Warning: This post contains spoilers if you have not yet seen the episode

One Sentence Review

A solid second episode, setting up and expanding upon the mysteries that will drive the series forward

Episode Synopsis

Find it here

Thoughts and Analysis

The Flash Forward has come and gone and now it is time to get down to solving the mystery of who or what caused it and why. We also get another hit from Mark’s Flash Forward with the introduction of the (for the moment), enigmatic D. Gibbons.

This episode also suffers a bit from the “lack of their having been a disaster” feel of the first episode, we get a few suggestions here and there with the soldiers on the street and memorial wall near the hospital, but given the carnage shown in the first episode I would have like a bit more of an aftermath feel to what was going on in some way, and for a main character other than Lloyd Simcoe to have lost someone close to them.

This brings me nicely onto Lloyd, and while his emotions towards his son Dylan seem normal, there was something odd about his demeanor in Olivia’s Vision as he seemed to be disturbed by the message he received on his phone. It is possible that this may tie in with Charlie and Dylan in some way since Charlie did not recognise Lloyd but does recognise Dylan and her warning at the end “D Gibbons is a bad man” may mean that he is in her Flash Forward (D Gibbons) and is the one contacting Lloyd if Charlie and Dylan are not in the house but elsewhere.

D Gibbons is himself a bit of a mystery and there are a number of questions raised about him in this episode including:-

• Why was he awake and contacting Subject Zero during the Blackout?
• Was he trying to look for the cause of the Black out OR was he trying to see if anyone was on the right track so he could stop them finding the cause?
• How Does Charlie Know Him?
• What Does he mean by “He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over”?

On this last question I can think of two possible answers, the first is that he was taunting Mark that the future is fixed and so he wont be able to change the future. The second one is that perhaps he had a Flash Forward to a different point and saw this moment or a major calamity in the future. Whatever the true answer is I suspect it will be a while before we find out.

I also find Mark’s behaviour in some respects questionable, the first issue is that he does not come clean with his wife about him drinking again in his vision. Given the amount of grief Olivia is getting from this (in more ways than one), this would be a way of easing her emotional guilt burden slightly though it could easily be her leaving him caused him to start drinking rather than it being the other way around.

The second issue is the burning of the Friendship bracelet as an attempt to change the future, even ignoring that his daughter could easily make him another one in the 6 months leading up to April 29th, there is also the point that an easier method would be to make his board look different than what he saw in his vision.

His partner Demetri did not fare much better this episode first of all the town Sheriff who also did not have a Flash Forward dies reinforcing his fears about what it meant, and then he gets a phone call telling him the date he is going to be murdered on. What is curious is that the woman found the information in an intelligence briefing so it indicates that his murder must be important in some way. My first guess is that it may have something to do with the dirty bomb case they were working on last episode and my second guess is that it is to do with Project Mosaic itself.

I also wondered about the end of Janis’ Flash Forward as we saw her crying, the question is where they tears of joy or tears of sadness because the father is not around (left her or dead). I also wonder about her getting a Sonogram in her vision as 10pm at night seems to me awfully late to be having a routine check up, unless she is somewhere else in the world where it is a more reasonable time.

Overall then another enjoyable episode which raises lots more questions as you would expect of an early first season episode, it will be interesting to see how everything comes together as the season progresses.

Episode Rating

8/10