(S01E05) FlashForward took us to Washington, DC to see the political ramifications of the blackouts, as well as some of the maneuverings that the city is made of, at least in this reality. Also in this reality, Peter Coyote is President. I've always liked him, and I like how he plays the characters as a very regular and relatable guy.We were introduced to a new character in Senator Joyce Clemente (Barbara Williams), and she's definitely set up to be a major thorn in the side of the ongoing investigation. There was always something a little wacky about the LA office taking Mark's vision and building an entire investigative force around it just because they felt like it. And now, they have to face the music and justify their very existence.
It made for some pretty intense television. That and the bullets flying at the heads of our intrepid heroes.
It's an old and tired cliche when we open with a dramatic action sequence, in this case a car crash and gunfight, and then cut back to sometime before that. You then spend the rest of the episode working your way back to the moment we opened with. The idea is that the big climactic moment at the beginning will lure you in and keep you riveted until you find out what happened.
I'm such a terrible viewer, I guess, I completely forgot about it. I was so wrapped up in all the political maneuvering going on between Clemente and President Segovia and Wedeck. Not to mention Ben's trainwreck performance at the hearing in front of Clemente. Wedeck said it right, though. She is a complete bitch, but she was absolutely right to question why Mark was able to piece together about 30 seconds of a two minutes thirteen second vision when everybody else recalled theirs with crystal clarity.
So maybe there's something to be said for having an agenda. Her having the agenda probably cost Wedeck a job on Segovia's cabinet, as he had to instead blackmail the President into securing his funding. And the President had to appoint Clemente Vice-President in order to make that happen. That puts her one step closer to her own vision where she saw herself as President. But if that's the case, what happens to Segovia, as he had a vision of his own?
The plot is thickening and the layers weaving tighter and tighter. And if Wedeck had reason to doubt the authenticity of Benford's vision once he found out Mark was hammered in it, perhaps the Asian gunmen could put things back into perspective. There's no reason to doubt that these men tonight were a part of the same organization that's after Mark in his vision.
They're so organized, they coordinated a dual attack in DC and LA, gunning down Agent Janis Hawk in the streets. I loved the reveal that she was gay (I think this is the first we learned of it), as it adds another layer of complexity to her vision of being pregnant. She's gay and has no interest in kids. So how can she get that pregnant so soon? Being gay rules out accidental pregnancies, unless you know something I don't.
Yes, it could be as simple as she and the girl she was on the date with wind up getting very serious very quickly; that would also explain the wedding ring the date saw in her flashforward. But I somehow doubt it's anything quite that simple.
No Dominic Monaghan again, but it looks like he joins the story fully starting next week. And the good news is this episode didn't need him at all to be a fantastically compelling installment of an increasingly great story.
NOTES
- When we first cut to the restaurant scene, it may have looked like they were showing us the wonderful plates of food being presented in front of Janis, but that wasn't the case at all. The food was out of focus. What was in focus? The zoom on her breasts peeking from the top of her dress before they panned up to her face. Subtlety need not apply.
- The CIA thinks China was behind it, because they're crazy! Ever notice how the CIA is always the most amoral and crazy branch of government on TV shows?
- Wedeck's burial of Segovia's indiscretions six years ago is why Sen. Clemente wants to destroy him, or at least that's what I'm assuming. She thinks she would be President had it not happened.
[For flashbacks, you can find clips and full episodes of FlashForward on SlashControl.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
10-23-2009 @ 5:24AM
chrisis123 said...
Was I the only one who kind of knew that Janis was gay since about the third episode? I somehow had the feeling, so it didn't really catch me as a surprise.
But I have to agree, the show gets better every episode and I am already pretty intrigued for what's to come. Hope they can keep up the suspense until the great showdown on April 29, 2010 (guess that's, conveniently, the date of the season finale).
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10-23-2009 @ 10:36AM
Kesey said...
We've known she was gay since the Nazi guy made the remark about wearing the ring on the right thumb.
10-23-2009 @ 10:59AM
Robert said...
Yeah, I thought we were all supposed to think she was gay after that remark.
10-23-2009 @ 11:35AM
Matt said...
lol, gay because of a ring? Do you normally believe stereotypes to be true?
10-23-2009 @ 12:25PM
Kesey said...
No Matt. But clearly the comment was a part of the script for a reason.
10-23-2009 @ 7:14AM
Mike Poole said...
I thought it was established she was gay in the first episode, or at least strongly implied. At any rate, it wasn't a surprise to me in this episode.
I had to take a call briefly when Wedeck and Clemente had their confrontation outside of the hearing. I had the impression her beef with him was revealed then. Was it and if so what ws it? I had a hard time following the story in this episode.
Lastly, did Janis die?
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10-23-2009 @ 7:40PM
MK said...
I think Janis died. And it opens a lot of new possibilities for the show - it means that not every FF will come true and the future is not set in stone.
10-24-2009 @ 6:47PM
nelson said...
My assumption is that Clemente headed some Kenneth Star-esque investigation into then-president or rising star Segovia, but Wedeck made the mistress and illegitimate son disappear, thus embarrassing Clemente on the national scene and costing her her run at the presidency.
Because Wedeck was somehow implicated in this under-the-table dealing, it cost him a cabinet position within the Segovia whitehouse for the first term, thus the offer of DHS in Segovia's second term.
If Janis dies, this messes up the entire story and the premise that regardless of what happens, you cannot change the future. It invalidates everybody's ff's.
10-23-2009 @ 7:24AM
Alicia R. said...
I forgot about the beginning too, so add me to the horrible viewer list.
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10-23-2009 @ 8:59AM
Eric said...
Did anyone else notice that Sen. Clemente's nameplate during the hearings said "Jane" Clemente, but her name is actually "Joyce?"
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10-23-2009 @ 8:51AM
Chris said...
Last night's episode was arguably the worst hour of TV I have ever watched. At no point did anything they do made sense, but the music playing over the gunfight scene was idiotic and atrocious.
And what assassin shoots a person one time, stands there, waits for the person to pull a gun, then runs away instead of shooting again?
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10-23-2009 @ 11:03AM
Josh said...
Agreed. Obviously television requires a certain suspension of disbelief, however, the attempted killings were the worst thing I have seen in a long time. First, the killers shootup a car with automatics and then blow it up with a rocket launcher (or some equivalent). But wait...they missed everyone in the car! Not one bullet or radius of the explosion affected a single character. The driver, and the passenger behind the driver have absolutely no chance of escape, yet miraculously they do. Not only do all four characters dodge all the bullets riddling the car, but escape from the car in a second's time and disperse far enough away from it to avoid any part of the explosion. Then, they somehow escaped to strategic firing positions scattered around the parking lot to force their attackers to flee, who clearly have more fire power than our "heroes." Okay, whatever. At least they played a song throughout the shootout to be creative and...I can't keep that up, it was forced and lazy to try and build intensity to what is simply a preposterous moment.
And I wholeheartedly agree with the post about the ineptitude of the assassin shooting once, standing there watching the person slowly die, gets shot at, then fleeing.
This scene has sealed the fate of the show for this viewer. My flash forward for April 29, 2010 was seeing myself actual enjoying the 8-9 timeslot by watching a baseball game and not a muddled show of clumsy writing.
10-23-2009 @ 9:30AM
bpnill said...
too much talk about MASTURBATION & CONSTIPATION at 7pm my child is watching TV, also too much talk about SLUTS......I have been watching because Gabrielle Union was suppose to be in this series but I have only seen her act for a few minutes.....7pm MASTURBATION,CONSTIPATION, AND SLUTS....WHY isn't this series on HBO? From now on I'll keep the MUTE Button ON and wait for GABRIELLE to come on & act
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10-23-2009 @ 11:44AM
Matt said...
I don't seem to remember hearing anything about masturbation, constipation, or sluts.
Do you mute Activia commercials? Contraceptive commercials?
I mean, really, did you think this was PBS or Disney? Shows like these always include people with debatable ethics and morals. Sort of the point.
10-23-2009 @ 9:42PM
ralkul said...
and you do not object to the commercial about erectile disfunction!!!
10-24-2009 @ 1:48PM
invisiblechild said...
haha you're okay with your child watching primetime TV where people SHOOT at each-other and die in pools of blood but you mind the word "constipation"?
10-23-2009 @ 9:01AM
Jables said...
"And what assassin shoots a person one time, stands there, waits for the person to pull a gun, then runs away instead of shooting again?"
You obviously don't watch television that much.
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10-23-2009 @ 10:09AM
Ian said...
Actually the CIA comment about the fact that the incident happened at night in China is quite a good point re casualities etc. Then one looks at the apparent race of the 2 sets of attackers and the case builds.
Also the LA FBI building on leads from the visions back, is quite a credible foundation, especially given that it seems most take their visions as most likely to happen. At worst it provides a credible alternative viewpoint. The cost of this line of investigation is inconsequential to the need to nail down what really is happening.
Now we have a President who is so incapable and ineffective that he needs to offer a VP position in order to allow an FBI investigation to continue? Gimme a break........
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10-23-2009 @ 10:34AM
Ian said...
I would also add that the FBI was shown as totally ineffectual in handling the Senate panel.
All they had to say was the folllowing.
Following our investigations ,jump stated by our agents view of his future office workings, we have made several, what we believe may be critical discoveries.
First while many of us have been worrying about another future black out the simple fact is our worldwide black out was not unique as there have been several other blackouts, albeit on smaller scales, over a period of years. We believe that by following thru on these leads we may well discover evidence pointing us towards the perpetrators of the recent blackout and what technology was being used and developed.
Second: Most believe that the whole world blacked out for 2 mins 17 seconds. Our investigations now have proof that this is not so. We have irrefutable evidence, from several sources, that various persons, continued to be fully active during this period. Infact they communicated with each other via cell phones. We feel it is imperative to contune such line of investigation.
These are 2 examples of the leads from our agents are unearthing unearthing and all are kick started from the start point of a future vision of the LA FBI workplace. We believe therefore this validates our approach as a potential significant contributor to out governments overall investigations.
Had the FBI presented themselves maturely and properly the President would not have had to offer the Senator the VP slot. But I guess this is television after all....
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10-23-2009 @ 12:28PM
Elaine said...
Best episode in awhile; I completely disagree with the music during the shootout because it ties in with the bit of lame camaraderie shown during the karaoke scene. The two middle-aged guys in suits, with a bit too much booze, slurring their way through "Like a Rolling Stone," then overplayed "...how does it feel? To be on your own..." in the garage. Liked that a lot, but then again, I like anything involving Dylan.
However, I hope they're not sacrificing Janis as "the gay chick who dies." I hope they've got more intelligence than that, because otherwise, I'll be withdrawing my viewership of this show.
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