Episode Description:

Johnny looks into what appears to be a hate crime, only to find out that something's not quite right with the victims or the perpetrators.

Episode Review:

Dana: "So. The psychic and the reporter. Kind of makes you feel nostalgic, doesn't it?"

When is a hate crime not a hate crime? When it's a contrived murder mystery that is messy, confusing, and improbable.

Yes, it was well-intentioned, but it just didn't have the bite or the pathos of a really good exploration of the psychology behind hate crimes. And Darryl Cotton was completely unsympathetic. Yes, it's hard to escape such horribly negative influences when you're just a child, but Darryl still committed murder because of hate. Murder is murder, after all.

And Josh of the student newspaper was so obviously guilty; they gave it away when they casually inserted his character into the opening scenes. He practically had a sign on him that said, "Me me me!" It was an interesting twist, that he had killed his lover and disguised it as a hate crime, but difficult to believe. I wish they had done it in a way that would have made it more plausible.

I've missed Dana Bright, and I would have preferred an episode that was more about her. She's an interesting character with a lot of depth. Or she used to be, because we didn't see any of the old Dana here. Less provocative clothing, hair not quite as red -- this was Dana with the volume turned down. (Not as Bright, perhaps.) I don't think I like successful, post-psychotherapy Dana. She was a lot more interesting before. And she and Johnny used to make such an interesting couple.

It's too bad, too. Because I suspect this is all the Dana Bright we're going to get.

Bits and pieces:

-- Dana was working for WPKV.

-- Still no Sarah, even though Nicole deBoer is still in the cast. What's up?

-- With all the people of color and mentions of racism in this episode, I kept thinking, blond Johnny looks so white. :)

Two stars,

Billie

Bille Doux reviews episodes of 'The Dead Zone' for her website.
She reviews individual episodes of science fiction & cult TV shows
for her website, located at http://www.billiedoux.com/

Behind The Scenes:

 - We're very excited about "Articles of Faith". For one thing, former series regular and fan favorite Kristen Dalton reprises her role as sexy journalist Dana Bright. Will Dana's return mean that Johnny finally gains some closure with their relationship? Or is this a new beginning for both of them? Stay tuned - Lloyd Segan's blog (07/02)

 - Michael [Taylor] had basically been -- as we all had been -- really trying to find an episode for Kristen Dalton to come back and this felt like a perfect way in, being that she's a reporter and probably got her start at the Faith Heritage newspaper.

The episode deals with a lot of issues: tolerance and spirituality and religion and discrimination in terms of racism and sexual preference, as well as in terms of people's religious views. It's one of those great episodes with great twists where I don't think anyone would have seen the ending coming as to who the killer really was. It seemed, all the way through, that we made it so clear who it was. We realize that when people promote hate and intolerance there are a lot of different victims that come out of it. - Shawn Piller's blog (07/09)

 - For this episode, we started by trying to develop a story involving a hate crime. The Matthew Shepard case was on our minds; if you remember, it was the case where a young Wyoming man was brutally beaten and murdered by two other young men, ostensibly because he was gay.

A couple of our staff writers took a whack at the story, but it ended up seeming a little straightforward and predictable. Even in the Matthew Shepard case, there were things that were discovered later that made the case less black and white than it initially appeared.

I saw an opportunity to twist the story in an unexpected way and, with the blessing of the original writers, took another whack at it. - Episode Writer Michael Taylor

Cast & Crew:

Written by: Michael Taylor
Directed by: Michael Robison
Guest Starring: David Ogden Stiers (Reverend Purdy), Kristen Dalton (Dana Bright), Kristian Ayre (Darryl Cotton), Bill Mondy (Deputy Roscoe), Andrew Wheeler (William Cotton), Jesse Moss (Josh Blake)