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The 4400 Season 3 Episode 12

Terrible Swift Sword

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9.1

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 8/20/06

Nova Group members that were in the custody of NTAC escape from jail with outside help from Jordan Collier. Diana tells April about her relationship with Ben. Shawn and Richard learn that Isabelle is working with Dennis Ryland.

Fan Episode Reviews (8)

Terrible Swift Sword

10

By TrueTvWatcher, Feb 13, 2011

Terrible Swift Sword was a perfect and defining episode of The 4400. I really enjoyed watching this episode because this is where lines have been drawn. Isabelle has chosen her path to work with Dennis Ryland now that she was kicked out of the 4400 center by Jordan who initiates a master plan to change the world and circumvent the catastrophe of the future. Diana has to deal with April and eventually April finds out about Diana and her secret relationship from Maia. Kyle talks with Collier and starts a new path helping The 4400. Jordan made some major moves in this episode and changes the game. Jordan also tests Shawns loyalty and he also finds Kevin and Tess. This is another of my favorite episodes of the season. I look forward to watching the season three finale of The 4400!!!!!!!moreless
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Collier is planning his war of good versus evil

9.0

By expatriot, Aug 29, 2007

Exciting episode with some interesting storylines.

In this episode I felt that the writers seemed to emphasise the Christ/Collier analogy but I'm unsure whether they've cast Shawn in the Judas role. He betrayed Collier to NTAC but later on still seemed to be in Collier's good graces.

Isabelle and Ryland however are clearly representing evil.

I felt sad for Tom when Kyle decided to leave so soon after being freed from prison, but at least he's Alana back.

I also felt sad for April, finding out that your boyfriend is destined to be with your sister must have been awful.

It will be interesting how the Kyle and Ben storylines develop in future episodes.moreless
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Loose Ends, Relationships, Tie Ups

8.5

By SweetPeaSurry, Aug 29, 2006

Okay, I like this eppy, however I do think it's more of a filler. We're getting some loose ends tied up in order to allow for a combustible finale to the season. I enjoyed the fact that we find out that Diana and Ben are actually going to be together. Gotta love Maia's predictions. We see the relationships between many people become closer or farther apart. It's interesting see that when Tom and Kyle finally have the opportunity to get closer, Kyle is dragged back again to the 4400 center and a job that they've got for him. It'll be interesting to see where that relationship moves onto, while Tom and Alana's relationship grows stronger again. All in all it was an interesting episode, but I'm more looking forward to the finale than this particular episode. The writers and cast are doing a fantastic job either way at keeping us rivotedmoreless
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Finally back to good old 4400 excitement.. but is it too little too late.

9.7

By scottieGGGG, Aug 25, 2006

I must say this was a great episode.. along with the previous one. And for me, the reason is in the sub-plots, something that I feel has been missing all season.

Sure Jordan is back and doing his Christ thing and/or starting a war with everyone, but the reason it was great was the scenes with Tom/Kyle.. and Diana/Ben/April. This drama and personal issues storylines are making this show great because that's the angle an average viewer identifies with. The leaving of a child from the house, falling in love with someone who was loved by a sister, etc... that's drama on a different level than "a war is starting."

These things, for me, made this series what it was supposed to be.. a SciFi setting of "real person" stories. And I think good SciFi should be that way... Battlestar is another great example of this.. so is Lost. The special effects and the SciFi-ness make it "cool", but the human element makes it "good."

And I hear those that complaining about this minor points, yelling at the scene towards Diana about "don't worrying Ben, you're going to be killed in this war if you don't do something!!" Not sure what to say toward this people only demand the action side of TV.. and not emotional.

Sadly, I feel it's all too little too late. For such a short season (14 eps), it seems wasted whole episodes and moving the WW3 plot forward. It's interesting to me that it started to get good once Jordan came back.. and I know he wasn't able to film until late. But, that's not an excuse for not writing good episodes prior to him.. you could still get the shock value at his appearance later.

I guess I can only hope that the finale continues its current path and setups up a better season next year.moreless
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The creators weren't kidding when they said every episode has a story to tell... there are no fillers. Great!!!!

10

By cremasteel1, Aug 24, 2006

I am totally enjoying this season as all the episodes have just had major things happening and all the threads are coming together then unravelling then coming back together. At first Collier was kind of like Magneto "Us and them", he gets to walk the path of future and comes back as a reinvented Dr Xavier where Homo Superior and Homosapien can get on together. The fact that they've decided to make the promiacin(?) available to the public creating metahumans (17,000 + vials) will be interesting to see what happens. It was also good to see the little love triangle resolving itself without the huge tantrum and sense of betrayal I was expecting to see. Great episode like all the preceding ones and looking forward to the rest!!!!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Conchita Campbell	Maia Skouris
Jacqueline McKenzie	Diana Skouris
Joel Gretsch	Tom Baldwin
Mahershala Ali	Richard Tyler
Megalyn Echikunwoke	Isabelle Tyler
Patrick Flueger	Shawn Farrell

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Sean Marquette	Boyd Gelder	Guest Star
Jody Thompson	Devon	Guest Star
Michael Daingerfield	Dr. Ellsworth	Guest Star
Billy Campbell	Jordan Collier	Recurring Role
Jeffrey Combs	Kevin Burkhoff	Recurring Role
Summer Glau	Tess Doerner	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Trivia: The episode's title comes from the first verse of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
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- Featured 4400s
  
  * Lewis Mesirow, disappeared 19 April 1955. He has remote viewing abilities that locate missing people.
  * Paul Newbold has the ability to raise or lower body temperature. Abduction date unknown.
  * Tina Richardson, disappeared 12 April 1995. She has the ability to wipe people's memories.
  * Michael Lawrence has the ability to change the level of oxygen in anybody's blood. Abduction date unknown.
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QUOTES (2)
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- Collier: The war for the future will be fought in the past.
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- Collier: (about promicin) We're not going to destroy it.
  Shawn: All right, I'll ask the question… What are we going to do with 17,432 units of promicin?
  Collier: We're going to give it away.
  Richard: To who?
  Collier: To everyone…
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NOTES (1)
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- International Airdates
  
  United Kingdom: 25 October 2006 on Sky One
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.