"The Dead Zone" The Last Goodbye (2005)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Writers:

Michael Piller (created for television by) &
Shawn Piller (created for television by) ...

TV Series:

"The Dead Zone" (2002)

Original Air Date:

24 July 2005 (Season 4, Episode 6)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A young man takes up his long dead father's legendary rock carrier, but when John touches the father's Fender guitar, he visualizes him selling it 15 years after his 'death'. |

Plot Keywords:

Psychic Power | Psychic | Sheriff | Dark Hero | Illuminati

Cast

Anthony Michael Hall	...	Johnny Smith
Nicole de Boer	...	Sarah Bracknell Bannerman
Chris Bruno	...	Sheriff Walt Bannerman
Ben Foster	...	Darren Foldes
Derek Hamilton	...	Roy Foldes
Andrew Airlie	...	Nathan Burke
Patrick Gilmore	...	Doug Driscoll
Gerry South	...	Stephen Vikings
Aleks Paunovic	...	Matthew Meter
Gina Holden	...	Aubry / Chrystal Henderson
Mike Roselli	...	Drunk Guy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aaron Pearl	...	Cole

Company:

Dead Zone Production

The Lasting Premise

Substitute Bruce with Sara and you have a new take on an old premise for season 4. Of course, that new take was done a few times last season, in discovering and working out details of a Bannerman's past. Once again, we get to meet new characters in this episode who we will probably never see afterwords. The episode does a nice job convincing us that the people we meet really play a strong role in Johnny and Sara's lives, even going back to reveal a coma tidbit we didn't know previously about Johnny. Points for that, most of them taken away if it ends up that those bits will never be used again. The story was the same formula that we have grown accustomed to for the season three and four standalones: a mystery, usually involving murder, where Johnny and his accomplice (Bruce, Walt, Sara?) get the murderer to confess their long buried crime after to talking to them for less than thirty seconds. All that's missing is for the villain to say, "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those miserable kids…" After four seasons Johnny has solved more murder investigations than most detectives do in a lifetime. Wow, he really did find his calling. We had the mafia episode, the autistic kid episode, the art episode, the druggie episode, and now we have the rock star episode. It was bound to happen. On the plus side I did enjoy the guest character's music. And it was nice to see Sara back, replacing Bruce to go adventuring with Johnny. But last we saw of her she just hired a beautiful blond housekeeper. So, should it have really been Walt considering jealousy at the beginning of the show when she decided to go with Johnny? Maybe she should have been hesitant leaving her housekeeper with her husband. What are the odds there is no more housekeeper? Maybe she's hiding out by Johnny's father's mine that Johnny pledged to do something about. Maybe she's taking care of JJ, who hasn't existed yet this season. Maybe I should start learning to move on and just enjoy these episodes for the crime drama they are. Maybe.