(S06E13) You have got to be kidding me. They spent an entire season piddling around and then introduced about fifty different things into the season finale? They could have built an entire season around what was contained in this episode, but they didn't. I have no idea what the writers of this show are thinking half the time, and part of me is really hoping that tonight's episode was the last. No, I know it was the last in this season. I mean I hope it was The Last. But if you are fan of the show, I won't put any spoilers before the jump, and you should really watch the final episode.Okay, it is a big enough revelation that Johnny's father is still alive and has been all of these years. But the hugeness of the conspiracy that Greg Stillson has wrought is absurd, even by television standards. They created, underground, an exact replica of John Smith's house so they could keep his mentally incompetent father Herb there, stuck in front of a television? And they didn't think that Stillson could accomplish his plot to make Herb have visions on his behalf in a nursing home? It surely would have cost less to bribe a nursing home staff than to create an ancestral mansion underground. Not only do I not believe that Stillson had the time, money, or resources to do such a thing, I don't think that the number of people required to pull that off would have been able to keep it a secret. Look at Jacinta.

So, Johnny's father is not only alive, but he has visions too? What, did he hit his head too? Why is it necessary to have the whole fan-damily have visions, anyway? That essentially negates Johnny's coma, which is sort of the whole premise of the show. His coma tapped into a part of the brain called The Dead Zone. Hmmm... where have I heard that phrase before. Oh yeah: It's the title of the show! But apparently, you can bump your head on the carpet and have visions if you are a Smith. Oh, and that is sure convenient that the phrasing of Herb's vision was that Sarah loves Johnny, Sarah has to marry Johnny or something terrible (Armageddon) will happen. So, if Herb was truly having visions about Stillson and calling him by the wrong name, then Sarah really does have to marry Stillson to prevent the end of the world. But if Herb simply knows that Sarah loves Johnny and that they have to marry to prevent Stillson from ending the world, well.. yawn.

How on earth could Herb not know that Johnny was his son if Jacinta managed to get that picture to him? Would that picture even mean anything to Herb anyway? And how did Stillson and his goons not see it there? Ah, I know the answer. None of that matters as long as Johnny gets to have his vision of Walt essentially giving his permission for Johnny to usurp his life. Teach J.J. to shave? Thanks for giving Johnny permission to raise his own son, there, Walt. Oh, and your daughter. I was half expecting Walt to dictate what name he thought Sarah should give the baby, which only would have been truly great if it had been something like "Honoria" instead of "Hope." Then Johnny would have had another secret to keep from Sarah.

I always like the kid who plays J.J. though. And I liked the fact that he started mistrusting Stillson when Stillson cheated at cards. It is cool that J.J. has visions and started to see the vision of Armageddon (that story line is baaaaack!); I just have problems with the fact that the whole reason that Johnny started having visions (let me finish beating the dead horse) was related specifically to his coma. It wasn't hereditary. We had no prior hints of Herb ever having visions before this episode. They could have been laying the groundwork for all of this with much more than "Brian Meeks left Walt a cabin." (And what a cabin that was!). At least this episode finally made mention of the fact that Sarah needs to get a job.

The premise of this show is so good. It has so much promise. It used to be so much better. [Don't even get me started about the huge Visa promotion in this episode -- at least they didn't say the word "Visa,"] I think if they fired their entire stable of writers and hired new ones who were instructed only to read the book and watch the original two seasons, then maybe a seventh season might have a chance. But unless that happens, I am not interested.