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2.8 Cabin Pressure

Captain Klein: "This whole flight is becoming absolutely surreal."

Was this an outstanding episode, or was I just thrilled to see Peter Wingfield from Highlander again? (In case you're not a Highlander fan, Wingfield played the caustic pilot with the British accent.)

This episode was a fairly typical Dead Zone detective story plot; Johnny had a vision that something terrible is going to happen (in this case, a plane crash); he kept touching people and things, and trying to change the outcome throughout; and in the end, he finally did. It's the way that the story progressed that made this episode such a good one -- starting with Johnny suspecting that he was getting freaked because the previous passenger in his seat was afraid of flying, but then touching a flight attendant and experiencing visions of the plane going down.

The visions themselves were exceptionally cool. I particularly liked Johnny walking through the cabin of frenzied freeze-framed people looking for a watch; the flight attendant's hand on Johnny's chest, and then the same hand burned on the ground; and Johnny actually standing on the freeze-framed wing of the plane. (This could not have been an easy episode to film.)

The scene where he was picking up on Kelly the air marshal's past while she was patting him down, and then when he held her St. Christopher's medal and told her why she was wearing it -- very touching. One would really have to be convincing these days on an American plane, with an air marshal, and he was. Although it took Purdy phoning the CEO of the airline, and an awful lot of convincing to get Captain Klein, the pilot, to believe Johnny.

I do adore Peter Wingfield. His sarcastic comments, obvious disbelief, and understandable anger along with his professionalism were just right; I particularly liked it when he told Johnny that the airline would give him an extra mileage upgrade as recompense for the discomfort of the handcuffs. You could see the exact moment when he began to believe Johnny, too, near the end of the episode.

Johnny looked a little impatient when Purdy was going on and on about God's will, and I liked that. (Although it is true that the plane would have crashed if Johnny hadn't been on it.) I also liked the fact that Purdy managed to save the life of that flight attendant. He really is a good guy.

Bits and pieces:

-- I loved that bit about John shaking Alan Greenspan's hand and finding out what the Fed would do.

-- There were post-9/11 changes: Johnny glancing at a passenger who could be an Arab male, the increased security, the locked cabin, the air marshal.

-- The dialogue from the scene where Johnny is getting a vision from the air marshall's St. Christopher medal is right out of the book. Except it wasn't an air marshall, it was a reporter.

-- "Tell him about the tabloids while we're at it. The Elvis cover should convince him to land the plane, huh?"

-- First class gets chocolate chip cookies?

-- No Walt, Sarah, or Bruce in this one.

This was a very well-written and well-acted episode; I liked it even better the second time I saw it. Four out of a possible four stars,

Billie





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