Episode Description:
Tensions run high when the newly pregnant Sarah is
put in danger by the Collector, who's back in town
looking for revenge.
Episode Review:
Sarah: "They say you can't love two
people. But they're wrong. They're wrong."
At first, I wasn't buying in, because I've been way too disengaged
and nitpicky with this show lately. But when J.J. was left bound and
gagged on the highway, this episode started to get to me. And it
just escalated from there. This was the strongest, most emotional
episode they've done in a while.
It takes a lot to get the audience to the point where they'll
believe one of the cast is going to die. I thought it was going to
happen twice: first with Sarah, and then in the kitchen, I truly
thought the ultimate twist was that Walt was going to die. When it
turned out that Linda was trying to commit "suicide by cop," I even
thought for a moment that Walt would go through with it, and kill
her. Very good writing there.
I know not all the fans are behind the Johnny/Sarah relationship,
but I've always been on board. Johnny was the tragic figure here,
because this incident revived the love between Johnny and Sarah, and
tore them apart forever. Sarah still loves Johnny. Johnny saved
Sarah for Walt. Sarah is finally having Walt's baby. It finally
feels like the end, and I don't want it to be the end.
This episode was a sequel to season four's
The Collector,
which wasn't anywhere near as good as this one. Linda here was much,
much scarier than Mr. Suds there. Bravo. Or brava. Gold acting stars
for Chris Bruno, Nicole de Boer (whom we've barely seen this
season), and the actress who played Linda.
Bits and pieces:
-- They showed both Johnny and the dead Mr. Suds watching the same
black and white horror movie, probably because the story was much
like a horror movie.
-- I particularly loved Sarah carving initials in the wood and
leaving a psychic farewell for Johnny. Very moving. The long
flashback showing scenes of Sarah throughout the series made it seem
that they were indeed writing her out.
This one actually made me cry. Four out of four 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:
- Nicole De Boer
does an outstanding job in this episode, giving us a
real tour de force performance. I guarantee there
won't be a dry eye in the house!
And, as usual, our production crew did a
fantastic job, but special kudos go out this time to our
pyrotechnics team who combined Practical and Visual Effects to
deliver extended feature-worthy footage of the factory exploding.
Kudos to our Makeup Department, too, for their great prosthetic
facial work on our villain - Lloyd Segan's Blog (08/13)
-
Originally, "Heart of Darkness" was going to be
the season premiere. Then, at one point, we even talked about really
going dark with it by having Sarah lose her baby at the end! We
thought of introducing storylines that showed us how the loss would
pull at and hurt Walt and Sarah's marriage, and how it might
eventually bring them closer together. But to have Sarah go through
such a traumatic events, we felt like the character would have to be
dealing with the aftermath of them throughout the entire season.
And, after a lot of discussion with the network and everyone, we
decided not to do it as a season opener and have Sarah not lose the
baby. - Shawn Piller's Blog (08/20)
Cast & Crew:
Written by:
Shintaro Shimosawa
& James Morris
Directed by:
James Head
Guest Starring:
Dedee
Pfeiffer (Linda Finney),
Bill Mondy (Deputy
Roscoe), Fulvio Cecere
(Agent Gribbins)
