The 4400: Tom Baldwin Does Not Exist

One of the more curious aspects of the science fiction television series The 4400 is the way that, increasingly as the story progressed, the main characters stopped responding to the bizarre and frightening events around them but instead responded to other people responding. The two principal NTAC protagonists (a form of Department of National Security), Skouros and Baldwin, the latter especially, always look at each other or someone else rather than the person talking to them. At first, this was a quick glance but it became increasingly apparent that the characters seemed quite literally to be unable to believe the evidence of their eyes and relied for understanding of the world on mediation by a trusted or at least well-known other person.

Baldwin is conspicuous because of his prominence on screen. Played by Joel Gretsch, whose contribution to the first two seasons was to keep his mouth open to denote ‘soul’ or ‘any emotion at all,’ in addition to a diet so severe it probably excluded any kind of solid food, Baldwin became increasingly integral to the nature of the plot without being part of it. The premise is that, over the period of several decades, individuals have vanished from daily life, abducted by some unknown power which turns out to be from the future of humanity. Then, one day, all 4400 of them reappear on earth in a flash of light and the transportation of some kind of space/time ship. The returnees all have some kind of psychic power and the purpose intended for them by the future, together with the way that the rest of the world reacted to them (with suspicion, by and large), represent the bulk of the narrative. By one of those quirks of fate that characterises so much of American television, the vast majority of the returnees are American and are conveniently located in and around Seattle, where the action was mostly set.

This initial plot then became transformed over time, at least partly it seems because the rapid turnovers of 4400 people would have meant that few if any would have been left after a couple of dozen episodes. Inevitably, family concerns and complexities also became influential in the plot and here is where Baldwin was increasingly integrated. As a member of the ruling elite (the action is set during an authoritarian, immoral Bush-like America), Baldwin must represent the rule of law over everyone, especially those whose recent history is unclear and who possess secret powers which might qualify them as dangerous terrorists. Yet he is compromised by the actions of both his son and nephew, who are directly involved in the 4400, as well as his new lover who is another returnee (and who strangely disappears at the end of Series 3 with what strikes the viewer as a case of ‘contract disagreement disorder’). He becomes identified as the ‘other’ by whom the returnees and various others (new 4400 people are created in due course) do not quite measure themselves but are measured nevertheless, perhaps in the eyes of the audience. He is the outsider in his own family, in his professional life and, through his habit of watching reactions rather than reality, in his own life. He does not, in this sense, exist in his own right but only as a counterpart or complement to other people or events. It is a curious narrative ploy and one which is matched by dualities which emerge in the story regularly.

In common with most television series, much of the action in The 4400 falls to pieces when it is analysed too deeply – yet there are occasions when the intentions of the writers jumps out to the audience and must be considered.