n 1946, 8-year-old Maia Rutledge (Conchita Campbell) vanished while playing a few feet from her parents. In 1951, African-American fighter pilot Richard Tyler (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) vanished during the Korean War. In 1979, Orson Bailey (Moriarity), a partner in an insurance company, vanished on his way to take his wife to dinner for their wedding anniversary. In 2001, Shawn Farrell (Patrick Flueger) vanished, leaving his cousin Kyle in an unexplained coma.
Three years later, Kyle's father, Tom Baldwin (Gretsch), still sits by his bedside every day, hoping he'll wake up. Tom's marriage has fallen apart, and he's been unable to work at his job as a federal agent. All he wants to do is make sense of what's happened to his son.
When a mysterious comet suddenly changes course, it looks at first as if it is going to hit the earth. However, it slows down and appears as if it's coming in for a landing. Government officials rush to the scene as the craft hovers over a lake. Strange things begin to happen, and when the smoke clears, 4,400 people who had once vanished off the face of the Earth are left on the beach. They haven't aged a day, and none of them know what happened to them.
When Tom sees a news report that shows his nephew Shawn in the crowd, he talks his boss into letting him return to work for the government. His friend and boss, Dennis Ryland (Coyote), partners him up with Diana Skouris (McKenzie), an agent with a medical and scientific background. Their job is to find out what happened to the 4,400 and why they've returned.
After six weeks in quarantine, the government is forced to let the Returnees go. A few have families to return to. However, many, like little Maia, no longer have surviving relatives, or the people who once loved them have moved on.
As the 4,400 begin to re-establish their lives, Tom and Diana oversee their return. When one of the 4,400 is accused of murder, the investigators begin to suspect that some of the Returnees may have special abilities and that those abilities may have startling consequences for the human race.
An engrossing mystery
USA Network's new limited series The 4400 kicks off with a two-hour premiere that nicely sets up the mystery by focusing on a few specific people and their struggle to find out what's happened. The series shifts focus between the government investigation and the Returnees, moving from the larger mystery of why to the very human issue of how you restart your life when everyone you ever loved is gone or when your family doesn't want you anymore. While the mystery will drive the story as the series continues, it's the devastating personal moments, such as Orson's discovery of his wife in a nursing home, that give The 4400 its punch.
Joel Gretsch, who was nicely villainous in Taken, proves he can play the tortured hero well. Jacqueline McKenzie, as his partner Diana, gets the snappy dialogue, and they have good chemistry onscreen. However, the real drama comes from the actors who play the Returnees. Michael Moriarity, Patrick Flueger, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Laura Allen (as Lily) are all outstanding and give affecting performances.
As for the story, it's a cross between Taken and Odyssey 5. While it seems unrealistic that the government would let the Returnees go off to places unknown without some sort of surveillance, the tale hangs together well overall.
However, while the two-hour premiere of this very short five-week season is engrossing, there's not an immediate connection to the bigger mystery and how it affects Earth. The 4400 feels more like a drama than a science-fiction show. When the sci-fi elements do come into play, they're often subtle. The effects of the mysterious events that unfold in the premiere will most likely build as the story progresses in future episodes (airing as one-hour episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT). It is a good solid story, but initially not one that will knock anyone's socks off.
