You know, considering how effective and powerful Janus was in seasons four/five, his conspiracy to bring about Armageddon seems to have been rather ill-organized with the workload being unevenly distributed and with its agents being a useless group of lemmings who now have no one to give them orders. This doesn't seem like a very well-arranged conspiracy group.

I mean, if all it took to derail Armageddon was to kill ONE GUY, then Janus' organization really wasn't particularly competent at all. One would think that a plot to bring about nuclear hellfire by way of defence contracts, fixing political appointments, and sidelining wildcards like touch-sensitive psychics would have a lot of leaders-in-waiting should the man spearheading the effort die in an embarrassing bout of shoving. But there seem to have been no backup plans; Janus' death means that Kendra Crowe and her ilk are just going to go back to their jobs at the local military surplus outlet, then?

Was Janus really all talk and ominous presence and nothing more?

- Ibrahim Ng

I feel your frustration. I was so excited about Janus and his little ploys. I hope that his death was just the event that signaled the beginning of what he called his play. Most of Janus machinations centered on setting up certain people in situations that Janus knew they would react in. "Forbidden Fruit" is a great example of how John was set up using Stillson as bait in order to get Kelly compromised. Janus is the master manipulator. He plans meticulously for which way the dominos fall. I'm sure he's planned his goals for long term as well as short term.

Hammer put forth a great idea that since John wouldn't join the masterplan with him being "the third ruler", Janus may be using Sarah to ultimately do something to make him get involved but it may cost him his life for his choice. You remember that "atrocity" that Stillson will supposedly be a part of? Do you remember who FJ blamed for everything and then told himself that he wouldn't "make the choice"? Remember too how the radio jock was set up as the patsy to kill or look as if he killed the Vice President? These types of situations can arise again in the future but now John may be the one who is being emotionally manipulated by events that still may be on the table and now supervised by someone else. Remember what Wolf said about these people in high places that make a coincidence really part of the overall plan.

Janus was a great character and just because he is dead does not have to necessarily mean its over. He can be "reaching frome the grave" so to speak. You better way to manipulate your "enemy" (as that is now what John is for the Armageddon plan) than to make him think the "devil" is dead. Janus knows how Johnny's visions work and he knows how to manipulate them. John, on the other hand, as been saying repeatedly that he doesn't know. Is John really wanting to push the issues about anything anymore for fear a situation might bring back Armageddon. He is not pursuing Walt's death or the reason why he is being charged with the same energy we've seen from him in the past. He easily pushes away any feeling that is dark and deep. Maybe he's still running from it. It seems the only time it resurfaces is when he is forced to deal with it.

If the writers' only goal is to write "touchy-feely" episodes that are Johnny-centric and cannot incorporate a little drama of the Armageddon arc as in the past, then I'd say that is a problem. Its logical to want a balance as to not overwhelm us with it, but honestly, its a totally disregarding the "mythology" as they say. There will be no "mythology" without a "mythic" or "epic" journey to drive the overall story as John's relationship to Stillson was in the novel. That is the underpinning of the franchise if it is to look anything like what Stephen King wrote. Not just John learning to use his gift to help people.

I'm willing to entertain this little backtrack and hope that we have writers that have the mettle to give us some good Stillson eps. It would be interesting to see John and Greg form some sort of "working" relationship. Stillson, like John, may need someone to "take care of him". Stillson's father did it, then Janus. Now Stillson has a whole army of Secret Service. John now has quickly taken in Sarah to replace Bruce. I'm sure Stillson is still manipulative. Some of our fellow forumers have called Sarah that. Is John a tad manipulative too? Not in a bad way, but he can force himself on people when he's a mind too and he's quite bull headed. Another trait that they share.

The one thing we need to be looking at is what is going on at the subsurface level. If we take everything at face value such as Janus death, then I'd be upset too. Janus specifically told Greg that he (Janus) would never underestimate him. Janus seemed quite provocative to both Purdy and Stillson which makes me think he was setting something up. It was totally out of character for him to be so snitty. I think he enjoys playing his part. Remember too that he thinks dying for his cause is a noble thing. If we can think of ways to be or keep the storyline consistent, then I'd hope these new writers can. I just think that some new groundwork needs to be laid because John, if he's being set up down the road, has to be drawn in.

The people who followed Janus seemed quite resolute. They don't want to be made known, but I'm sure they're a greedy, self-righteous lot. They'll have found someone to take Janus place to keep things going or to get it back on track. They, I think, were businessman for the most part. And remember too that they now have the components to make a great new nuclear warhead. One can still make a nuclear warhead but you have to have the circumstances to use it. That situation can again be created. They just maybe aren't going to be open with Greg or John about it and may be more secretive about their manipulating world/national events. The one thing about the "beast machine" is that it has more than one head. And the "head" that is supposedly mortally wounded comes back to life. That head can be a man or it can be a postion of power that is filled by someone more competent. John once said that if cut off the head of the snake, it kills the snake. Well, that's true if it is a single headed entity. You can "replace it with a new head" too like he talked about in "Total Awareness" but again, that new head can be just as mean or another "tear the roots out of 3" and seize power. This is all in the symbology of "end times" and maybe one that Janus reveres. He liked what he read in the Bible, but his interpretation is crazy. He's thinking of a "pheonix" scenario of a bird rising from literal ashes.

I'm waiting to see what happens by the end of the season, but if they've let Armageddon go and turn Stillson into an impotent character in the mythology in the long run, that's just wrong and a disservice to the ideology of "The Dead Zone" written by Stephen King. I don't expect a perfect resemblence to the book, but if they are taking it back to the book, they cannot ignore the great impact of Stillson and Johnny on a road to collision.

I'm sure that Janus' minions, whoever they are, are still busily continuing with whatever plans they have. They don't know that the tide of inevitability has turned against them. We don't see it because Johnny's only window into their world is Stillson, who he sees rarely.

Johnny hasn't told anyone but Bruce that Armageddon is no longer coming. Remember that Janus didn't appear until Johnny's research associating Stillson with Armageddon was publicized. Either Stillson would have been causal to the disaster with or without Janus' involvement or his meeting and gaining support from Janus was inevitable (at that time).

Personally, I think that Janus' death is not the reason that Armageddon is no longer the future, and I think that situation could change at any time if Johnny does the wrong thing. And I bet it will be back before the end of the season, at least briefly.

Well.

I approve of most of the moves they've made this year, especially ending Armageddon (or at least appearing to). I was watching "Vanguard" yesterday. Great episode, but three myth-arc episodes a year is unacceptable. A running plotline that's lasted for over four seasons of a TV show *can't* continue to be delayed and prolonged. By the time of "The Hunting Party", we knew little more than we had learned in "Destiny." So I'm bang alongside wrapping Armageddon up -- I mean, the first season didn't need an Armageddon arc to be interesting. It's merely poor management (*coughTommyThompsoncoughUSANetworkcough*) that resulted in the myth-arc episodes of the fourth/fifth season being the only ones worth watching. With the whole thing advancing at a crawling pace, perhaps it was better for the new writing team to burn it all off and tell stories about Johnny Smith once again.

But the nature of the wrap-up -- off the ringleader and all is well? That's preposterous, I feel, considering how much time was spent building Malcolm Janus, Armageddon and everything else up as this insurmountable, unassailable force. Malcolm Janus and the destruction of civilization were written out in a way that seemed like almost an afterthought. And it's basically saying we wasted our time worrying about Janus and Armageddon, because it wasn't that hard to beat after all, and in fact, Johnny didn't even really end up doing much of anything to stop it.

- Ibrahim Ng

These new writers just seem to have forgotten about why we watch the show in the first place. After a pretty dramatic season opener, the show has gone south. It's sad when a show "jumps the shark." But it has. Did they honestly think we would like the new direction with the loss of Purdy, Bruce, Walt and Stillson? Some producers are just stupid.

Well I like the new direction and I'm certain there are fans out there that also like the new direction.

Please don't presume you're talking for the entire fandom of Dead Zone.
As it has become quite obvious on this board, there are people with many different tastes.
People who like the Armageddon stuff most.
People who like the stand-alones most
People who like to see more darker stuff
People who like a combination of dark and humor etc etc. You name it.

Plus I doubt every fan has the same reason why they watch the show in the first place.
I doubt many male fan here on the board shares my reason for watching.
Unless they're gay.

And who says Bruce, Purdy and Stillson are lost? They might pop up later in the season.

Uh, yeah. I'd appreciate it if people didn't speak on my behalf or on behalf of everyone.

- Ibrahim Ng

I don't particularly like some of the changes this season, but I don't think they are all permanent. I think Armageddon will come back, maybe Johnny will save someone he shouldn't have or fail to save someone he needed to save and the plan will be back on. I think the major storyline was put on hold to give the new writers a chance to learn how to write successful episodes. I don't know about anyone else but I believe that each episode continues to be better than the last and I can't wait until Stillson returns.

I keep coming back to win Wey showed Johnny the magazine saying 'Will this man destroy the world". Maybe Armeggedon is still happening, but Johnny isn't getting visions of it from Stillson or anyone else because they're not the ones causing it.

I always wonder why John never got visions of Armageddon off of Janus. I know John didn't touch Janus directly but he could still get a vision of Armageddon when John was in Janus' office.