FlashForward: Season 1 Episode 18 - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Hello Future Dwellers!  I just still can't fathom why more people haven't gotten onboard or stayed onboard with FlashForward.  It has been such an entertaining ride!  And let me just say upfront (hopefully, all of you have watched the episode before you're reading this):  I knew there had to be more to her story!!!  While it does sound a little Indiana Jones 4ish with double triple agenting and all, it still was an entertaining twist!  In fact, the whole episode had twists and turns to keep us guessing where this is leading towards!  We know one important date lies before us:  April 29th.  That just happens to be today's date! (the date I started writing this at least)   Yes yes, before the long Winter Olympics hiatus, we were on schedule to potentially have April 29th coincide with April 29th on the show, but now we'll be going another month strong.  I think we'll be okay folks!  So, let me wish you all a happy FLASHFORWARD DATE DAY and let's dive into the recap!

Many will recognize tonight's episode title "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" as one of Elton John's best tunes (and the title track off of the album of the same name).  I never pretended to understand what the song was about, but I know the words by heart and play it on the piano all of the time (yes yes, multi-talented blogger you have here!)  There are horny back toads and ploughs and mongrels who ain't got pennies and all of that fun stuff!   Anyway, so I'm not going to look too much into the title besides the fact that Janis brought it up when discussing her FBI training.   Tonight, certainly was a Janis-centric episode.  We got more background on what she has been up to for the past 2 years.  We also followed the tag-team of Olivia and Vreede who are continuing their uncovering of the Raven River Experimentations.  The least exciting part of the episode had Aaron in Afghanistan slowly but surely getting to where he needs to be (funny that the part with the guns blazing was the least exciting part!).   And the rest of the time, we are following Janis through her present day events where some important MOSAIC breakthroughs occur!

I will try my best to be brief and get right to the point folks.  One day, I will master this!   But in the meantime, please continue to endure my wordiness!  Here we go:

Aaron's Aventures in Afghanistan

Really, there isn't much to tell here.  Aaron went to Kandahar on the FBI's secret dime and looked absolutely ridiculous in his turbin and all of that garb!  And he was drinking something that sure looked like alcohol.  What was that about?  Is he off the wagon or is there some middle-eastern drink that I'm unaware of that comes in shot form and is non-alcoholic (maybe it's just tea or something)?  Anyway, Aaron wasn't blending in as well as he thought and people were phoning in to grab him.  He met up with an acquaintance of Stan.

• His name is probably irrelevant as he was killed by the end.  But we should point out that he had a flash forward where he was in some car accident and his family was killed but he survived.  Yeah, maybe I got some details mixed up there.  But I didn't mess up the fact that he survived!  And so, he's dead.  More evidence that things are not happening according to what everyone was seeing.  Of course, after last week, we know there are various paths everyone can take.  But there are important forks in the road to be mindful of.  
• Anyway, Aaron remembered something from his flash forward that would help him find Kamir (the doctor helping Tracy in the FlashForward).    It was some image on a wall or something which this man recognized.  Eyes on a Mountain - A Medical relief organization. He knew that they'd have to head south to find him. 

• So, they head south, they get stopped by these gunmen they go crazy shooting everything in sight.  This man gets shot, and the Aaron fears for his life (even though he told Stan these people all better watch out for him!).  But then ANOTHER group of men come and kill all of the initial attackers.  What do you know?  It's Khamir and his men!   And the joke to wrap all of it up is that Khamir says Aaron doesn't blend in an as well as he thinks. 

• And that's about it.  I'm sure there are more exciting things coming in this story and I know this was necessary to see.  But there isn't much to dissect here!  

Raven River Investigation

Olivia has Visitor

Meanwhile, Olivia was at home and had an unwelcome visitor in the house.  It was Gabriel again.  And I apologize for not recognizing him from Battlestar Galactica in my last recap.  Still working my way through that series.  It will be a summer goal of mine!  Anyway, Gabriel was his prophet-like self again and rambling on about some very interesting things.

• Gabriel starts talking about how he has witnessed many events in Olivia's life.  A Pixies concert (the summer after Med School), a Wedding.
• Olivia threatens Gabriel with some FBI stuff.  Her husband is FBI, and the man is watching the house.  Gabriel retorts with saying she is supposed to be with Lloyd, she made a mistake, he tried to stop her.  We'll dwell more on this later!  But...oh boy! 
• Olivia runs for help, Gabriel yells "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!"  and then warns her not to buy coffee from a guy that looks like Mr. Clean today. (was anyone else hoping for a John Locke appearance?)    By the way, I never knew that pudding comment was the long version of "The proof is in the pudding."  Found it out when I googled it tonight!   Pretty much sounds like Gabriel knew he had to prove he knew what he was talking about to Olivia. 
• Sure enough, Olivia went to work and there was an overturned car that smashed into the coffee kiosk.  And a dying bald man was underneath the wreck.  If that didn't make Olivia a believer then definitely the photo album at home with Gabriel smiling in the background of various pictures made her one!   The wedding, maybe the Pixies concert too.  He was there for many events!   We must remember that Raven River happened over 20 years before, so Gabriel has been invested in Olivia's life for quite some time.   This show is starting to get very interesting! 

Day trip to Arizona Anyone? 

So, at work the next day, Olivia calls in Vreede and they discuss the incidents.  The piece together the information.  I'm sorry but I think after last week I could have told you that the Raven River that Gabriel was referring to was the Psychiatric Hospital that primarily focused on autistic patients!  But Vreede may not be the brightest FBI agent in the world, so he needed Olivia to connect the dots for him.  One step further, it was savants that Raven River was interested in.  So anyway, because Olivia can just leave work on a whim in Los Angeles and go to Arizona with her best friend Vreede, she does!  (hey, we never said the show was realistic!)

• Did you know that Vreede is a Clint Eastwood fan?  Yep, I didn't care either! 
• At Raven River, we see some creepy stuff like Dolls hanging upside down.  Of course, this seems like a shout out to Pigeon Utah where D. Gibbons/Dyson Frost had many dolls hanging.  Creeeeeepy!  

• It isn't long before Gabriel is there!  Gabriel discusses how he has always met Olivia here which is how he knew she'd be there.  Once again, we know that Gabriel has had many flashforwards similar to Dyson Frost.  We learn that there were MANY savants being experimented on at Raven River.  They were being used for their ability to retain lots of information from the flashes to the near future and far future and for various lengths of time.  

• So this device they showed is an Electroencephalograph (EEG).   Used to study brainwaves and predates MRIs and CTs.  I will admit, I know nothing about this.  Trusty Wikipedia to the rescue! 
• In the end though, Dyson ordered all of the patients to be killed which is probably why we saw him killing the other homeless savant a couple episodes back.  Gabriel was happy to hear that Dyson Frost was dead. 
• I wonder if all of these savants helped Dyson create his garden of forking paths that we saw last week?   In any case, we hear more about the forks in the road this week as Gabriel tells Olivia she is going in the wrong direction. 
• Remember one of those episodes before the hiatus when Olivia and Lloyd got to talking about how she was planning to go to Harvard and the place she would have lived at was somewhere near where Lloyd lived?  (can't remember the details, too lazy to look up as always)  But apparently, Lloyd met his wife instead because Olivia had decided to move with Mark to Los Angeles.  Gabriel brings this event up and told Olivia that she ALWAYS has gone with Lloyd.  This was a pivotal fork in the road.  SHE IS VERY IMPORTANT.  She MUST be with Lloyd!   Oh my....totally didn't see this happening!   How pivotal is Olivia?  Why does she need to be with Lloyd?    Will she tell Mark all of this? Will she tell Lloyd?  Lots of questions, but this Gabriel is a handy guy to have around, that's for sure! 

All About Janis

Now I could go ahead and try and recap the Janis story in the order it was told, but really, how beneficial would that be?  We were led to believe many things along the way, but I think it's better to look at it all in hindsight.  So, what did we find out?  Janis is a DOUBLE AGENT!  She is deep undercover with the bad guys under the direction of CIA Vogel.  Vogel actually met with her prior to her starting her first assignment in Los Angeles (FBI Assistant Director told her to meet with Vogel on Graduation day).  Vogel, aka the CIA, has seemingly been aware of the blackout approaching since at least 2 years prior to it happening.  He spoke of a top secret investigation and and event that will make 9/11 appear to be minuscule.

• Vogel tells Janis that based on various factors, there are half a dozen of the new FBI recruits that appear to be vulnerable.  I'm guessing Marcie was another one!  Anyway, Vogel asks to go deep undercover and essentially "work for the bad guys."  She needs to appear to betray her friends in the FBI, but that it's all for the greater good.   This kind of explains how Vogel knew where to look for the bug in Mark's office and why he threw Mark off the scent of Janis.  (Or did he?  I forget already!)  
• Anyway, what a great twist and what a great character development for Janis.  She had no idea what exactly she was aiding when that blackout hit, and she is lying to her friends and knows she has to continue to lie for the greater good.  And she knows she is helping them by doing this.  Yikes. 
• And what about Vogel?  What does this say about him?  He's definitely a good guy now?  Yikes, I dunno.  We still know he's outside the Benford house on 4/29 announcing that Mark is dead.  And what?  The CIA knew about this before it happened?   Did anyone in the White House know about it and not tell anyone?  How DID the CIA know?   
• It is interesting that Simon is in this against his will as well.  I wonder if Janis will figure that one out too.    Anyway, with this knowledge we can breeze through the rest of Janis's history with no problems and then focus on the present. 
• One other note I want to keep out there, who shot Janis?  If she was working for this group AND the FBI, there must be a 3rd group right?  And like I've mentioned before, they specifically targeted Janis because she was all alone the night she was shot. 

2 Years Before the Blackout

• We see Janis and Demetri forming a strong bond during FBI training.  More specifically on the 6 mile obstacle course called the Yellowbrick Road. They were buddies and now possibly may be parenting a child together.  Of course, Demetri might be marrying someone else too! 

• We also see Janis approached by THE BAD GUYS.  We meet Lita, who recruits Janis for "multi-tasking opportunities".  Something tells me we'll be seeing her again. 

• Then we go to a PET STORE where we meet Carlene.  Carlene is the person that Janis is feeding one-way information from the FBI to.   They get her a fish tank and everything and thus the bond with the bad side begins! 

Day of the Blackout

• We see some of the events from the first episode.  Interactions between Mark, Stan and Janis.  And then we see Janis black out while she was on the stairs at the FBI.  We see more of her flash forward.  There apparently were some complications with the baby but she has stopped bleeding and has to watch her physical activity from now on.  (We learn in the present day that she is too stressed out and the doctors are worried about her as well)  The doctor in the flash forward ask her if she wants to know the sex of her baby and she says "well considering the circumstances..."  then she wakes up.   I thought she already knew it was a girl?  Maybe we just didn't see that part. 

• Anyway, Janis wakes up and sees the city in shambles and she realizes what she was a part of.  (Very similar to Simon's realization in the stadium)   She goes and yells at Carlene who said it's completely normal to feel that way at first.  Janis tries to quit, but Carlene said that she can't.  She's too far into it now.  And apparently, she has been seeing some money from this deal too.  (I wonder if she gets to keep that or the CIA pockets it?  Eh, only I would actually ask that!)   So, even now, we didn't realize she was a double agent but we were more sympathetic to her situation.   

Present Day at the FBI

• We join Mark, Janis, Vogel, Vreede and Stan in the boardroom analyzing the pictures, blueprints and what not that Mark retrieved from Dyson Frost.  Vogel is going on a rant about how Dyson died before he was able to give up any information by Alda who was in their custody.  He also rubs it in Mark's face that Demetri was right about Alda (that she was involved).  

• Mark is more focused on Dyson's comment about "The lady that you see every day will save you."  So funny, how we think some of these clues are things that we might not see come to fruition for a couple years (the LOST mindset), and then in the next episode they answer it!  But we'll get there. 
• Janis points out that the photos and blueprints are important.  After Stan orders a testosterone decrease between Mark and Vogel, they agree to make this stuff Priority #1.  
• Mark assigns Vreede to "keep running" with the Raven River investigation and when Demetri gets back, he will join him.  Interesting...
• Janis says that the photographs are between 1890 and 1917, but analysts suggest closer to 1917.   The photographs had both Dyson and Alda's prints on them.  Mark theorizes that they had contact much earlier than the day of the shooting.   Also, forensics points to some soil on these photos that traces them back to Afghanistan.  Hmmm was Dyson tied to Jericho?  Perhaps.  

The Blueprints

• Janis takes the blueprints to some Professor at some cray university and he is very intrigued by them.  He said it reminded him of the Antikythera Mechanism, discovered in 1901 in the Mediterranean Sea (hmmm, tied to those crazy photos?)  Apparently it was some sophisticated calculator from ancient Greece (2nd Century BC).   

• Carlene seems very interested in the blueprints and needs all of the copies confiscated.  The professor, Mark, every one of them she needs them.  Janis goes all undercover trying to get them.  She gets the professor's copy back and then blows hard drives and everything with some crazy device she plugs into the wall.  I mean, wouldn't somebody have found that device the next day?  SERIOUSLY?  There was nothing a little more subtle to use? 

• But then she gets caught by Mark trying to steal the next copy.  I thought she was going to come clean.  Of course finding out her double agent role at the end, it made sense that she didn't.  Instead she tells Mark she's pregnant.  Yeah first time she tries an excuse that she needed an extra copy or whatever and Mark kinda buys it.   Then the professor shows up the next day with more information on the device.  That's when Janis uses the pregnancy excuse! 

• But speaking of this crazy device...this professor was able to snag some pictures on his phone and did some 3D renderings....discovering that it's some kind of astronomical clock with gears and levers designed to calculate a certain date, a series of dates. The first date that he figured out?  October 6, 2009.  INTERESTING!   So can he figure out the next date from just the 3D renderings?  When will the next blackout be?! 

QED

• So, after the big pregnancy talk, Mark starts wondering who the lady that will save him will be.  Janis jokes that it will be her.  Mark thinks it will be Olivia, but then he brainstorms.  THE WHITE QUEEN!  The chess piece hanging on his board.  The piece that Dyson Frost left him to find.   What do you know? Mark smashed that queen open and found THE RING!  (before we get into the ring...wasn't that chess piece still intact in the flash forward?  or was it an image of the queen? hmmm)   

• But, remember when only 6 of the 7 rings were returned?  I guess this was the 7th!  Dyson Frost had hidden it in a chess piece.  Nice.  
• Of course, it isn't long before Simon and Lloyd are called to the boardroom to give their expert opinion. Remember, the only time they had seen this ring before was on a superzoomed image of Suspect Zero.  Simon waits for the right opportunity to jump in and "GUESS" (he already knew) that it's a Quantum Entanglement Device!  

• Simon could tell them now that there were more than 2 people awake during the blackout, but he would blow his cover.  Even though he wanted out of the situation anyway!  Of course, Janis could probably reveal who Suspect Zero was too...but she might not know it was Simon. 
• Anyway, Mark thinks they may have been after the QED on April 29th not him.  So Stand now wants to find a way to stop them.  And of course, this will probably be Lloyd and Mark's big break on starting to write some formulas on how to create a QED of their own!

Carlene and Janis

• So, Carlene is very upset that Janis wasn't able to recover those blueprints from Mark.   And even if their buried deep in a vault, she still wants Janis to get them.  She is also tasked with getting the ring as well.  This is Janis's time to prove her worth to this evil organization.   
• But there is one more catch that Carlene waited until the last minute of the show to mention.  Janis needs to kill Mark Benford too.   ummmmmmm whaaaat? 

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Definitely some crazy stuff happening on this show folks!  Is Janis going to have to come clean now?  Is she going to ask Vogel for help?  There's no way she's going to kill Mark.  I refuse to believe that after we have validated that she still is one of the good ones.  It's all escalating into what should be a top notch finale this season.  I'm hearing rumors that with the help of overseas viewership, FlashForward Season 2 may not be a lost cause after all!   Let's keep hoping that we can see that day come!   Hope you enjoyed my "brief" ramblings as always and I'll see you next week!

END CREDITS

Pictures courtesy of ABC and my iMAC! 

Follow me on Twitter for blog updates and additional findings:@LOSTAddictsBlog

Check out My Other Blogs too!

• Lost Addicts Blog
• American Idol Addicts Blog

Please Click to Support: 

• I am helping to pay some extra bills writing for http://www.gather.com/.  If you could, please click to view this  Recap on Gather to register me a page view.  Also, feel free to check out my other articles on the site. 

FlashForward: Season 1 Episode 17 - The Garden of Forking Paths

Hello Future Dwellers!  I must say, that was one intense episode of FlashForward!  And I really wish that more people stuck with the show.  Hopefully, ABC is seeing enough promise with it to renew and give it a 2nd chance next fall.  After all, there is a lot of ground to cover between now and December 12, 2016!  And I certainly would like to see THE END!  As we see, this is only the beginning and things are getting very interesting.  Let's not waste any time in getting to the recap.

This was one of the 2 episodes we've all had marked on our calendars.  The March 15th episode and I'm guessing we all want to see the April 29th episode!  Sadly, because of the long hiatus, the actual calendar dates aren't matching up with the show's calendar, but it doesn't make it any less effective!   So in last week's episode, we witnessed Demetri trying to run away from his death and in the process cause the events that would lead to his ultimate demise.  The entire episode is dedicated to finding Demetri, but we do learn a few other things along the way that will lead to our future investigations.  The Trial and Escape of Alda Herzog and Vreede/Olivia's investigation into the minds of savants.  Naturally, we'll initially focus on these 2 storylines as an appetizer for the main course!

The Trial and Escape of Alda Herzog

Flashback to 6 Months Prior to the Blackout

So, as we all suspected we do find out that Alda, from the first episode, has been involved in the Global Blackout conspiracy to some degree.  She is an acquaintance with another man we apparently saw during Lloyd's kidnapping as one of the interrogators.  My memory must not be as good as it used to be because I totally forgot about him!  Oh well, he seems like a better actor than Dental Flosso, so we should be good on that front.  ("I'm Flosso and I'm a villain!!!")   

• I believe what we saw was the warehouse in Pigeon, Utah or I guess it could be the warehouse where Demetri is held (don't think it matters).  This man was taking Alda to meet Dyson Frost.  He implies that Dyson has been difficult to work with ever since all of their experimentations on him.   But they must continue to rely on him because there are only a few people on Earth that understand the physics involved.   I would guess Simon and Lloyd are the other 2.   Well, I'm glad they don't expect US to understand it all! 

• The man says that he may need Alda to "take care of him" if the situation becomes too unmanageable.  Foreshadowing anyone? 
• As they enter the building they already know that they're dealing with some nut job as he has black and white dominoes set up all over the floor.

• As introductions are being handed out, we learn that Dyson pretty much created and engineered the Raven River Experiments.  This is the first time we are hearing about these experiments.  But as we start learning in the Olivia/Vreede storyline, they could be helpful in future investigations.  
• Dyson Frost is one of the few remaining participants still alive. 
• They begin talking about the Global Blackout.  Dyson says everything is on schedule for October 6th.  He said that he set up Global Monitoring stations to track the wave forms propagation.  (okay...)  I'm guessing Pigeon was one of these monitoring stations.  
• Dyston mentions that if Lloyd Simcoe and Simon Campos find their dark matter, then they're on their way.  They definitely had enough foresight from the flashes to know how and when to create this blackout.  
• It seems that all this man cares about is if Dyson has created the QED yet (The Quantum Entanglement Device).  At this point Dyson has created the first one.  Of course, we learn that their are 7 by the time of the blackout.   The man is impressed with all the micro-circuitry built into such a small device. 

• Dyson then shows them the video surveillance footage from outside the warehouse.  You know, where they discussed "offing" Dyson.  He promises to be a dozen steps ahead of them when the time comes.   We had no reason NOT to believe him based on everything we learned up to this point! 
• Before they exit Alda asks about the dominoes.  Frost calls it his Garden.  The white ones chart the path of his escape (from death).  And I don't care how old you are, it's always fun watching dominoes fall! 

  

Present Day

Zoey is prepared to go to extreme measures to extract any information she can out of Alda.  Alda requests a hearing and forces Zoey to make it happen even though it could damage her reputation. 

• Long story short - We do get to the hearing.  And it appears to be an elaborate scheme to engineered for Alda's escape.  Here is what I wrote in our March 26th recap of the episode "Blowback":  "But Zoey asks if Alda was in prison in her Flash Forward.  Alda doesn't comment.  So I guess we can make 2 assumptions.  She is in prison, and by letting Zoey represent her, she is hoping to get out.  Or vice versa, she is NOT in prison and perhaps letting Zoey help her is the way she gets out. "
• I know, not hard to call that one, but I thought it was funny how it exactly worked out that way!  
• So the hearing is a failure and Zoey is reprimanded by the judge who asks her never to pull a stunt like this again.   But she does get information out of Alda.  Alda saw in her FlashForward that Demetri was found in Building 7.  

• Before any other information could get out, she signals her window washer friend to blow the window and Alda makes a jump for it.  And there you go!  This plays into events in the main storyline later on. 

Vreede/Olivia Investigate Savants

Olivia's Surgery

• After Olivia performs surgery Bryce asked her what inspired her to go OLD SCHOOL on the anesthesia.  As we learned in a recent episode, Olivia helped Lloyd uncover part of his FlashForward's formula by recognizing an anesthetic that is part of a future QED.  (C₂HBrClF₃ Halothane ) 
• This causes concern from Bryce who realizes that Olivia and Lloyd are spending a lot of time together lately.  I forget if Olivia told Bryce that she was with another man in her FlashForward.   But regardless, we see in this entire episode that she is not thrilled with being near Mark in the least.  Ugh, crazy future visions dictating present events! 

Vreede Comes to Visit

In an attempt to help locate Demetri, Vreede needs to ask Olivia about a connection made to her from one of Dyson Frost's victims.  

• Well we got an answer and none of our speculations were correct.  The mysterious text message that Olivia got stating that Mark Benford was drinking in his flash came from a prepaid cell phone and one of Dyson Frost's victims.  The homeless man that he shot last week 3 times in the chest.  
• Olivia doesn't want to go with Vreede to look at the body but Vreede urges her to go.  In the end, she does end up coming. 

Morgue

• At the morgue, Olivia again says that she does not know this man.  Then they show the man's brain, which I'll refrain from sharing a close-up screenshot!  They realize that the man was capable of retaining a lot of information.   And they realize that he is a savant.  It's not a recognized medical condition according to the most reliable source (sarcasm) Wikipedia!  But there are autistic traits but also have increased ability, expertise and brilliance.  Hmmm....isn't Dylan autistic?  Nothing mentioned in this episode regarding to him, but look out! 

• Vreede keeps wanting to pursue by looking at an address book.  He insists that Olivia is connected to him and we just don't know how yet. 

Neuro-Science Center

• The address belongs to a Dr. Ebbing which apparently had his address book stolen by this victim.  
• They show Ebbing a picture of the homeless man and ask if he was a patient of his.  He doesn't seem to recognize him but acknowledges it could be possible.  Many savants are referred to him from across the country. 
• Ebbing speaks of savants and how they have photographic memories and are like "human video cameras".  Hmmm perhaps they could retain massive amounts of information from FlashForwards??  Or could theses savant traits have been acquired from repeated experimentations of flash forwards?  

• Besides giving us more information on savants Ebbing seemed to be very unhelpful in the investigation.  Although he did question why Olivia was interested in savants.  Here's a wild theory, maybe Dr. Ebbing was involved in some of these Raven River Experiments?  Seems like such a minor character in a one and done scene, but just his attitude during it seemed fishy! 
• Outside, Olivia gets in line for a coffee and while she is ordering an interesting looking man starts repeating exactly what she was going to order.  He mentions how she ALWAYS orders that on THIS DAY.   He then asks her to say what she's supposed to say: "how do you know my coffee order" and then his response is "that's what you say.  I say 'I have stood behind you in this line many times.  You always order the same way.'"  

• He clarifies that he has stood behind her HERE at this very coffee cart, in this line, on this day many many times.   His name is GABRIEL and he says that Olivia deserves a break today.  He mentions the Raven River Experiments.  His friend wanted to talk to Olivia about them (we assume the murdered homeless guy...murdered by Dyson Frost).  He knows about the text that Olivia got.  He says he knows about the FlashForwards, the Blackout.   
• Vreede tries to intervene and say that he needs to come and talk to them at the FBI.  But then Gabriel says that Vreede doesn't ever say that. hmmm   Then Gabe does his best M.C. Hammer impression repeatedly by saying "U Can't Touch This".    How great would it be if we get a flashback to these 80's experiments and we have them all listening to M.C. Hammer while being FLASHED to the future? 

• Gabriel, clearly a savant, gets spooked and walks away.  But not before he refers to the dominoes falling.   Looks like Olivia and we just got our next "BREAK" in the investigation.
• What was going on at Raven River?  We know that Dyson is one of the few survivors left.  Was Dyson trying to kill them all?  Could he not get to Gabriel in time?   I'm intrigued!   

Operation: Find Demetri 

March 15, 2010

Charlie Gets Questioned

As we saw at the end of last week's episode, Dyson Frost came to meet Charlie.  Apparently, he dumped a lot of secret clues into their meeting.  But the FBI had to work pretty hard at breaking the 6 year old so she'd reveal the information! 

• As I mentioned, Olivia continued to give Mark the cold shoulder.  I'm sure the big hook-up with Lloyd has something to do with it.  But she still is upset that Mark is continuing his investigation even though it supposedly leads to his death.  A Death that Charlie learned about in her flash forward and is very afraid of. 
• But, in the meantime, Stan is the one that cracks the code on getting Charlie to spill.  She closes her eyes and envisions the whole thing.  

• Charlie did her best "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" routine, but Dyson outsmarted her telling her that he knows her name!  He's no stranger.  Anyway, after Dyson says he's working with Mark, they start talking about Dr. Seuss.  And 2 books in particular.  Dyson's favorite is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (My wife'  favorite as well.  I'm a Green Eggs and Ham guy myself).  Charlie calls it a LITTLE KID book.  But Dyson is inserting clues to help Mark in the end.  The book can be for grownups too because Dr. Seuss has all of the answers.  It's funny how literal these things end up being (like that whole 8 Ball clue a few episodes back).  Charlie's favorite is Horton Hears a Who.  Dyson talks about how Horton was a trooper and carried his mission through to the end because he had faith even when others doubted him.  All symbolic to what Dyson is doing as well.  You could even say Mark is doing it too even though his flash should advise him against it.     
• Then Dyson hands Charlie a photo and asks her to give it to her father.  And then he left.  The back of the photo provided a location.  

• The picture is of Oedipus and the Sphinx - you know the guy that received a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.   And in receiving this, everything he tried to do to escape it led to it actually being fulfilled.  Kind of what Demetri did by trying to avoid his fate.  Vreede brings up the great point that by going to rescue him they may end up doing the same thing by sealing Demetri's fate.  Mark implies that he is aware this is possible, but I guess it's just hard for them to sit by and let it happen!  He made a promise to Demetri and he plans to keep it. 
• So Mark will meet at High Noon at Union Station with the great riddler - Dyson Frost

Meanwhile in Building 7

Demetri is strapped in with an overload of sensors everywhere.  And a red dot sight from Mark's gun pointed right at his chest.  Any motion he makes causes the trigger to start automatically moving into motion.  Yikes!  Oh and there's a timer and it's counting down to the trigger pulling anyway!   OUCH!  This is quite the pickle he's in. 

• Behind him is some kind of ROADMAP of various futures intersecting into milestone events.  Dyson explains to Demetri that it is his Garden of Forking Paths.   As we get a closer shot, we see a lot of the events that led to March 15th.  Somalia, Hong Kong, KILL MCKINNON (the savant homeless guy), Queen Sacrifice.   And of course a reference to the author (Not LOST) of FlashForward the novel in "Sawyer Court".   

• During Dyson's speech we start seeing other information that maybe hasn't occurred yet.  Maestro di Color, Ed Germain Fellowship, Ansible Theory.  Ansible apparently is used in lots of science fiction stories and talks about the potential ability to send communications via "faster than Light" means.   And of course, Light Speed can be associated with travelling to the future.   But I'll let you goes depict this stuff on your own! 
• Each line is a future that branches off of each critical decision he made.  He refers to how it started in the 80's at a place called Raven River.   They engineered THOUSANDS of Flash Forwards sometimes jumping 20 minutes other times 20 years.  Each time they saw a different possible future.  He uses the Blackout as an example.  If they failed to make that happen, a different path would have opened.  They moved on to the next decision point because they succeeded.   Today is one of those decision points.   The day of BOTH of their murders. 
• 78% of  the time in his Flash Forwards, Dyson does not live past today and Demetri ends up killing him.  He gets into the idea that once they glimpse the future, THE FUTURE wants to happen.  We have been saying this since September with all of the Self-fulfilling prophecies and stuff.  To escape the pressure they have to do something drastic. (Hmmm like Gough jumping off of a building? or setting up a sensory triggered gun aimed at Demetri with a timer?)  
• Dyson is attempting to conform to the predicted future as closely as he can but still allowing for the possibility that they both live.  He talks about how most Oracles see too much information and it ends up destroying them.  And then he leaves for his next part of his plan.   Demetri is left there to die.  
• Dyson does leave him with the one tidbit that in all likelihood, one of them will die today. 

Union Station

Mark has arrived at his destination and his being watched by Janis and a bunch of FBI cronies.   There are a couple false alarms with people walking up to him until finally a little kid with a superman backpack shows up saying he was paid $50 to give him the pack.  

• The backpack has a picture of Demetri being held hostage in it. On the back of the photo is a number: 423   Yeah, any LOST fan knows that the numbers 4 and 23 are significant on that show.  One cannot help but thing this is an homage to its TV Predecessor.  And I am choosing to think so! 

• Then Mark's phone rings.  It's Dyson who instructs him to not say any words because he knows the FBI is listening.  He has Demetri and will kill him if Mark doesn't follow instructions.  Mark does utter a few words but Dyson stops him again.   He gets Mark to utter 2 words during the conversation which end up throwing the FBI off to a false address.  Figueroa and Pico.  In case anyone is wondering this is a main drag in Los Angeles where the Convention Center, Staples Center and Nokia Theater are.  
• Dyson wants to come in and tell Mark when and why the next blackout will happen.  He has parted ways with his associates (Alda and the other guy and Dental Flosso!   Maybe Nhadra too?  We saw him working with her earlier in the season) and they will do anything to ensure that he doesn't make it into custody. 

• The 423 also ends up being the amount of time left in Demetri's life. (4 hours and 23 minutes).  By the way, apparently you can just push a button and it sets a digital watch to this exact time! 

• Mark gets his directions and begins to run!  He tosses the cell phone and gun in the bathroom and then behind a panel grabs a ZOOMCar Key . He then  runs out to the car, gets a new cell phone in the car and heads out via Dyson's directions.  He evades all of the FBI that are tracking him. 

The Meeting of Mark and Dyson

• He heads north and ends up on a dirt road until it dead ends. He just happens to have a water bottle on him and he takes a drink.  Seems meaningless at the time.  He continues north with a compass on foot for one mile. 
• When he gets to his destination Dyson shows up with a gun pointed at Mark. "Time for you and me to save the world."

• Dyson reveals that most of his associates wanted Mark dead months ago, but Dyson wanted to see things play out to this day.  Dyson tells Mark he doesn't trust the rest of the FBI nor should he.  We know Janis is still doing something fishy there.  Anyone else? (I still don't know about Wedeck!)   
• Dyson pulls out some cuffs and tells Mark to put them on and then they'll talk.  Instead Mark asks if he can take a swig of his water first.  Yellow looking water now.   He swigs it and then spits it into Dyson's face and takes control of the situation.  He syphoned gasoline from the tank.  Impressive Mark!! 

• Dyson starts ranting how this isn't how it's supposed to play out.   He tells Mark that he already knows where Demetri is.  All of the clues were in the information given to Charlie.  Dyson says the whole world is running out of time and in the end Mark will be saved by the lady you see every day.   And then he was about to spill some important information but notices a bike not far off and realized Mark had been followed.  Then a shot fires from a sniper rifle.  It's ALDA!   Dyson goes down.  His last words are "I did what I did for a reason." and then it's over.   Man they're killing these people off like crazy!  But I guess someone had to die on March 15th!  

• So who is the lady Mark sees every day?  Olivia?  How much more cryptic could that be!?  And is THE END December 12, 2016 (we'll get there) or is it April 29th, 2010?   If it's the former, we really need like 5 more seasons to find out! 
• In Dyson's briefcase, Mark found a few more of the pictures from his MOSAIC Investigation board.  Nice.  

• Mark heads back to the vehicle and checks the previous GPS locations, there just happens to be a 423 Ingres Street.  He starts heading that way! 

The Moment of Truth

• At this point Zoey has made it to the FBI HQ and provided them with the Building 7 intel.  Mark calls and says he doesn't know which of the many buildings he is at has Demetri in it.  It turns out that the buildings are numbered on the roofs. Janis, still being helpful, explains to Mark which one of the buildings it is and then Mark heads that way.  He shoots the lock off the door and then he finds Demetri.  He's alone and has that crazy Death Trap all set up.  2 minutes and 20 seconds to go. 

• Mark decides he's going to try and remove the gun.  Oh boy.  And we see the Mark holding his gun and point it right into Demetri's chest, just like it was foretold.  

• Fortunately for Mark and Demetri, Mark remembers One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish!   There just happens to be a Read wire and a Blue Wire connected to this gizmo.  Loved Demetri asking with a minute to live if Mark was quoting Dr. Suess.  Good times! 
• Demetri tells Mark that there should be no regrets whichever way this goes.   He pulls the wires off and then is able to move the gun.  He slowly moves the gun upward over Demetri's head and the timer runs out.  3 shots fire out.  Demetri survives!!!!  Whew....But my favorite part of the whole scene was that the 3 bullets went right into Demetri's Chest on his picture behind him.  GOOD  TIMES!!!  I had a good laugh about that one for a bit.  

• Demetri was feeling great after that.  And then they debated on if they could let him get up.   Sure enough, when Mark set him free the sprinkler system went off and washed away the Garden of Forking Paths.  OH MAN!!!!  Even in death, Dyson Frost manages to "screw us."  Well said, Mark. 

• Time passes and everyone gets to the scene of the almost-crime.   Demetri and Zoey reunite.  Janis walks by Demetri and Zoey.  Is she pregnant by him?  We have yet to find out but it sure could add more drama to his life! 

• Everyone is all happy but there is a shadow of disappointment at almost getting a HUGE break with seeing how many future events would play out.  Events AFTER April 29th. I would assume in the 20-something percent of the time when Dyson did not die on March 15th. 
• Mark acknowledges that he remembers a few of the events but one sticks out in his mind very clearly.  One that I couldn't resist bringing up 2 times already.  The furthest one from today at the top of the wall.   All of the various branches seemed to lead to it.   DECEMBER 12, 2016 - THE END

• Janis looks as shocked as Wedeck and Mark.   The End of WHAT?   Exactly. 

TO BE CONTINUED!!!! 

So there we go folks! What an episode.  Things are really escalating to a great finale for this season.  Hopefully it is escalating to a fantastic setup for next season.  The actress that plays Janis seems hopeful that ABC will renew.   We will see.  But at least until then, we should have some entertaining TV to watch!   Sorry for the delay on the recap.  I wasn't able to watch until Friday morning.  Hopefully, you all can forgive me.  It might happen one or 2 more times before the end of the season!   

Anyway, I will be back in all of my recapping glory for next week's episode.  Until then, the comment section is yours to fill up!  I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

END CREDITS

Pictures courtesy of ABC and my iMAC! 

Follow me on Twitter for blog updates and additional findings:@LOSTAddictsBlog

Check out My Other Blogs too!

• Lost Addicts Blog
• American Idol Addicts Blog

Please Click to Support: 

• I am helping to pay some extra bills writing for http://www.gather.com/.  If you could, please click to view this  Recap on Gather to register me a page view.  Also, feel free to check out my other articles on the site.