Check out a little movie I made!

ShadowDog's

30 Hour Dead Zone Marathon!




Hours 1-5

Current Hours



Episode Commentary Key:

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

Moron of the EP award: Who was the dumbest bastard in this ep?

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

Offscreen Activity: The writers have a tendency to have things happen offscreen. Let's track it!

Timeline Notes: The Dead Zone time/space continuity is all jacked up. Let's see if watching everything in order in a row gives a new perspective!

Funny line of the ep: TEE HEE!


1.1 "Wheel of Fortune"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 6
Visions: None so far. I'm good to go. I can last a week awake! HA HA HA HA!

Moron of the EP award: Doc. Could he have been ANY more condescending about Johnny's visions at first? Johnny was sitting in a hospital bed, just woken from a coma, when he "heard" a fire in a house a mile away? Not even Doubting Thomas would believe that!

General Remarks: Gee, it was very cool to see Johnny before the accident. He actually smiled! He touched people like the Principal and Purdy! A very fast moving, tight first half of the pilot. The OJ nitpick has been mentioned before, other than that, it's all good.

Offscreen Activity: None really, but it's interesting to note that Sarah has visited Johnny so rarely that no one at his hospital even knows her name. WOW.

Timeline Notes: Johnny has been in a coma for 6 years. Purdy mentions Stillson running for Congress in the midterm elections. Obviously the elections in Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3 are the next elections, so two years have passed from this episode to the election we just witnessed in "Finding Rachel Part 2." This can fit Walt's "three years" Season 3 remark if we say that Purdy's remark came 6-8 months before the mid term elections.

Funny line of the ep: "Dammit Johnny, your talent and my 20 bucks!" - Bruce trying to convince Johnny to go to s casino with him. "As opposed to non serious?" - Johnny's response to Doc's comment about Johnny's serious brain damage.


1.2 "What It Seems"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 12
Visions: Still vision free.
Moron of the EP award: Walt, who was incredibly nonbelieving and snippy to Johnny this ep. Why even bother making comments about shoe sizes when, as you mentioned, Johnny has been in a coma during all the other murders?

General Remarks: A really good conclusion to the first 2 parter of the series! Pillar has mentioned in commentaries that he wanted to stretch out the serial killer arc and make it someone who wasn't Frank Dodd from the book, but the network wanted this plot resolved at the end of the pilot. That would have been cool, but this works well too. Purdy is especially self centered in this ep, going so far as to speak about Johnny as an "enemy" ... did this man really love Vera or not?

Offscreen Activity: We were pretty offscreen free this ep.

Timeline Notes: Purdy and his buddy certainly imply in this ep that they've been raiding Johnny's trust fund.

Funny line of the ep: "My son plays hockey." (looks at Sarah) "I mean our son." (looks at Johnny) "All our son." - Walt, digging himself ever deeper at the lunch o' hell.


1.3 "Quality of Life"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 20
Visions: I thought I got a vision from my pepsi bottle, but it was just carbonation.
Moron of the EP award: Mr. Greenberg. Beer comes from potatoes??

General Remarks: Interesting note, Dana's "self effacing remark" at the end of the last ep was shown from above, in the flashbacks starting this ep, the camera is much closer to Dana. Considering that hockey is the most tedious "sport" in human history (including soccer), this wasn't a horrible ep. They were still following the book/movie at this point, though, with hockey replacing ice skating from the movie as the danger. Things will pick up next ep when they start veering from the book. Johnny's moment in the classroom was a lot of fun. I would have liked to have seen more of these scenes over the season, but it wasn't to be.

Offscreen Activity: Has Johnny seen Li'l Johnny since the first ep? There seems to be the implication he has.

Timeline Notes: Does anyone know when the high school hockey season ends? That would place the time of year nicely.

Funny line of the ep: Sarah's "redhead with the big-..." interrogation of Walt was hysterical. But it does make one wonder where she gets off being jealous right now. Is this payback for how he's treated her about Johnny.


1.4 "Enigma"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 30
Visions: My donut looked like a danish for a second, does that count?
Moron of the EP award: Sarah. As mentioned below, she is out of control in this ep. Asking Johnny to "come home" and asking him "What isn't over, you and Abby or you and me?" DUH!! YOU'RE MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN!! That usually qualifies as "over" genius.

General Remarks: I think was the first ep that made me realize just how talented Anthony Michael Hall is. He can step into any character he wants and make you believe its a separate person. Sarah is really clingy and controlling in this episode, from giving Johnny a phone leash as a "gift" to making a big deal about him wanting to leave town for a few days to correcting his speech. When Walt asks her if she's jealous, Sarah scoffs "of a fantasy woman?" Doesn't this imply that it's okay for her to be jealous of a real woman? She's married to someone else now!!! Walt is the most understanding man on the planet.
They don't the flash of white light to indicate Johnny's had a vision anymore, do they?
Hey, could granddaughter have BEEN more of a >:-# in this ep???

Offscreen Activity: Mostly just Sarah setting up a date for Johnny. Anyone think Sarah picked pyscho girl because she knew they wouldn't last but a short time together?

Timeline Notes: Nothing conclusive in this ep.

Funny line of the ep: "Do you two wanna be alone?" - An irritated Walt after Sarah asks the moronic "over" question mentioned above.


1.5 "Netherworld"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 30
Visions: I had to lay off the Pepsi this hour or I was gonna have a vision of my bladder bursting.
Moron of the EP award: Nurse who barked "Of course you're not in a coma because you're standing here talking to me!" Well, you don't exist lady so don't be so patronizing next time!!

General Remarks: A very good, very creepy episode. A lot of it reminds me of Jacob's ladder, with the scarred up people plaguing Johnny. I also really like all the other fire references, like the "fire sale" sign and the burning house painting at the party.

Offscreen Activity: Since almost all of this ep happened within Johnny's head, not much help here.

Timeline Notes: Bruce says that Johnny has been out of the coma "for months" but this is another vision so how much can we trust it? It is interesting to note that Vera is still alive in Johnny's fantasy, which would have happened if Johnny hadn't gone into a coma because she would have had no reason to kill herself. Think Johnny senses this on some level so he included his mother in the vision or was it just general wishful thinking?

Funny line of the ep: "Hey, you ever been in a cop car before? Wanna take a ride in a cruiser? We'll turn the rollers on and stuff. It'll be cool." (as bored hottie walks away.) "Hey, I'm the sheriff, you know." - Walt, sinking to an all time low. But this IS Johnny's fantasy, right? :-D


Previous Marathons: 24

Buffy

Home

-