Episode Report Card Sobell: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Al Gough Died for Nothing
By Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 19 | Aired on 05.06.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.At the six-minute mark, we get handed the message for the week: Do not try to cheat the universe, because it will self-correct. Somewhere, the disembodied spirit of Dyson Frost is cackling and saying, "I told you so!"
Agent Fiona Banks is back! As is the Blue Hand gang! She's investigating a string of deaths -- people who had survived their death dates are now being murdered. Naturally, Demetri -- who outlived his own death date -- teams up with her. They quickly finger a fellow Blue Hander who's been killing people under the theory that the universe only wants so many people alive at a time, or else its energy gets all out of whack. (Honestly, it's a lot like the first plot arc in J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars.) Demetri and Fiona get their man -- barely, as he dies on the spot -- and by the episode's end, Fiona's struck the woman Gough died to save, and she's getting the same phone call Al got. The universe is self-correcting.
Simon is contacted by the shadowy cabal holding Annabel -- get back that QED within 12 hours or his sister gets killed. Since he walks around looking all high-strung and stuff, Mark immediately twigs to the situation and worries (correctly) that the Mosaic Project is compromised. He persuades Wedeck to sink some resources into finding Annabel. Simon is, unsurprisingly, not filled with confidence over this, but Mark saves the day, saves the girl, and discovers it's for naught as Simon stole the QED and dropped off the grid. Thoroughly peeved, he channels his irritation into investigation and nails Simon as Suspect Zero.
Also on the universe's to-do list: Make Llolivia a reality. There is one genuinely funny scene where Vreede shows up to question Gabriel at the hospital where Olivia's treating him, and the whole time Olivia's talking, Gabriel is mouthing along everything she's going to say. We learn that he's flashed to the FBI headquarters, and has memorized Mark's special bulletin board. He meets Lloyd for the first time, and demands that Lloyd press his suit with Olivia -- which Lloyd does by the end of the episode.
Finally: Bryce's cancer is in remission. This happens just in time for Keiko to come into the hospital -- she's one of the crew of detainees who will be getting flu shots. Nicole's about to trot off to deliver the news to Bryce, but he waylays her, lays one on her, and tells her to forget what he saw -- let's live in the now, baby! I am thrilled for those two crazy kids but now all paranoid that the universe will screw with them in the name of self-correction.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin in lovely Palo Alto -- "Old shot," observes Mr. Sobell, before wandering off, "because the stadium's not where it should be" -- which is the headquarters for NLAP. Remember NLAP, which functions as a home for wayward physics geniuses? Two of them are talking now. Simon is razzing Lloyd for wearing the same sports coat he was wearing when NLAP broke ground on its accelerator. Lloyd claims it was an accident, but Simon smirks, "There are no accidents, Lloyd. I detect some sublimated sentiment bubbling to the surface." Lloyd deflects by pointing out, "This is a big deal for both of us. We've been working on tachyons for 12 years. This is our moment, Simon." He hands over a rocks glass -- and how much do I love it that Lloyd keeps a set of proper barware in his office? -- and the two toast one another. Lloyd frets about the experiment which is 48 hours away, and Simon says lightly, "We're simulating the Big Bang. What could go wrong?" Famous last words, those.
When his phone rings, it's his mum calling to break the news about his father's death. We know this because the soundtrack gets very sad, but to Simon's credit, he asks immediately about Annabel and says he'll take the first flight home.
We then jump to the day of the experiment. James Frain is busy telling a science reporter that Simon won't be with them that day owing to a death in the family. Can I derail this paragraph to talk about how awesome James Frain generally is in TV shows? Because he was in The Tudors -- a show that is generally highly enjoyable because Jonathan Rhys Myers has decided that what his Henry VIII lacks in avoirdupois, he'll make up with rabid eye-rolling -- and lent that series some intelligence and gravitas. I think every show should deploy James Frain at some point. He classes up a joint.
ANYWAY, now that I've gotten that thespian Berberism out of my system, the scene: Science Reporter Angie Tremont is here to document the experiment, and she discovers that Lloyd is what one could charitably call "a tough interview." Then James Frain launches the experiment with "Initiate -- here goes nothing." "Or everything," Lloyd breathes nervously. Then the CGI budget takes over, we get some goofy-assed graphics which show waves radiating out all over the world as all the flashforwards somehow zip into being, and then everyone passes out. Since this is a futuristic laboratory and not a Crate & Barrel, there is a shortage of soft, upholstered places to land. Lloyd and James Frain -- a.k.a. Dr. Myhill -- discover that Angie Tremont had struck her head on the way down and bled out.