JULY 2, 2006
PANIC
by Adam Targum
The way that "Panic" arose was a need for us to do an episode that was centered in one location, as opposed to being a road show, and we decided to use the house again.
The house is a place where Johnny spends a lot of time. Personally, I know my house is my domain and, I think, where we live really informs who we are. To that end, what greater way to really explore who Johnny is than in his own space -- his own castle, so to speak?
Just the idea that this was an old house, full of secret tunnels and passageways and creepy attics, creepy basements ... I think we took real advantage of that and created a story that was organic to Johnny, while also allowing us, again, to take a look back at Johnny's past. I'm proud of this episode, as well.
Season 1's "The House" was certainly a great episode that gave us insight into Johnny's mother, but sitting in the writers' room in conversation, we realized that there really hadn't been any exploration of Johnny's father.
In Season 4's "Babble On," we felt it would be a great opportunity for us to really delve into that. And, of course, we would have been remiss in doing that without tying in some sort of exploration of the origin of Johnny's Dead Zone.
What we really did, which was great, was we tied it into the house itself. The house that we shoot in is such a beautiful, gorgeous place that Johnny lives in. And, obviously, the backstory of it being his mother's house and it being left to him was great, but how could we tie that into his dad?
Then came the notion of his dad having been very active in renovating the house and having laid the hardwood floors with his own hands. We saw this as a great way to really connect Johnny and his father in a physical way.
Then the idea came up that Johnny was having work done on the house and it was the sanding of Herb's hardwood floors that unleashed the dust that Johnny was breathing in, and this became the great Dead Zone connection between him and his father.
From that came the exploration of what exactly did Johnny's dad know about Johnny's gift? And did Herb himself have a similar gift?
The episode's really open to different interpretation and, when we got to the end of the episode, we really -- at least I, personally -- fell in love with the notion of leaving some of the questions ambiguous as to whether or not Herb left that doll for Johnny to find, knowing that he had this gift; that Herb, not having Johnny's gift, wasn't able to deal with it; or if Johnny, as a child, had first exhibited his gift to his dad and Herb left the doll for him to find in order to solve the big mystery when he was an adult; or whether Herb himself was also gifted with a Dead Zone.
That is a question that, hopefully, will be answered in Seasons 6 and 7!
"Panic" is an example of an episode that I think has some really cool visual stuff in it. I think the episode was cast very well. The two actors that play the creepy thugs who come into the house really did a nice thing with their roles, really made them their own and added some real dimension to the characters.
It's a very active episode, there's a lot of movement. It's a great episode of Johnny spending time with JJ: father and son on this adventure and on this ride together, which is great. And there are really strong parallels between Johnny's father as a child and JJ as a child and Johnny, as well.
It explores the relationships of father-son and friendship and, also, what it means to really be selfless ... which is really the core of who Johnny Smith is. He sacrifices so much of himself -- not necessarily by choice -- to the responsibility of the gift that he was given and how he has to really be selfless in saving humanity and using his gift for everyone's benefit.
Thanks for watching.
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