Episode Description:

Johnny investigates a mysterious woman who claims to be the lost daughter of Rev. Purdy, while Purdy has to deal with a past he's tried to forget.

Episode Review:

Bruce: "A wealthy widow being taken in by a charismatic man of god. It can't be all coincidence, John."

Gene was once a religious scam artist?

As Bruce so eloquently said, Purdy always has been "iffy." So I guess it didn't surprise me that much that, when he was young and cute, he was also a very bad boy. In a way, Purdy in his Reverend Gold-Digger guise reminded me a bit of Greg Stillson.

This episode finally took off for me when the situation logically expanded to include Gene's relationship with the late Vera Smith. I've always believed Purdy loved Johnny's mother (remember what he did for her in "The House"?) But whether or not Purdy conned Vera Smith into giving him her wealth has always been debatable. I still sorta think he did. Depends on your definition of "con," I suppose.

David Ogden Stiers got to me in the end when he told Johnny, "Clara was the reason I turned to God. Your mother was my reward." He even forgave Jessica for killing him, as it was happening. Purdy has made a lot of mistakes in his life, but I honestly believe that he believes, and that he's trying to atone.

Well, except we still don't know exactly what he promised Janus, and how he fits into the coming Apocalypse.

Bits and pieces:

-- The desk clerk asking Johnny and Bruce to pose back to back for her web site was fun. I also thought it was cute that Bruce, as Johnny's best friend, is now semi-famous, too.

-- Finding all that important but obscure stuff for Johnny to touch in order to keep the plot going was pretty farfetched. It started to bother me. I mean, would you actually find carnival posters from the sixties that easily? I don't think so.

-- Purdy just dedicated the new Vera Smith library. I'm down with that. Libraries good.

-- This episode was directed by John L. Adams (Bruce). Not bad, John. Gee, everyone is getting to direct this season.

-- Guest stars Eric Johnson and Sarah-Jane Redmond were both Smallville alumni.

Three 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:

 - But perhaps the most startling revelation is that we all – staff, cast and crew alike – got to discover what a great director John L. Adams could be!  "Revelations" was John's first time at the helm and he, with little prep time, found himself pulling double duty in front and behind the camera.  We're very proud of him and how this episode turned out.

In addition, our Production Design team, led by Lance King, pulled out all stops.  Not only did we build the set of the silo interior on our sound stages, matching it to an existing farm location, but actual aged wood was used for its construction in order to bring authenticity to the camera.  An elaborate pump system was especially created to pour the grain with safety the primary concern; the system was rigged to allow the crew to precisely control the flow of material over actor David Ogden Stiers, while simultaneously vacuuming it away to maintain the desired, safe level.  The results made for a realistic and compelling action sequence. - Lloyd Segans Blog (08/06)

 - John [Adams] had done a lot of shadowing over the past couple of years, hanging out with me, watching different cuts being edited, just observing. He really started off with the least experience of all the actors in the show, but he took it so seriously for so long in terms of his character work and understanding the filmmaking process. He would hang out with the director of photography and the script supervisor, he'd come to production meetings and go out on location scouts ... from Rob Lieberman in the beginning all the way through, John was always trying to absorb as much as he could.

One thing John Adams is really great at (and really loved doing) is going to casting sessions. He'd love to sit in the sessions and see what I and the director and the casting agent liked in actors, to see how we picked them based on their look, their age, their ability. It's really a mix and match process and it's more difficult when you're casting three different people that exist in two different time periods, as John had to do for "Revelations." I think John going to the sessions helped him be a better actor, better at auditioning and a better reader in terms of how to break down scripts, but it certainly helped him cast his own episode. - Shawn Piller's Blog (08/13)

 - You may be aware that Michael Piller had an open door policy for ideas. Many people came in and pitched, just like we did two seasons ago. Paul Coyle came in with the interesting idea about Purdy's past coming back to haunt him. We then came on board to flesh the story out.

What attracted us to the story was always the strange and enigmatic character of Purdy. Who is he? What are his real motives? Who was he before he became a man of the cloth? If we can be shaped by an important event in our lives, then what was that event and its ramifications for Reverend Purdy?

As a director, John L. Adams definitely falls in the latter category. He's always been a gifted member of The Dead Zone cast, but when we began to see dailies, we were blown away at just how cinematic he made this episode feel. The shots, as you may have noticed, were wide, epic and had a real movie look to them. We really lucked out with John bringing his vision to "Revelations," and hope he will direct more in the future. - Episode Writers Shintaro Shimosawa & James Morris (08/13)

 - It was probably the beginning of the Second Season when I approached the producers and told them of my desire to direct and they gave me some very insightful advice. Shawn Piller said I should sit in the editing room as much as possible; Lloyd Segan told me I should try and shadow some directors; and so on and so forth. I had a couple of conversations with Robert Petrovicz, who made everything wide open and available to me, as did everybody. You know, I'm a very lovable guy, so no one could deny me anything. Ha ha. But, no, everybody said I could sit in the editing bays, and follow the directors around. That's how it all started.- Director John L. Adams (08/13)

Cast & Crew:

Story by: Paul Coyle and Shintaro Shimosawa & James Morris
Teleplay by: Shintaro Shimosawa & James Morris
Directed by: John L. Adams
Guest Starring: David Ogden Stiers (Reverend Purdy), Sarah-Jane Redmond (Jessica Simon), Beau Starr (Edward Nolan), Eric Johnson (Young Gene Purdy),