One Sentence Review

The mid season cliffhanger does exactly what you expect and we are again left with more questions than answers

Episode Synopsis

Find it here

Thoughts and Analysis

While on the whole I enjoyed this episode of FlashForward, I did have mixed feelings about some parts of the episode, and the plausibility of one particular aspect of Mark and Demetri in Hong Kong. There were also enough questions raised to keep people speculating during the mid season break.

First off the Mark and Demetri plot, while I can buy them going to Hong Kong behind Wedeck’s back, and even how they managed to track down Nhadra Udaya which was actually fairly plausible though I still think it unlikely that you would be able to track down someone that easily with just a recording to go on what I did not believe was that they would still be carrying their weapons.

Given that the relationship between China and the US in the FlashForward verse would be very tense, are we really meant to believe that China would allow armed FBI agents into their territory, especially when they are not even on an official mission. There is also the issue of how on Earth did Mark and Demetri get away with their attempted kidnap of Nhadra? My problems with these aspects of the Hong Kong plot marred my enjoyment of the episode slightly.

Nhadra herself become evem more intresting though firstly when it was revealed she has a “window” similar to Marks wall and that she is linked in some way to D Gibbons, who she was protecting for some reason.

Given that the majority of these images come from Marks wall,, this does seem to confirm that there is a mole in the FBI leaking information to someone.

Given Nhadra’s further revelation that Mark is the one to shoot Demetri, after Demetri’s suspicious location in the first episode post blackout he again becomes a suspect for the mole as this would explain why Mark would shoot Demetri. There are however two other reasons for Mark to shoot Demetri, the first is if for some reason (poison/biological agent etc) Mark killed Demetri as an act of necessity or kindness (saving him from a prolonged death), the second is if Demetri’s death was a setup and he was placed in witness protection with his death as a cover. It would however mean he really died at a later date though given his lack of a Flash Forward.

As for Mark getting fired at the end of the episode, I doubt this will last long and I fully expect him to be back as an agent within the space of a few episodes.

On the US side of the story, I could not have cared less for the Zoey or the Janis child subplot, and I really have to question if on the Janis child, sperm bank thing if the writers/producers are just looking to stir up controversy, if there is ever an episode concentrating on this there is a good chance there will not be a review or synopsis that week. The other parts though and the Simon content in particular where a lot more memorable.

The main question has to be was Lloyd and Simon’s experiment really the cause of the global blackout? My guess would be that it is too early for the true reason to be revealed so no, but it is possible it played a part or was tampered with to make it occur. A related question is also why does Lloyd believe their experiment caused the blackout? since at the moment all we really know is that the timing coincides.

What was more interesting is that Simon recognised the towers in Somalia as he invented them BUT had a shock when it turned out they were built and operational a year before he came up with the idea. Is this a case of great minds think alike with Simon being a little too late with the idea, or was his idea somehow stolen before he came up with it?

As for Lloyd we first get the revelation that in a parallel universe he could have met Olivia in the same way he met his late wife and the issue of alternate worlds is brought up, and he then gets himself kidnapped. Given that he wasn’t shot straight away I am assuming that this is not in retribution for causing the blackout, unless of course people want him to have a slow death, which makes it likely he was kidnapped by one of the other factions for reasons which are as yet unknown

All in all an intriguing first half of the introductory season with only one episode that I would class as poor, and I hope the high standard continues when FlashForward returns

Episode Rating

8/10