(S01E08) You mean I'm going to have to start paying attention to this show? What do they think they are ... Lost or something? Yes, I made sure to mention Lost in my article about FlashForward, and yes I did it because I know it bothers some of you. I'm a bastard that way.There was a lot of forward motion in a lot of important ways. Last week's Al-dying, Tracy-returning finale was a huge set-up for the next few weeks' worth of story. As expected, Al's death became big news when Celia went public with the letter he'd sent to her (so I guess that means the FBI found her?). But it was Tracy's return that added layers to the complex onion we're trying to peel here.
In the middle of it all, we got to contemplate the significance of what bra Olivia might choose to wear in the future. See, everything's important!
Actually, I love those little nods to the future coming to pass. How insignificant would a gift of a bra and panties from Mark to Olivia be? And who among us was really paying attention to her specific lingerie choices in that flashforward, but there they were. The very bra she was wearing when she was looking down on Lloyd. I love attention to detail. And, like Al, she changed the future by throwing them away. Of course, unlike Al, she could always wind up with them back in her possession again (a friendly janitor) or another pair just like them, but the thought still stands.
There have been comments to the effect that Al can't be the first person to have committed suicide in response to the flashforwards, and I'd suspect that to be true. But even his story didn't go public in a major way until Celia took his letter to the media. Put that together with his position on the flashforward task force, if the public knows about that (do they?), and you've got a story. I would suspect other hints at broken futures should start finding their way around now.
At the same time, many other futures seem to be careening on-track. I was right about Tracy's limb being the DNA that the family mourned two years prior, as it was her leg that got blown off in that Humvee crash. What was interesting was finding out that it was friendly fire by a military contract firm named Jericho (a nod to the late CBS show perhaps?).
As I'm working under the assumption that everything is connected, I have to wonder how this company has a connection to the work that Lloyd and Simon were involved with that caused the global blackout. Tracy watched them slaughter women and children and they're still after her two years later, even though she hasn't ratted them out. There must be more to it than just that.
As for Lloyd and Simon, they spent most of the episode in a card game to determine if Lloyd could really go public with whatever their group did to cause this whole mess and kill "20 million people." It seemed a bit obvious that Lloyd was going to pull a fast one to beat Simon, and it was nice seeing Simon's cockiness knocked down a peg or two. But was it smart of Lloyd to reveal that he'd cheated? I figure Simon won't let him reveal the truth anyway, but now Lloyd has given him an easy justification for backing out of the deal.
Flashes
- Lloyd Simcoe's email (Subject: We have to take responsibility...) was sent to:
gordon_myhill@nlap.us.com
gabe_clayton@nlap.us.com
elizabeth_rhee@nlap.us.com
philippe_tarhan@nlap.us.com - It was Myhill who forwarded the message to Simon, which led to their confrontation.
- In the continuation of Aaron's vision, he steps outside of the tent where Tracy is injured and hands an envelope to a friend of hers, after the friend says, "The accounts have been verified."
- Did Mark really think there was only going to be one guy with that particular tattoo on his forearm?
- So then the missing ring from the satchel is the one on our Detroit mover and shaker's finger, perhaps?
[Watch clips and episodes of FlashForward on SlashControl.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-13-2009 @ 7:31AM
wilckmh said...
Didn't they show the photo taken of the tattoo, taken of the dead body, on the board Mark was looking at in the office . . . when he was then attacked by a guy with the same tattoo? If so, then he HAD to know there was more than one guy with the tattoo.
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11-13-2009 @ 9:27AM
James L. said...
Something that bothered me right from the beginning of the episode - Al wrote in the letter to Celia that he didn't know her last name, yet he was able to mail a letter to her address. Is it so difficult for an FBI agent to cross reference an address with a name to get her last name? Besides, without her last name how did he get her address anyway? They should have left that out of the letter.
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11-13-2009 @ 3:11PM
John Howard said...
He gave the letter to Demetri. I guess we're supposed to assume that Demetri and the others tracked her down and sent her the letter. Though they don't really give us any idea how that would have happened.
11-13-2009 @ 9:48AM
D said...
I believe Mark is allowing himself to believe he killed the three star guy but know's deep down that probably isn't the end of it.
Pet peeve:In the afghanistan sequence the terrorists are driving an old International Harvester SUV from the 70's.How could they possibly have one of those versus so many other reasonable choices that would fit modern day afghanistan?
Al told I think it was Dom to find Celia for him which is why he didn't do it himself,he was late to a date with a sidewalk.
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11-16-2009 @ 4:19AM
010111 said...
International Harvesters are still quite common in Afghanistan... seeing as they were hugely popular back during the conflict with the USSR.
11-13-2009 @ 10:12AM
Matthew W. said...
Personally, I am hoping for a future in which Mark doesn't constantly appear constipated and/or on the verge of tears.
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11-20-2009 @ 6:47PM
MT said...
Amen to that!!
11-13-2009 @ 10:56AM
Bryan said...
The poker scene was one of the most remarkably lazy bits of storytelling I can remember. Ever. No wonder the showrunner got canned. Does anyone know what episode the "new" showrunner shows up?
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11-13-2009 @ 3:05PM
Christian H. said...
This show is weird. One moment I am glued to the screen because I can't believe what just happenend and the next moment I am struggling not to fall asleep because of lazy writing. Unlike with "Lost" (two can play that game!) it is hard for me with FF to disband disbelief. There are so many things that are far fetched and yet I cannot bring myself to say "don't worry, it makes sense in the universe of this show".
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11-13-2009 @ 8:21PM
Scott H said...
The poker game and e-mail were boooring. They're still re-showing us everyone's flash-forwards ad nauseum. This was the first episode that I lost interest in. The daughter and her experience with mercenaries in Afghanistan holds no interest for me. And for anyone on the show to even think or suggest, for a minute, that killing a guy with a 3-star tattoo meant killing THE guy from his flash-forward is beyond stupid. The number of characters I care about continues to dwindle. And Joseph Fiennes is a horrible lead actor for this kind of role. His ability to emote anything, and his general level of--um, miscastedness, rivals that of Eliza Dushku on "Dollhouse".
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11-13-2009 @ 9:31PM
been there done that said...
D: re the 1970s International Harvester..
I lived in Kabul for a couple of years in the early '70s (can you spell h-i-p-p-i-e?) and wound up doing some part-time cash work for the USIA.
The U.S. gov't had fleets and fleets of IHs and other American SUVs, including one that picked me up every morning and brought me home every afternoon. Everybody who had any connection to the U.S. gov't rode around in them and I wouldn't be at all surprised that some of them survived this long.
Not to mention: if the U.S. was sending SUVs to Afghanistan, where is it written that they'd have to be new ones?
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11-13-2009 @ 10:40PM
Boise Ed said...
"even though she hasn't ratted them out"--But she did. She said she told her commanding officer, and then a week later Blackwater--er, Jericho -- attacked her.
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11-13-2009 @ 11:09PM
The1337 said...
I've struggled to the eighth episode, and I think I'm ready to stop watching. There are so many times each week that I just want to bang my head against the wall. From the bad dialogue to the idiotic storylines, there is almost nothing redeeming about the show. Full review of the episode.
http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-hell-is-wrong-with-flashforward.html
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11-14-2009 @ 2:12AM
st3v3n said...
oh oh! i have an idea!
the rings allowed you to stay awake during the flash-forward.
bam! called it.
Reply
11-19-2009 @ 9:53AM
xbxtv said...
D'uh. That's obvious, isn't it?