Episode Description:

After Johnny infiltrates a cult and barely manages to prevent a disaster, he's forced to go before an inquiry board led by his nemesis, Greg Stillson.

Episode Review:

Cop: "Does the name 'Waco' ring a bell?"

Now this one worked. Maybe I'm reaching the point where non-arc episodes just don't have as strong an impact on me. I mean, it's just strange having whole episodes with no mention of the looming Armageddon.

Yes, Cyrus Carter and the Seekers (good name for a rock group) were transparent analogs of David Koresh and Waco, but that was okay. In fact, it was cool. Because they actually drew a firm line between rapture nuts and what Johnny sees when he touches Greg Stillson.

The performances were just excellent, too. Gold acting stars for Anthony Michael Hall for this episode, as well as Sean Patrick Flanery, who has Greg Stillson's public political platitudes and private snark down pat. I particularly liked the standoff between Johnny and Greg in the men's room, because I love the way these two actors play off each other. We also got a brief callback to the episode "Zion," with Bruce doing a little of the preaching he did as a child.

The way they do Johnny's visions on this show are often spectacular. I was particularly impressed this time with the visions of Johnny walking among the splinters and flames of Cyrus' explosion. I also liked what Johnny did in the minefield.

I thought the commission was investigating a catastrophe involving a lot of deaths, so I didn't guess what would happen in the end. Johnny managed to save all of them, except for Cyrus Carter. And Carter is one of those people that is (arguably) better off dead.

Bits and pieces:

-- Cyrus said that Johnny was the second prophet from the book of Revelations. Wasn't Janus saying Johnny could be the third ruler in the kingdom? All these biblical titles for Johnny.

-- Walt did his usual right thing by bringing in a news crew to stop the SWAT team.

-- Stillson: "Are you saying that Johnny Smith has seen the end of the world?" This is really interesting. What would Greg Stillson do if he knew he was going to cause Armageddon? Would he care? Would he choose not to believe it? The real Greg is still something of a mystery.

-- Nora: "You said when the rapture came, we'd be with Daddy. If I die, then I can go to heaven and be with him." This actually got to me.

-- Johnny: "He makes me look like a dangerous lunatic, while he comes off as a hero."

I'm tempted to give it four stars. Very good,

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:

 - During production, the cult compound location was so far from the nearest town that extra generators had to be brought in to sufficiently power our crew and equipment. Special kudos go to both our Visual and Practical Effects teams for their seamless work in creating the explosions you will see in the episode. - Lloyd Segan's blog (07/30)

 - The cool thing, I thought, about "Vortex" is that it had a sort of balance. On the one hand, it was a classic DEAD ZONE episode in terms of it being a sympathetic human story: a mother and daughter in danger and Johnny just trying to help them, to save people. On the other hand, I loved how there was like a dueling prophets theme that came up. I was amazed that this leader's God Complex expanded to fit Johnny into it - Shawn Piller's Blog (08/06)

 - And I really dig this episode's nonlinear structure. To me, this was a great way to do a mythology episode that didn’t necessarily advance the scope of the mythology but had really nice character interaction between Johnny and Stillson. Stillson tries to use this opportunity to discredit Johnny; he uses a hearing to get back at Johnny and take him out of the way, trying to make Johnny seem responsible for the disastrous outcome of one of his predictions going wrong. The hearing then allows us to go into the story and see how it actually happened, slowly unraveling how Johnny and Bruce get involved and, ultimately, how Walt was there. Eventually, it reveals how all of the characters ended up at that place, that they had hit rock bottom in their lives. They were desperate and in need of help and were attracted to this charismatic leader in this cult. And you could see how good people that are desperate can get caught up in something that just gets out of control. Everyone's looking for deeper meaning and a bigger vision for life. - Shawn Piller's blog (08/06)

 - The way I've often approached DEAD ZONE stories is to think of how Johnny might get involved in some interesting arena, some subculture or event that resonates with our culture and the world at large. In this story, "Vortex," Johnny finds himself infiltrating a Waco-like cult to save a little girl whom he's seen being killed in an explosion. Typical Johnny heroics in one sense, less typical in others.

Okay, Waco, David Koresh – we all remember the pictures and all think we know the story. Crazy cult leader and his rabid followers go toe-to-toe with equally hardcore FBI agents and the result is… bullets, flames and death. But what's behind the pictures? What were the deeper forces at work that resulted in such a tragedy? Was it avoidable? - Episode Writer Michael Taylor (08/06)

Cast & Crew:

Written by: Michael Taylor
Directed by: Alexandra La Roche
Guest Starring: Sean Patrick Flannery (Greg Stillson), David Ogden Stiers (Reverend Purdy), JR Bourne (Nathan "Cyrus" Carter), Sarah Deakins (Lucy Caron), Peter Bryant (Jacob Frankel), Bill Mondy (Deputy Roscoe), Steve Adams (Major Ray Seybold)