(S04E08) I love the multiple ways the title of this episode works: No Exit refers on the surface, and most basic level, to the scenario in which the characters find themselves. Many characters on both sides of the promicin issue wake up suddenly at NTAC when they started out asleep at home. Both sides think the other has brought them there for nefarious purposes, and they begin preparing to defend themselves when they realize that, like the Hotel California, they can't leave. So, of course, being bright people, they immediately start trying different scenarios that will help them leave despite the fact that there appears to be no exit.

I sort of couldn't believe that nobody even thought that maybe P.J. might be behind all of it when he said, "She wasn't supposed to die," about Meghan. I really did think she was dead-- until Shawn died too, and then I hoped like hell that something else was going on. I have mixed feelings about Meghan being a bad guy now-- I still think she's probably bad though.

The other way No Exit works is, of course, Jean-Paul Sartre's existential play. (Last week we have Blake, this week Sartre... interesting). In No Exit, three people find themselves in hell together. They learn that hell is actually other people. The three people will be in hell together forever, and each one has something that another one of them needs, but they withhold it from each other-- and creates hell. The twist in this episode of The 4400 is that the characters who are stuck together are on opposite sides of the promicin battle. However, as P.J. explains his ability, they have to work together through a scenario, a game, in order to escape.

Diana and Isabelle snipe at each other. Maia wants to help Isabelle and Kyle. Maia plays matchmaker with Marco and Diana. Marco's geeky friend makes snarky comments. Tom and Kyle continue to have a very real and loving relationship even though neither of them understands what motivates the other.

I find it interesting that the two alpha males who have been poised opposite each other are Tom Baldwin and Jordan Collier. Tom isn't in command of NTAC-- Meghan is (though she doesn't seem to have nearly the experience that Tom does). So, is it really then about Collier's power over Kyle and Shawn? Has that personalized a battle that might be nothing more than perp and officer otherwise? It seems that there are other scenarios in which the cat and mouse, fugitive and law develop a relationship of mutual respect, while remaining at odds: The most obvious scenario is The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, but we see this even as recently as The Bourne Ultimatum (I have not seen it, but Bourne develops a relationship with a CIA operative over the phone, even as they are working against each other, and the commercials for the third movie indicate this has not changed).

I think P.J. was right: His game did change things, it did have a point. Tom calls Collier by his first name, but the change goes deeper: They were both willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good (and Jordan initiated it). I think that is foreshadowing. But we had to see that they were both capable of doing it. I think we are starting to see that Isabelle is more trustworthy. She took on a role as a peacemaker. But the best moment of the episode was the end when Jordan asked, "Do you want to hang up or shall I?" because clearly the two men were unwilling to break off what they had made by gripping hands, at once necessary to bring the electrical currents together, but also what gentlemen do to settle a bet or to greet each other or to seal an agreement: they join hands: They connect.

The 4400 writers were also smart and savvy enough to realize that they were treading on territory that has been covered many times and many ways: Force people to be stuck together in an elevator, on a planet, in a car, handcuffed together, etc., until they bond in some way and emerge changed. Making the episode into a game without any significant consequences besides the way the characters now perceive each other was a neat trick indeed.