By Sobell
At Our Lady of the Mood Lighting Memorial Hospital, Drs. Olivia and Bryce treat a cheery fellow named Ned Ned who complains of vague pains -- yet cheerily recounts how in his flashforward, he is evidently going one better than C. Thomas Howell, all Soul Man-style. ("I'm going to be some invincible black guy, like Shaft, or Bryant Gumbel.") When not nearly killing Ned Ned -- who has Addison's disease, and therefore was not equipped to handle the trauma of surgery -- Olivia counsels Lloyd on how to adjust to his fortnight of primary-parenting duties.
We also get Lloyd's version of his flashforward, in which he claims not to have seen the face of the woman in his flashforward, "but I knew we were together." Also, we in the audience now know that Lloyd's in cahoots with a sinister hobbit, and they're "responsible for the greatest single disaster in human history." O, how amusing that the architect of the flashforward will end up canoodling with the lady whose husband is looking for him! Or is the word I'm looking for… ironic?
Mark wants to fly to Somalia on the taxpayer dime, but Demetri manages to grab the FBI's travel budget for the week and goes to Indio, California, on a follow-up errand for his dirty-bomb investigation. Once at a greasy spoon, Demetri quickly ascertains that it's owned by Customer Choice Restaurant Group ("We're not quite a group yet," the manager says sheepishly) and then they're off and running after a fry guy who also doubles as a terrorist. The entire chase plays like something out of a videogame -- pitbulls! Children's pools! Boozy blondes opening doors right in agents' faces -- but the fry guy is, of course, nabbed with a backpack full of marijuana. ("I am going to be Scarface of pot!" the guy says.) Demetri does not take any of this well. He finally tells Mark -- via a punch to the jaw -- that he's going to be murdered soon. Mark vows to help Demetri solve his murder before it happens.
When Mark's not dealing with Demetri, he's tangling with the blonde terrorist lady from the pilot, who provides this week's theme with the following monologue: "Do you know what a black swan is? It's a metaphor used to describe a high-impact event, something so rare, it's beyond the realm of human expectation. It comes from the 17th century when scientists assumed that all swans were white. They were wrong." Then she alludes to a Sufi parable, snarks on Mark, and generally makes us feel bad for investigators who have to spend their professional lives wading through such tendentious bullshit in search of actual, usable explanations.
Finally, babysitter Nicole re-emerges as a character. She's found religion post-flashforward, but unfortunately, the church she wanders into is sort of a Buddy Christ operation. Also, the priest she consults with may or may not be the guy who tries to drown her in her flashforward. (He sure looks like it right now.)
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!