Tom Baldwin

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Tom Baldwin

Name	Tom Baldwin
Born	December 20,1963
Age	44
Occupation	NTAC Agent / "Helper of the 4400" / Ex-Member of the Marked
Introduced	Pilot
Abducted
Ability
Last seen	Recurring
Status	Alive
Marital Status	Divorced
Relatives	Mitch Baldwin (father, deceased), Fran Baldwin (mother), Susan Farrell (sister,deceased), Linda Baldwin (ex-wife), Kyle Baldwin (son), Shawn Farrell (nephew), Danny Farrell (nephew,deceased)
Portrayed by	Joel Gretsch
Tom Baldwin is a member of The 4400
Tom Baldwin is a member of NTAC

Tom Baldwin is the main character in the story and plays the role of the reluctant hero, fighting threats to the country he loyally serves to protect alongside his colleagues while protecting those he loves.

1 History
2 Encounters with the 4400
3 The Marked
4 Relationships
5 Purpose
6 External Links

[edit] History

Only some major areas of Tom's past have been told; Tom was born and raised in Seattle, and had a very troubled relationship with his father; Mitch, whose long one-man-war against crime had made him adopt a cold, distant and violent nature in the field, and failed to separate from it when he returned to his home, leading Mitch to develop a drinking problem and regularly abuse Tom, his wife Fran, and Tom's sister Susan. Eventually, Tom despised his father for showing his dark side of his nature, and ignored Mitch's attempts to reconcile and did the opposite to all of his teachings and advice, but still wanted Mitch to be proud of his accomplishments (one of his happiest memories was when he was 12-years-old and playing baseball, where he made the catch that won the championship game, and Mitch was there to watch).

Tom decided to go into law-enforcement, much to the protest of his father who is a veteran police officer. When Tom made it into the FBI, he expected Mitch to call or write with congradulations, but Mitch never spoke to Tom, most likely out of jealousy as he never made it above beat-cop in his career. This rivalry and pent-up frustration over their troubled relationship was never resolved, as Mitch's drinking problem eventually led to multiple health problems. Though he was on a case in Baltimore, Tom had ample opportunity to visit the ailing-Mitch, who was dying in Seattle Hospital. Instead of coming to his side, Tom instead, couldn't bear to see his father, and any chance of a good relationship, die slowly and stayed until the case was solved and then left for home, but by that time, Mitch had died.

Tom is a devoted family man, having married and had a son of his own, who he loves dearly, and also remains in contact with his sister and her two sons, whom he is equally as close to.

Tom currently lives at 240 Parkside Avenue, Seattle, Washington.

[edit] Encounters with the 4400

When Dennis Ryland, a life-long friend of Tom's and family friend, was promoted to head the Seattle Branch of Homeland Security, Dennis sent a list of old colleagues he wanted to be sent there under his command. Tom's name was at the top of the list, and Tom accepted, but took an "indefinite leave of abscense" after only five months of work, severely shaking his relationship with Ryland, when he wished to invesitgate what had put Kyle into a coma, and find Shawn, who went missing the same night. Tom remained in bureaucratic limbo for three years, spending his time by Kyle's bedside, spending his money on private investigators to look for Shawn, and his pent-up emotions on Linda, severely straining his marriage.

When the Ball of Light came down to Earth and unleashed the 4400, Tom was sharp enough to notice Shawn was among the returnees, and was quick to go to Homeland Security and beg Ryland for his job back. Ryland, albeit reluctantly, accepted, and Tom was promoted become part of the newly-created independant division of Homeland Security formed in the wake of the 4400's return for the purpose of investigating what happened to them and where they have been over the years they have been gone; the National Threat Assessment Command, which was based in Seattle under Ryland, and Tom was partnered with Diana Skouris.

As among the original teams of NTAC Agents made shortlty after the 4400's return, Tom and Diana were at the tip of the situation, and almost every time something unusual, related to the 4400, happens, Tom and Diana are sent to investigate, and possible end any possible threats. While doing this, he has solved some personal problems of his own (though he was unable to save his relationship with Linda), such as Kyle waking up thanks to Shawn's extra-human ability. Kyle remained in a trance-like state, and eventually drew the attention of an over-eager NTAC Agent, Warren Lytell, who desired to remake NTAC into a more brutal, and ruthless-going organization, and kidnapped Kyle for the purpose of brutally interrogating him for information on the abductions (Kyle was the only known witness to one), and Tom ended up pointing a gun at Lytell's head when he found out. Teaming up with Diana and Linda, Tom was able to free Kyle, and make contact with a program placed inside Kyle's mind, which explained the ultimate purpose behind the 4400 before Lytell's interfering ended the message, but returned Kyle to normal.

For his actions against Lytell, Tom was reprimanded and reassigned to desk-duty, while his son was imprisoned at NTAC for brutal interrogation. After nearly a year, Diana was able to convince NTAC's new Regional Director; the cold-hearted Nina Jarvis (Ryland having since beig promoted to becoming Deputy Director of NTAC in Washington) to cut through the red-tape and release Kyle and reassign Tom back to active duty.

Tom began investigating again, forming a new relationship with Kyle and falling love with a 4400, whose ability allowed them to spend eight years together in an alternate reality; Alana Mareva, and discovered furthur secrets about the 4400. But soon faced several problems, such as Kyle, at the direction of a future being secretly placed in his mind, assassinating Jordan Collier, the enemy of NTAC, and much later, Ryland masterminding a plot to control the 4400 using using the unstable promicin-inhibitor. While Tom was able to being Ryland to justice, he lost his son to his guilt over his actions, and Tom reluctantly helped Kyle turn himself into the authorities.

Many weeks later, Tom ended up on the front lines in battles against the newly-formed Nova Group, who set about killing any possible threat to the 4400, and also from Shawn, whose relationship with him has furthur deteriorated, and Ryland, who, despite being censured from working in government agencies for his involvement in the inhibitor scandal, remains a danger (Ryland considering Tom a friend and reluctant ally, while Tom sees him as a traitor and nemesis and has broken off their friendship, to which Ryland regrets). Eventually, Tom is roped into a scheme by the People from the Future to destroy a great evil and threat to the 4400; Isabelle Tyler, but Tom was able to profit from his involvement by using the recently-resurrected Jordan Collier to get Kyle out of prison. In the end, this doesn't last, as though he is able to de-power and end the threat Isabelle's poses (losing Alana when Tom doesn't kill her), Jordan ends their short friendship by stealing Ryland's supply of refined-promicin, the element that gives 4400's their powers but kills 50% of those who take it, and distributing it to the world, with thousands dying from the effects, while thousands of others gain abilities and dozens, including Kyle, flock to Jordan's banner and begin building "a world of their own".

Tom nevertheless, perseveres against overwhelming odds, aided by his friends and loved ones, and plan to continue his work with NTAC and the 4400 "until the end".

[edit] The Marked

Through the apparent 4400 ability of an amatuer filmmaker, NTAC learns of the Marked, a group of ten people who have taken over the bodies of people in power. Tom himself is kidnapped and implanted with the Marked who once posessed Matthew Ross. As a Marked, Tom murders several people, kidnaps Isabelle and restores her powers so she can abduct Jordan Collier. Diana and Meghan notice the difference in his personality and have Marco devise a way to cure him. The cure, however, is risky, as it will kill whatever is inside him, as well as Tom himself. Shawn is brought in to revive him.

Cured, Tom goes to rescue Collier, still pretending to be Marked, but momentarily flinches when he discovers that Isabelle has been sent to kill Kyle and is captured. Saved by Isabelle, Tom gives Jordan the names of the last seven Marked agents and the means to cure them.

Tom is the first Marked to survive extraction of the invading personality. Presumably, Collier is the second.

[edit] Relationships

Tom was initially involved with Linda, who he had a son with, and they loved eachother very much. However, their relationship fell apart and ultimately ended after three years of struggling to cope. Tom, reluctantly, accepted this, and moved on, and fell in love with another woman, a 4400, named Alana, whom he spent eight years with in an alternate reality she created. Tom was devastated when she was abducted again by future agents, and even considered suicide to make the agents return her, but in the end accepted Alana was gone for good, and has recently begun a sexual affair with his new boss; Meghan Doyle.

Tom's relationship with his son, Kyle, has been strenuous since Kyle took promicin and became Jordan Collier's right hand. Kyle has insisted that Tom is one of the last to take promicin and survive. In the final scene of the season four finale, Kyle gives Tom a syringe loaded with promicin. Prior to this, Tom, Kyle and Shawn renewed their family ties at the funeral of Susan and Danny Farrell.

[edit] Purpose

The program that was lodged inside Kyle's mind, before being forcibly deactivated, told Tom had been selected to "help" the 4400 in their mission to stop the Catastrophe. Tom, however, has not accepted this, primarily due to his frustration with the People from the Future and their methods to survive, and is actively opposed to their efforts to save the future if it means sacrificing lives. Most likely for this reason, Tom was selected by a mysterious group of future agents from the Brutal and Powerful Elite to become one of their members, and has had his body taken over by the consciousness of an agent from the future in One of Us. That agent had previously been implanted in Matthew Ross.

[edit] External Links

Tom Baldwin - Official Profile

Characters
Major
Tom Baldwin \| Diana Skouris \| Jordan Collier \| Shawn Farrell \| Maia Skouris \| Kyle Baldwin \| Meghan Doyle \| Nina Jarvis \| Alana Mareva \| Marco Pacella \| Dennis Ryland \| Isabelle Tyler \| Lily Tyler \| Richard Tyler \| Kevin Burkhoff \| Tess Doerner
Recurring
Danny Farrell \| Susan Farrell \| Jed Garrity \| Nikki Hudson \| Brian Moore \| Devon Moore \| Heidi Moore \| Wendy Paulson \| Matthew Ross \| April Skouris \| Heather Tobey