FlashForward: Season 1 Episode 19 - Course Correction

Hello fellow Future Dwellers and potential Course Correctioners and welcome back to another Flashforward Recap!  So, this episode managed to take any hope that we might have gained in recent episodes and threw a nice little twist on top of it!  Of course, it's yet another INTERESTING twist in a series of very interesting twists.  Things are progressing along nicely towards the series finale.  We have reached 1 week prior to April 29th so it will be interesting to see if that will be the final date we see this season or if we'll move right past it.   Jury is still out on whether this show will be renewed so get your friends and family to watch!  Even if you must hold them against their will!  The show definitely has more life in it and we need to give it a chance to see what they can pull off.

Enough of my soapbox though, let's get into the recap.  Lots of interesting stuff in this one.  There was Demetri going off with their British counterpart Fiona Banks to investigate a murder with some interesting circumstances around it.  There was Simon's cover about to be blown my a curious Mark Benford as he faced with saving his sister.   There was the ever growing relationship of Lloyd and Olivia (still having a hard time buying how easily she's falling into this!).  And then the saga of Bryce, Nicole and Keiko continues!  Obviously, we'll start with the smaller stories first and then move on to the main course!

Bryce and His Ladies

Throughout this episode, we see Nicole and Bryce continuing their flirtation with crossing the friendship line.   Bryce is getting chemo treatment and Nicole was upset for him not telling her.  She doesn't feel obligated, she wants to be there for him.   

• A couple scenes later Bryce finds out that his experimental cancer treatment is working and the cancer is going into remission!  Nice.  He feels like he has a new lease on life. 
• Meanwhile, Nicole is called into duty to go to an immigration center to give some flu shots.   Who was in her pile of files?   None other than Keiko!  

• What comes after is the classic "I have news/Me too!" scene.   But Bryce, not letting Nicole talk first moves in for the big KISS.  And this time he means it.  He's cured and he's tired of waiting for something to happen.   He wants to be with her!   We all saw this coming, but come on...it's still enjoyable to watch it play out as Nicole looks over Bryce's shoulder at Keiko's file.   And she decides to not say anything for now.   It's anyone's guess how this one is going to play out, but I have to think we will see that scene on April 29th where Keiko walks into the restaurant and sees Bryce.   Maybe Nicole will still met her and make it happen?   Maybe Bryce will take Nicole to that restaurant since she wanted sushi and then Keiko will walk in (a slight variation on his flash forward?)    Eh, we can just let this one play out!  

• Oh, and I haven't mentioned in the blog but it came up in the comments a couple episodes ago.   That dude that Keiko was working for with the tattoos and stuff (the one that got busted for the illegal immigrants and all of that).   He was the same guy that was on the bus that helped out Dylan getting to the Benford house on Halloween!  I checked out the pictures and everything.  Same dude!   Just thought I'd bring it up but can't take credit for discovering it!  Commenter: Andy got that one.  Good stuff. 

Backstory of the Week

This week we were treated to visiting NLAP first hand and 2 days prior to the blackout (and the day OF the blackout as well).  We really didn't learn anything new here but it played into scenes later in the episode.  And it gave us a first-hand look at what triggered the blackout.  

• Lloyd and Simon were celebrating their achievement and looking forward to "recreating the Big Bang" in 2 days.   Simon got a call from his mother saying that his father died.   We learned previously that his father was killed by the FLOSSO goons.  

• Simon goes to Toronto and the experiment stays on schedule without him.   Dr. Myhill is present with Lloyd for the big event plus some news journalist Angie something. (I'd look it up but I don't think it'll be very important.  Maybe it will turn out to be EXTREMELY important, but I'm not counting on it!)  
• Anyway, the clock countdowns to October 6th 11am...and the accelerator starts....we see how big this accelerator is and then we watch a pulse take over the globe and everyone then collapse...we see many many flash forwards and then we see the news journalist woman hit a desk with her head and never wake up from her blackout.    

Lloyd and Olivia Encounters

Lloyd on the News!

We moved into the present day with Lloyd doing an interview on some big news station.  Everyone was watching the big event: Mark and Demetri, Simon, Olivia all in different places.   Lloyd was discussing the idea of the flash forwards being possible futures with some flexibility. 

• We confirm that it is 1 week from 4/29.  
• Lloyd talks about how them seeing their futures could CHANGE the future.   But then he talks about how the future fights back.  Small things may change along the way, but some kind of force may push things to a certain future.  (kind of makes us think of the Garden of Forking Paths, right?   
• The theme for most of the episode revolves around people who are living past their expected death dates.   Lloyd calls these people statistical anomalies.  And the concept of course correction comes up.  
• And then who shows up on the interview but Celia!  The woman that Al Gough saved by jumping off of the FBI building earlier in the season.  She was supposed to be hit by a car and Al would've been involved in some way.  Now, Celia is a statistical anomaly herself! She thanks the Gough family and is extremely grateful for what Al did for her.  

• Then Lloyd takes to the phone lines.  Someone calls in and asks about Flashes maybe causing Brain Damage.   Lloyd just declines this, but later on he admits that he has no idea. 
• But the biggest lie he told was that it was IMPOSSIBLE that there could be another blackout.   Mark supported this comment because they could not cause panic for the entire world. 

Lloyd and Olivia

We see various scenes of Lloyd and Olivia bonding.  Lloyd is complaining about his interview and how he didn't expect the questions he got.  And he couldn't believe that he lied.  Olivia defends the Brain damage one, but then goes into more detail with it later on.  

• It turns out that Gabriel is in the hospital and Olivia has Bryce checking him out.    Lloyd and Dylan come to the hospital as Lloyd needs "occupational therapy" and he was hoping to see her there.   Anyway, Gabriel sees the 2 of them together and goes on one of his "Lloyd and Olivia sitting in a tree" rants.  And talks about how he knew they should be together.   Olivia promises to explain later.  Olivia insists to Gabriel that she is not "together" with Lloyd and that it's complicated.  

• Then Vreede shows up needs to question Gabriel.  But first he gives him a sandwich.  Vreede had to ask Gabriel about a sketch he found with his belongings.  It was Mark's wall!  Then we see one of Gabriel's flashes where he was looking at everything on the wall and analyzing it, memorizing it.  He had an FBI visitor pass on at the time.  So it would seem that he will be visiting there soon enough.  But before then he had to panic because he didn't like pickles and lettuce...but I cracked up when he calmed down and looked at the tomato and said "I like tomatoes"  Good times! 

• Later at Lloyd's place, Olivia is there showing him some brain scans of Gabriel's head who has had 100s of flash forwards.  No brain damage.  And then he shows some brain scans of other people that looked exactly the same as Gabriel's.    
• Lloyd asks about Gabriel and how he thinks they are meant to be together.  And then Olivia has a barftastic phrase "well I know how I felt in my flash forward"  she smiles and then they kiss.   Oh boy.  I'm sorry, but she was fighting this so hard forever and now she's just letting it happen!?  I know it had to happen by the end of the season, but it's almost like she wanted it to happen!   It would seem like this whole scenario is playing out exactly like it did in the flash.  But will Mark turn to drinking on April 29th?  

• There's a knock on the door......I think we knew who it was.  I ask again...will Mark turn to drinking on 4/29?   TO BE CONTINUED below. 

Course Correction

Murder Investigation

Demetri was called to the scene by LAPD to a crime scene.  Fiona Banks is there from England.  Why?  She's investigating something flash forward related.

• Apparently, this Andrew guy was supposed to die on March 2nd to a drug allergy.  But he survived.  Long story short, the man was poisoned and killed the same way he was supposed to die on March 2nd.  It would seem that somebody from the BLUE HAND group has turned into an executioner and knocking off any survivors that "weren't supposed to survive."   If anyone watched the "PREVIOUSLY ON FLASHFORWARD" clips, I think we all probably figured out who this probably was.  
• Demetri and Fiona head to Fairfax High School where Jeff Slingerland teaches.  He was the leader guy of that Blue hand cult.  He claimed to be upset that this Andy guy died but then spoke of the Universe balancing itself out.  Life is energy.  One life ends, another begins.  Very FINAL DESTINATION-LIKE (and for my one reference to LOST for the week - they spoke of Course Correction on the show too and had some Final Destination-like scenes)  

• Demetri tells Slingerland to watch his back.  Slingerland then makes a comment that maybe he shouldn't go on TV and announce it to the world.  I'm sure some people made the connection here right away.   Of course, FlashForward doesn't just leave the clues there, they have the feed them to us with flashbacks to moments that happened 20 minutes earlier in the show!  
• Dem and Fiona go to the Coffee Shop (the same place the poisoned coffee came from) and talked to a guy there that remembered a lot of details about Regular Andy and his geeky friend with a horseshoe ring.   And he remembered their conversation and how horseshoe ring guy made a big deal about surviving.  Yes, of course it's Slingerland.  And then Demetri put it together that he was going after Celia who announced on TV that she survived!  Whoops.  He learned this when Slingerland fled his class (after teaching them that Free Will is a Lie) and he left a message for Demetri that the Universe always pushes back.   
• We next see Slingerland with his sights on a walking Celia, he speeds up his car and says "Welcome to your future" but no, Demetri slams a car into Slingerland's Car before he gets there!    And then just when they think Slingerland failed, he says "Not Yet."  We see Celia trying to run away and she ends up running right into Fiona's car as she was in pursuit of Slingerland!  WHAAAAT?!?!   She still gets hit accidentally by a car.  And it just happens to be by the person who was supposed to be with Al on April 29th.  WEIRD, RIGHT? 

• Slingerland tells Demetri that it wasn't him, it's the universe.   He was supposed to die of an aneurysm but it seems Demetri killed him.  Really?  He seemed fine and just collapsed as he was running from Demetri.  Maybe he was bleeding internally from the accident?  Maybe he was just not playing a dying man too well?  Eh whatever, he died but not before he tells Demetri "See you soon sport."

• Yikes, so just when we think Demetri is off the hook, now he has to worry about course correction?  Was it just a bunch of coincidences?   Celia running into Fiona's car?  Slingerland dying?  Or is Demetri doomed?  If Lloyd is right about the future trying to make itself happen, his days could still be numbered.  Could he still get shot?

Later at the FBI HQ

Fiona is a wreck.  She remembers the conversation she had with Al about the bird that was going to hit their window.  He said to put tape there.  Fiona talked about how the bird would just hit another window ....course correction.   Well Celia just got hit by another car.   Fiona got the call, Celia's injuries are extensive and she does not have a good chance of survival.   Fiona is convinced she is now going to get that call on April 29th and find out that Celia is gone.  (just like Al got the call)    She believes in the Course Correction.   Do you? 

Operation Save Annabelle

Simon's Task

Simon is heading somewhere in his limo and passes over a bridge where he just happens to see his sister Annabelle crying and standing on the ledge.   The limo stops and Simon runs towards her. 

• There are several laser sights on her face and she tells him that they'll kill her if he doesn't comply. They want the ring back in 12 hours or she's done.   Simon checks out the license plate, refuses to leave for a little bit but then he's on his way. 

• He has some tech wizard dude at the FBI (who got lots of screen time this week) to run some plates.   He offers him a bribe for his silence (turns out to be a weekend at the Bunny Ranch.  ahhh those Tech Guys!)    The computer wiz ratted Simon out to Mark anyway.  

• Mark catches Simon in his lie and becomes extremely suspicious of him.   The whole MOSAIC investigation is in jeopardy because of him.   Simon refuses to spill on how much he knows and just that he wants to get his sister back.  

• Mark ends up talking his distrust in Simon over with Wedeck.  Stan says that they need Simon so they're going to get Annabelle.  
• Mark and his Boy Wizard run the plates and trace where the van was heading.  It went into a zone with no camera views and then it could come out anywhere in an 8 block radius.    Gotta love how Mark resorts to old scool SWEEPS since the computer will take too long to figure it out.   Also gotta love how he does this 8 block sweep by himself!  
• Simon wants to go with Mark to which Mark refuses.  Mark wants to get his sister back and then have a "sitdown" with Simon about what's been going on.  
• We see Simon try to log onto the FBI systems and he is denied access.  He knows the jig is up and we see him staring at the ring.  

Lloyd and Simon

• Not much here except that Lloyd is trying to save the world and Simon is distracted.  He revealed to Lloyd that his sister was kidnapped a few days after the blackout.   He left out the part where he was being used against his will by the Flosso crew for a majority of his life! 
• Later on (after we saw Simon staring at that ring) Lloyd and Simon have a conversation in the parking garage.  Simon apologizes for his behavior and for not telling him about Annabelle.  He thanked Lloyd for everything he had ever done for him with his career.   He mentions that Lloyd is the only friend he has and then he suspiciously says he has to be somewhere.  Lloyd thought the whole thing was a bit strange. 

Mark's Sweep

• Mark covered a 5 block radius and has 3 left.  But the 6th one is the charm as there apparently was some crazy van that hit an electrical box on its way into a warehouse.  Mark brings a swat team in only to open a van with Annabelle in it and nothing else.  

• Mark calls Simon and delivers the news.  He talks briefly to Annabelle on the phone and is assured she was safe.  He tells her he loves her and goodbye.   And then he tells Mark goodbye.  We see him grab his bags and leave his cushy apartment.   Where did he go?   Did he hand over the ring?   
• Because we definitely know that he took it as Mark and Stan discovered!   Really, they take away his computer access but leave the Ring out in plain sight?   Come on....he's a hobbit!  He is drawn to rings! 

Suspect Zero Uncovered

Back at Lloyd's House

• There was that knock on the door we were discussing, yep...it was Mark.  He was there for other reasons but he caught Lloyd and Olivia there with 2 glasses of wine and the guiltiest look one woman could ever have on her face!   

• Mark is shocked but then gets right to business saying he needs to talk to Lloyd.  Olivia says she was just leaving.  Lloyd's cover?  "Thank you for the scans."   Olivia promises to call Mark.   Yikes....that'll be one interesting conversation!   I think we all kind of suspected that if these flashes came true that Mark might be driven to drinking by allowing these flashes to come true at the expense of his marriage.   Will it still happen?   We'll see soon enough! 
• In the meantime, Mark tells Lloyd that Simon is gone and he took the ring.   Mark gets to asking Lloyd if on the day of the blackout, if anything seemed strange. 
• He recalled 2 days before the blackout when Simon got off the phone with his mother, Lloyd offered to reschedule the experiment.  But Simon was ADAMANT about the experiment happening at 11am on October 6th.   Hmmmm REALLY?  Then why was Simon so shocked to be in Detroit on 10/6 at the equivalent time for that timezone?   He certainly didn't seem like he knew all of this was going to happen!   Was Flosso telling him that they needed that experiment to happen that day, but Simon didn't know the repercussions? 
• In any case, he brings this up to Mark.   Why would he miss this big monumental moment?  Of their dreams coming to fruition with their experiment.   Mark asked Lloyd if Simon is capable of engineering a global blackout.  He said that Simon is capable of anything and always has a plan.    
• I'm not getting it, it certainly seemed like Simon was a pawn in all of this, why wouldn't he just come clean to the FBI?   Unless we're being told that maybe he wasn't a pawn at all? 

FBI HQ

• Okay, seriously?  They're just comparing the height of Suspect Zero to Simon now?   We did that way back in October when we first learned the height of Suspect Zero!  Dominic Monaghan's IMDB page was getting tons of hits after that episode!   
• Anyway, they started investigating Simon being in Toronto on the day of the blackout.  But then Mark looked into the airlines and how there was some emergency maintenance landing in Detroit from Toronto prior to the blackout.  Plane was grounded for a couple hours and then went back to Toronto.   So now Mark and crew are up to speed with what we already knew.  Simon was Suspect Zero and he kept this information from them the whole time! 

Mark talks to Annabelle

• Annabelle explains to Mark that she did not see any faces of the men who held her captive.  They all wore weird masks (clearly the same masked men that come after Mark on April 29th)  
• Mark wanted to know if Annabelle overheard anything.  She was reluctant to talk for awhile, but Mark promised nothing bad will happen to Simon.   And then she said it.   "They said he's going to cause another blackout."  DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN

TO BE CONTINUED

So that's it!  Another solid episode leading towards the finale.  I think I liked last week's better, but the plot developments in this one were necessary.  And the introduction of the Course Correction concept is an interesting one, if not a very novel idea!   I still like where the story is going.  I'm still interested to see how April 29th is going to go down.  And I'm still on board for a 2nd season.  The question still remains, is ABC?   Time will tell!

That's all I got for this one folks.  Feel free to share what you thought of this episode, and what you think of the show in the comments below!  Just a heads up, I will get you recaps next week (May 13th) and the finale (May 27th) episodes on time, but the May 20th episode might be a little late.  I have some LOST-related things to attend to that night with that legendary epic finale scheduled to air on Sunday the 23rd.   I will get the post up as soon as possible, but don't be surprised if I don't get to it until the weekend!  I'll try my best.   Hopefully, you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me!

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I will see you next week!

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