“The Ballad of Kevin and Tess” is episode nine of season three of The 4400.
Dr Burkhoff, who now looks a mess, is chased and captured by several men, then sedated.
Richard is attempting to put balls of paper in the bin with his telekinesis; he misses until he throws one physically. He then goes to see Heather to ask about how she works with kids who have powers. She’s not worked with adults before, because it didn’t work, but that she hasn’t tried that since she came off the inhibitor. Richard explains about his telekinesis. It works on inanimate objects and little stuff, unless he gets mad or excited. Then he can do more. He’s looking for more control when calm.
Burkhoff is telling the men who caught him that he hasn’t been dosing anyone but himself with promicin. The leader thinks it’s difficult to believe Burkhoff wouldn’t have a redundancy plan. Burkhoff says to look at him; he’s not got an easy time finding volunteers. The leader agrees and says Burkhoff looks to be in quite a bit of discomfort. Relax, the experiment is over. This will. only hurt a minute. And shoots him. He orders Burkhoff bagged for the autopsy. However, Burkhoff has already shown healing powers and when the van holding the body bag is opened, the bag is empty.
Maia finds Diana in bed and asks if she’s okay. She had a bad dream in which Diana turned into a monster. It seemed so real. Diana asks what kind of monster.
Diana shows Tom the drawing Maia made. Tom assumes it’s just a bad dream, not a prediction. Diana hopes so, but when your daughter is a precog you don’t want her drawing pictures like this. She gets a call from The 4400 Centre; she was hoping they’d seen Kevin Burkhoff. She stopped by his apartment and he wasn’t there.
Tom wants to know why she was going by Burkhoff’s and she ends up explaining about him dosing himself with promicin. Yes, she should have told Tom earlier. She thought they were the only ones who knew about the experiment, but now she isn’t sure. Tom notices that Diana has been wiping her nose a lot; she says allergies. Burkhoff isn’t close to his family, so who else is there?
That is Tess, who is now in a halfway house, on decent medication and reading for children at a bookshop. She can barely remember the tower or why and how she made people build it; she’s just glad it made Burkhoff better. She saw him for coffee when she got out, but hasn’t seen him in months. They ask Tess to call them if she speaks to Burkhoff.
Shawn is being prepared for a TV interview when there’s a shout from outside. A rock star, Nick Crowley, has collapsed and Shawn ends up using his powers to help. Isabelle is being fitted for a wedding dress. She also has an article on toasts for Richard to read. Tonight.
Tess is seeing Burkhoff and she brings him supplies. She tells him about Tom and Diana and he asks how Diana looks. Tess doesn’t like what they’re doing to Diana. Burkhoff says they need Diana. And Tess.
Crowley has brought a guitar for Shawn at the Centre. He invites Shawn backstage for the next performance.
Diana is in bed and she goes to answer the door. Tess is there; she says to bring a coat. Tess takes Diana to Burkhoff. Who is dosing her with promicin. He wanted Diana to be first; he’s just sorry it’s without her permission. The next morning, Diana is running late. She breaks a nail. Only it’s falling off, not broken. She finds Marco at Burkhoff’s; Tom is there too and asked Marco to check the computers. Marco says there are no records. As if someone removed the hard drives and swapped them for new. There’s a drawing of Burkhoff and wonder who drew it. Marco mentions that Tess liked to draw.
Richard is having meetings with Heather to try and control his powers better. Diana has made an appointment with the doctor, but she doesn’t think she has flu. She’s right; she’s being affected by the promicin. Which at the moment looks like it’s killing Dr Burkhoff. And Shawn gets asked on tour by Nick Crowley.