By Sobell
In Somalia: The Unwelcome Wagon comes out, kills the FBI/CIA translator and takes our intrepid party hostage. Understandably, the Unwelcome Wagon has a grudge against the folks who built up the original towers and subjected the Somalis to the first fatal flashforwards. So they kill some extras. The regulars then unleash a can of kickass on the guards and go after the head Unwelcome Wagon man -- it does not go well initially -- and he sort of encourages them, at gunpoint, to help him out. Janis ends up defusing the situation by coaxing the leader to check out Mosaic, and it turns out that sometimes in the few weeks, this guy is going to become the guy who stops the Somali civil war and becomes a major peacenik. So he helps them break into the tower (remember: built in 1991 despite Simon not designing it until 1992), and once inside, Demetri finds a videotape containing interviews with the missing/dead villagers. These interviews, D. Gibbons explains on the videotape, confirm a "consciousness shift" (i.e. flashforward) of two weeks into the future. So the new question becomes: How did D. Gibbons come to be in Somalia, conducting these experiments, in 1991? Also: What happens when Vogel decides to spike a lot of people's visions by shooting their Unwelcome Wagon man-turned-peacenik? (To be fair, the man was going after Simon in a "You did this to us!" frenzy of revenge, but still... Vogel just messed with many people's visions.) And THEN... oh, the most cringe-y thing ever: Janis hops back on the "Baby BABY BAAAABYYYY!" train and somehow, ends up attempting to conceive one with Demetri the old-fashioned way. I have many complicated feelings about this, which I will subject you all to in the recap. We don't see Demetri and Janis consummating their arrangement. What we do see: a tag end of the videotape, where D. Gibbons from 1991 is saying, "Hello, Demetri." Oh, it's so creepy.
In Los Angeles: Bryce encourages Nicole to pursue her curiosity about pre-med classes, and he eventually comes out and admits he's got cancer.
Also in Los Angeles -- for now: Olivia wants out of the City of Angels, reasoning that their flashforwards are set in Los Angeles, so all they have to do is leave and voila! No more flashforward-coming-true. Mark is like, "But I like living freeway-close to the beach! Also, I need you to talk to Charlie about her flashforward." Olivia, sucker that she is, does so. We get Charlie's flashforward. The "D. Gibbons is a bad man" thing is mostly a shaggy-dog story, but the two men outside the house who say, "Mark Benford is dead"? That is worth worrying about. Olivia keeps beating the "I want to leave" drum, and Mark is all, "La la la la la, I can't hear you."
Watch this episode here, discuss it in our forums, then see what we think the cast should do if FlashForward gets cancelled. And check back soon for the full recap!