“Being Tom Baldwin”

“Being Tom Baldwin” is…well passable.  There’s nothing wrong with it per se…it’s just tired.  It’s a 4400er of the week with a little frosting to tie it in to the main arc.  But it’s also one of what I call “Those episodes”.  “Those episodes” are episodes that you will find in almost every sci-fi/fantasy type show at some point in the series.  I may have to actually write up a list sometime soon, but this is the “Doppleganger” episode.

Basically you take a main character and have someone able to look exactly like him/her and do something completely out of character and take the blame for it.  The rest of the show, the character and/or his/her friends spend the rest of the show tracking down the real guiilty party until the character has to somehow fight his/her doppleganger until a friend or loved one pulls a gun on both parties whereupon they try to convince said friend that they are the real mccoy…or in this case Baldwin.   Of course eventually they pick the right one due to some kind of secret passcode, or something only the real mccoy would know or the  bad guy has sustained an injury of some sort  (hint, it’s the latter in this episode)

So it’s hard to watch this kind of episode as it’s tired, repetitive and….well just plain tired.

They try to blow it by you by having what the doppleganger of Tom Baldwin DO be the tie in.  In this case, the doppleganger uses Tom’s credentials to break into NTAC and assassinate TJ Kim, their only tie to the Nova group.

Of course they all believe that Tom did it, so the manhunt for Tom begins.  He is able to convince Diana to back him especially after Diana sees herself in the park.  The two know with an illusionist/shapeshifter on the loose they can’t trust anyone…and no one is safe.

They are able to discover that Boyd Gelder is the 4400er they are after and track him back to his mom’s house.  Unfortunately, he overheard this so he goes to make sure he doesn’t talk by taking Alana hostage.  Well I already told you how this ended so no need to go further on that one.

What else happened in the episode?  Oh yeah, despite having formed a solid bond with Richard, Shawn decides to become the Kyle Bates to Isabelle’s Elizabeth (V reference….see SecondViews: V) It was creepy than, it’s creepy now.

And finally Kevin Burkhoff’s experiments pay off when he develops an ability – healing.

All in all, it’s alright…but, *Yawn* I’ve seen it all before.

C-

Previous – 3.01 & 3.02

Next – 3.04