Logan struggles with his mixed feelings after agreeing to do an appearance with Shanice, Bridget, Mariah and Hayden as a ‘mixed family’ for part of a show profiling the 4400. But are there darker motives at play?

More intimate plotting this week as the show takes a beat to focus on Logan, a central character who’s had very little actual screen time since the show began. We’ve had plenty on Shanice’s side of their relationship, and how difficult it has been for her since she returned, but nothing much on her husband and how he really coped following the apparent disappearance of his wife or ore importantly how he feels right now.

And the answer is a pleasingly complex one. Logan to date has seemed a little bit of an enigma – an apparently decent enough guy who’s not been all that understanding towards Shanice’s circumstances. Here, we begin to unpeel that onion. Logan is trapped, between his feelings of obligation towards his new wife and his daughter, and a lingering sense of loss and responsibility towards Shanice. His attendance at a grief support group meeting pans out unexpectedly, but strangely gives him the push he needs to make the right choice.

Meanwhile back with the 4400 themselves, the government in the person of Greene is trying to organise a live TV show showing off the various people from the 4400 and how normal they are, in an attempt to do some positive PR for them. Shanice suspects darker motives though, especially given Isaiah’s involvement. That said, an opportunity for her, Logan, Mariah and Bridget and Hayden to appear on the show in a segment showcasing a ‘blended family’ may offer her the opportunity to make some reconciliations.

What quickly becomes clear, however (and not just to Shanice) is that there may be sinister motives behind all this. Acting to stop this, a lot of people have to put a lot of faith in one another, but they may not have factored in quite every variable.

It’s an episode that rattles along at a fair pace, despite the bits of introspection, and more importantly it’s one where the quiet, small moments have every bit as much impact and emotional resonance as the big action set-pieces. Moreover, it’s an episode that leads us to re-examine several characters, Logan being just one, and invites us to see them as more complex than we might have imagined.

Verdict: Raw, emotional and expertly pitched. 9/10

Greg D. Smith