Episode Description:

Johnny steps up his probe into Walt's case in an effort to salvage his relationship with Sarah, and discovers a link to Turner. - TV Guide

Episode Review:

Jake: "Sheriff, did you see who did this?"
Sheriff Turner: "Abraham Lincoln."

I was so-so about the Abraham Lincoln killer plot. I sort of felt Anna's death coming, but then she didn't die, and I was actually mildly disappointed. The killer was obviously Doug O'Connell, too; he was a floating character introduced early on, and those are always big red plot flags for me. Plus the only other possible suspect was idiotic Deputy Jake, who was all over the place and didn't feel smart enough to be the bad guy. (Johnny knew him, but I didn't remember him from previous seasons.)

So, for about three quarters of this episode, I was thinking that this one was pointless. We've seen this episode a dozen time before. The whole weird mondo conspiracy about Walt and his stupid laptop has also felt pointless to me for the entire summer season, because I just couldn't imagine what they were leading up to.

And then, just when I was seriously losing interest... the password is "noddegamra" . I'm terrible with name games, but I knew it was "Armageddon" immediately, even before Johnny did. That was what Walt was investigating? The Armageddon plot isn't over, after all? They even brought back Johnny's old Stillson Wall of Weird. And I finally got interested.

I also liked the subplot with J.J. getting a hit off Johnny's Boston Red Sox cap. The kid is a developing psychic; if he ever needed Johnny around, it's now. Come on, Sarah. Wake up and smell the coffee. Johnny is smart, generous, even-natured, and good-looking. He's the love of your life, the father of your son, and he's single as well as rich. So he's also a freak of nature. So what?

Don't leave him in that huge mansion all by himself. What's wrong with you, Sarah?

Bits and pieces:

-- Chris Bruno was again in the cast, and we got a longer scene this time. Cara Buono was listed as a "special guest." She's not cast any more?

-- Vision Walt: (on phone) "Okay. you were right. we can get together and talk about Herb Smith."
Johnny's long dead psychic father?  That was intriguing. (We did get an episode about Herb; it was season four's episode nine, "Babble On.")

I don't quite know what to rate this one, so I won't. But I am now a lot more excited about the
season finale. So that's good.

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:

Cast & Crew:

Written by: Dana Greenblatt.
Directed by: Érik Canuel.
Guest Starring: Chris Bruno (Walt Bannerman), Cara Buono (Sheriff Anna Turner), Andrew Jackson (Doug O'Connell) & Danny Blanco-Hall (?).