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question about 4400 finale
Hey, they aren't writing Diana out, are they? Because I don't know if I'll keep watching if they do. (Alanna, however, can vanish and it won't bother me at all).
I kind of expected Isabelle to die--it's interesting that they just stripped her powers. The most important thing about that, as far as I can see, is that once they use up the promycin from her there's no way to get more.
Is the 4400 coming back in January, too, like some of the other USA summer shows, or do we have to wait a whole year?
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I think the finality of the finale is because the show's renewal for its fourth season wasn't even announced until this past Tuesday, which means that when the episode was filmed, they *didn't* know whether they were coming back for another season or not. I think that's why the main arcs of this year -- Isabelle, Collier's return and plan, the outcome of David's experiments -- all got closure in the finale. Like, it's an open-ended finale in the sense that they *can* spin stories out from its threads, but in terms of the S3 arcs, everything really did have an ending in the finale, too. They left themselves room to tell more stories in case they got picked up but kindly did not leave the audience hanging in terms of the stories they told this season in case they didn't.
I kind of expected Isabelle to die--it's interesting that they just stripped her powers. The most important thing about that, as far as I can see, is that once they use up the promycin from her there's no way to get more.
*nod*
Intra-textually, it certainly works: she's not a threat any more and they can ship her off to prison for a while (since she did kill a couple of people at the 4400 Center) and as you noted, there's no more pure promycin from her. Meta-textually, I think they decided to cut their losses. My understanding from a friend who's very active in the fandom *and* has a pipeline to the production offices is that the Isabelle story went over like a lead balloon in almost all corners of the fandom; people didn't cotton to either the character or the actress and resented the way so many of the other relationships on the show got back-burnered to focus so heavily on her/her & Sean. Also, the producers realized/felt that they'd made her too powerful.
The finale solution strikes me as a good compromise. If they want to keep actress/character they can, but they no longer need to have her at the center of everything because she's no longer the All-Powerful Being Who Can Also Supply The Other Side With The Special Magick Potion. There are definitely things they can do with Isabelle, like her *finally* learning how to actually behave like a human being while also navigating the through the fact that when she wasn't, she was so awful her *own father* was willing to kill her. And I could definitely see her wanting to get her hands on a promycin shot to try regaining the power she lost. I mean, just because she's no longer got powers doesn't mean she can't still choose a side in whatever's going down in the future Jordan's allegedly trying to prevent. I think the producers maybe decided/realized that Isabelle works better as a supporting player than one of the characters the whole thing's centered around.
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Thanks for the info. I guess I kind of knew that they were putting excerpts from Maia's diary online, but I never checked it out. And I didn't realize the renewal was that much up in the air. I heard a few rumblings that some fans weren't happy with this season, but since I only started watching mid-last season, I wasn't too attached to the characters that have been getting less attention, and I actually kind of liked the Isabelle plot.
I agree, though, that she was too powerful, and that this opens up a lot of good storylines for her if they decide to keep the character.
There are definitely things they can do with Isabelle, like her *finally* learning how to actually behave like a human being while also navigating the through the fact that when she wasn't, she was so awful her *own father* was willing to kill her.
I loved that scene a lot. And I would like it if we get to see Isabelle learning to be human. It makes sense she would try going after promycin, but maybe that shot made her completely immune to it?
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Well, right off the bat they've got the whole question of "what does a person do when they know/believe they were created for a specific purpose and then their ability to achieve the particular end is completely foreclosed to them?" Isabelle's entire identity until last night was bound up in the notion that all her power, all her abilities were for one thing: destroying the 4400. That's *gone* now, and she has to deal with the fall-out from it. That alone is worth its own mini-arc, especially since there are a lot of people to whom she's got to make amends if she decides to stay within the 4400 community (and it's the only community she really knows). I actually think Isabelle's got greater potential as a character now that she's not invincible and omnipotent. I wouldn't mind her sticking around because I think they've got more places to potentially take her than they did before.
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Yes, that's a plotline I'd definitely like to see explored. (I do wonder, though, if Isabelle without powers might still end up being a huge enemy of the 4400, or at least the faction headed by Collier. It would be ironic if stripping her of her powers turns out to be the very thing that somehow allows her to succeed against the future).
I wonder if it's too late to give her plotlines in which she is allowed to grow up emotionally. A lot of the decisions she's made can be attributed to the fact the emotionally she's really still a child.
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*nod* That's exactly what I was thinking when I said that just because she doesn't have powers any more doesn't mean she can't still choose a side -- with the 4400 or against them. Or she could decide it's not her problem at all and try to live a normal life (although this one is unlikely if they do plan on using the character).
I wonder if it's too late to give her plotlines in which she is allowed to grow up emotionally. A lot of the decisions she's made can be attributed to the fact the emotionally she's really still a child.
This is a pretty imaginative creative team, so I'd say it's not to late at all. With her powers, Isabelle didn't have to be concerned with trying to normatively interact with others; she could neutralize anyone who didn't do what she wanted, got in her way, etc. Without powers, she's got to actively learn to deal with other people. She's got to make the effort in a way she really didn't have to before. From now on when people say "no" to her, for example, she's either got to suck that up *or* come up with other ways to persuade them to her POV. And that requires her to (i) make allowances for the fact that other people have wants, needs and desires just like she does and to (ii) navigate her way through that, whereas before she could just threaten to vaporize them/their loved ones.
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I'm glad they reduced Isabella--that was just the wrong direction they went with with her character. It's a shame. I have to give the actress props--she was thoroughly unlikable as the cosmic superbrat. I must say, this ep had me talking out loud to the TV. I enjoyed it...well, except for the cornball 1950's comic book ending.
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I think I'm the only 4400 fan who liked Isabella. At least in the love to hate kind of way.
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I understand the reason that they chose to go forward with Isabelle being "evil," giving in to her darker impulses. But I was a little disappointed by that and especially with how her relationship with Shawn and her father was developed/not developed. And how being involved with her did interfere with Shawn's development/story line.
To me it would've been more interesting to see her struggle more against her "destiny" and make choices of her own about who she was and what she would do - destroy the 4400 or find a way to stop the apocalypse without destroying them. Like Shawn told her she could choose not to be bad/wrong.
I think the idea she had for leveling the playing field b/w the 4400s and the non-4400s was interesting and it seemed less centered on actively trying to destroy the 4400. Unfortunately, I don't think she got enough encouragement or support to try and grow and develop her humanity. She got more involvement and direction from that guy whose name I can't remember than her father and, after they became lovers, Shawn. That was unfortunate.
It was surprising that they stripped her powers instead of killing her, but a very cool idea. Like you guys have said above, she can develop her humanity, and personality w/o the weight of her "destiny/purpose" pushing at her.
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Oh, I completely agree with this. I don't know why they felt they had to rush her storyline so much. Maybe they'll be able to develop her character more now that she doesn't have superpowers.