Warning: This post contains spoilers if you have not yet seen the episode and may contains insights gained from elements of Flash Forwards that you may have missed

One Sentence Review

Essentially a filler episode that comes accross as like a bad episode of House, where once again the major revelations are saved for the last few minutes

Episode Synopsis

Find it here

Thoughts and Analysis

I found this episode to be a bit of a disappointment following the high quality of the first 3 episodes as this is the first episode that I would think truly qualifies as filler. The main plot came across like a bad episode of House, and the rest of the episode felt like it was set up for later on in the series. While I think a lot of the plot elements will be important in later episodes I did not think it made for stellar television.

Looking at the main plot first, I did not find this particularly engaging and seemed to be a vehicle to allow for some more interaction between Lloyd Simcoe and Olivia. I was not that interested in Ned and the fact that he survived the surgery made things worse. In my opinion for this storyline to have any impact Ned would need to have been killed in surgery showing that the future can be changed and for it to have been due to a drug being administered based on information from the Flash Forward being misleading causing the real condition to be missed.  Though admittedly it is probably too early in the series for it to be confirmed that the future can be changed (or not), it would have been a twist few people would see coming.

The B plot in this episode revolved around Demetri and his following up on the Alda Herzog dirty bomb case from the first episode. While this seemed to lead nowhere her taunting did lead to Mark taking steps in hiring a hacker which could have big ramifications down the line. My main disappointment with this sub plot was that we don’t learn anything about the group behind the dirty bomb, we just get a lot of Alda being cocky towards Demetri and Mark.

I suspect that while the Flash Forward/Blackout and Dirty Bomb cases are unrelated aside from timing, the Dirty Bomb sub plot will continue throughout the season (and perhaps series) and may play a big part in how events unfold. As previously stated I think that Demetri’s death/murder will tie in to this case rather than the Blackout Investigation. Nhadra Udaya could just as easily be investigating the terrorist group behind the plot as the Blackout, and they could also be responsible for the people hunting Mark down in his Flash Forward as well.

Another tidbit which came out of the Alda conversation is the reason why there is a Black Swan on Mark’s Mosaic Board. A Black Swan refers to the “Black Swan Theory” which refers to something that is perceived to be impossible that actually occurs. This of course describes the Blackout/Flash Forward event.

Nicole’s Killer

The final subplot involved the cases of the disappearing babysitter Nicole and we discover that the reason she has been missing and looked down was that she saw herself getting murdered by drowning in a swimming pool. She also mentions that she felt like she deserved to die.

Going from Charlie’s Flash Forward I am going to hazard a guess that the reason that Nicole felt like she deserved to die is because she failed to protect Charlie (and perhaps Dylan). Though it is possible that she betrayed Mark or Olivia and gave the children to D Gibbons which is why she feels guilty.

The final element in this episode was Lloyd Simcoe, who refers to the Flash Forward in a strange fashion when he refers to it as a temporal anomaly in global consciousness rather than the Flash Forward. It is confirmed though that he experienced the Flash Forward and that it matches Olivia’s. One thing that should be noted though is that while he thinks Dylan is nearby because of the toys, it is not confirmed that this is the case and is his assumption.

This is not the major revelation though, this is saved until the last minute when he gets a phone call from a man called Simon who claims they are (were) responsible for the single greatest disaster in human history.

Now at this point the obvious assumption is that this means they caused the Flash Forward since despite the lack of focus on the aftermath of the blackout, it would be a tremendous disaster. There is also evidence that the Flash Forward was a deliberate event at a defined time from the Subject Zero (who could be Simon) footage and D Gibbons.

I however am not so sure of this or at least don’t think it is quite as simple as Simon and Lloyd being the villains of Flash Forward. The first element has to do with what we have seen of Lloyd so far, and he does not appear to be the kind of person who would risk his ex-wife and child to chance if he knew it was going to occur, and I think that he would have made efforts to get them somewhere safe in a manner that would seem coincidental.

Lloyd also has had a Flash Forward which matches Olivia’s so unless he had one induced at a previous time it would seem he was also affected by the Black out suggesting if there is a counter agent he was not deemed important enough to need it/use it. On a side note his demeanour when receiving Simon’s phone call in the present seemed to match that in the Flash Forward suggesting that it was probably Simon who was calling him.

The other issue is how are they responsible? As there is more than one way this can be interpreted. The first interpretation is that they caused the Flash Forward deliberately on a set time and date, the second is that it they caused it to occur but it was not intentional. Another interpretation is that while they did not cause the Flash Forward they know who did and had the opportunity to stop it but failed/did not making them responsible in another way. The final way I can think of is responsible in the overseeing way as in “responsible for a child” or they could be responsible for investigating the Flash Forward similar to how Mark is.

It is of course also possible that the disaster does not refer to the Blackout or Flash Forward at all (or does but in a different way to what we think), and is referring to some other event that is yet to occur or be made clear. If last weeks Somalia revelation is anything to go by then we probably wont be finding out the truth for several weeks at least.

Episode Rating

6/10