By Sobell
FBI Boss Dude Courtney B. Vance sums up the theme of tonight's episode with: "World's changed. All of us are making decisions based on what will happen, not what could. It makes us do things we wouldn't ordinarily do." Such as release Nazis from prison and welcome them to the U.S. as citizens. Yes, this week's primary plot involves Mark and a Nazi, since the Nazi is name-checking Mark in his flashforward.
I sort of feel that introducing Nazis to a TV show is like the network equivalent of invoking Godwin's Law, but at least it gives us this priceless exchange:
FBI Boss Dude Courtney B. Vance: You want to fly to Germany to talk to a Nazi?
Mark Benford: Former Nazi.
FBI Boss Dude Courtney B. Vance: Well, that just makes me feel so much better.
And so Mark gets to fly to Germany to talk to a former Nazi, because Rudolph Geyer has helpful information about the flashforward. But Geyer won't talk unless he's returned to America and all charges are dropped. Mark agonizes over this for exactly one scene, then agrees to a deal with Geyer wherein the genocidal octogenarian gives some easily-verified information now, and spills all once a pardon's on the table. After Geyer puckishly outs Janis, he name-drops the Kabbalah and points out that its Hebrew letters and some numerology razzle-dazzle equals 137 seconds. This does not impress Mark, so Geyer talks about his flashforward: he's being repatriated to America, he was making small talk with a customs agent named Jerome Murphy, and he says that he's coming "home" to America because "I have a murder to thank for it."
Heeey… guess who heard that he's getting murdered with three shots to the chest! Demetri, who got this tidbit from Shoreh Aghdashloo before she had to hang up. But he lies like a rug to his fiancée, as her flashforward evidently consisted of her waltzing down a Hawaiian beach to meet her intended in her wedding ceremony.
Anyway, once Mark confirms Geyer's flashforward with Jerome Murphy's, he's pretty much committed to giving a Nazi a full pardon and a "Welcome to America!" button. And after he does, Geyer's exciting new information: he saw a bunch of dead crows in the prison courtyard. Janis speaks for us all with, "What the hell does this have to do with the Kabbalah and 137 seconds?" And Geyer reminds us all why Nazis are evil when he chortles, "Nothing! I have no idea why the blackout lasted 137 seconds." Mark somehow seems shocked that a Nazi might have been deceptive. On the plus side: this crow thing might turn out to be a lead.
And he continues playing a little fast-and-loose with the law, helping Aaron get an order to exhume what were allegedly his daughter's remains. He had been hoping the remains in Traci's grave weren't hers, but alas, testing shows they were.
The show ends, fittingly enough, with FBI Boss Dude Courtney B. Vance giving a truly awesome eulogy for eight fallen agents. And with a bunch of crows falling dead around a mysterious tower in Somalia.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vloggers Val and Beth think the show could use a little Caruso in TV is the Answer. And check back soon for the full recap!