Review of Vanguard

The Dead Zone: Vanguard (2005)
Season 4, Episode 8
8/10
I was unguarded for this pleasant surprise
14 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Now this is what I was begging for! After going nowhere fast for six episodes, TDZ picks up and says hello to our buddies Stillson and Purdey. And just as I wished for, remaining with the main story while everyone gets all intertwined in a sideplot regarding molecular nuclear biology and chemistry and plastic and bombs and finance deals and threats and so many other things I couldn't understand! Yay! Okay, fine, I had no idea what anyone was talking about because everyone likes to talk in prose or in big science words or in confusing rationals on this show. Someone give me my art and mafia and twin-brother's-girlfriend murderer stories that allows me to be dumb again! Be careful what you wish for, right? Oh well, I guess I can't complain. Even though I had to rewind each and every sentence in this episode, I was glad I didn't have to wait for the season finale to see something happen with Stillson. This reminds me of how they made season two, a lot of Johnny-Stillson stories that, although many were standalone Stillson stories, at least it kept our focus in the right direction. I'm cool with that and I was cool with this, even if I had a hard time following the adviser guy, as he was attempting to squeeze a metaphor out of dog shows, most likely to please the USA Network, the station that replaces their highest rated TV show, WWE, for a kennel show two weeks of every year.

On to the spoilers: The end of this episode has Johnny's visions leading a friend of his to take an action that gets himself killed. After that, although everyone is mourning, no one is vengeful or angry at anyone. I would expect a parent with no idea on what's going on to blame Johnny somehow for being involved, or the plastic company, or even get to the bottom of it and blame Greg Stillson. Instead the parents thanked Johnny for his involvement in their son's life. Pretty cool people. Also, kind of a dramatic thing to do in one whole hour, have us meet someone that Johnny is very fond of, have them fight, get back together, and then have him killed. This should have taken place over a series of episodes. Unfortunately, that's not the way things are done here. The people who come are the people who go just as fast, especially if they don't debut at the season premiers or finales. I'll get used to it. I'm half hoping and half expecting Johnny to show a little remorse for his friend in the next episode. That will be a nice and important touch, something he did once in season two's The Storm. Man, a lot of people that Johnny knows and befriends die. That's got to be rough for the guy. So basically, I'm awaiting the episode where he seeks therapy for all that. Of course the therapist will probably die at the end of the episode, or kill someone, or be involved in a huge crime, or just leave, but that's understood. Sorry if I just spoiled a future episode I don't even know about yet!
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