Episode Report Card Sobell: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Fickle Finger of Fate is Clearly the Middle One, Pointed Skyward
By Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 20 | Aired on 05.13.2010
Fortunately, this exchange is cut off by Mark going back into his office to discover that Gabriel has helpfully rearranged the Mosaic Project mural. Mark's not too happy, but he and Gabriel eventually come to a realization: Gabriel's version of the mural may actually help him tomorrow.
Meanwhile, half a world away: Aaron is in Afghanistan and he's taking tons of photos to prove that Jericho's up to serious shenanigans in the area.
And now -- zip! -- back to Los Angeles. We're at a crappy little hotel in the valley, and Lita and Simon have evidently parlayed their mutual superstition and afternoon cocktails in something a little more undressed and horizontal. Simon romantically proposes that Lita run away with him, only so he can get in the dig, "I would say Paris, but you messed that up when your people plastered my face all over the news." Lita, who is sporting a tattoo of a hydra -- a familiar illustration, as Dyson Frost was fond of it -- tells Simon not to get snippy with her. She's just the messenger for a guy named Hellinger -- this is the head of the shadowy cabal. Simon snipes that so far as he's concerned his balance sheet with Hellinger's organization is clean, and if Hellinger wants to deal with him, then he needs to stop sending lackeys like Ricky Jay and show up in person. Lita's all, "With only two more episodes to go, it makes no sense to drag out the mystery over who Hellinger is. So ... wish granted!" There's a knock at the door. Lita, who is wearing Simon's hat and therefore channeling some Off-off-off-off-Broadway version of a Chicago chorine, walks over to open the door and warns Simon, "One thing you should know: He's very charming. Until he's not." We see Tall, Blond and Aryan -- he looks familiar from the episode "The Garden of the Forking Paths." And he's about to have a drink with Simon. Maybe Simon's getting lucky twice in the afternoon?
Back at the FBI, Gabriel's looking over photos and confirming that the poor dead homeless guy Kent, Nhadra (remember her?) and he were all part of the Raven River experiments. Janis asks if all these people were connected by an experiment, and Mark says, "We can posit that Raven River was some kind of research and development, and Somalia was an alpha test for the global blackout on October 6." Vogel suggests, "Or October 6 was the beta test, and this is just the beginning." Mark and Wedeck gently ask Gabriel if he knows the date for the next global blackout. He doesn't know -- but he can point everyone to "the big guy," and it's a picture of Hellinger. Everyone's very excited about this development and things are going swimmingly until Demetri comes in to ask Mark for a moment. This triggers a Gabriel freak-out, complete with whimpering and the attempt to hide inside his hoodie, and Gabriel stands up, pointing a shaky finger at Demetri and bellowing, "He's not supposed to be here right now. You died! You died! Very sad that day, but that's the way it has to go if things are going to work out right!" Cut to Vogel looking very thoughtful -- uh-oh -- and Demetri wondering how much worse his day can possibly get.
Meanwhile, Hellinger is busy making the kind of small talk that suggests when he's not busy trying to engineer radical global hops through space-time, he's watching CSI and shivering with delighted horror at all the scenes where Nicky breaks out the UV light in a hotel room. Both Simon and Lita look vaguely queasy at this, but patiently wait for the big man to get to the point. His point: "We're a day away from the 29th. It's time to come home." Simon succinctly replies, "Piss off." Hellinger asks Lita to go get some ice for those drinks, and once she's gone, he and Simon engage in a frank exchange of views. Hellinger's view is that Simon has no choice but to come and work for him; Simon's view is that "you need me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. I'm the only person that can calibrate the accelerator, and you know it." He grabs his coat, takes his hat off Lita's head, and waltzes out the door. We get a delightful shot of Hellinger glaring at Lita as if she's somehow responsible for this.
Another FBI shot, another cardio lap around the FBI office. This time, Mark and Demetri are discussing the multiverse, more or less, as Demetri frets he's not supposed to be alive. Mark admonishes him, "Don't go there." He's not sure the universe is pushing us toward one specific outcome, ergo Demetri's being alive is not throwing off the balance of the universe. Awww! Demetri notes, "After ten o'clock tomorrow night, we're going to have to go back to living the way we used to." Mark -- who is watching Olivia play on her crackberry as she sits next to Gabriel -- nods. Demetri says brightly, "Gotta say, kind of looking forward to it." Mark's now thoroughly distracted, as Lloyd has just sauntered by and Olivia's dropped what she's doing so she can give him a big, gooey smile. Man, I'm all for Llolivia, but have some subtlety, woman!
Olivia makes small talk with Lloyd regarding how his progress is going sans Simon, and Lloyd admits he's having problems with the "decoherence equation." This triggers another round of Gabriel's recollection, and he says, "You do the numbers together, they have to be in the right order, and then you're both part of the equation. Both of you are part of the equation, yeah."
And in his office, Wedeck is busy looking at the photos Aaron's uploaded and bellowing into his phone, "This confirms Clemente's suspicions. This entire operation is not supposed to exist!" It turns out he's talking to Aaron, and even tells him, "You've done a great job." Aaron's all, "I'm sure I did, but now that you have what you want, I'm going after my daughter." Wedeck's like, "Can't you wait until I get the military there to back you up?" but Aaron has just spotted two thugs dragging an unconscious Tracy out to a truck, so he hangs up and begins prepping for Operation: Dad Kicks Some Ass.
Zip! -- we're back in Los Angeles, and in a laundromat with the delightful Carline. Not that I'm in the market for committing treason in the name of filthy, filthy lucre, but I sort of love Carline. Anyway, she's putting the pressure on Janis, who says, "You asked me to kill my friend, Carline, not bake a cake." Carline points out, "I didn't ask you to do anything. And when I point out that something needs to be done, you need to do it." It's just hit me: Carline reminds me of a less-funny version of Nessa from Gavin and Stacey (over on BBC America). Nessa's got the same bulletproof confidence and sangfroid. Truly, she is a role model for our times. ANYWAY, Carline points out that Janis is pretty much useless, and useless means dead, and the scene ends with Janis buying Carline's affections courtesy of giving up Gabriel's safehouse details.
Then she's back at the office, interrupting a conversation between Wedeck and Mark to try and arrange a safehouse for Gabriel in Asilomar. Sure enough, that's where they'll move Gabriel to "within the hour," and Janis helpfully points out, "McDow's going to blow a gasket if we separate him from Olivia." Wedeck deadpans to Mark, "I'll let you break the news." We then see Wedeck calmly pulling Olivia out of a conference room so Mark can do so.
What follows is a scene that more or less redeems Mark's value as a human being: He gently and respectfully asks Gabriel what he sees when he looks at the mosaic mural. "Loose ends," Gabriel murmurs. "I know the feeling," Mark says. Then: "I need to ask you something. You called -- you said, 'Olivia Simcoe.' And I need to know, is that how it all turns out?" Gabriel says a little sadly, "That's what I see. I see -- I see so many things come true. And I've been waiting a long time." Mark asks, "Is she going to be okay? Will she be safe?" Gabriel turns and looks at him, and it's almost like Gabriel has realized how much this hurts Mark. He says, softly, "Yes." Mark nods sadly in response.
In the cool, cool, cool of an Afghani night, Operation: Dad Kicks Some Ass commences. Aaron manages to shoot the people who were just about to dig Tracy's shallow grave, and