'The 4400' Returns to USA

The idea of alien abductions began to circulate widely in the 1950s, and remains to this day. And depending on which "sources" you consult, hundreds or even thousands of people have been snatched since then.

Such abductions, however, aren't the end point for USA Network's The 4400, they're its beginning. What if everyone ever taken returned at the same time—4,400 of them, to be precise—and not a day older? And what if some came back with special powers? The show's second season (new episodes air on Sunday nights) continues to unravel the mystery of the 4,400's return.

X-Files Meets X-Men
The first season introduced five returnees. Maia, abducted at age 8 in 1946, reappeared with precognitive powers. Shawn was 18 in 2001; he came back a healer. Lily (taken in 1993) marries another abductee, Richard, a black Korean War vet (abducted 1951). Jordan, a billionaire real-estate magnate taken in 2002, is determined to unite—and exploit—the 4,400 as their would-be spokesman.

Keeping tabs on the 4,400 are Mulder- and Scully-esque government agents Tom Baldwin (Shawn's uncle) and Diana Skouris (Maia's adoptive mother). Their personal interest drives and inspires their professional inquiry. But their mission is complicated by society's deep fear of the returnees. Swirling rumors about strange new powers result in the 4,400 being ostracized and hounded. X-Men, anyone?

Back From the Future?
Baldwin's teenage son, Kyle, lapsed into a coma the night his cousin Shawn was taken. And it's not until Shawn returns three years later that he awakens. Then we learn that Kyle was inhabited by another personality, a being who tells Tom the 4,400's abductors were not aliens, but human beings from the future who've equipped the returnees with powers to avert a looming catastrophe.

That happened last season. Between seasons, Lily gave birth to a girl conceived during her abduction. Jordan believes the child is the key to everything that will unfold, and the couple flees from him before he can harness the baby for his purposes. Jordan may be on to something, though, as little Isabelle has the unnerving ability to protect herself and her parents from danger—a skill she amply demonstrates when she telepathically influences three crazed zealots to shoot themselves.

Now, each episode introduces new returnees. Baldwin and Skouris investigate an institutionalized woman trying to contact people in the future. A professional baseball player reads people's minds. Etcetera. Each person's fate hangs in the balance as the two agents race to unlock the secrets of their powers and their destiny. Interestingly, even when these characters' abilities wreak havoc, the bigger outcome is invariably a positive "ripple effect" for humanity as a whole. And the series makes it clear that greed, deception, arrogance and selfishness do not result in good things.

Realistically, The 4400's imperfect characters don't always choose the right thing. Lily steals money from a cash register; several use vulgarities ("a--," "pr--k" and "g--d--n"); Baldwin holds a gun to his superior's head for essentially kidnapping Kyle; Jordan has sex with a female rock star (and little is left to the imagination). Significantly, however, someone usually calls these characters' disreputable actions to account. Richard confronts his wife's theft, even refusing to eat the food she buys with the stolen money; Baldwin is removed from his position; Shawn confronts Jordan's selfish hypocrisy.

A Secular Apocalypse
Such foibles and fortitude are set against the specter of a coming cataclysm, which imbues The 4400 with a kind of secular apocalyptic vibe. Judgment is near—not from a righteous God but as a consequence of our poor choices. Only those empowered by the future can save humankind today.

So even though The 4400 doesn't address salvation from a spiritual perspective, it does speak to our desire for deliverance from the frightening, bewildering headlines of our day. The show's writers connect with that intuitive longing for an answer to the world's chaos, and the result is a satisfying—if profoundly humanist—story. Deliverance from doom is possible if we'll just pull up our bootstraps together, says this series. And that's a good message as long as we remember the critical piece of the puzzle The 4400 doesn't include: There is, in fact, a God at work whose power transcends our resources and ingenuity.