LaDonna signs up for fifteen minutes more fame, much to the annoyance of her fellow 4400ers. Noah trusts Andre with something very important. Shanice has a trying confrontation with her daughter.

One thing I am noticing with 4400 is that the show likes to make all of its characters as complex as possible, and subvert the expectations that you might have of them based on an initial impression. LaDonna is a spoiled rich kid socialite who is only interested in being famous, right? Certainly, the fact she volunteers for the chance to get in front of the cameras and sell the idea on behalf of the Mayor’s office that she and her fellow prisoners are just fine would seem to support this.

But like Isaiah last time out, there’s more to this young lady than meets the eye. LaDonna is smart, and not just in the sense of street smarts or knowing how to get the best camera angle on her. She’s genuinely thoughtful and intelligent. She also is wise enough to see the mistake she’s made when the deal she thinks she’s made with the powers that be doesn’t turn out the way she thought it would, and her new found ability, together with that intelligence, means that she knows exactly what to do to remedy it. We also get some big insight into her own past and it’s… messy. LaDonna, against all expectations from the first couple of episodes, might end up being one of the most sympathetic characters in the show.

Meanwhile, as Andre is examining Noah to check his injuries, Noah opens up to him about something very important and highly sensitive. Given the situation and where (or more specifically when) Andre is from, this could go very badly. Instead, the genuine humanity and kindness of Andre shines through – he’s a good man, and I can’t wait to see more of his story.

Shanice too gets to discover her own emerging ability, though when it arrives and how it manifests is a little awkward. Her daughter has snuck in to see her, but she’s unprepared and handles the whole thing poorly. Later, after some solid advice from Andre, she manages to have another painful but more fruitful conversation with Maria – maybe some bridges can be built here after all.

And against all this backdrop it’s Hayden’s birthday which is an event everyone in the group can unite to celebrate as best they can. Claudette is still highly suspicious of Isaiah, but he does seem to genuinely be trying to do right by his fellow inmates – may she have misjudged him? As for Jharrel, his own principles get him in deep water when he’s unable to lie to camera for the purposes of the PR exercise, and his very nobility also causes somewhat of a rift between Keisha and her partner. Interesting times lie ahead, it would seem.

Verdict: Doing a great job of developing its characters in interesting and often surprising ways. 8/10

Greg D. Smith