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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.
And now we're up to April 22 or so. Lloyd is trying to explain physics during a show on a cable news channel, a task that is only slightly less difficult than finding a woman in a burqa at the Playboy mansion. Lloyd argues that seeing our futures may actually change them, but "the future has a way of fighting back," so "small things may change, but the forces of the universe may be pushing us toward the futures we have seen." As Lloyd talks, we see that his show is being broadcast on the TVs in Olivia's hospital, and she's half-listening as she checks on Gabriel and removes the glasses from his sleeping face.
The scene switches to Mark's office, where he and Demetri are watching as the cable interviewer asks, "What about the people who were meant to die before April 29, but lived past the fatal event?" Lloyd calls them "statistical anomalies." Or "people in the credits," if you're Demetri. The scare-mongering question: What if the universe decides to course-correct itself radically now that people have had the nerve to live past their death dates or try to change their outcomes? Can we call it destiny? Lloyd punts with, "I'm just a scientist. I'm not qualified to answer that question." Simon -- who has been watching in an SUV as he is chauffered somewhere -- rolls his eyes at that.
We then meet the Celia for whom Al died, in an effort to prevent his flashforward -- and her death -- from coming true. Celia Quinones comes on the television, acknowledges Al's family with her gratitude, then bores us silly with her story. She evidently bores the viewers in FlashForwardland, too, because they're calling in to ask Lloyd if it's at all possible for the blackouts to have caused permanent brain damage. Lloyd doesn't reply, "You mean to people who didn't fall and bang their heads against anything sharp?" Instead, he's like, "...No." The caller then redirects: "Well. People's lives have been ruined. What if this happens again?" I'm guessing by "people's lives" the caller means "my life, because I can no longer blame 'brain damage' as the reason my wife up and left my moron ass." Or perhaps I'm unfairly projecting based on what a maroon this guy sounds like. Lloyd insists there's not another blackout coming.
In his office, Mark snorts, "I almost believe him myself." Demetri inquires, "Tell me again why we're not telling people there's another blackout coming?" Mark points out that since nobody knows when the blackout will occur, telling everyone "Oh, there's another event like this coming, but we don't know when. So, um, cross your fingers every time you get behind the wheel, huh?" would lead to mass panic and political unrest.
Meanwhile, on the TV-show-within-a-TV-show, Celia is guaranteeing that she'll be dead by the end of the episode by saying, "I'm still here. The universe seems to have a different plan for me." So... how's it going to happen? A rain of anvils in her neighborhood? A runaway horse in the playground? An ironic car accident?
Whatever. Let's move on, because Simon's just seen Annabel hanging out on the pedestrian walk of the bridge he's currently riding on. He bades the driver to pull him over and sprints toward his sister. Annabel cries for him to stop, and we see the red laser lights from several 'scopes are aimed directly at her face; if Simon comes any closer, someone will put a bullet in her skull. The terrified teen delivers a message to Simon: "They said they want you and the ring. They got your message and they're sending one back. You have 12 hours or they'll kill me." Simon glares at the white van which presumably holds Annabel's captors/would-be killers, but he doesn't dare move. He reluctantly leaves his sister -- she is shrieking for him to do so, what with not wanting to have her head blown off -- and as Simon leaves, he looks at the van one more time to get the license plate committed to his marvelous memory.
Once he's at the FBI, Simon flags down some sweater-wearing milquetoast with "Zampirion? Tech wizard extraordinaire?" and hands over the license plate sequence, which he's scribbled on some scrap paper. Simon wants to know whose car that is -- and he wants it done on the sly. "Name your price," Simon cajoles. Zampirion looks around and leans in. The scene ends, but I am now greatly intrigued by what that price may be. His weight in Klondike bars? A weekend of untrammeled debauchery aboard a replica of the Enterprise's bridge? A less milquetoasty wardrobe?
And now, the plotline that can be summed up in one paragraph: Bryce and Nicole flirt cute during a chemo session (his) and it confirms for the reader that verily, the two have chemistry out the wang. The two separate. Bryce gets the news that his cancer has been cured courtesy of an experimental treatment. (...That he somehow got into despite blowing off his flight to Dallas in favor of the jaunt to Japan? Okay.) While this is going on, Nicole discovers that Keiko's among the detainees INS is bringing to the hospital for flu shots so everyone can go back to their home countries with healthy immune systems. She's really bummed by the news, and is steeling herself to tell Bryce when he ambushes her in the hallway, tells her he's cancer free, and passionately kisses her. Nicole decides, what the hell -- she'll go along with this because she digs Bryce too, so the two ride off into the sunset, just missing the detainees that Nicole decided not to say anything about. I am totally Team Brycole, but am now very nervous about their long-term prospects.
Back to the actual plotlines... Agent Fiona Banks is back! And she's investigating a crime scene. Demetri comes in, and Fiona gives him the skinny: the dead guy, Andrew Weeks, was supposed to die on March 2 thanks to a drug allergy, but he survived the date. He did not, however, survive the rat poison some barista put in his coffee. Demetri ponders, "Weeks had a room full of guns and you poison a guy... why?" Fiona points out that Weeks was supposed to die of a drug allergy, not a gunshot wound, so the murderer is merely trying to make the cause of death as close to what it "should" have been as possible. Oh, Celia. Beware of people driving bumper cars with mad gleams in their eyes! Anyway, Andrew Weeks had some Blue Hand invites among his personal effects, and Fiona says, "That's why I'm here. There's been four Blue Hand deaths in the L.A. area in the past three weeks." Forgive me for sounding jingoistic here, but why in the blue hell is British intelligence looking at this? There's been a rash of Blue Hand murders in Newcastle, fine, send Fiona in with crime-solving instincts a-flare. But the FBI should, in theory, be the ones fielding the L.A. area Blue Hand murders. Unless they're all too busy with the Dyson Frost thing and the being-a-mole thing and the I-send-people-to-Afghanistan-on-the-sly thing and the "Half our office was shot up, so we're a little short of manpower, okay?" thing. ANYWAY. Unsurprisingly, Demetri is interested and concerned at the idea that someone out there is knocking off people who were already supposed to be dead.
Lloyd and Olivia are walking, coffee cups in hand, as Lloyd rants about how he lied on national TV in re: the possibility of no blackouts. Then he frets about the possibility of brain damage, and Olivia pooh-poohs that idea, since it would have been reported/observed prior to some shut-in asking about it on a call-in show. I am still stuck on the point when these two became coffee buddies. Did we miss a scene somewhere? Or is this really an excuse to have Lloyd offer Olivia his arm and make mooncalf eyes at her? Because it works on that level, but I still feel like we're missing something.
Back at the FBI office, Simon is rolling into Mark's office all, "You rang?" Mark pissily informs him, "You may think that offering a junior analyst a weekend at the Bunny Ranch will get him to jeopardize his job, but it won't." Oh, Milquetoast. You have a serious lack of imagination. Simon gives Mark an incomplete rundown on the Annabel situation, conveniently neglecting to mention the whole "Oh, and the reason she was taken was because I work for a shadowy cabal that brought about the October 6 flashforward." Simon claims he wants to find Annabel. Mark is all, "Whatever. Now let me shock and awe you with the power of what a legitimate FBI query can find." The answer: a legitimate FBI query can find the footage from the first few minutes of this episode. Mark is all, "Tell me what's going on." Simon, having been called out on his incomplete story, decides to spin an elaborate lie about how his sister's been brainwashed by a cult and he was merely trying to persuade her to come home. Mark nails him: "You're lying. She didn't run away. She was kidnapped. Look at her body language. She's terrified. How long have you known about this?" Simon tries to redirect and snaps, "This is my sister, I'll do anything to find her." Mark says, "That's what I'm afraid of. Someone knows you feel this way, they'll use it against you as leverage. And considering what you know, that could be a lot of leverage." "Are you suggesting I've been compromised?" Simon huffs. No, Simon, Mark's not really "suggesting" so much as he is whipping out semaphore flags and sending brightly-colored signals that he knows you've been compromised. And he's pissed because he thinks you've put the entire Mosaic investigation in jeopardy.
In the scene, Lloyd is beavering away at the QED, trying to figure out how "something in the ring has to be maintaining superposition" while Simon obsessively watches the footage of himself and Annabel on the bridge. Lloyd calls Simon on his distraction, and huffs, "Could you focus a little? We've done enough damage. Maybe we can put something right." Instead of easing Lloyd's guilt for once and for all by admitting that Lloyd is not so much at fault as in the wrong physics lab at the wrong time, Simon gets unnecessarily personal with, "Just because you feel guilty about lying on the news and want to save the world doesn't mean we can make it happen. It's all Lloyd Simcoe's fault and now he wants to save the day. It's a little messianic, don't you think?" Lloyd pretends not to know what Simon's talking about it, and as Lloyd puts away the QED, Simon attempts to grind the guilt a little further: "Millions of deaths. It's an overwhelming concept, numbers like that. You lose track of individuals. They fall through the cracks. A single person doesn't even matter." Lloyd's all, "I feel as if you've lost your main point here?" and Simon finally comes clean about Annabel. Lloyd is taken aback and says, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped!" Simon sneers, "How?" and Lloyd stammers, "Well, I don't know, but I would have... well, now I just feel useless." Relieved to have something else to lash at Lloyd with, Simon tells him, "It's not about you, Lloyd. I had to deal with the situation as best I could for Annabel. Now I'm sorry I didn't keep you in the loop -- I've been kind of busy." Then he huffs off. Oh, Simon. You're really uncomfortable with people unless you're antagonizing them, aren't you?
Mark has taken the Simon-is-compromised concern to Wedeck, who is all, "Yeah, he probably is, but we need his big cranky brain. So let's find the sister." Oh, I'm sure Simon will love that.
Meanwhile, Demetri and Fiona have headed to a high school where formerly-enthusiastic Blue Hand participant and miraculously-not-dead-yet humanities teacher Mr. Slingerland is busy shaping young minds. Oddly enough, he's drinking coffee from the same type of cup Andrew Weeks had in his office. There's an exquisitely deadpan interrogation between Demetri and Slingerland where the teacher says, "I suppose the universe has to balance itself... Life is energy, you see. As each new life begins, another ends. And if you mess with that balance, the universe pushes back." So... the law of conservation of energy is somehow applicable to population control? Wha --? Huh? Honestly, this whole whackadoodle theory reminded me of the plotline in J. Michael Straczynski's comic series Rising Stars, wherein a small group of superpowered individuals somehow learned that when one died, their power dispersed to the others. Needless to say, the motivation to "balance" things out in favor of a select few provided both character motivation and plot twists. Go find the trades. ANYWAY, Slingerland is sufficiently creepy to arouse suspicion, but Fiona gamely asks him for lists of known Blue Handers.
We're now at Our Lady of the Greatly Improved Lighting, and Olivia's getting the 411 on Gabriel (who's pumped full of antibiotics owing to something having to do with his feet. Again, I feel like a scene was cut that would have explained his presence at the hospital and why the surgeon Olivia was treating him). After that's done with, Dylan materializes and asks where Charlie is. Olivia's happy to see Dylan but is understandably curious as to how he came to be in the sick-people ward, and Lloyd pops up to explain that Dylan's here for occupational therapy. "He was hoping to see you, and so was I." How sweet. And possibly awkward.
Then Gabriel blares, "Lloyd. Lloyd Simcoe. I knew it. You're supposed to be with Olivia." As Lloyd bristles over this stranger saying wish-fulfillment-type things, Olivia tries to hustle Gabriel back to his bed. Gabriel starts singing, "Lloyd and Olivia sitting in a tree," and Olivia shuts that down as she steers Gabriel back to his bed. But Gabriel's in the mood for small talk: "It's so good that you're back together with Lloyd now. It's so good." Olivia mumbles, "It's complicated." Gabriel continues as he climbs into bed, "You're the best thing since sliced bread, yes? You're the best thing since sliced bread!"
Vreede appears then, with a hamburger for Gabriel, and asks to talk to Olivia. Gabriel demands, "Where's the beef?" and Vreede equitably answers, "I got it right here." Gabriel sets to his hamburger with a wary look. Vreede draws Olivia away from Gabriel so he can ask how the patient is and when they can bring him down to the FBI, and as Olivia stalls on the answers, Gabriel is mimicking every movement she makes and every sentence she utters. Clearly, he's seen this in his flashforwards a lot. Vreede wants to ask Gabriel a few questions here and now, and Gabriel immediately goes from calm (possibly soothed over seeing another piece of the future falling into place) to fixated on his hamburger. Vreede would like to know how it is that Gabriel came to have an exact replica of the Mosaic project board in a notebook. We do find out that Gabriel saw the board in a flashforward: "I was there, on a trip. I saw it." But any mention of a flashforward seems to send him into a snit. This one concerns the onion, lettuce and pickle on his hamburger. (He is, however, more than okay with tomato.) Vreede gives Gabriel a suspicious look, as if to wonder how much of his behavior is meant to distract others from figuring out what Gabriel knows. Or maybe from asking how it is that Gabriel and his now-dead friend came to survive the original kill order at Raven River.
Back at the FBI, Mark's on Project Annabel Lee, and he's off to canvass the area where the van was last spotted. Simon wants to come along, but Mark rips a strip with "You're here to work on the QED. Your volunteering here is starting to feel a little convenient. I don't trust you, Simon, not for a minute! Right now, I'm going to get your sister back, and after I do, you and I are going to have a little sit-down. No more lying." Cut to Simon quietly panicking over the prospect of Mark biffing everything. Then he goes into the lab, tries to log into his FBI computer, and discovers he's been locked out of the laptop. For some reason, this seems to be what makes him decide to take off with the QED. Yep -- totally not comfortable unless he's feeling aggrieved by someone else.
Demetri and Fiona are now chasing down leads on who killed Andy. They go to the coffee shop where Andy bought his fatal brew and the barista -- or is it baristo? I'm never sure if these romance-language-derived terms should be gendered or if I'm overthinking it -- anyway, the male barista mentions that Andy was with "some tall, geeky-looking dude who had a really ugly horseshoe ring." Like the seasoned, detail-absorbing law-enforcement professionals they are, Demetri and Fiona both recall that Slingerland was wearing a righteously ugly diamond-studded horseshoe ring.
We cut to Slingerland telling his class, "'You can do what you will, but at any given moment of your life, you can only will one definite thing. Nothing other than that thing.' What do you think that means?" A student guesses, "That free will is a lie?" Slingerland's smiling at that until he catches sight of Fiona and Demetri coming up the walk, and he says, "Exactly," right before taking off. A student tells Demetri, "He wanted me to tell you something: the universe always pushes back." Demetri and Fiona recall Slingerland wryly asking, "You don't want me to go on TV and announce that I'm still alive?" and then they recall Celia going on TV to talk about how the universe obviously planned for her to still be alive. And the penny finally drops: Slingerland's going to gas up his car and go tooling around the streets of L.A. until he finds Celia.
Sure enough, in the scene, it's dark and Slingerland's starting the car. He says happily, "Celia Quinones, welcome to your future." Except that Slingerland's future holds a surprise -- Demetri barreling an FBI sedan right into Slingerland's station wagon as Slingerland turns on his headlights. Celia looks ...well, like a deer caught in the headlights. Demetri opens up his car door and bellows for Celia to run. She does... down the center of the road. And that is how Fiona ends up hitting Fiona at a decent clip. It's totally an accident, but still... it's a pretty bad accident. Also, somewhere in the melee, Demetri ended up taking Slingerland down and the tackle is apparently fatal. His last words are to Demetri: "See you soon, sport." Demetri is understandably freaked out. And, one thinks, probably very open to the idea of multiple universes right now. Time to find a mad scientist to send him to the one not intent on killing him!
Lloyd is leaving FBI HQ for the night when Simon approaches him and says, "I'm here to make up for my bad behavior." Lloyd mumbles that Simon's been under a lot of stress, but Simon presses on: "I just wanted to say thanks. Cambridge, the Brewschlagger Fellowship, for getting me in into NLAP." Lloyd is uncomfortable with this naked sincerity, and he says, "I did it for selfish reasons, Simon. You make me look good." Simon won't let him off the hook, and says with uncharacteristic sincerity, "Gracious as well. You helped me out, and you know it. I wouldn't be anywhere without you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Annabel. Truly, I am. I should've months ago, and it's been eating away at me. I've been pretending I was fine. I should have said something." Lloyd says, "I'm sorry I couldn't help. I would have, you know?" Simon knows: "I know you would. You're the only real friend I have." Lloyd can sense that this is out of the ordinary and offers to take Simon out for a drink. Simon says, "I'll see you, Lloyd," and beats a hasty retreat.
Fiona's in her office, staring off in self-reproach and recalling Al Gough. Demetri tells her, "What happened to Fiona, it's not your fault." She's not buying it. Her phone rings, and she has a conversation with the hospital that is uncannily like the one that Al had: "What happened to Celia was an accident." Fiona's not buying it; she tells the voice on the other end, "There are no accidents anymore." Demetri looks even more uneasy.
And now, time for Mark Benford to pull off yet another living-legend rescue of someone in distress, which he does in the space of three minutes. He sure knows how to canvass a block! Once the purloined van is found, Mark opens it and sees Annabel. He calls Simon to let him know that Annabel is safe and sound (all things considered), and when Simon hops on the line with Annabel, he tells her, "No matter what happens, baby sister, remember: I love you. Goodbye, 'Bel." He then hangs up on Mark -- who immediately detects something being wrong -- and heads out of his hotel room.
Cut to Wedeck and Mark sprinting into the lab for the sole purpose of having Wedeck growl, "He took the damn ring!" Well, yes. That is what hobbits do. They take rings from one place and bring them to another. If the FBI had bothered sinking ten hours into the Lord of the Rings boxed DVD set, this wouldn't have been such a surprise.
Since Lloyd couldn't tie one on with Simon, he's consoled himself by having Olivia come over so she can show him MRIs of people's brains and confirm that verily, the flashforwards did not cause any notable damage. Then Lloyd asks what Gabriel's on about with the "Olivia and Lloyd, kissing in a tree," and Olivia says slowly, "That's what he saw in his flashforwards." Lloyd asks, "Were we happy?" Olivia grins up at him, "I know how I felt in mine." Cue the mutual face-sucking. Unfortunately, it's interrupted by a knock on the door. Lloyd kisses Olivia on the forehead very sweetly before going to answer the door. And... oh, this is awkward, because Mark has just dropped by. Yes! Mark! Remember him -- Olivia's husband, to whom she is still married? Mark seems surprised and taken aback to see Olivia, and she's all, "I was just leaving! Bye, Mark! I'll call you!" and after Mark stops looking so gut-punched, he tells Lloyd that Simon took off. Lloyd is not surprised, somehow.
Mark asks if Simon seemed odd on the day of the blackout, and Lloyd is all, "I don't know, as he was in Toronto for his father's funeral." Then he remembers that Simon was most insistent that the NLAP experiment take place at its foreordained time, no matter what. Mark asks, "Is Simon capable of engineering a global blackout?" Lloyd points out that, unfettered as he is by conventional morality and abetted by a brain that could power a small island nation, Simon is theoretically capable of anything. "And he always has a plan," Lloyd adds ominously.
Cut to the computer whiz kid, Mark and Wedeck reviewing the footage of Suspect Zero. Mark's then cross-checked plane traffic in and out of Toronto... and they realize that Simon is their Suspect Zero. And now he's gone over to the cabal, to engineer another blackout for the people who had been holding his sister hostage.
So this series is shaping up to be Simon vs. Lloyd -- which physicist will prevail? And who will Mark ultimately end up helping? We have three more episodes to find out.
Find out what this show's chances are for getting a second season.
Watch the episode here, discuss it in our forums, then see what we think the cast should do if FlashForward gets cancelled
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