The 4400 - Gone, Part 1 Reviewed
By John Crawford

Gone is the episode we've been expecting for 3 seasons - a genuine cliffhanger and we won't have to wait 9 months to see how it turns out. Conchita Campbell, the character of Maia Skouris, I'm sure will be back. Let's hope she has not met the same fate as Laura Allen (Lily Tyler), who apparently was cut loose by the studio and will not be returning (http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2667).

The guest appearance of Alice Krige as Sara Rutledge was a welcome surprise. She is well known in science fiction circles, in particular the Star Trek world as the Borg Queen. ironically, she is celebrating her 52nd birthday today (June 28th). She looks great at 52 so I didn't really like how they made her look older than she really is. But she played a very convincing, but not likable character. At least that's how we perceive these "agents" from the future who are playing God with the timeline. But as we know, storylines about time travel are quite popular in the sci-fi genre. It wouldn't surprise me if we got to see alot more of these people from the future. They're intentions are probably good, but they certainly left alot of unanswered questions for alot of people, not just the 4400 who were taken.

And there's more irony about Alice Krige. As the Borg Queen, she knew how to time travel, and the Borg knew how to contact other Borg living in the past or future. It's almost fitting that she would play the part of an agent from the future trying to make changes to the past.

So Maia, along with 3 other children have been removed and will be "replanted" into the timeline. It was freaky when they stormed the house, we were expecting the children to be rescued, and all they find is a couple and the realtor showing the house. But Diana knows Maia is there, somewhere, because Maia drew the designs (in her diary) that were on the fence in front of the house.

After we see Maia on the table, she is "beamed" away to be placed back into the timeline. We see the timeline-reality shift to the present day where Diana and Maia never meet. In some ways this smells of the temporal cold war that played out in Star Trek: Enterprise. So far though we haven't seen any aliens, but it's obvious there were (or will be) catastrophic events that threaten the very existance of human life on Earth.

I really enjoy the show and though I don't I don't like how "dark" some of the episodes were, they're a great bunch of performers.  As long as there is a fan base that can keep the show going, they have more than enough storylines to fill up at least 5 more seasons and some maybe big screen movies.

One off shoot in this episode that is not clear. Diana is seen thowing up in the bathroom. Is this because Maia said she would forget her, and before Diana can do anything about it she's taken. Or, maybe she's pregnant? They haven't played this relationship with Marco a whole lot, but I'm sure they've gotten way past the single kiss in the kitchen.

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