The 4400 3.11: Terrible Swift Sword review

The One Where: The Nova members escape.

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AIR-DATE: 20/8/06

Written by: Bruce Miller and Ira Steven Behr

Directed by: Scott Peters

Starring: Brennan Elliott, Sean Marquette

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis
The staff of NTAC
fall asleep and the captive Nova
members escape. Tom and Diana
tell Ryland but he’s not worried –
he has Isabelle for protection.
Collier reveals to Richard and
Shawn that it was he who broke
the Nova members out. Tom
learns about a student at the
4400 Centre who can affect
oxygen levels in people’s blood.
Hearing this, Shawn confronts
Collier, who says he plans to
attack Ryland’s base. Shawn
reports this to NTAC, but Collier
says it was all a test. Meanwhile,
he tracks down Burkhoff and Tess
and ropes them in for his plan.

At Haspel Corp, Ryland gives
the order to transfer the promicin
stock elsewhere, but it’s really
Boyd Gelder in disguise. The
shipment is collected by
Burkhoff, Richard and Tess, and
Collier reveals that he plans to
hand out the promicin.

Kyle visits Collier and then
decides to abandon college to
conduct seminars across the
country. Diana plans to tell April
the truth about her and Ben, but
Maia tells her instead.

Review
This is it: everything’s
in place for the season finale and
it’s great. Once again, it’s easy to
spot when Boyd Gelder is in
disguise, and the Diana/Ben
story is a bit dull and annoying,
but with the rest of the episode
being so good, you can forgive
those weaknesses.

Dialogue
Shawn: “What are
we going to do with 17,432 units
of promicin?”
Collier: “We’re going to give
it away.”
Richard: “To whom?”
Collier: “To everyone.”

Leah Holmes

SFX Magazine is the world's number one sci-fi, fantasy, and horror magazine published by Future PLC. Established in 1995, SFX Magazine prides itself on writing for its fans, welcoming geeks, collectors, and aficionados into its readership for over 25 years. Covering films, TV shows, books, comics, games, merch, and more, SFX Magazine is published every month. If you love it, chances are we do too and you'll find it in SFX.

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