ShadowDog's

Second Annual (41 Hour) Dead Zone Marathon!


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Marathon Hour:
 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Ground Rules

1) Start marathon at 6am EST on June 11th. Finish marathon (All episodes from Seasons 1, 2, and 3) by 10pm EST on June 12th, just in time for the premiere episode of Season 4! Finish by watching that episode.

2) Watch at least one episode per hour, meaning I can take no longer a break than 15 minutes per hour.

3) Post at least one episode commentary at the top of each hour. Also post regularly at Official Dead Zone board to prove I am still awake.

4) Diet Pepsi amounts are marathon totals, not per hour.

5) Because I've already marathoned Seasons 1 and 2, those seasons will be viewed this time with audio commentaries on.

Reader Feedback
"My son is quite Mad. Where did I go wrong? Break a leg." -Dexter I "Good luck! Please don't be insane after this. ;-) Besides sanity is overrated. :-D" -MSR "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." -hallfan
"Treadmill? Stationary bike? You need to conserve your strength! LOL!" - brattytxn "Oh, and if you happen to "see" any unicorns... DON'T play leapfrog!" - Digigoose "And remember, if you happen to see any purple Pikachus, do no, I repeat, DO NOT take any offers of tangerine lemonade from them." - HK
     
(Be sure to refresh with every visit as this page will updated hourly)

Hours 1-5

Hours 6-10

Hours 11-15

Hours 16-19

Hours 20-24

Hours 25-29

Hours 30-33

Episode Commentary Key:

Visions: Prolonged marathons tend to cause hallucinations - er - visions.

Grouch of the EP award: There are some GROUCHY people in this series! Who was the surliest person in this ep?

General Remarks: What I thought of the ep, in general.

Commentators: Who commented on this episode? (where applicable)

Commentary Highlights: Again, where applicable.

Funny line of the ep/commentary: TEE HEE!
Trivia Question: Every now and then I'll ask a trivia question. Be the first to answer!

3.4 "Cold Hard Truth"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 150
Visions: None, too sleepy.

Grouch of the EP award: Do you have to ASK? ROTF

General Remarks: In several commentaries, Lloyd Segan talked about the three Hs. They are Humor, Heart, and Horror. He said each episode needed to have all three. I think the first three eps this season lacked the humor, but this episode knocked all three categories out of the park. Richard Lewis was brilliant and the moments after JJ goes missing that he sits back and listens and watches attentively or makes little comments like "should leave windows open" were awesome writing and acting moments. Seeing this episode a second time after knowing what Jericho's backstory was made those moments breathtaking. One of the best episodes of the season, if not THE best. Anthony Michael Hall should have one an emmey for Directing this.

Moron of the Ep: Jericho. If you have to ask, you haven't watched the ep.

Funny line of the ep: It's such a relief to have a funny episode again, I'm listing more than one funny moment.
"Just a tip, JJ, never block a punch with your face." - Johnny gives his son sage advice.

"Yeah? Way to go my boy!" - Walt gushes over JJ's claim that the guy he fought looks worse than him, only to be quickly reprimanded by Sarah.

"You wanna tell me you didn't see that coming?" - Bruce, after getting clocked in the mouth.

"Hey! That's enough! We don't wanna descend to his level! Now come on, we have a love rally to attend!" - A huge fat tattooed Hell's Angel asks his buddies to stop thrashing Jericho

"I see a malpractice suit in your future." - Jericho touches the doctor and pretends to get a vision.

"Uh, isn't he the one from the radio? Wh-why is he here?" - A very irritated Sarah asks upon realizing Jericho is the only who has been trashing her, Walt, Johnny, and JJ




3.5 "Total Awareness"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 150
Visions: In all seriousness, I saw some flashes of light in my perpherial vision that didn't seem to be real.

Grouch of the EP award: Numbers Girl was pretty darn grouchy!

General Remarks: Boy, Bruce carries THAT much cash around? WOO HOO!! This was a really cool episode that upgrades "The Hunt" since that episode spawned this one. The girl (I am getting really bad at remembering character names this late into the marathon) has a unique gift that kept our interest ... as did the "Enemy of the State" conspiracy stuff.

Moron of the Ep: Let me ask you something. Do you stand around in public by yourself and make smarty pants comments like "please be kind and rewind" out loud? No, I didn't think so. The lead Henchman did.

Funny line of the ep: "Oh yeah? Apparently you're still bitter about it." - Johnny, upon hearing Bruce complain that his last birthday gift was a bible.

"You don't need a vision to see that's a bad idea." - Bruce, talking Johnny out of another lame gift.


3.6 "No Questions Asked"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 156
Visions: I can't feel my ass.

Grouch of the EP award: Walt, no questions asked! "Maybe he's just in a bad mood." - Johnny "Are we done here?" - Walt blowing off Johnny.

General Remarks: One of the top episodes of the season! Again with the heart and humor (not so much the horror). Nice to finally get some extensive backstory to Walt, and what a wonderful way to resolve the Johnny - Sarah - Walt triangle. These writers are simply the best. They're the Michael Jordens of TV writing.

Moron of the Ep: Frankie. If you've seen the ep, no elaboration is needed.

Funny line of the ep: "So I'm drinking hand me down mocha?" - Johnny, putting it all together.

"You know what? You got some freaking balls! What about your secrets? I'm not the only one with something to hide!" - Walt
"What are you talking about?" -Johnny
"What am I talking about? What me to spell it out for you? I'm talking about you and Sarah!" - Walt

"Yes! Yes! Oh God yes!" - Sarah (nodding head vigorously) when asked by Walt if her affair with Johnny was over.

3.7 "Looking Glass"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 160
Visions: I can't feel my feelings.

Grouch of the EP award: Walt wins again, grouchy bastard!

General Remarks: This is a pretty run of the mill episode save for one fascinating aspect. Here's the sequence of events in this episode:
1) Twins plan to stage a mock murder to entrap Johnny.
2) Twins touch Johnny so he'll get a vision of the mock murder and thus be entrapped.
3) Johnny and cops bust in the mock murder and are humiliated.
4) Evil twin murders the same girl for real.
My belief is that if not for #4, the entrapment would never have worked. Johnny only gets visions of real crimes. Real murders, real kidnappings, real deaths, etc. If neither twin planned to murder the girl for real, Johnny would never have been tricked. If he'd gotten a vision at all, it would have been a vision of their feeble hoax, not of a murder. This is a fascinating look at Johnny's powers and provides food for thought. That's as far as this episode went for me. Well, that and the final reveal at the end where the light comes up to show off the second twin was really cool. Those twins could act too!

Moron of the Ep: Evil Twin

Funny line of the ep: "Bruce Eye for the Psychic Guy?" - Johnny, when Bruce offers to wardrobize him.
"That's nice. Thankfully for you I'm busy." - Walt, confiscating a joint at the college party.

"What's the matter? Something wrong with your own house?" - Walt to Johnny, who is staking out Idiot Girl's house.
"I can't sleep." - Johnny
"Well, I was doing that nice and peaceably until the station called lodging a complaint against you." - Walt

3.8 "Speak Now"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 160
Visions: I had a vision where I objected to breakfast. Now that's just plain crazy!

Grouch of the EP award: Bruce gets pretty grouchy about his prospective wives.

General Remarks: This was a very entertaining episode. If you look at it too closely, a lot of it doesn't make sense (as far as when things happen, especially the ending) but as long as you just sit back and enjoy it, it is a good ep. For instance, consider Johnny's dilema halfway through the ep. If he tells the bride, she'll wait for Brian and he'll be too messed up to make her happy and will eventually kill himself (leaving a note saying she should never have waited for him). If Johnny doesn't tell the bride, she'll marry Alex and when Brian does come home he will be bitter because he believes she should have waited for him. So it appears that Brian just can't be happy either way! Interesting problem.

Moron of the Ep: Alex. Boy, it sure is easy to be sarcastic about popping open champange and saying you shouldn't get your hopes up when we're talking about the man who was going to marry your fiance instead of you!

Funny line of the ep: "I wonder if Johnny Smith's going to object to this wedding too?" - Generic Woman at Bruce's wedding in Johnny's vision

"That is the sorriest assed vision you've ever had." - Bruce, when Johnny can't describe his future wife
"Hey, I must be stuck on the romance channel at the moment, give me a break!" - Johnny
"It's good ... it's real good ... no, no it's bad. It's real bad." - Johnny having vision after vision of one of Bruce's possible wives.


3.9 "Cycle of Violence"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 166
Visions: I had visions of how horrible high school was and ran screaming from the living room.

Grouch of the EP award: The Principal. Who knew from his early days in films that he would grow old and play a prick principal like this? "Touch it! I know how your abilities work! Go ahead!"

General Remarks: The genius of this show is that they can take a common, recycled theme like the one for this show and make it fresh and new. I hated the ending, it felt preachy and heavy handed to me, but it did make it's point so I can live with it.
I especially loved the commentary (from the episode, not from the extra audio track) about stereotyping people based on their locker contents.

Moron of the Ep: Derek. For as smart as he is, some of the rabble rising stuff he does and sarcastic comments he makes single him out as a moron. Hopefully he'll grow out of it (or maybe the lead injection will give him an attitude adjustment).

Funny line of the ep: "So you knew he was here" (in the park) "because of your gift?" - Rebecca
"No, I knew he was here because I've lived in Cleaves Mills all my life." - Johnny


3.10 "Instinct"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 170
Visions: The Dancing Bunnies took up arms and joined their horse brothers and sisters in the Great Revolution!

Grouch of the EP award: Purdy. You need to wash your mouth out with soap, Reverend! You were almost kitty chow!

General Remarks: This was a great episode! It doesn't get any better than killer horses! WOO HOO!!! I was rolling on the floor with laughter the first time I saw this and I laughed again this time.
Also laugh out loud funny was the crazy dog, considering that the Sheriff Bannerman of the Stephen King novels becomes dog food for Cujo!
On a more serious note, I've read studies about sounds driving animals insane so the premise is not far fetched.
And finally, love the Purdy disintegration in this ep! Kane was awesome too, both the character and the actor.

Moron of the Ep: Purdy. Anybody who leaves the house after hearing THOSE sounds DESERVES the be kitty chow!

Funny line of the ep: "In the meanwhile, don't stand too close to the good Reverend. One of these days God is going to get hip to him and strike him down with a bolt of lightning." - Bruce

"We have seen ... rabid dogs." - Animal Control woman, cruelly mentioning rabid dogs to Sheriff Bannerman.

"So what's in this trailer?" - Bruce
"Kane's field lab. Whatever drove this guy crazy, it's out here." - Johnny
"So of course that's where we're going." - Bruce
"Of course." - Johnny
"Thanks for inviting me. You know Johnny, I've always found sanity to be a bit overrated." - Bruce

3.11 "Shadows"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 176
Visions: I think I saw my own shadow. Whatever it was, it scared the hell out of me!

Grouch of the EP award: Me! Things are getting ugly here! LOL!

General Remarks: This is a very well constructed and thought out episode. The writers spent some time on this one! You can go back through and trace back every vision to a Bruce or Bruce object touch. For instance, the money in Johnny's pocket. The stripper puts his hands in his pockets (where one hand touches Bruce's money) and only then does Johnny have a vision. I really love the last vision intertwined with reality as Johnny turns away from the dark side.

Moron of the Ep: "Falling Down" Guy. Sorry you're having a rough time, dude, but how can you not tell it wasn't Bruce who attacked you?! Moron!

Funny line of the ep: "Yeah right!" - Li'l Johnny, not buying the garbage that Bruce is selling.

"Come on, let's get your smart ass kid home." - Bruce, a short time later.

"Roscoe implied it might involve family." - Johnny
"Roscoe?!" - Walt, looking at out his deputy.
"What?" - Roscoe grunts.
"Oh, right, right, the future Roscoe." - Walt


3.12 "Tipping Point"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 180
Visions: I had a vision I was sleeping ... or was I dreaming that I was awake?

Grouch of the EP award: Stillson. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, aren't you boy? By the way, it's a train!

General Remarks: Another awesome season finale, and the most pointed cliffhanger yet. The idea that Johnny could get an operation to repair his Dead Zone is intriguing, and there is some setup in this ep suggesting he will follow through with it, but I hope it doesn't work. Obviously, because that means the show is over.
The Rebecca hypnosis was clever, I loved those beach scenes, and the birthday gun buying scene was very funny.
I can't wait to find out how this is all wrapped up in Broken Circle! WOO HOO!! The further disintergration of Purdy in this ep was a beauty to behind as well. And, last but not least, let's have a round of applause for Old, Tired, Scarred, and Blind Johnny! Eeeeeeew!!! You're mean and scary now!
Can't talk anymore. Must sleep!

Moron of the Ep: Rebecca. Come on, baby, taking the law into your own hands against an evil like Stillson is STUPID!

Funny line of the ep: "Do you want a box of candles with that?" - Smoking "Baker" asks after Rebecca selects her "Cake"



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