Enigma (Dead Zone)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Enigma" is the fourth episode of the USA Network original series the Dead Zone, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

[edit] Plot Synposis

Johnny (Anthony Michael Hall) has dinner at a formal restaurant with Chandra (Sarah Deakins), a blind date set up by Sarah; unfortunately, Johnny sees a vision of them as a couple, arguing over Johnny's fixation with Sarah. A mysterious man sends two glasses of wine and a business card, and Johnny sees a vision of his answering playing a message from Harold MacVane, who has "a business proposition" for the psychic; Johnny wants nothing to do with it.

The next day, Sarah visits Johnny at his house to learn that Johnny has no intention of calling Chandra again because of his vision. They are interrupted by Bruce, who arrives with Arthur Allen, an elderly patient who implores Johnny to help him find a woman from his past he claims to have seen, unaged, in Manhattan; Johnny declines, thinking that Arthur's mind is "play[ing] tricks," but has a vision of Arthur's encounter and sees the same woman in a taxicab.

Arthur later returns to Johnny's house with a shoebox of artifacts, including photographs and a Bronze Star Medal. Off the Medal, Johnny sees a vision of Arthur as a radio operator in World War II; off a silver cigarette lighter, he gets a vision of soldiers Artie and Tommy Peterson meeting Arthur's girlfriend Abigail Travers and Abby's friend Rosie O'Halloran at the Stage Door Canteen in 1945. At the Stage Door, Tommy dances with Abby while Artie works on a newspaper puzzle — "the Daily Enigma" — and Rosie sits with Artie. Johnny tells Arthur what he saw, and learns that Artie and Abby had to keep their relationship secret because of Stage Door rules.

Johnny doubts that Arthur saw Abby in Manhattan, so Arthur implores Johnny to go to New York and find out for himself; Johnny declines, and Arthur relents. Later that night, Johnny checks his message — finding one from MacVane, one prank call from a bunch of teenagers, one from Chandra — before making a snack and watching television. Arthur sleeps on his couch, as Johnny didn't have the heart to turn the fellow into the night; Johnny picks through the shoebox, seeing a vision of Tommy and Abby at the Stage Door, discussing Abby-and-Artie's relationship during a slow dance, and flirting with each other in the process.

After discussing Arthur's situation with Sarah and receiving a wrapped gift from her, Johnny heads to New York to investigate the scene of Arthur's sighting. In Manhattan, Johnny waits under the clock Arthur had been sitting by, but doesn't see Abby; instead, he hears the wrapped package ringing and opens it to find a cellphone. He uses it to phone directory assistance and get the listings for R. O'Halloran: all eleven of them. Tracking down the correct listing, Johnny meets with Rosie and discusses Arthur's strange sighting. He also leafs through a photoalbum and sees a vision of the photos being taken; he learns from Rosie that Tommy took the pictures in the southeast corner of Central Park, in front of the Savoy Hotel.

Johnny visits Central Park and finds an elderly man on a park bench, feeding birds; sitting on the bench, he has a vision of Tommy and Abby in Central Park in 1945, kissing. Sarah calls Johnny's cellphone and Johnny explains what he's learned before the phone cuts out. Johnny returns to the clock and finds a woman who looks like Abby entering a cab, and has a vision of Tommy and Abby in a cab, headed for the Swan Song Hotel. Johnny tries directory assistance again, and learns that there is no Swan Song Hotel listed in Manhattan.

Johnny visits the New York Public Library to research the Swan Song Hotel; Sarah discusses Johnny's fixation with Walt, who wanders how Sarah will feel when Johnny finds a woman of his own. Johnny tracks down the building that used to be the Swan Song and rents the honeymoon suite, where he has a vision off a Bible of Tommy and Abby engaged in a secret romantic liaison. The bellboy delivers a bottle of champagne and two glasses; after he leaves, Johnny has another vision confirming Tommy and Abby's secret relationship.

The next morning, Sarah calls Johnny, who was occupied throughout the night, from Tommy's perspective, with his visions of Abby and Tommy; he tells Sarah that Abby is the first woman he's been with psychologically since her. Sarah discusses Johnny's obsession with Walt again, and asks him to run "some kind of database search" on Abby. Johnny visits the building that used to house the Stage Door Canteen and has a vision of Tommy and Abby's lasting meeting, as they agree not to see each other again.

Johnny gets a call from Sarah informing him that Abby was registered with the New York Stage Actor's Guild, meaning that "Abigail Travers" was likely a stage name; he then visits Rosie again and learns that Abby disappeared a month after Tommy and Artie went off to the War, and that her real name was Abigail Tarnovski. Johnny finally visits a children's theatre and meets with Abigail Tarnovski and her granddaughter, who looks exactly the same as her grandmother did in 1945. Johnny learns that Abby had Tommy's daugther in 1946, which was why she left New York.

A few days later, Johnny brings Arthur to New York to meet Abby under the clock. He leaves the two alone, heading through Central Park where he finds the elderly man on the park bench again and sits, having a vision of Tommy in 1946, after the War, feeding birds from the park bench. Johnny realizes that the elderly man is an aged Tommy Peterson, and joins him in feeding the birds.

[edit] See also

• the Dead Zone