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ShadowDog's

30 Hour Dead Zone Marathon!




Marathon Hour:
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Hours 6-9

Hours 1-5

Current Hours

Ground Rules 1) Start marathon at 7pm EST, end it when all of Season One and Two have been played. (Probably around 1am Thursday morning)
2) Watch at least one episode per hour, meaning I can take no longer a break than 15 minutes per hour.
3) I have to post at least one episode commentary at the top of each hour.
4) Diet Pepsi amounts are marathon totals, not per hour.

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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!


1.6 "The House"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 36
Visions: Am I am the darkness, or is the darkness in me. Sheesh, I need some sleep!
Moron of the EP award: Purdy, for thinking he could ever hide this from Johnny. Hasn't Johnny done enough to convince Purdy yet?

General Remarks: Up until this episode, all the way from the pilot, I was sure that Purdy had murdered Vera. So the first time I saw this it was a shock to discover what actually happened. This is an awesome episode. This is the Dead Zone at the top of it's game. You have a lot of humor, a lot of intrigue, high drama, even great child acting. I wouldn't have told the girl either, by the way.

Offscreen Activity: Besides the obvious, all the stuff that happened before Johnny awoke, apparently Johnny and Sarah have been going to soccer games for a while now. Enough to make some nosey housewives suspicious.

Timeline Notes: Sarah reveals that she and Johnny are 30 years old when she says she's known him for that long. Vera must have killed herself very soon after Johnny went into a coma, because Michael Pillar revealed in a chat that Vera died before Sarah found out she was pregnant. That means Vera had to have killed herself within two months tops of Johnny impregnanting Sarah. Even if we say that Johnny impregnanted Sarah the night before the accident, does that really give Vera enough time to lose all hope for Johnny's recovery? Lots of people recover from comas after a couple months. And it's much more likely she gave up much sooner than that. It seems unlikely. Especially the way Purdy was talking about Vera losing her faith and staying in her room every day ... that sure sounded like more than a month or two had passed. Wouldn't Vera have spent at least the first couple months with Johnny?

Funny line of the ep: "Can't you just let me go, you know, for old time's sake?" -Lindsay, trying to weasel out of Johnny telling her parents, after he's revealed he grew up in her neighborhood. Runnerup: "Man, why do white people always stay in the damn house?" - Bruce, convinced Johnny's house is haunted.


1.7 "Unreasonable Doubt"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 44
Visions: Since this is the first time I've written two ep reports in the same hour, I'm too busy writing to have hallucinations. (Every 4-5 hours the 45 minute timing works out where I finish two eps in one hour.)
Moron of the EP award: Carl Winters. So this is how you get your kicks? Assaulting a woman in a store? You're just lucky you didn't go up for that murder charge, moron.

General Remarks: There are several Outer Limits alums in this ep, counting the Judge and Ben Cartwright (the actor who played Cartwright was brilliant. He had several long speeches and delivered them passionately.) The acting in this ep turned what is a run of the mill script into a classic ep. Especially AMH, who again showed how versatile he is.

Offscreen Activity: Not much, except for an allusion to all the crazy mail Johnny's getting.

Timeline Notes: Nothing really helps us in this ep.

Funny line of the ep: No really laugh out loud moments, but Bruce was cute in the teaser with the credit card and several other remarks.


1.8 "The Siege"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 50
Visions: Last night I dreamt of manderly again.
Moron of the EP award: This is a no brainer. Con-smegging-rad. Jesus God what an idiot!

General Remarks: Interesting nitpick. When Johnny is talking to Sarah very early in the episode, a background extra (tall woman with long hair wearing blue jeans and a yellow top) comes out of a store behind Sarah and Johnny. They cut to Li'l Johnny, then wide again, where you can see the woman approaching a man at a table. In this wide shot, the woman starts to sit down. They cut to Sarah with Johnny in the foreground, and then cut to a reverse angle where Johnny is close and Sarah is in the foreground. Behind Johnny, the woman sits down again.
This is the first ep where actively tries to change the future numerous times until he gets the result he likes. This is a great setup for the Stillson Grand Arc. As Walt suggested, Johnny is playing with fate. Oh, and thanks to the news people for letting Conrad know about Sarah being Walt's wife. >:-#
Anyway, I've always liked hostage scenarios in TV and movies and this was a very unique twist on this subgenre.
Interesting question, if Johnny hadn't gotten a vision and sicced the police on the bank, would Conrad have just walked away with the money and not harmed anyone? I think maybe so. Rudy only tried something after Johnny coming in reminded him to have Rudy lock the door.

Offscreen Activity: Is there a suggestion that Johnny's being doing all kinds of outings with his son? If so, they aren't going too well. LOL Also, Dana mentions that she "cares" about Johnny. Apparently Johnny and Dana are seeing a lot more of each other than we've seen on screen, because they have spent very little time on screen.

Timeline Notes: No real help beyond the multiple outings suggestion.

Funny line of the ep: "Honey, who is this stupid son of a bitch?" - Sarah, talking to Walt about the tactical moron.


1.9 "Enemy Mind"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 52
Visions: I saw my stuffed dog trying to make a call to have me locked in the funny farm for this marathon, so I had to tie him up and toss him in the closet.
Moron of the EP award: Jill. There might be a dumber teenage girl on this rock, but we'd have to look on the set of Saved By the Bell for one. Sheesh, there's dumb and there's ROCK STUPID.

General Remarks: Oh, was Malcom supposed to be threatening or something? I've been more scared by my toaster than by this IN*STINK reject. As proof of this, both Jill and a very drugged out Johnny kicked "Cougar" (He WISHES!!) 's butt. The paranoid visions were excellent though, and the attitude by Jill's friend was very amusing. This was an interesting episode but it's not the kind I'd watch over and over, unlike most of the others I've seen tonight.

Offscreen Activity: Nothing beyond Walt getting Johnny to do this gig.

Timeline Notes: Not a lot of evidence here, but we do find out that Johnny stayed at least three days in the hospital.

Funny line of the ep: "There's a woman breaking the law THREE FEET away from you." - Walt, to an oblivious deputy. It's these realistic touches (and the best comedy comes from truth) that really separate this show from all others.


1.10 "Here There Be Monsters"
Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 60
Visions: The monsters be here in my closet.
Moron of the EP award: Most of the Hobbs Landing population. I've seen dumb crowds, I see them every time I see news footage of monster truck rallies, but this crowd takes the moron cake. Especially the bovine Deputy Nancy, she should get prison time for her complicity in this!

General Remarks: Another ep that is hard to watch, especially the vicious beating of Bruce. Boy I wish I had a machine gun to come to his defense! >:-# And this ep contains the funniest teaser ending line of any show I've ever seen. Johnny's lawyer is really good, I liked him a lot. Even the way he talked.

Offscreen Activity: None really.

Timeline Notes: "The campaigns are just around the corner" aye? Is this the same campaign Purdy was referring to in the second episode? That election still hasn't happened yet? But I'm confused, and not just from lack of sleep. Walt said in last week's episode (3.2) that he's been suffering this Johnny thing for three years. So the election Stillson just won happens three years after Johnny wakes up. BUT, when Johnny wakes up Purdy is talking about upcoming elections and Stillson, but then here Purdy is talking about upcoming elections near the end of Season 1. Elections happen every 2 years, what up?

Funny line of the ep: "Excuse me, Ma'am? Can we have that order to go, please?" - Johnny, after getting a vision that the town is going to burn him at the stake. ROTFLMMAO!!


Previous Marathons: 24

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