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:
- 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!
- 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!
- 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!
- 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.
- 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!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?!
- 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!
- 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?
- 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.
23 comments:
To my mind, Aaron's driver in Afghanistan was saying that his wife and daughter were killed in the blackout and that he survived, NOT that that was his flashforward.
Jason...ahhh that makes sense. You're probably right. I kinda forgot what happened and was having some technical difficulties with transferring the episode to my computer so I could rewatch as I was typing! So, I just remembered I wasn't very interested in it and moved on! lol
Thanks for the clarification!
btw...creeping up on 10,000 hits for the FF blog! I know it's chump change to the LOST blog, but considering how long it took be to hit 10,000 on that blog initially, I'd say it's pretty impressive! Thanks for reading guys!
I thought it was a decent episode...again I still have problems with so much "regular world stuff" going on still after only 6 months earlier 20 Million People died..but I guess work resumed about a week after 9-11..so who knows..
Clearly the Conspiracy begins and ends with Jericho (any reference to that show really kinda bothers me considering how bad it wound up after season 1, but I digress..)
Can Benford possibly trust Janis though? After everything? I mean we dont KNOW how close everyone was to Marci the whole time (cause you know, shes not a main character..), so it seems that if people felt Marci could betray them, Janis could also..no?
James Callis is doing an amazing job as the Savant..his acting is superb and he was easily a top 5 character on BSG..
Great ep - and recap ! Knew they'd redeem Janis somehow - she's just not a bad guy.
Very intriguing what Gabriel was saying - that it's all about Mrs. Benford and that she took the wrong path when she married Mark since he always saw her with Lloyd.
I think this show really could have gone to great places - but do not think it will get the chance with ABC looking to axe it.
Wasn't sure that Gabriel was Baltar last week - but man that actor plays crazy very well ! LOL
Regarding the possibility that the white queen wasn't smashed in Mark's vision...it seems like we could be on a different fork already for that. Dyson seemed to die in a way that he didn't foresee, and it was only after being shot that he told that information, right? So if Dyson wasn't shot, Mark wouldn't have gotten that hint and discovered the ring.
next thing you know we'll find out that the entire blackout was orchestrated by the cylons... and that mark benford is one of them! lol
i liked this episode a lot and really hope abc picks it up for a second season. though who knows, maybe they really only have one good season of material. better to burn out than fade away, right? (i'm trying to pre-emptively console myself).
Keep the faith Kelly and MJ! All hope is not lost yet. With the show doing well overseas, they might be able to have an excuse for Season 2! We'll see.
@AuStarwars - yeah...i know your beef with the real world stuff...for a televised series, I think they've been doing a decent job with it. Could they do better? Absolutely. But I give them a B for effort lol I think Janis and Marcie were different. Marcie was a "vulnerable one" but she actually DID fall for the scheming of the bad guys. Janis was approached by the CIA BEFORE she was approached by the Baddies...I think she can be trusted..but at the same time CAN'T...in other words...she's doing bad things..but in the end, she'd do the greater good when necessary. I'm sure she's going to have to find a way to get out of killing Mark. we'll see!
@MJ and everyone else - yeah callis is doing an amazing job. I haven't watched ALL of BSG yet, but I have always thought he was a great actor on the show.
@Mike - yeah i thought about the different fork too. Except they are so convinecd that maybe these masked men were after the ring in the flash forward. Would they have known the ring was there if it was hidden in the chess piece still?
Wow what an episode…I thought last night was one of the best episodes from the pace to the acting…The scene with Frost and the patients was well done and very creepy…So is Dimetri the father of the baby?? From the recap at the beginning of the episode they showed the Somalia conversation and the cab convo as well…When the crazy guy said that Olivia was supposed to be with Lloyd it makes you wonder if she was part of creating the blackout in other possible futures??...I am literally praying for a second season….Mike; I thought the same thing about John Locke when they mentioned Mr. Clean too funny lol…Great recap as always
@Deebo - The "recap" certainly did imply that Demetri is the father. I just don't know yet! Interesting idea that maybe her decision led to the blackout. That would be very interesting. Or maybe it leads to something WORSE than the 1st blackout. I agree though...the episode was very good with pace and acting. Glad you liked my Mr. Clean/Locke shout-out (at least one LOST reference per recap...I'm making it a staple! lol) Thanks for the props.....and yikes...you used the "W" word on FlashForward!! I still can't bring myself to do it lol Even if I've felt it...I feel like I'd be betraying that other show! :-)
"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!"
I'm actually finding this so very refreshing after watching LOST for 6 seasons. FF seems to answer mysteries relatively quickly, but it only peels back a layer into even more mysteries, whereas LOST would let some mysteries dangle in the air for seasons.
I would be really interested in seeing if the white queen was on Mark's board in his FF. If so, I can get on board with the theory that Frost's death is altering Mark's future away from the one he saw in his FF. Screen cap? :)
I'm fairly certain that the baby is Demetri's. At least they made it seem very obvious to me from the dialogue in the previous episode. Demetri: "That night in Somolia..." Janis: "I'm pregnant."
Andy, I was actually planning to do a screen cap with the blog, but then I realized I didn't have the pilot episode on my computer anymore. It was all messed up! Naturally, I didn't go back to my blog for that episode to see if I had the picture. Sure enough...I did! It sure was still in one piece:
White Queen
I do like the quick return on answers...but the only problem is, it gets tough to construct elaborate theories! lol Not that this is necessary or anything. I will say though...they sure are dragging out this "who is the baby daddy" thing for awhile! Just by the mere simple fact that they didn't show us flat out what happened between Janis and Demetri! lol
I love this show and all the characters. The storyline is great. I can't believe that more people aren't following this - especially from the LOST family. Please keep doing the recaps, they are the highlight of my Fridays!
Thanks Anonymous! I'm sticking with the show, so don't worry about that! We just have to worry about renewal at this point.
As for Friday morning recaps. Well, I will say I'm going to try my best to stick to that schedule. But the May 20th episode with a 21st recap might be a problem. I'll be out that Thursday night doing something really DORKY in preparation for the LOST finale LOL (yep, an interview with the producers will be broadcast live at movie theaters and I'm going!) Can't help it, with 4 days before the Series Finale, LOST takes precedence! I think most people understand that. Anyway, with work and all of that stuff, it might make it difficult to get a recap up before the wknd. But I will try my best. The finale will be the following Thursday so you can be sure I'll be ready for that one!
Just giving everyone a heads up.
I think that agent Weddick and Vogel are definitely working together somehow. Weddick said that he was on the toilet taking a dump, reading the newspaper in the F.B.I. bathroom when the flashforward happened. It appeared to be sometime in the afternoon. Now in Mark's flashforward it appears to sometime in the night. Also, didn't Weddick send Vogent to look after Mark and Demetri in Japan? I'm starting to think that they are the bad guys and set Janis up the kill. I think Janis is gonna lie to Vogel by saying that she killed Mark and the lady he see's every day will save him.
interesting theory anonymous! I have suspected Wedeck for awhile for being up to something shady. I thought him being in the bathroom was a bizarre flash forward to have especially if they were in the middle of an investigation and on a MILESTONE DATE and TIME during that investigation. But...i am pretty certain that everyone flashed to the same date and time which was 10PM West Coast Time. I don't think there were any windows in that bathroom so it would be difficult to say if it was during the day or night. So I just assumed it would be night. Of course...sometimes when you gotta go...you just gotta go! lol
As for Janis being the one that saves mark in the end, it could happen. But didn't we already get our answer to that one? It was the chess piece. You think it will come into play again? We'll see!
' May 20th I'll be out that Thursday night doing something really DORKY in preparation for the LOST finale LOL (yep, an interview with the producers will be broadcast live at movie theaters and I'm going!) '
I know this the the FF blog - and my apologies to the non-Lost fans - but give the deets. What theaters ? Do you have any links about this ?
MJ, I posted about it on one of the blog comments either last episode or the one before it. And I provided a link. But I'll have to google it to let you know! In the meantime...just check any theater's showtimes in your area around May 20th. They might have it. I'll be at King of Prussia lol No stalking! :-)
Times Talk LIVE with Damon and Carlton
There is a link from there to participating theaters!
LOL on the stalking. I might just head to Voorhees for this. Tickets don't go on sale til the day of though - so if they go on sale during the day I'll probably get screwed. Plus - 12.50 to hear an interview ? Hmmmm !
I figured Voorhees might be close to you. I use to be a South Jersy-ite afterall lol
Do you really think it will sell out? I'm really hoping it's just me and my wife in that theater! LOL Then again...the LIVE NYC Event sold out in minutes...that's why they are doing this broadcast lol I'm sure there will be other crazies like me lol
I know it's a silly waste of money but I can't help myself!
Don't know that I'll be going yet - hubby starting to do some eye rolling. Between the now 5.5 hours of finale, my sticking Dharma stickers on all our foods and beverages lately - it's getting thin for him. LOL We'll see though.
Modern Family did a shout out to Lost this week. I think you watch it so I won't say what it was !
This has been some week on TV. 24 was fab, Lost incredible ! I was Breaking Bas and sunday's was breathless. Wow all around
meant it to be 'Breaking Bad on Sunday was'
Sheesh - my brain was tripping there or something
I think my wife has accepted that I'm going to be a LOST Nut in the month of May. Her hope is that it will all end on May 24th! LOL (yeahhhhhh) But she's coming with me on the 20th! And she definitely encourages my behavior by buying me lost stuff for every major holiday or gift day! lol
Anyway, I did see Modern Family last night...it was hysterical. Can't wait for when they're actually in Hawaii next week. It would be awesome if "sarah" shows up on LOST somehow....but it would also be pretty cool if some LOST characters show up on Modern Family!
Agree 24 Rocked too...it's gonng be a rough 2 days watching these Iconic shows end (LOST, 24) Breaking Bad I've heard is very good, but I just haven't had a chance to watch yet. Maybe this summer once I finally catch up on the backlog of shows on my TiVo from this season! lol
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