FlashForward Season 1 Episode 20 - The Negotiation

Hello Future Dwellers!  We are drawing near on the end of the first season of FlashForward, possibly the end of the series as well (no word on renewal).   (UPDATE:  I'm halfway through writing the blog and I just read that FlashForward has been cancelled!  Nooooooooooo!!!  Oh well, I may as well finish writing this!)  In my opinion, we got another intense episode leading ever so close to April 29th, D DAY, Flash Day whatever you want to call it.  Looks like next week will be the big day and lots of interesting stuff happened on the EVE of that big day!  (And it'll be very interesting to see what they have planned for the season finale, since it will be "AFTER" this momentous day)   No sense in drawing out my opening, let's just get right into things!

Not much to theorize on in this episode, there were just some decent story lines and plot movement getting the pieces into place for the big event next week.   We had Aaron's rescue mission in Afghanistan, Simon on the run, Janis's double agent dealings, Demetri's pondering over course correction and the advancement of the MOSAIC Investigation plot with Gabriel meeting Mark.  Time to dive in!

Aaron's Rescue Mission / Jericho

Afghanistan

So last we saw of Aaron he had just met up with Khamir who he remembered from his flash forward.  They have tracked down Jericho to the Helmand Province.   

• Aaron snapped his pictures of the Jericho operation and uploaded them to Stan.   Stan acknowledged that this is an illegal operation and thanked Aaron for his hard work.  And as much as Wedeck tried to stop Aaron from going in, there was no stopping him.

• Aaron noticed Tracy was being dragged out of a tent and taken somewhere else.   He knew it was time to move.  
• We next visit them at night where Aaron has a night-vision scope on his sniper and takes the men with Tracy down.  Nice!   Tracy is not in good shape though. 
• Aaron is convinced that they need to be back in Khandahar because that is what he saw in his flash.  He knew that Khamir would save her.   So they all protested and said it was too dangerous, but they went anyway. 
• When they arrived at the location, he recognized it from his flash.  It's all coming true!  Do we think some twist of fate will happen here to change Aaron's vision or is the fact that he has been working so hard to make his flash a reality enough to late FATE have its way?  We should find out soon enough! 

Stan takes down The President

Meanwhile, we remember that Stan was helping Aaron out on this operation with orders from Vice President Clemente.  Apparently, the President was involved somehow in this illegal operation with Jericho and Stan called him on it.  So, it turns out that Stan will have a direct impact on Clemente stepping in as President on April 29th.  I thought it would be for the affair and illegitimate child that the President had outside of wedlock. I guess not!   

Simon on the Run

Last we saw of Simon, he knew he was being outed as Suspect Zero after saving Annabelle.  He took the QED device and ran.  

• We catch up with him at a bar trying to learn his new cover name.  He's all set up with an alias of David Walker, with a passport and everything.  
• But EVIL LITA (last seen recruiting Janis to the Bad Guy organization) stopped in to tempt Simon with an offer.  Simon found it impossible to resist and had a little "taste" of the messenger girl.  

• Apparently it was all a scheme to keep him in one place while the BIG GUY...the BIG BAD came to talk to Simon in person.  Apparently, the message Simon sent by killing Dental Flosso was received. 
• So who is the BIG BAD?   This guy Hellinger.  We saw him a couple episodes back preparing for the Blackout with Dyson Frost and Alda Herzog.  We didn't really have an idea at the time that he was the big henchman.   And, I'm not too sure I'm impressed.  He seems like some kind of #2 guy or something.  But what do I know? 

• Apparently, Hellinger was behind paying for Simon's education, getting him the job at NLAP and protecting him.  
• Hellinger tries to get Simon to work for them and tells him that he has nothing to live for.  Now that the whole world has seen the face of the man walking around during the blackout, he cannot go anywhere.  They will let him see his family and they dangled his sister Annabelle in front of him.   
• Simon wasn't biting, he knows that he is the only one that can "calibrate the accelerator" and cause the next blackout, so they can't kill him.   He tells them that they will receive his response soon enough and he just walks out. 
• Later on, we see Simon in a sewer retrieving the QED ring which he had clearly hidden.   What's his next move?  It's anyone's guess! 

MOSAIC Crew Advancements

Stan's Speech/New Developments

Stan started off April 28th with talking to his entire FBI team.  Tomorrow is D Day.   The building may come under attack but "WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN!"  It was very Bill Pullman in Independence Day (Yeah, I know...corny movie looking back...but sometimes this show has corny dialogue, so....)  FBI plans to be open for business and he tries to instill confidence in everyone that they will get through this.  He handed out everyone's assignments and we move on.

The big issue of the moment?  Finding Simon Campos.  And what  do you know?  Footage has been leaked to the TV networks of Suspect Zero during the time of the flash.  It was different footage than the FBI had.   It was clearly the bad guys, and they are outing him NOW, the day before 4/29.   Why?  Well, we found out they're trying to bribe him into working for them.

Gabriel DeBriefing


So Gabriel, as he has seen in various flash forwards, has been brought to the FBI and is seen investigating Mark's board.  He is noticing things that are in different places.  Obviously, he talks all over the place so let's give some of the highlights.

• Mark is introduced to Gabriel and sees that Olivia has been helping him.  Apparently, he will not do anything with her there, so Mark and Olivia are forced to be near each other.  Mark is genuinely happy that she does have to stay. 
• Mark is introduced to Gabriel's book that has his MOSAIC board in there.  
• Gabriel refers to Olivia as Olivia Simcoe which disturbs Mark, obviously.  We'll get to that in a second. 
• On a sidenote: Olivia and Mark have a moment to talk away from Gabriel.  Mark talks about having security detail set up at the house but they'll stay out of view as to not upset Charlie.   Hmm, so is that why Vogel ends up being there at 10pm?  Olivia is not thrilled to be talking about all of these details and there is a hint of the fact that she wishes they moved to Denver when she proposed it.  
• Gabriel was brought into a conference room to look at pictures of people that have come up in the investigation.  So Kent, the man Dyson shot was at Raven River.  We knew that.  But we also found out that Nhadra was there too!  This would probably explain why she knew the details of Demetri's death that was supposed to happen on 3/15.   
• They tried to ask Gabriel when the next blackout would be, but he said only Dyson Frost would know that.  
• The funniest part of the show was when Gabriel recalled the other guy whose picture he drew.  He was the BIG GUY.  What was his name?   "I told you his name.  It's BIG GUY!"   I cracked up at that one.   Good times.  We see the sketch and it is indeed Hellinger.  

• They run a facial recognition scan on Hellinger.  I don't think they got the results of that one before they bumped into him later though! 

NOTE: It was right about here where I read that the show was cancelled, so if you see me lack focus or details in the following sections, you'll know why! 

Demetri and Course Correction

So Zoey is trying to get Demetri to drop everything for April 29th and take a flight to Hawaii or something.  But Demetri, knowing that he escaped death, wants to be here for his friends on 4/29.  Of course, fate may have other plans for Demetri!

• When he walked into the briefing room where Gabriel was, Gabe flipped out!  He told Demetri that he was supposed to be dead and NEEDS to be dead for things to progress the way they are supposed to.   Yikes. 
• This gets in Demetri's head but Mark tries to advise him not to look into it.  He doesn't believe that the future is trying to will itself to happen.  Well, he says that, but the whole OLIVIA SIMCOE thing had him thinking differently. 

Janis Double Agenting

• It is confirmed!  Demetri is the one that impregnated Janis!  I guess looking back, maybe it wasn't supposed to be such a mystery.  But they should have just come out and said it!  Anyway, he wants to help out.   Janis, whose life is just messed up with working for the enemy and the CIA and everything, told Demetri to just be happy with Zoey.   Of course, she didn't spill all of those beans to him just yet.  
• Janis meets with Vogel at a Bar and tells him that the Bad Guys want her to kill Mark.  He pretty much tells her that she needs to do it.  Of course, he remembers in his flash that he delivers the news that Mark is dead.   She also needs to deliver something big, which Vogel suggests she does as well. 
• She meets with her contact (forget her name and don't care now because the show is cancelled!)  and she also tells Janis that she is hanging by a thread.  No more excuses she needs to kill Mark!  Janis said she needs to wait for the right opportunity.  Anyway, she tells them about Gabriel and how she can deliver him.   Contact lady was happy with this.

Moving Gabriel Trickery


So they are planning to move Gabriel to the safehouse and Mark needs to break the news that Olivia can't come to him.

• Gabriel tells Mark how he sees loose ends on his board.   Mark knows the feeling.   He asks Gabriel about her calling Olivia "Olivia Simcoe" and if that is how it all turns out.   Gabriel says that is what he has seen.   He asks of Olivia will be safe....and Gabriel tells him she would.   Mark seems to be reluctantly content with this information.   Poor guy.  Just trying to do the right thing!  How will it turn out?  Who cares?  We'll never see 12/10/2016 so what's the point?   (am I bitter?  You bet I am!) 
• Loved Gabriel in the bulletproof vest.  "I'm Bulletproof!!"  
• Janis makes the call to rat out the van.  
• But Mark, using his mind reading skills that he does so well, was one step ahead of her and dressed up as Gabriel for the trip!  They pulled a fast one on the bad guys that tried to catch them and turned the tables!   We ended up raiding Hellinger's HQ with computers full of data and everything.  Simon Campos's info was up on screen but Hellinger was able to get to that and delete all of the files.  But in the midst of the shootout, Mark captures Hellinger.  So, this will be their next lead.  

Janis Caught


Like I said, Mark was smart and read into Janis's actions for the past few weeks.  When she ratted out Marcie, he started getting suspicious of Janis and then some of the comments she made when they were planning the Gabriel move, tipped him off further.   Janis came clean that she is CIA and that Vogel recruited her after graduation from the FBI training.   Mark wasn't too thrilled with her, obviously.   Janis told him that they wanted her to kill him.  She did what she had to do.   So, she's all of a sudden off the hook?   Eh who knows?

But she does come clean to Demetri later on.  Demetri wasn't too thrilled with her either, but he knows that he is involved now.  They're all connected.  Him, Her, Zoey, the baby.  It's one big happy mess of a family!   And he walks away.  

Final Scenes


We see Demetri at the Inn where Gabriel is staying.  He asks Gabriel if he was in any of the futures that he saw.  Gabriel told Demetri that he died in all of them.  He said that it's not possible to change the future.  It always ends in the same place.  Lloyd and Olivia and everyone are ending up where they're supposed to be.  Demetri thinks this makes sense.  Hmmm, is he going to be the next to sacrifice himself?   Eh, maybe he knows the show won't get renewed so he'll take a bullet for Mark!

We next see Janis in her bedroom but she is not alone.  Simon has her held at gunpoint.  He tells her to RELAX and that he needs her help!!

To Be Continued for 2 more Weeks! 

So that's it for this week folks!   Definitely lost my blogging mojo halfway through there, but I'm sure you all understand why.  It's all for a lost cause now!  But, at least I can say I recapped an entire series of something!  (since I started LOST in season 2....ooh there's my LOST reference!)    If anyone has any suggestions of what my next blogging venture should be, I'm all ears!  I won't necessarily accept the challenge but I'd like to see what you guys think.   It's going to be hard to latch on to the next LOST.   We won't know what show that would be until after it happens.  I thought this one was our best chance at a good discussion show, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  Anyway, continue to follow me on Twitter (check the end credits below), and I'll keep everyone updated when I figure out my next move!  

As for next week, I mentioned before that I'm going to a LOST-related event.  With that Series Finale approaching 5/23, I'm giving it my 100% attention.  I will do my best to get the recap up for the next episode as soon as possible, but I can't make any promises.  Just be patient.  But, I totally understand if you wouldn't want to read about a cancelled show anyway!  

Anyway, that's all I have for now.  Thanks for tuning in each week and giving this a shot!  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week at some point!  

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