Episode Report Card Sobell: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT In the Garden of Dyson, Baby …
By Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 04.22.2010
ys, "March 15 -- the most important fork of all." Demetri asks, "My murder." "No!" Dyson says with an air of cheery lunacy, "Our murder! You see, the thing is, Demetri, in almost every future, I don't live past today. Seventy-eight percent of the time, you end up killing me!" Demetri wants to know why and Dyson chuckles, "Stupidity, self-defense, bad luck -- I could construct a hundred scenarios. The point is, once we've glimpsed it, the future wants to happen. It gains weight. It's like atmospheric pressure bearing down." Hear that, everyone? It's the writers telling all of us who ask about free will to shut up.Demetri asks why Dyson went to all the bother of an elaborate death trap chamber, and Dyson explains earnestly, "I'm attempting to conform to the future as closely as possible while still allowing for the possibility that we both might live! I want to come in from the cold, and you're my insurance." In other words, Dyson's trying to outthink the universe. Pretty sneaky, guy! Demetri does not appreciate the desperate genius behind this idea -- and who can blame him, as he's the one all cramped in a chair with a gun aimed at his cabeza? -- and tells Dyson, "You're insane." Dyson's nervous energy dissipates and he says quietly, "Most oracles are, you know? They see the future, and the knowledge ends up destroying them." Demetri strains against the chair, shouting for Dyson to come in from the cold and share what he knows, and Dyson comes back, all cheery exposition gone: "Careful. I don't know what will happen, but in all likelihood, one of us will die today." He takes off, Demetri shouting impotently in the background.
And now, Mark's at Union Station. The rest of the series regulars are in a surveillance van outside. Mark tensely glares at passersby for a few minutes, then a whole lot of nothing happens.
Then -- since this Will-a-beloved-series-regular-live-or-die? plotline is apparently not enough to hold our interest -- Olivia quizzes the rest of the folks in the operating room on whether or not anyone uses halothane anymore. The anesthesiologist shrugs, "In developing countries maybe, but here it's been replaced by newer agents." When Bryce asks why Olivia's so interested, she mentions Lloyd's interest and Bryce gets all gossipy about their renewed connection.
Still curious how Mark's doing? You'll have to wait, because it's time for Alda's hearing. Zoey lied about Alda's possible appendicitis in order to get the hearing -- unethical, sure, but I can't say I wouldn't do the same in the same situation -- and the hearing is pretty much a nonstarter. However, the real point was not to get Alda a favorable hearing; it was just to get her to the courthouse where the window-washing arm of her shadowy employers happens to have been waiting for her. A few well-placed explosions later and Alda is escaping from custody. Before she goes, she tells Zoey her one possibly-relevant piece of useful information: Demetri's body will be found in "Building Seven."
Meanwhile, poor Vreede's stuck chasing a dead end in the Dyson Frost investigation -- literally. He has to identify the poor John Doe who got shot in the last episode, and he prevails upon Olivia to help him. Why? Because it was this John Doe who sent Olivia the text about Mark being shnockered in his flashforward. Therefore, Vreede reasons, Olivia must have some connection to the stiff. Olivia is skeptical of this line of reasoning, but agrees to head down to the morgue.
And now, Mark's contact comes by: a young boy bearing a Superman backpack. He explains, "Some weird guy paid me $50 to give you this," then hands over the backpack. Mark opens it: there's a photo of Demetri -- alive but glowering -- and a mobile phone, which begins ringing. Dyson's on the other end. He orders Mark to be quiet, as this will prevent him from verbally passing along any information to the rest of the FBI team, and after threatening to kill Demetri if Mark doesn't play nice, adds, "I want to come in. I'll tell you when and why the next blackout will occur. I want to help you, but because I've parted ways with my associates, they're going to do anything to insure that you don't bring me into custody." Mark promises "we can protect you" -- yeah, now that there's only one mole around to shoot up the joint, the odds of workplace homicides have dropped by 50% -- and Dyson tells him to shut up. "If you understand, say 'Figueroa.'" When the FBI surveillance team picks it up and assumes it's Figueroa St. Having sent the team on a wild goose chase, Dyson then sets Mark on a wacky chase of his own -- but not before having him say "Pico" (pronounced, as all Angelenos know, as "peek-oh") to further confuse the FBI. They're now going to stake out the intersection of Pico and Figueroa.
Mark then sprints to the men's room, tosses his phone and his weapon, jumps into a ventilation shaft where there's a Zoomcar access card waiting for him, then shimmies through the ductwork until he's running through a standpipe, then up to the waiting Zoomcar. Once he finds the car, he lets himself inside. A phone immediately starts ringing, and it's Dyson. He begins giving Mark driving directions. Mark zips off, leaving Janis in the dust. He ultimately heads to a remote location in the Antelope Valley and begins sprinting toward his meeting place with Dyson.
Meanwhile, Vreede and Olivia are hitting a dead end on their John Doe, as he had no dental records, no fingerprints, no identifying scars. The only thing distinctive about the man is that he had a huge hippocampus, which indicates he could have been a savant. Olivia's all, "Well, that's all well and good but I have to go now." Vreede shoots her down by reminding her that she is somehow connected to the dead man -- they just don't know how.
Mark sprints to his meeting place with Dyson in the scrubby hills. He happens to be holding a water bottle filled with a yellowish liquid. That's new. Dyson comes strolling out and greets Mark with an expansive gesture -- "So here we are again, Mark. Time for you and me to save the world." Mark gives him a glower that plainly communicates "Demetri first, world second." Dyson cocks a gun at Mark and gives him an unhinged grin. He says, "Most of my associates wanted you dead months ago, but I resisted because I wanted to see things through to this day." Mark wants to know, "Why me?" "Because I don't trust the rest of the FBI," Dyson drawls, "Nor should you." Mark protests that they found the mole and Dyson hisses, "You think that makes you safe? You have no idea." He tosses cuffs to Mark and tells him to put them on before they continue chit-chatting. Mark asks if he can have some water first. Dyson doesn't see why not. Mark takes a sip, bends down to put on the cuffs -- then stands up and spits in Dyson's face. And it's not water! He had siphoned some gasoline from the car. That's got to sting. Mark quickly disarms Frost and cuffs him, and Frost shouts frustratedly, "This is not the way it's supposed to play out."
And right in the middle of this tense confrontation, we cut to ... Zoey, losing her cool all over Janis and Wedeck. Janis hustles off to chase down Building Seven leads while Wedeck works his mojo and gets Zoey to shut her babbling yap. Oh, Wedeck, I wish you had your own show. Or that you roamed the airwaves getting annoying people to stop their yip-yip-yipping on other shows.
Back to Mark flipping out on Dyson, who is in turn protesting, "You already know where Demetri is! I gave Charlie all the answers!" Mark screams, "What in the hell are you talking about?" and starts frogmarching Dyson toward the car, saying, "We're running out of time." Dyson wails, "I know! The whole world is!" This actually penetrates Mark's self-righteous fury and he looks at Dyson, who gasps, "But in the end, we're all going to be saved by the lady you see every day." Mark is all, "Who in the what now?" Dyson pleads, "Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you --" "Move!" Mark commands. Dyson then spots a motorcycle behind one hill and says, "Someone followed you here." Mark's all, "Nuh-uh," but then he catches sight of the cycle. Right then, Alda shoots Dyson. Oh, no! I LIKE Dyson. He's a tragic figure, yet entertaining. It would have been awesome to keep him around matching wits with Simon and Lloyd. Alas, he dies while gasping, "I did what I did for a reason." Mark drops the body, picks up Dyson's satchel, finds photos and diagrams we'll doubtlessly be seeing more of later, then finds a Zoomcard. He takes off to find Dyson's wheels.
Once there, Mark checks the GPS to see where Dyson's been recently, and recalls Vreede's art lesson earlier -- Ingres was the painter. What do you know, there's an Ingres street where Dyson was recently. Mark presses the GPS to give him directions and speeds off.
It's Elvin from the Cosby Show! And he's all grown up and playing a neurologist now. Dr. Ebbing is there basically to exposit on savants -- "Some of my patients are like human video cameras, compelled to record staggering amounts of information." I am recapping this only because the Anvils of Future Plots are falling thick and fast, and this is prologue.
Mark has arrived at the Ingres Street location with four minutes to spare. He runs around the abandoned army depot bellowing Demetri's name at the top of his lungs. Concurrently, Wedeck and Janis are trying to get a lock on Mark's location. Mark helps everyone by calling in to Wedeck and shouting where he is. And this is where building seven comes in handy -- now all they have to do is tell Mark which unnumbered building is building seven. Janis produces the information, and Mark bursts into the warehouse. Demetri gives him the rundown: "There's a rig with your gun in it, and I can't move. You have about two minutes and change to do something." And it's an impressive rig. Mark reasons that he can't stop the timer, but maybe he can move the gun. Demetri's not really feeling the hope right now and he indulges in a gloomy moment of conceding his fate to that importunate bitch, Predestination.
Mark remembers the "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" clue Dyson dropped and reasons that's how he'll pull the wires to disengage the gun. There's a tense little moment where Mark does his little sequence, moves the gun by millimeters, and then --
The gun fires repeatedly and Demetri twitches. But it's because the gun fired behind him and into the