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The 4400 Recap: Episode 2.08 “Carrier”

by Alexandra on February 9th, 2007

Episode Name: Carrier
Episode Number: 2.08
Air Date: July 24, 2005

Over dinner, Alana and Tom try to explain to Kyle that they have been living in a world, or reality that she was able to create, and that it lasted for eight years. Kyle seems to be amused by it, until he learns that maybe Tom was more proud of the Kyle in the other reality than him in the present. Tom accidentally lets it slip that in the other life, Kyle was “successful”. Tom ends up defending how proud he is of Kyle.

Down at NTAC, Diana is poring over one legal volume after another and getting frustrated. Marco walks in, and he offers to help as she complains about the legal profession. She is looking for a legal loophole that will allow her to keep Maia’s diary away from NTAC. She also curses her decision to mention it to her bosses, especially since it didn’t keep Jordan Collier from being killed. Marco sweetly offers to make some fresh coffee and leaves her to her search.

Kyle reads the paper and glances at an article that says “Murder Investigation Stalled” with a picture of Jordan Collier. Alana walks in and wonders out loud if NTAC will ever find Collier’s killer. Kyle closes the paper and then asks Alana if she’s leaving. Alana tells him that she has to reminder herself that she doesn’t live there anymore, and that she and Tom love each other. Kyle tells Alana that he needs a few days before he starts calling her mom, and Alana says that she just wants to be a good friend.

At a restaurant, diners are slumped over the tables, against their seats, on the floors, in the doorway, etc. Their bodies are in various states, almost as if they died in a matter of seconds. Women, children, young and old are all dead. Out on the street, a stroller sits silently, as a woman, Jean Delynn Baker, looks on in horror at the destruction around her. She is a 4400 returnee who disappeared on October 27, 1999. Alone, she turns in every direction only to see death. She runs down the street behind her, which is strewn with bodies as far as the eye can see.

As Shawn juggles his new duties at the center, and works with Lucy, his assistant, unbeknownst to him, Matthew Ross has arrived. Matthew is the person that Jordan asked to come and help Shawn in case of his untimely demise. Shawn seems to be happy to have Matthew there, but seems a bit uncomfortable with his talk of the future of the 4400 Center, and of his role and many responsibilities. Matthew tells Shawn that he’d better get used to being “the Pope” and soon.

Down at NTAC, Nina Jarvis tells her investigators that although the FBI is spearheading the investigation for Collier’s killer, she is determined that NTAC makes the collar. They all agree that time is running out, and the trail could get cold, and that they need to get a fresh outlook on the investigation. Nina makes the observation that Tom Baldwin was the only one who actually saw the killer.

Maia and her Aunt April are at the newsstand and April is buying scratch-off lottery tickets to see if she can win money. She asked Maia about her ability and how it works. Maia happily picks the next winning lottery ticket for her, and April proclaims Maia to be her “new lucky charm”.

Diana and Tom are pulled off the Collier murder investigation to go to Granite Pass, Oregon to investigate the death of a whole town. It was noted that one member of the town is unaccounted for…Jean Delynn Baker. They think these deaths are due to an outbreak of a lethal, highly contagious, and unidentified virus. They suspect that Jean is either a carrier of the disease or is immune to it.

Jean Baker hitch hikes as close to Seattle as possible with a truck driver. On the way, she is in tears, and it prompts questions from the driver, who just so happens to be a self-professed “Jesus freak”. When she tells him that she’s on her way to the 4400 center, he tells her that she won’t find salvation there, and that she needs to give herself over to God. He also mentions that the whole world is going to be cleansed soon enough. Jean mentions that she woke up and found her whole town dead, including her parents. The truck driver laughs, and says that he finds it unbelievable. She pleads with him to just get her as close to the 4400 center as possible.

Back in Oregon, Tom and Diana discuss with the investigators how the virus seems to work, and determine that if Jean is the carrier, they may need to catch up with her as soon as possible as she “may just be warming up.”

At the 4400 center, Shawn is locked in his office, having what seems to be an anxiety attack as he reads over numerous letters from people who have written him, asking to be healed. Lucy knocks on the door but to no avail. Matthew talks Lily into taking at job at the center in Human Resources, and also talks about how the daycare program is first-rate and would be perfect for little Isabelle. Isabelle coos softly in her stroller as Lily accepts the offer.

Marco, Diana and Tom along with other investigators are at the home Jean Delyn Baker, and begin to search for clues to her whereabouts. Marco flirts with Diana some by taking a picture of her with his crime scene camera, and is called out as a flirt by one of the investigative team. Jean Baker meanwhile, calls in to the 4400 center and asks for help. She states that she has blisters on her hands that itch, and that she’s killed over a 100 people but never meant to kill any of them. She tells them her location, and the operator notifies Matthew Ross and he in turn gets in touch with NTAC.

April thanks Maia for helping her win $200.00 and then asks for her “advice” on who might win a sports game so she can make another bet. Maia then asks April if she really likes her, or if she just likes what she can do (her ability). April tells her that she loves her unconditionally, and then Maia answers the question about the game. April notices that Maia is wearing her mother’s old engagement ring, and asks where she got it, and Maia replies that she always plays with the ring. April takes the ring from her and tells her that it’s a very old and special ring and that little girls should not play with it.

Kyle and Alana have a heart-to-heart about his capability to attend medical school, as he keeps asking questions about his “other self” in the other reality. Alana allays his worries and tells him not to try to compete with himself and assures him of his ability to succeed.

Tom and Diana speed toward the area where Jean Baker is purported to be via the tip NTAC received from inside the 4400 center. They have to suddenly stop due to a road block but realize that the block is due to a dead truck driver found on the highway. As Jean sits quietly in her hotel room, a tear gas canister is tossed into her room, and agents in bio-hazard suits show up and try to forcibly take her into custody. She pleads for them to leave her alone, and tells them that her blisters open up when she gets upset. Moments later, those agents fall to the ground, dead along with the agents who were waiting outside. Jean jumps into a vehicle and takes off

As Tom and Diana discuss the time of death for the truck driver, a harried Jean calls Tom using one of the dead agent’s phones. She yells that she was only asking for help, but had tear gas thrown at her instead. Tom tries to calm her and find out her location. She tells him that bio-hazard suits do not protect anyone from her, that everyone needs to stay away. She talks about her life and how she “poisoned” every relationship she ever had, and that the people in the future “made it real”. She also says that her parents never believed in her. Tom pleads with her as Diana is on the phone with NTAC trying to get a bead on her location since she is now in a stolen agent’s vehicle. Jean then tells Tom to stay away and that she is going to “end it all”.

Shawn tells Matthew that he needs to take a month or two off from work so that he can prepare himself to lead the 4400 movement. Matthew tells him that he cannot have the time, and tries to bully him by saying that he has a list of others who can step into Shawn’s place. This tactic doesn’t work because Shawn is determined to take time off, so he leaves and calls Matthew’s bluff.

Marco is notified that the bio-hazard suits were ineffective, and he determines that the virus must work on a sub-atomic level which makes it unstoppable. Also, after looking inside Jean’s medicine cabinet, he learns that she is an emotional wreck and probably has a borderline personality disorder. Marco warns Tom not to make Jean anxious or upset during their encounter, as Tom and Diana are not far from her location.

As Shawn tries to write a letter upon his certain departure, Lily and baby Isabelle stop by. Lily lets him know that she heard the news of his leaving. They talk briefly about what he might do while away. Lily then pitches an idea of forming a foundation with a committee, and using it to decide who of all the many people who asks to be healed, would need it the most. Shawn would heal one person per day, and would not be overwhelmed with healing thousands or even deciding who should be healed. Shawn liked the idea and told Lily that he would have her transferred over from Human Resources to head up the project.

As Tom and Diana arrive at the scene of a car fire, they determine that it’s Jean’s car. Just as they try to determine if her body is in the car, she calls Tom again on his cell and admits that she tried to kill herself, but finally determined her true purpose. Her talk of the Bible and of the Book of Revelations confuses Tom, but before she hangs up the phone, she tells him that her role is to “purify humanity”. Diana suggests that Jean is now on auto-pilot. Marco calls and tells Tom that Jean’s calendar says she’s planning to go to downtown Portland.

April is furious that Maia’s prediction of Chicago winning the game was wrong, because April bet and lost the diamond engagement ring that belonged to her mother. Maia begins to cry and reveals that she intentionally deceived April because she suspected that April was using her.

Tom and Diana confront Jean Baker in Portland in a busy downtown area. Tom tries to talk Jean out of her plan to kill everyone. Just as she starts to believe in him, it’s apparently too late because she was upset and the blisters on her hands began to pulse and open. Luckily, Diana shot her in time. Moments later, paramedics came and sprayed her palms with something that apparently was meant to neutralize the virus or keep the spores from being released.

Marco checks in with Diana as she sits in her office. She tells him that she is scheduled for some psychiatric counseling because of having to kill a woman to save thousands of innocent people. Marco then presents her a fake copy of Maia’s diary to present to NTAC. Diana admits that although it could get them both in a lot of trouble, it’s probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for her and accepts it.

Matthew thanks Lily for talking to Shawn and getting him to stay on at the center. It’s revealed that the whole foundation idea was in fact Matthew’s and he got Lily to pitch it to Shawn. Lily admitted that she is not a “true believer” and that the center to her is a means for free rent and free daycare. She asked Matthew if he minded, and he said no, and admitted that he is also not a true believer.

Tom arrives home and finds that Alana and Kyle together cooked a beautiful dinner. Tom asks Alana how her day went, and as she begins to tell him about it, the conversation turns into a warm embrace. Diana turns the fake diary in to Nina and tells her it’s a hot read, full of stuff about SpongeBob.

As Kyle searches on the Internet for classes he plans to take at the university, he happens to see a playback from a news feed on television of Jordan Collier being shot. He then begins to have flashbacks (of his own) of the day he killed Jordan. He sees himself burying a bag, and seeing a man in the stairwell of the building he was in when he shot Jordan.

A sketch artist takes a description of a man (the one who saw Kyle in the stairwell) as Nina looks on. The drawing is then posted and sent out to the division. The drawing is of a face that resembles Kyle Baldwin.

Tags: the 4400, 4400, 4400 recap, 4400 season 2, carrier, jean delynn baker, jordan collier

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POSTED IN: 4400 Recaps, Maia's Diary