FlashForward: Season 1 Episode 8 - Playing Cards With Coyote

After an episode full of lots of details and revelations, there was bound to be a little bit of a letdown right?  Somehow, after Al Gough selflessly sacrificed himself for the benefit of giving the world HOPE, we seem to be right back at square one by the end of the day, with a few twists I guess.  It was a decent episode, but the big reveals at the end weren't nearly as exciting as in previous weeks.  Of course, this is just one man's opinion!   I'm still along for the ride and chomping at the bit for the next episode!  
(Disclaimer: I just had finished watching the season 3 finale of LOST in my rewatch, arguably one of the best episodes of the entire series.  So, I don't think I was going into the latest installment of FlashForward unbiased!)

Still some stuff to discuss, so let's get to it!   So what's the premise of this episode?  It's a new dawn for the POST FLASH world.  Celia has received Al's letter and went public with it.  The world knows that the future can be changed!   Well, it can, but we're finding that it won't be as easy as they think!    Mark and crew follow a lead on the 3 star tattooed man that is after him in his flash (have to say this one ended very predictably!).  Janis returns to the FBI as well!   On the homefront, Olivia and Mark are on the mend after some recent trials, but new challenges are surfacing!   Bryce and Nicole get some airtime separately.  Nothing too significant.  We dive more into the Aaron/Tracy dynamic.  And, yes, there is the whole poker game and battle of wits between Simon and Lloyd.  Some interesting nuggets there!   So, my friends here we go!

Miscellaneous Storylines

Making Up for Lost Time

So Mark and Olivia booked themselves a hotel room on the beach and are taking a little break from their jobs so that they can WORK on their marriage a bit.

• Mark gets Olivia a gift to celebrate their 2nd chance.  The fact that they can change the things they saw.  Olivia says that she never thought they couldn't.    Before Olivia can open, Mark is summoned to work to follow up on a big lead (we'll get there). 
• Later at the hospital, Olivia opens the gift and it just happens to be some lingerie to kickstart some making up!  One catch, it's the exact outfit that she's wearing in her flash. (Yep, when she's with Lloyd!)   Later that night Mark comes home after a run-in with Aaron (we'll mention more later).  He is so shocked that Aaron's vision is coming true that he is losing hope again.   Olivia mentioned that she didn't wear her new outfit because Mark would probably take it right off anyway.  I didn't catch on at first, but they cut to some guy dumping trash.   It must've been at the hospital.  She threw the lingerie out!   She is determined to change her future and tries to convince Mark of the same.   
• This snowballs into another run-in with Lloyd.  But not before Bryce mentions that he sensed something weird between Olivia and Lloyd and before we found out once again that Dylan had some tests to be run before he can leave. 
• Simon is with Lloyd this time and appears to have some doctoral expertise as he reads Dylan's chart to Olivia.  Olivia, much to Lloyd's unhappiness, tells them both that barring any setbacks Dylan should be okay to leave in a couple days.   
• Note: Simon did ask if Lloyd was having any type of relationship with Olivia, and he said it was none of Simon's business.  Well, he didn't come out and just say no!

Nicole Believes in the NEW Future! 

• Bryce apparently informed Olivia about Nicole's flash because now Olivia is worried.  But Nicole tells her not to worry as she knows the future is not written in stone!   She may not drown.   But it didn't stop Nicole from still thinking about it. 
• They also show her pulling a flyer off the bulletin board that says "SANCTUARY - There's a New Way"   Is this different than the church group she wanted to join?   I guess we may find out. 

Operation Hide Tracy

So, Tracy is alive and hiding at Aaron's house.  She doesn't want to reveal anything that happened, she just wants to lay low.  Naturally, Aaron is not having any of it!

• Aaron has to wake Tracy up from a nightmare she is having of the incident in Afghanistan.  Apparently, it's a nightly occurrence.  We find out that she indeed is missing half of her right leg and she has a prosthetic leg in its place that she hopped into when she woke up.  
• Tracy has asked Aaron to not speak to anyone that she is alive and that she is only there to lay low.  But Aaron wants answers.  He has been grieving for 2 years, had her grave exhumed because he was convinced she was alive.  He can't even tell Tracy's mother that she's alive.  His opinion is that 5 months from now they will be together in Afghanistan according to the vision.  Something they both saw, so why not get started working towards it now? 
• She eventually comes around and starts to bring up what happened.  Some was a recap of last week.  The Humvee got attacked, but the kicker was that they were attacked by Jericho PMCs (Private Military Contractors).   Ahh all of that military jargon from last week is coming into focus now!   Jericho works for their military so she can't trust them.  2 weeks before the attack, she was on assignment working long range recon on some village in Afghanistan.  Her orders were to stay covert.  But Jericho was there too.  She saw them wipe out an entire village, killing women and butchering children.   She didn't know why but she told her superior officer.  The end result was she was on the assignment where her Humvee got rocket launched!   Hmmmm....what does destroying a village in Afghanistan have to do with everyone and their FlashForwards?   Could it be this same military crew that was after Mark in his Flash? 
• When they showed the explosion again, they showed Tracy immediately after.  She said she thought she was the only one.  I guess that was in reference to Mike being alive and she didn't know?    
• Mark and Aaron have a meeting in Aaron's car at some point.  Being sworn to secrecy doesn't mean anything between these 2 pals.  Aaron snapped pictures on his cell phone of Tracy.  She seems to be looking at the camera.  I'm not sure why she would LET him take the pictures.  Maybe he put the camera on SILENT snap and she was just looking at him wondering why he had his phone out!  Mark is shocked that Tracy is alive (hence the conversation he has with Olivia that we discussed).  Aaron explains that Tracy is on the run and that she needs help with the whole Jericho business.  Well, that would make sense if Mark gets involved that these guys are tied to the whole invasion of the FBI headquarters.  Of course, the FBI's own actions in this episode may lead to this group's interest in offing Mark Benford or even Demetri Noh!    
• Aaron is back at home and has made some tea for him and Tracy.  She wants the bourbon but knows her father is a recovering alcoholic.   He doesn't waste time telling her that Mark is "in the know"now.  Tracy is not happy about it at all.   Aaron goes back into his speech about how they will both be in Afghanistan, that they'll both be alive in April since they saw it.   We get more information from the flash:  Tracy was laying in a cot and had fallen asleep, there were military people surrounding them, there was some crazy graffiti on the walls and someone called Aaron's name.   He went outside and there was a man concerned for Tracy.  Tall, dark and has a scar.  Tracy recognized the name as Kahmir Dijion (Like the mustard??).  He is the guy that took care of Tracy after the explosion.  
• Kahmir told Aaron "The Accounts have been verified" and Aaron hands him some unknown package. Neither Aaron or Tracy know what the phrase means.  
• Tracy was afraid that Jericho would kill Kahmir if they get to her.  But again Aaron, having the faith on his side, knows that Kahmir will be alive in April.   "I have to trust what I saw!"    
• I guess we will have to wait until next week to see if Tracy goes along with it. 

Can't Read My POKER FACE!
(Just got that song stuck in your head didn't I?)

Lloyd's Email

As Lloyd watches the news, discussing Al Gough's "GIFT" to the world, he has an email drafted up but is hesitating to send.

• The email is addressed to people at "nlap.us.com"  I googled it and nothing of relevance comes up for NLAP.  "National Laboratory Audit Program", "Nebraska Lawyers Assistance Program", "Non-Limited Aeration Process", "Northern Lakes Accommodation Providers".   I guess it could be that first one.  But who knows what that would mean? 
• Keep an eye on these names that were in the email:  Gordon_myhill@nlap.us.com, gabe_glayson@nlap.us.com, philippe_tarhan@nlap.us.com
• The body of the email: "We have to take responsibility" and then referenced a PDF file: //ssw-fileserver1/datassw/documents83478.pdf    Perhaps this document proves that they were behind the blackouts?  
• Lloyd does end up sending the email and then we get a snapshot of his inbox.  Not sure if there's anything significant here:  Liz Coulder is telling him the boss wants to see him ASAP (makes sense, since he's gone missing).  Lots of emails about forms.  Lucas and Lloyd have a 5 email conversation thread going on and he wants the last email resent.   There are emails from Vern evans, bluebikecu, winderfiled co, Steven Thomas, Jake.    Yep, I got nothing obviously.  But you never know when these names will resurface! 

Simon Arrives

So Lloyd is playing more card tricks with Dylan, guesses the right card again (the Ace of Spades) and then Simon arrives to interrupt and finish their conversation.   Here's a question, Simon had Lloyd cornered in a car  weeks ago and they didn't have this conversation yet?  It's like Lloyd said "we're responsible for the deaths of 20 million people" and then Simon said "okay, that makes sense. Have a good day!" and got out of the car!   But anyway, when in ROME (or when on a serialized TV show).

• Anyway, what really has Simon buggered (Sorry all folks in the UK if I spelled that wrong!) is that he caught wind of the email that Lloyd sent a little earlier.  Hmm, I didn't see him on the email, I guess one of those folk clued him in on it? 
• Lloyd used his GO TO line again "Our experiment killed 20 million people!"   Simon brings up a new angle that he still has doubts for the cause.  What does that mean?  He even said they were responsible the first time we met his character!  
• Do we think that other people in their organization were unaware of the "experiment" performed and that is why Lloyd sent some documentation?   Or was the documentation in the email an article about Al Gough's suicide attempting to change the future, which was the straw that broke the camel's back on Lloyd wanting to go public?  
• In either case, that's exactly what Lloyd wants to do.  He wants to go public.  And Simon is not on board with this.  
• Simon mentions that Lloyd is also a prestigious award winning scientist.  A Nobel Finalist and a recipient of the McCarthur prize. 
• Simon decides that the only way to decide the going public vs. laying low debate is by a fine game of Texas Hold'em between the 2 of them, just like in the old days. He explains that the GODS in ancient mythology used to solve debates by games like checkers and chess and mentions that they are god-like because they are responsible for 20 million deaths.  Not sure I'm on board with that analogy but the way Dominic delivered it with the creepy music sold it! 

Let the games begin

So somewhere in Los Angeles there must be an underground Casino where high stakes poker can be played (that or Simon travels with poker tables, chips and dealers wherever he goes).  There are other players there so they must have found a game somewhere.  Anyway, the games begin and we learn a little bit about Simon and Lloyd's takes on the Flash Forwards.

• Simon tells Lloyd that when he loses he won't have to confess to a mass murder.  Everyone looks up at the table.  "Manchester Figure of Speech"  ahhh good times.  
• Some guy at the table brings up some Inevitability Index that is on the news.  Simon calls it rubbish saying that someone made up the idea that the odds of the future happening can be calculated.   Simon believes that Fate is Fate and that they're not responsible.  Also thinks that he's going to win each hand they play bringing up ad infinitum and QED (also brought up by the murder suspects in the FBI investigation).   Q.E.D. is a latin abbreviation for quod erat demonstrandum meaning "which is to be demonstrated"   So if you put it together: which is to be demonstrated endlessly, to infinity?    Well, I see why Simon is saying it in this example.  He's planning to prove that FATE has already been decided and he's going to prove it by winning the game.   Hmm, maybe that's why the men in the FBI investigation said it also.  Maybe they HAD to kill that guy in order for Mark and crew to start investigating them leading to the FLASH that happened.  And that is why they mention Q.E.D. when they're leaving the scene.   Well, we're not quite there yet...let's get back to poker!
• Simon continues his defense to why they shouldn't go public.  He tells Lloyd that they're scientists not attention seeking reality contestants looking for 15 minutes of fame.   Lloyd turns this around on Simon saying he always does this. He slept with someone named Cabrini's wife and called it "electromagnetism" (perhaps a NOD to Dom's past on LOST), fired an assistant and blamed it on Darwin.  blah blah blah. 
• So bottom line from this entire debate.  Simon believes fate is decided, Lloyd believes in free will.   
• One other thing to note, Simon said "you're not the only one who has lost someone" to Lloyd.  This must be referring to Annabelle we learned of last week.  But whoever she is, Lloyd is unaware that Simon has ever cared for anyone. 
• Simon wins a hand and continues saying the game is pointless because he already won.  
• Simon keeps winning, but then offers charity to Lloyd in a winner take all hand.  Lloyd agrees.  Simon, thinking he has the best hand lays down a 4 of a kind of Kings.  Lloyd happily lays down a straight flush and wins.  Doesn't take any of the chips.  Looks like they're going public.  
• We find out that Lloyd's magic tricks are what helped him win.  He cheated and told Simon he doesn't leave things to fate.  Now, if any of us were in Simon's shoes, wouldn't you cry foul for cheating???  But, I guess he knows he has been outsmarted and they're going to go public.   We'll see! 

FBI Happenings

The Investigation
Mark is interrupted from his hotel stay with Olivia for the one lead that would make him head back to work.  There was a homicide, and through the use of technology, they were able to realize from a cell phone video taken at least 20 feet away, that one of the men had a tattoo of 3 stars on his arm.  AMAZING!  I don't even think with the best computers in the world can you render a cell phone video to that degree of detail, but hey when in ROME!  These guys have some technology that we haven't seen since the likes of CTU! (Jack Bauer always is able to do some nifty things with his non-iPhone cell phones even as far back as 2001!)

• Quick interruption - everyone welcome Janis back!  She has a subplot going on the whole episode with Stan.  She wants to take a leave of absence reevaluate her life since getting shot.  She thinks that it was a sign that she was never supposed to get pregnant.   Stan will not let her take a leave and doesn't want her to lose hope on getting pregnant.  "Al's death proves that our choices still matter, now more than ever."  Yeah, but if she goes out of her way to try and get pregnant, wouldn't that be showing that her choices DON'T matter?   By the end of the episode, she's looking into sperm donation.  Well, there's your answer folks, she don't need no MAN in her life!  (sorry for the grammar, it just felt like it had to be done, complete with 4 snaps of the hand in a waving motion)
• Back to the investigation, Mark welcomes Janis back and she has flowers for Olivia for stitching her up. awwww  
• We learn from Dem that the victim, and excuse the spellings, was Neil Parofsky from El Segundo.  The video was shot by an Ingrid Alvarez who saw something passed off before he got shot.   After watching the video, Mark is convinced they need to catch this guy and put him away to change the future.  If he is behind bars, how could he break into the FBI and go after Mark?   (at this point I'm thinking, okay, even if they do catch this guy, who is to say that there is only one man with the tattoo on his arm?  What if it symbolizes an underground organization of military trained militia out to protect some big secret?    But, hey what do I know?)
• They go to talk to Ingird, but apparently there is another murder that the police are investigating.  Ingrid's roommate was killed.  Apparently, these men knew that Ingrid saw something and wanted to take her out, but they got the wrong person.  
• Ingrid discusses what she saw - She was working late at a Bird store.  She saw 3 men in an alley and were in a heated argument.  It got physical so she hid.  She called 911 but they put her on hold (REALLY??).  She then thought to use her phone and filmed the incident.   They were arguing about a brief case which the 2 men took from Parofsky.   She explained the 2 men as best as she could.  One guy had Grey hair, the other was bald and muscular (clearly the one that should stick around and be a menacing foe for future incidents!)   Mark was going to sit Ingrid down with a sketch artist. 
• The other thing Ingrid mentioned was that she heard what she thought sounded like Q.E.D. We discussed this above.  Maybe these men were there for more than just the brief case? 

How to Catch a Killer

• Mark tries to convince Stan that they need to set a trap using Ingrid as bait.  Stan is apprehensive about it.  
• They find out that Parofsky was a chief engineer for some kind of electronics and was suspected of corporate espionage. hmmmm interesting based on what we know by the end of the episode.  
• Mark is convinced that if they get the word out of where Ingrid is, the men may try to killer her again.   He thinks they have a mole in the FBI, and a mole in his vision that let the men in to FBI headquarters.  Didn't we already find out that Agent Vreede forgot to activate the security system or something?   Does that mean he's the mole or that it was an accident that they were able to get in?   I don't think Vreede would be so forthcoming in D.C. about the security system if he was a mole.  But I don't know. 
• Mark, Dem, Janis and Ingrid set up the stakeout.  Janis and Ingrid are inside.  Mark and Dem are in a car outside.   Inside, Ingrid discusses that in her flash forward she is not working at the store anymore.  She was living in New York and working at the Bronx Zoo.  She had already started the paperwork to sell the store after the blackout.  She was planning to change her life for a future that might not even come true.  Al's death changed things for her too (or so she thought).   
• Dem told Mark that he told Zoey about what is supposed to happen to him.  She wants him to quit.  Dem doesn't see the point of waiting around idle until he dies.  He figures with his luck he'll get hit bby a bus anyway. 
• Ingrid said she is going to give Janis one of her cockatoos if they get out of this alive.  Janis refuses though.  
• Then the Breach happens.  The lights go out, Mark and Dem are inside.  Lots of sneakiness is going on.  Then a grey haired man with a 3 star tattoo is sighted.   Demetri yells "FREEZE!!"  The man turns and seems to be reaching for something and Demetri shoots and kills him.  Demetri is distraught.  (in my notes at this point I write again - "maybe the other guy has a tattoo too?"  
• Anyway, Demetri has an internal struggle that maybe Mark set Demetri up to kill this guy to prevent Mark's future from happening.  And that maybe Mark sold Demetri on the fact that it might be the same guy that shoots him on March 15th.  
• Ingrid ends up having to go into Witness Protection because the other man is still alive.  Hmmm, perhaps witness protection takes her to New York as a Zoo employee?   Looks like her future didn't change afterall.  
• Mark goes home (note: no Squirrelio or Charlie in this episode!) and tells his wife that he killed a man tonight.  He had a shot of changing their future and he took it.  Maybe April 29th will just be another day at the office now.  Come on Mark, if April 29th is the season finale, yeah it would be funny if we just see people pushing paper for 44 minutes, but I'm guessing it might be EXPLOSIVE, DRAMATIC and GAME CHANGING!    But for now, Mark is convinced that he has a second chance. 

Suspect Zero

• Janis and Stan look at a re-rendered shot of Suspect Zero.  We now see that he was sporting a ring on his hand.  Stan wants to speed up the rendering process on the hand and try and match the jewelry to the man to catch their suspect! 

I Spy a New Bad Guy
(and potentially Bad Actor)

It's raining, we see military trucks all over the place.  There are big silver cases everywhere, and then a Bald, Muscular man with a brief case.  Oh right, and he has a tattoo with 3 stars on his arm!  DUH!!!  Some man takes the case from Baldy #3 (John Locke, and Sun's boy toy Jae on LOST are Baldies #1 and #2. Sorry, had to do it!) and takes it into some warehouse with some old guy and a desk in the middle of it.   I love when people just have tables set up in the middle of a dark warehouse!  (this guy looks like a familiar actor, but I can't place him right now)

The man opens the briefcase and there are 6 fancy rings inside.  He says there are supposed to be 7.  And then he goes into his little speech "After the Atom Bomb test, a colleague of Oppenheimer said it was a foul and awesome display.  Now we are all sons of bitches", then he shoots the briefcase delivery man and leaves with the briefcase.

Episode Over

Maybe it would have been a more exciting ending if they just showed the 6 rings and said there were supposed to be 7 and the music crescendo'd and the screen goes blank....BOOM LOST!  (whoops wrong show again!)   Maybe it was the delivery of the Atom Bomb speech from this apparently Bigger Bad guy (maybe not the ultimate bad guy...surely, I hope not).   But I just wasn't left with the same feeling I was with all of the other cliffhangers.

But I do like this MAGIC RING concept.  So there were 7 people that were probably immune to the causes of the Blackout.  And one is suspect zero who was roaming around the Detroit stadium.  Is he the one that still has the ring?   Is D. Gibbons one of the Magic Ring wearers?    So then I guess this Parofsky guy designed the rings maybe?  Or stole them?    In any case, I think the 7 ring wearers need a cool name.  Like the Fellowship of the Rings!  Okay, something more evil and sinister, but you get the idea!

So, definitely interesting tidbits of information revealed in the episode, but I gotta say it was a little unbalanced and anti-climatic.   But like I said in the beginning of this long-winded blog posting, after a series of awesome twists in last week's episode, this episode probably didn't have much of a chance of living up to it anyway.   I may be in a minority though.  What did you guys think of the episode?  Please discuss below and see you next week!

Sorry again for no pictures, this is looking like it will be a recurring trend.  I will continue to put them in over the weekend or whenever someone out there posts them!  Until I get my own HD Screen Capturing abilities!  

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