This revelation suggests that the other 4400 may have been to the future as well.
It’s difficult to hypothesize too much since it appears this reboot may remain faithful to the original series for some of its major plot beats. However, this could be a ruse, and it might end up being something completely different.
With Keisha’s help, Jharrel could, at last, see his brother for who he is — a soldier focused on the greater good. It’s currently a damning position to take, but Manny is so sure in his mission that he’s willing to kill to keep the 4400.
It hints at a danger that is likely far out of Jharrel’s understanding.
If we do get the Rev back next episode — and that’s a very big if — who wants to bet he returns from 2062?
Hayden’s betrayal of Mildred was upsetting. She was so happy to see him in the previous episode, and after all he did to save her from Ypsi Med, he just turned on her like that. Yes, he had the vision, but he had no context.
His vision came to pass at the end of this episode, but if only he’d known the context, he might not have been so quick to judge.
We can’t change the past but our future isn’t written yet.
Claudette
Again, Logan felt more like a plot device than a character here. Cory Jeacoma is always great, but Logan’s motivations seem continually all over the place.
He’s a great dad for Mariah and Logan, protective, but he’s still dealing with sixteen years of grief. Keisha was absolutely right, though — he discovered a crime scene, and he can’t just walk away from that.
Why did he have to lie to Mariah and send her to sleep at Mrs. Grover’s place? Where’s Bridget? Is this a subtle hint that Bridget left him?
That would explain why Logan doesn’t want to be around Shanice. He may still love her and now doesn’t have a good enough reason to keep away, but he respects what she’s got going with Andre.
Shanice and Andre are always there for each other, trying to protect each other. Shanice is right to be scared. The green light’s return could mean anything.
They still don’t know how the 4400 traveled through time, and if it took the Reverend, why wouldn’t it come back for them?
Of course, Andre snuck out — he cares more about what he can do for others than protecting himself. If there are answers to be had, maybe the woman in the black car has them. Maybe BHN is somehow behind the 4400 phenomenon — past, present, and future.
It’s nice that Steve had a change of heart — we all know he’s a good guy deep down. But I don’t think that’s going to win him any points with LaDonna now she’s got her eyes on Civil War Dude.
Can we please know more about Civil War Dude? As far as we know, that’s the furthest back any one of the 4400 have come from — how did he react to being transported to 2021? It’s not fair to keep dangling all this potential in front of us without any payoff.
These are the stories we need, please, writers — Civil War Dude, X-ray vision man, Firestarter, Bird Lady (no, I have not forgotten about bird lady), Noah (bring him back already), and Millicent.
But, to be fair, 4400 is a very large number. There are endless possibilities there.
So much happened in this episode — it’s still shocking how timely this series has proven to be, especially with all the protests we are currently seeing in the real world. This may be science fiction, but these are all relevant issues today.
You know as well as I do this is just America in 2021.
Manny
One can only hope that prejudice, bigotry, violence, and brainwashing will someday be things of the past, but until then, we will have shows like 4400 holding up a mirror and showing us who we are and who we have the power to be.
Where will we go from here? Share your thoughts in the comments.
You can watch 4400 online right here at TV Fanatic!
Mary Littlejohn is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.