Review of ‘FlashForward’ – Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

It was a Halloween to remember with kangaroos and blue-handed bodies

In “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps,” the show attempted to answer the question:  “What caused the flashforwards?”   Alas, the answer was perhaps more confounding than the question.  For as Simon (Dominic Monaghan) attempted to explain quantum mechanics in simple terms to the blonde on the train, we were all left scratching our heads over how Schrodinger’s Cat Theory actually worked.  In Simon’s example, you have to imagine that in your hand you are holding a tiny cat and a poisoned sardine, and if you fold your hand closed, the cat is given two choices: either the cat eats the poisoned sardine and dies, or it doesn’t and lives.  You will not know until you open your hand which option the cat chose. Thus, it is up to the cat to decide if it wants to live or die.  It is only after you (the observer) open your hand that you will discover the cat’s fate — and quantum physics says that until you open your hand both eventualities occur at the
same time.  But, according to Schrodinger’s Cat Theory, the miracle of quantum mechanics is that the observer gets to decide.

This is a mind-bender.  Are there two parallel realities?  Is it up to each of us to decide which reality will exist?  However, applying Schrodinger’s Cat Theory, as the woman noted, “The cat had already made up its mind.”

Also following this vein, the series seems to be focusing on whether each character will choose to eat the poisoned sardine or not.  Does each move forward to make their visions a reality or move away and resist their visions to become a reality?  Mark (Joseph Fiennes) and Olivia (Sonya Walger) are pushing against allowing their visions from coming true.  Mark does not want to return to his dark days of alcoholism and a failed marriage, and Olivia does not want to abandon her marriage and find love with another man she does not know.  Additionally, Demetri (John Cho) does not want his vision to come true either, for he does not want to be murdered.

However, in contrast, while Janis (Christine Woods) had initially struggled against her vision, after being shot she appears to have reconsidered her views on having a child.  For she clearly did want to have a child as she wept over the possibility that the scar tissue from her gun shot wound and surgery may prevent her from ever getting pregnant.

Also, rather interesting is, as Olivia noted, the flashfowards are a distraction.  Everyone is obsessed by what they saw.  But Olivia, while haunted by what she saw, firmly rejected it and announced, “Today is all we have.  I don’t want to miss it.”  But can one truly choose their destiny, or is it predetermined?

What Worked

It was a nice Easter-egg moment, to have Mark, Aaron (Brian F. O’Byrne) and Charlie (Lennon Wynn) see the kangaroo while out trick-or-treating.  In astonishment Aaron said, “Was that a kangaroo?”  To which Mark’s daughter, Charlie, exclaimed, “That is the best costume I’ve ever seen!”

It was also a nice nod to “Firefly” using the “blue hand” clues to lead the FBI from the assassin who tried to kill Janis to the stickers found on the street signs to the house with the bodies, one of which had a blue hand.  Not being deterred from doing his job, Demetri embraced the clue from Mark’s vision about the “blue hand” on the Mosaic board.  However, though he was clearly disturbed by how prophetically true that clue turned out to be.  Also, after finding the identification on one of the bodies, Agent Gough (Lee Thompson Young) realized that this was the Rutherford case, the one he had seen documents for in his flashforward.  It was eerie as he said, “It begins tonight.”

As they were being rapidly propelled in the direction of the flashforward visions coming true, Mark finally admitted to Olivia about seeing himself drinking in his flashforward.  His vehement denial, “Don’t condemn me for something I haven’t done yet!” was out of frustration as he rallied against a future he did not choose.  But it was Olivia’s angry response to his outburst that was truly revealing, “Did you even hear what you just said?  You’ve been punishing me this whole time for an imaginary relationship.  But when it comes back to you, you want to be let off the hook.” She further explained how his vision was so much worse, “Your past with all the drinking is real.  That still hurts.  I’m not going through it again.  It’s not about the drinking.  It’s about trust and we don’t trust each other anymore.”  And so begins the slow unraveling of their marriage as the seeds of distrust and doubt are sown.

Similarly, we watched with dual fascination and horror as Dylan (Ryan Wynott) announced, “It’s my house too” and walked right into the Benford house like it was his own.  That combined with the fact Dylan was greeted so casually by Charlie was chilling.  Thus, when Lloyd (Jack Davenport) arrived to pick him up and recognized the living room from his vision, there were simultaneous looks of dawning realization on Mark, Olivia and Lloyd’s faces.  With a look of horror mingled with wonder, Lloyd said, “You’re her.”  To which Mark sharply replied, “Not yet!”

Despite the awkward confrontation at the Benford home, it was later quite touching when Dylan asked, “Is it going to be Halloween again tomorrow?” and Lloyd quietly replied, “No, just today.” Then Dylan’s response of, “Good. ‘Cause it was kind of scary” and Lloyd’s thoughtful, “Yeah.  Yes, it was” spoke volumes about a man who may or may not be the big bad villain behind the black-out and flashfowards. That followed by the endearing moment where Dylan said, “Thanks for coming to get me, Daddy,” just melted our hearts.  Surely Lloyd cannot be the villain in the story after all.

What Didn’t Work

Was it necessary to completely vilify Simon?  The first time we saw him, we learned he was responsible for the black-out.  Then after seeing him try to seduce the woman on the train, he uses the pick-up line, “I know what caused the flashforward.”  His further elaboration was practically nauseating, “It was you.  Whenever a heavenly body carries such an intense force of attraction, the universe just goes bananas.  Your dark energy could bring about another catastrophe at any moment.”   All this combined with his revelation of what he saw in his flashforward, he saw himself killing another man by strangling him with his bare hands, and his subsequent, “Aren’t you glad you asked?” did nothing to redeem him whatsoever.  Even more disturbing was when Lloyd called Simon on his callousness and said, “Our experiment killed 20 million people, Simon.  What more is there to say?”  It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.  This is a character to be despised, feared and hated with every fiber of our being.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Scary Monsters and Super Creeps’ was written by Seth Hoffman and Quinton Peeples, and directed by Bobby Roth. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Lee Thompson Young, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods, Zachary Knighton, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Wynott, Lennon Wynn. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

 

Review of ‘Stargate Universe’ – Light

In the end, the credo “every man for himself” feels like a lonely way to live

From the very first episode, we heard Dr. Rush’s (Robert Carlyle) edicts echoing in our ears: “This ship could be the single most important discovery since the Stargate itself” and “this ship simply doesn’t have the capability to dial Earth.” These pronouncements set up the dilemma of (1) Rush is fascinated by the ship; and (2) what if because of his fascination he does not want to return to Earth and is only saying the Stargate aboard the ship cannot dial Earth. So with these conflicting interests in mind, in “Light” the survivors aboard the alien vessel, Destiny, were confronted with yet another imminent challenge: the ship had failing power reserves and was on a collision course with a giant star.

Faced with death just hours away, the survivors had to act quickly with what little time and resources they had remaining. It was time to decide who was going to live and who was going to die. After gathering everyone together, Col. Young (Louis Ferreira) shared their dire predicament and laid out the rules for a survival lottery. He would select two crew members to pilot the shuttle and another 15 people would be selected through a lottery to join in a last-ditch run for one of the three nearby planets in hope that they could survive. It was a bleak prospect anyway they looked at it. Yet in the end, they were all desperate for that one last chance to get away.

As the rules of survival were explained, it was noted, “We are having another bad day.” But in the mere days since they escaped attack on Icarus, they have had virtually no calm days. They have been cursed with attempting to survive in an alien craft with little or no resources. Their lives have been reduced to one “bad day” after another. It may have been a heady adrenaline rush initially, but it left a nasty downhill kick as that began to ebb away. This was that day. It was time to face their mortality.

Not wanting to leave their fate up to a lottery, some vied to be one of the two selected claiming to be the right person necessary for the shuttle trip. Finally Col. Young yelled in frustration, “We’re all the wrong people!” For none of them had actually been selected to be there. They were only aboard the Destiny out of a trick of fate. They were the survivors of an attack, not people selected to go on a deep space exploration. Finding it odd that Rush opted out of the lottery, Col. Young asked Rush why. Rush merely replied, “This ship – coming here – is my destiny. My life’s work is to be here – not trying to survive on some rock with a bunch of strangers.”

In the meantime, with imminent death staring them in the face, Eli’s (David Blue) “message in a bottle” Keno became even more popular. For as Eli said, “Let’s do something. Let’s leave something of ourselves behind.” So Chloe (Elyse Levesque) left a touching tribute to her father’s sacrifice, “I just wanted to say that my father gave his life so we could survive another day – and we did.” Camille (Ming-Na) left a heart-felt message to her lover, “Tell Sharon my last thoughts were of her.” And Col. Young tried to say good-bye to his wife, “Hi Emily, I just wanted to say – well you know. You know. . . ” But it was Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) who said it best with, “I can’t think of a better way to move from this world to the next, or whatever comes, than to fly into the most powerful thing in all of creation – a star – out in a blaze of glory. I like that. That’s beautiful.”

So as Eli and Chloe sat awaiting their certain death as the ship moved closer to the burning sun, Chloe put her head on Eli’s shoulder and held his hand. For if this was to be their last moments, they could only seek solace in the fact that they were not alone. Others recited the Lord’s Prayer; some played cards like it was just another day; some listened to music in remembrance; and some sought solitude. Everyone faced death in their own way.

Then unexpectedly, Rush abandoned his solitude and came running out to find Eli who was bewildered by Rush’s jubilation and said, “What are we so happy about?” To which Rush unabashedly replied, “We’re going to live! I am never more pleased to be wrong in my whole life!” For he had simply assumed that there had not been enough power left for Destiny’s shields to protect them, but it did. That is exactly why there was no apparent power, it was because Destiny had taken all of it to power the shields during its traverse through the star. Destiny needed every bit of it in order to protect itself while simultaneously using the solar energy gleaned from the star to refuel. That is the trick that Destiny employed: it replenishes its reserves by relying on solar power which it can only obtain by traveling through a sun. And then as Eli caught on, he said in awe and amazement, “Guys, we’re in the star. . . “

Later after the shuttle and the lottery winners rejoined Destiny, everyone was triumphant at their survival. Yet when Col. Young invited him to celebrate with everyone else, Rush merely shrugged and said, “Celebrate what? That we’re back where we started?” Col. Young then explained to him, “You actually made a sacrifice — unless you knew Destiny was going to make it all along . . .”

And that is the crux of that matter. Did Rush in fact know all along that Destiny would survive the encounter with the star and then chose to let them all believe otherwise?

What Worked

Surely everyone must have felt like cheering when Eli made the proclamation, “Math Boy!” to Rush when Rush questioned his equation results. That follow-up with Eli’s quick-witted announcement, “why am I watching this on TV?!” before he rushed back to the observation deck was priceless.

It was also cool that Eli remembered to use one of the Keno to be aboard the shuttle as it moved away from Destiny so that those behind could see for the first time what the ship looks like from the outside. Rush was awestruck and grateful as he said, “Thank you, Eli. I never thought I’d see the ship from the outside.” He also thoughtfully told Eli, “I’m sorry I got you involved with this.” To which Eli smiled and said, “Actually, I’m not.” Rush just looked at him and quietly replied, “Yet.”

What Didn’t Work

It was heartbreaking and unnecessary to have a scene where Eli had to witness Chloe and Scott (Brian J. Smith) leaving for one last moment of passion. It felt like a slap in the face and made it harder to believe that he would continue to be Chloe’s shoulder-to-cry-upon even in their last moments of life.

Additionally, it was like kicking a man when he is already down to have Eli dream about his mother nagging him to do laundry and reminding him that he does not have any skills. For when she asked him to do the laundry, Eli had flippantly responded, “Not in my skill set” and she quietly said, “Nothing is.” Eli is supposed to be the “everyman” and it is hard to think that the average TV viewer would allow all the women in their lives to treat them in such a deplorable manner.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Light’ was written by Brad Wright and directed by Peter DeLuise. ‘Stargate Universe’ stars Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Brian J. Smith, Alaina Huffman, Ming-Na, Lou D. Phillips, Jamil Walker Smith, Elyse Levesque, Louis Ferreira. ‘Stargate Universe’ airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on Syfy.

 

Review of “FlashForward – Gimme Some Truth”

The truth never sets anyone free, it just shackles them to a nightmare

Following the premise, “What if it happened before?” Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) enlisted fellow FBI Agent Al Gough (Lee Thompson Young) to contact a hacker to get CIA satellite imagery on Somalia from December 1990 – and they got just what they needed: photos showing several tall pylons in the middle of nowhere in Somalia. However, before they can run down this lead, the team is called to Washington, D.C. to answer to a Senate Intelligence Committee who is vetting each intelligence branch to determine which one should run point on the black-out investigation. It wants to consolidate money and data under one government branch. Thus, the FBI has to justify its Mosaic investigation or they could lose their funding.

With an admonishment from Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), “Just keep your mouth shut. If you tell anyone else about this, we are DOA,” Benford must hide what he saw in his flashforward vision about his drinking. For once anyone hears that he was impaired at the time, it casts doubt on the credibility of the FBI’s entire investigation. But, at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, everyone subjected is to lie detector testing because the “CIA believes this was a targeted event designed to bring about the collapse of our government.” Despite passing the lie detector test, Mark is asked to testify before the committee and, while subject to cross-examination before the committee, he revealed that he was investigating crow attrition (the mass death of crows) as a sign that the black-out was not an isolated incident and may have happened before. He was also forced to reveal that he saw masked gunmen coming to kill him in his vision, which he felt validated the Mosaic investigation as it must have yielded fruit or why would anyone want to kill him. But when asked, “Why is everything in your recollection so hazy and disjointed?” Mark could not give an adequate answer as to why he could not remember more than 30 seconds or so, when everyone else could remember in startling clarity every moment of their 2 minute and 17 second visions. He only continued to state that the Mosaic investigation is a way to construct a picture of what the world will look like in 6 months and it has proven more reliable than theories that the black-out was due to the work of aliens, pharmaceutical companies, or China.

Unbenownst to Mark, Senator Joyce Clemente (Barbara Williams) had a personal ax to grind. As she reminded Wedeck, if only she could prove what he did 6 years ago, she would be the President of the United States. But then she cryptically said, “If you sit by the river long enough, you’ll see the bodies of your enemies float by,” and shared that in her flashforward vision, she saw herself as President. It was chilling as she said, “As impossible as that may be, it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?” But it was also prophetic.

For Wedeck is friends with President Dave Segovia (Peter Coyote) and he knew that by playing the right card, he could secure their funding and make this Senate investigation go away. So when the President told Wedeck, “The Chinese view chaos as opportunity and the black-out gives me a chance to pay you back” and offered Wedeck the Director of Homeland Security position, we knew that this was when Wedeck was going to play his card. The President had a deep dark secret: a mistress who bore him a son. After Wedeck blackmailed him into making the Senate hearings disappear, the President said, “So no more Boy Scout. How did you find her?” Wedeck simply replied, “Well, I was the bagman who paid her a quarter of a million dollars.” To which the President coldly remarked, “You weren’t just comfortable in the mud – you enjoyed being there. You can only play this card once you know. Are you sure you want to play it now?” Wedeck
quietly replied, “Now is all I’ve got.” And just like that, Clemente’s vision came true. She got the Vice President nomination which opened up after the prior V.P. was killed during the black-out. And the Senate inquiry screeched to a halt as the FBI was selected as the branch to receive the investigative funding and to run the primary investigation of the black-out.

In a telling bit of foreshadowing, when asked about his flashforward, the President said the he was following the example of other world leaders and not revealing what he saw. He also reminded everyone that it is time to be “thinking about the present, not the future – we have too much to do.” However, we saw that the President had been woken up by a Secret Service agent who said, “Mr. President, sorry to disturb you, but something is happening.” What exactly did the President see? That is the real story yet to be revealed.

What Worked

The opening and closing scenes of the episode were riveting. Watching the simultaneous attacks on Mark, Demetri (John Cho), Wedeck, and Janis (Christine Wood) while on opposite sides of the country was a thrilling adrenaline rush. It was perfectly executed and perhaps a lethal strike. While Mark, Demetri and Wedeck were under attack and a rocket propelled grenade blew up their car in the parking garage, Janis faced her attacker and managed to efficiently defend herself until she was shot and left lying in a pool of blood on the street. It was gripping and nerve-wracking. The cliff-hanger ending was particularly well done.

Also surprisingly handled was the conversation between Janis and her lover, Maya (Navi Rawat), who asked her, “Do you date guys too? I Mosaic’d you. It’s way better than Google-stalking.” For Maya had seen what Janis had posted about seeing herself pregnant in 6 months. After Janis was shot, we are left to wonder whether her vision will come true after all.

What Didn’t Work

While it had to come out sooner or later, it felt clumsy the way Olivia (Sonya Walger) found out that Mark had been drinking in his flashforward. It was entirely too convenient to have Aaron (Brian F. O’Byrne) hanging around their house and she just happened to overhear him on the phone with Mark reminding him to go to an AA meeting while in D.C. Then later Olivia just happened to receive a text message from an unknown caller which read, “Mark was drinking in his flashforward.” Given how Olivia reacted, it felt a bit like she was looking for excuses to make her flashforward vision come true. Maybe the future is not yet set in stone and it needs a little push perhaps?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Gimme Some Truth’ teleplay was written by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin with story by Barbara Nance, and directed by Michael Rymer. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods, Zachary Knighton, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Wynott. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

 

“Fringe” recap

After the momentous revelation that William Bell had been hiding in an alternate universe – the same universe that Walter had kidnapped Peter from after his son died — the first season of “Fringe” seemed like it would be a hard act to follow.  But as the second season has already shown, “Fringe” has a few more surprises up its sleeve.

Starting off with a bang, we were immediately thrown amidst a head-on car crash.  Car accidents are routine, but not when one of the drivers disappears into thin-air.  Thus, in the second season opener, “A New Day in an Old Town,” the sole survivor of the accident was a man who soon revealed himself to be anything but a man.  He was a shape-shifter – and clearly not from our universe.  It was his mission to kill Olivia.  Olivia, in the meantime, had been yanked out of our universe and into the alternate universe for a meeting with the mysterious William Bell.  It was because the auto accident failed to stop that meeting from occurring that Olivia had a bulls-eye on her back.  For whatever William Bell had told her was worth killing for.  However, Olivia’s return to our universe was not gentle and she was thrown through the windshield of her car and sustained a nasty head injury.  This left her unable to remember the vital information that William Bell had shared with her.  Because Olivia was in a coma, Peter stepped forward to take command and was instrumental in getting the Fringe Division reinstated.  It was touch and go for most of the episode, but in the end, Olivia miraculously awoke and Peter saved the Fringe Division from bureaucratic extinction.  And Walter made Peter a custard cake for his birthday.

In the second episode, “Night of Desirable Objects,” it was wish-fulfillment of the worst kind – it was answered with a twisted distortion.  A doctor so badly wanted a baby of his own; he decided to play God and manipulated the baby’s DNA so that his wife’s disease-ridden body would not reject it.  However, it is never a good idea to use cross-species in order to accomplish such a goal.  The monster he created was worthy of a horror story of its own and it proceeded to stalk the town’s inhabitants.  During that investigation, Olivia, still recuperating from her auto accident injuries and unable to recall what happened to her, nearly shot Peter.  This prompted Nina to pay a visit and recommend that Olivia seek out a man by the name of Sam Weiss who might have some answers to the medical problems Olivia was experiencing, including her accentuated hearing.  In the meantime, with Olivia still unsure of herself and acting erratically, Peter
continued to step up and fill the power-vacuum to lead the team.  And Faux-Charlie (the shape-shifter who had killed and replaced Charlie) continued to lurk in the background with orders to find out what Olivia knows and then kill her.

Then, in “Fracture,” it was a race against time to locate several former military personnel who had been exposed to a nerve-agent that could be triggered turning them into human bombs – for at just the right radio frequency, the genetically altered body would crystallize and then shatter.  While Peter and Olivia took a quick field-trip to Iraq so that Peter could convince an old associate to assist in locating doctors familiar with the nerve-agent, Walter was preoccupied with and balking at the prospect of moving into a new apartment. After returning state’s side, Olivia continued her unorthodox treatment with Sam Weiss who worked on rebuilding her confidence.  There was also a surprise appearance by The Observer who was seen sorting through photos from the briefcase – in particular, photos of Walter.

Concluding the 4-episode arc involving the shape-shifter posing as Charlie, in “Momentum Deferred” it was finally revealed what the shape-shifter’s handlers feared Olivia would remember — William Bell had told her the location of a cryogenically frozen head of their leader.  With a facial recognition program on the verge of revealing the shape-shift as Charlie, Walter called upon a former friend/lover to try to recreate an experiment where she could recognize those from the alternate universe.  While Olivia killed Faux-Charlie, just not in time to stop him from pushing the send button on his phone telling his cohorts where the head was located.  Thus, in the end, the head was retrieved by the shape-shifter and Walter failed to see that his experiment worked all too well with Rebecca recognized Peter from the alternate universe.

Finally, in last week’s episode “Dream Logic,” we witnessed the power of dreams – or rather the power of addiction.  A sleep therapist had created a brain chip that once implanted allowed him to steal a person’s dreams.  However, rather than providing a person with a peaceful night sleep, it left the person sleep-deprived and when he replayed the dreams at his leisure, they would experience them while wide-awake leading to extreme violence.   With Peter and Walter hard at work on solving the dream mystery, Olivia was back into therapy with Sam Weiss feeling guilt-ridden over Charlie’s death and like her entire life felt like a nightmare.  Sam’s therapy methods while unconventional did have results as collecting business cards from everyone wearing a red shirt revealed a hidden message, “you’re gonna be fine” – which was exactly what Olivia needed to hear.  Meanwhile, back at the lab, Walter was worried after Peter shared that his recurring nightmare involved him being kidnapped in the night – which smacked awfully close to the truth.

With the loss of Charlie, Olivia doubting her abilities, Peter stepping up to lead the team and lots of typical “Fringe” weirdness going on, this season promises to be just as thrilling and mind-boggling as ever.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘A New Day In The Old Town’ was written by J.J. Abrams and Akiva Goldsman, and directed by Akiva Goldsman. ‘Fringe’ stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole, Kirk Acevedo. ‘Fringe’ airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

 

“Dollhouse” recap

Last season ended with Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) discovering the Dollhouse and inadvertently unleashing Alpha (Alan Tudyk) upon it.  Alpha then promptly kidnapped Echo (Eliza Dushku) and downloaded over 30 different personalities into her all at once.  But to his dismay, Echo did not feel enlightened or freed by this process. Her reaction was quite the opposite and Alpha then saw that he had created a monster which he could not control and which turned on him.  He escaped, barely, and Echo was returned to the Dollhouse.  Ballard then traded his freedom for Mellie’s (Miracle Laurie) and agreed to become Echo’s handler while Boyd (Harry Lennix) took over as head of security.

 As we re-entered the realm of the Dollhouse in the second season, it was several months later with Paul Ballard now employed as Echo’s handler, with she and Ballard working together to bring down the Dollhouse from the inside.  However, unlike previous memory wipes, Echo is no longer unaware of what has happened to her.  Due to her super-enhanced multi-identity state, the average memory-wipe does not completely erase the imprinted identity.  Thus, each imprint remains with Echo and she remembers everything after her assignments.  This is the price Echo must pay for, if she revealed the ineffectiveness of the wipes, she would have not have any identity at all, nor could she assist Ballard in taking down the Dollhouse.

 In the second season opener, “Vows,” Ballard was the client and he had retained Echo’s services in order to infiltrate the world of a British arm’s dealer.  Echo has been programmed to be an FBI agent who is under-cover as the arms dealer’s fiancé.  It was a con within a con.  So with Ballard and Echo occupied with their mission to bring down another nefarious organization, the core of the episode actually focused on Dr. Saunders aka: Whiskey (Amy Acker) as she had learned that she was not in fact Dr. Saunders, but was instead a doll.  Wanting to punish Topher (Fran Kranz) for imprinting her in the first place, she asked him to explain why he programmed her to hate him and he stated that he hadn’t.  That was something she came up with all on her own.  He had not merely programmed her to be a “yes” man, but had given her the ability to have free-will.  She was free to chose how she felt.  In the end, confused as to who she was and her role, Dr. Saunders exercised that free will and finally left the Dollhouse.

 In the subsequent episode, “Instinct,” Echo is imprinted with the personality of a recently deceased mother in order to care for the newborn child whose father cannot stand the sight of him.  However, when Echo overheard the father saying that he cannot keep up the ruse anymore and that he wanted to get rid of the baby, she kidnapped the child in order to protect it.  But, like before, a simple memory wipe was not enough to erase her memories and feeling an overpowering need to protect the child, she went to confront the father.  It is only after the father reasoned with her that Echo began to see the difference between her multi-faceted personalities and the imprinted one and was willing to leave the baby with his father.  After having her emotions manipulated into loving a child that was not hers, more than ever, Echo swears to make the Dollhouse pay for making her love a child and then being forced to give it up.

 Then in the third episode, “Belle Chose,” a serial killer’s personality is downloaded into Victor’s (Enver Gjokaj) body in order to ascertain the location of the woman the killer had taken.  After the killer’s uncle released him in Victor’s body back out into society, DeWitt (Olivia Williams) and Topher elected to turn off the Dollhouse system in order to remote-wipe the serial killer’s personality out of Victor.  This worked partially, for instead of wiping the killer’s personality, it merely transferred it into Echo’s body – who was in the middle of a teacher/student sex fantasy.  Echo, as the killer, promptly stabbed the professor, escaped and returned to his lair where there were three women locked in a cage.  Victor (now thinking he is a girl) went dancing at a nearby club and hilarious hi-jinks ensued from that particular identity crisis.  In the meantime, Echo grappled with the imprint of the serial killer and urged the women to kill her in order to escape.  Fortunately, the GPS-tracking chip led Boyd and the security detail to them and everyone was saved.  But are they really?  For Echo again still showed trace signs of still having the serial killer embedded into her conscious.  It remains to be seen whether she will be strong enough to keep that imprint at bay.

Finally, in the fourth episode “Belonging” the series exploded.  They had promised that everything would come together and grab everyone’s attention – and they were absolutely right.  Focusing on Sierra and her backstory on how she was kidnapped, drugged and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her captor – all under the permissive watch of the Dollhouse was eye-opening, sickening and riveting.  It also ratcheted up the level of tension and moral dilemmas they all face.  It was Sierra’s story, and how they all became swept up in it.  Victor as the quiet champion awaiting the return of his princess.  Boyd the fixer who stepped in to clean-up Topher’s mess.  Adelle’s heart-broke handing over Sierra to a monster.  And Topher who never had a heart before, discovered he had one.  Interestingly enough, even with Echo out of the lime-light, she caught Boyd’s attention and there was some cool interplay with Boyd catching her reading a book (Dolls are not supposed to be able to read) and his attempt to ferret out what she was up to.  And in an episode where Paul Ballard did not even appear once, it was startling to see how the other characters came together just fine in his absence.

 The second season is not merely a journey through the various fantasies that wealthy clients are willing to pay for.  It is a discovery of self-identity as Echo fights to figure out who she is amidst all the downloaded personality imprints.  It is also a mission to bring down those behind the Dollhouse and to put a stop to the human enslavement they have created.

 “Dollhouse” is created and produced by Joss Whedon and stars Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Harry Lennix, and Fran Kranz.  “Dollhouse” airs on Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

Review of ‘Stargate Universe’ – Darkness

Discovering the light in the darkness

This was an episode in which the gadgets nearly stole the show.  The lights may have gone out due to power depletion, but it was highly entertaining to see the crew record their messages of hope, longing and despair in the Kino and Eli (David Blue) was never more adorable than when he handed his cellphone to Chloe (Elyse Levesque) to give her a bit of light in the darkness.

For all the cuteness, this was a dark episode – and not just because the lights went out. Watching the normally calm, cool and collected Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle) have a panic-attack and pass out from fear and exhaustion set the tone.  They were all at wits end.  Without power, they were basically sitting in a coffin in space.  Dr. Rush’s fear was not unfounded for all the fiddling everyone had done to figure out what each button and switch did had needlessly depleted their power reserves.  His bellow, “Stop pushing buttons!” was not just out of frustration.  They desperately needed every second of power they could eek out of the ship to survive.

So while Dr. Rush was incapacitated, it fell on Col. Young (Justin Louis) to figure a way out of their dire predicament.  Thus, it was appalling that his first thought was to use the communication stones to go home and say good-bye to his estranged wife.  But in the absence of both Rush and Young, the younger folk had more to do and they rose to the occasion: Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) continued to try to figure out a way to use the shuttle; T.J. (Alaina Huffman) kept a watchful eye on her recuperating invalids, both Col. Young (occupied by Col. Telford) and Dr. Rush; and Eli got to play the hero in the midst of the chaos.

For it was Eli’s idea that everyone should record a message into the Kino for posterity – just in case someone else came along and discovered it long after they were gone.  This felt very foreboding and added a somber note to the episode, for some of the Kino messages included: “All I want is to get off this ship”; “I shouldn’t even be here.  To think I could have missed all this.” and “I always knew I’d die in space.  I knew something awful was going to happen.  I just knew it.”  But, like therapy, it was a way for everyone to release their darkest fears.

On the flip-side, there were some nice comedic moments to offset the feeling of futility, such as when Col. Young asked, “So where does that leave us?” and the response he got was. “Dead.”  Likewise, when Col. Young inquired of Eli, “So you’re working the problem” and Eli sheepishly responded, “Yeah.”  To which then Col. Young snapped at the other two scientists standing there, “Does the computer-hacking drop-out have to save our asses?  Or are you going to get your heads out of yours?!”  — with Eli mumbling in the background, “The drop-out is still here. . .”

Additionally, once the darkness descended and there was no light anywhere, it was Eli who gallantly gave Chloe his cell phone with the faux admonishment, “don’t make any long distance calls.”  It was Eli’s quick-witted quips which also deflected some of the pervasive foreboding when he was accosted by a group of anxious survivors and he glibly reassured them that, “If they tell me, I’ll tell you.  This is good. I think as a group we’ve bonded.”

Finally, while Col Young was running away and saying good-bye and Eli was busy keeping everyone’s spirits up, Lt. Scott was in his way working on potential solutions; and  once Col. Young returned and Dr. Rush awakened, Lt. Scott was able to share with them that he believed that the ship had taken them to their current location for a specific reason:  that point had 3 habitable planets within range.  Still in desperate need of fuel resources, they set their course for orbital insurgent trajectory even with Scott’s warning ringing in their ears that it would be “close enough to kiss but not enough to capture.”  Thus, it was not too surprising, when moments later it was noted, “The planet has altered Destiny’s course more than we hoped” — and in the distance we saw a fleet of alien space crafts approaching.  Survival at what cost?  Are the ships friend or foe?  This far into space it does not bode well.

What Worked

Surprisingly, the shower scene, in which Eli stood guard so that Chloe could get cleaned up was more poignant, funny and endearing than one would have thought.  It is a credit to the actors that it was so delicately and humorously handled.

Also surprisingly right on key was the awkwardness between Col. Young and his wife, Emily (Ona Gauer).  That she did not immediately race to his side and accept that it was indeed him inhabiting Col. Telford’s body was believable.  The same with her reaction to his half-hearted apology for she immediately chastised him with, “you still chose to go.”  Her sad pleas to “just let me go” was an echo of a relationship already long gone.

In contract, it was nice to allow Dr. Rush a lighter moment, when he awoke and TJ asked him, “How do you feel?” and he ruefully replied, “Embarrassed.”  His willingness to attribute his recent panic-attack as caffeine withdrawal was priceless.

What Didn’t Work

Is it really necessary for Col. Telford (Lou D. Phillips) to continually go out of his way to undermine and question the authority and leadership of Col. Young each and every time they body-swap?  It also feels like a poor use of Lou D. Phillips to give him such tedious lines where as Telford he says: “I’d like to speak to Dr. Rush immediately” and “I want to know what’s really going on aboard this ship!”  Let’s hope they take some time to flesh-out his character a bit more and give him a less two-dimensional role.

Also, all the “Planet of the Apes” references have been over-done.  It is time to find another sci-fi film to emulate and refer to.  It will help keep the show fresh and more engaging.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Darkness’ was written by Brad Wright and directed by Peter DeLuise. ‘Stargate Universe’ stars Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Brian J. Smith, Alaina Huffman, Ming-Na, Lou D. Phillips, Jamil Walker Smith, Elyse Levesque, Justin Louis. ‘Stargate Universe’ airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on Syfy.

 

Review of ‘FlashForward’ – Black Swan

Lulled into a false sense of security

This episode was by far the most surprising to date.  It lulled you into thinking this was the same thing we had begun to expect over the course of the last few episodes, and then out of the blue, it delivered a blow not seen coming.  It was not even a death-blow.  It was just a major shocker.  The “black swan” was not Ned (Keir O’Donnell), the guy who thought he was going to turn into an African American; the “black swan” was Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport).  I guess it is true when they say the best way to hide something is to hide it in plain sight.  For I never once suspected that Lloyd had anything to do with the blackout.  Thus, seeing the final scene of the episode where he takes the call from Simon (Dominic Monaghan) was a surprise.  The hair on the back of my neck and arms rose as I heard Simon tell him, “Talking to me is one of those little inconveniences you’re going to have to put up with now that we’re responsible for the single greatest disaster in human history.”

As continuity goes, it was cool to see Alda Hertzog (Rachel Roberts) again — the blonde terrorist that Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh (John Cho) had been chasing at the time of the blackout.  She fooled them by cryptically telling Demetri that his time was running out and then sending them on a wild-goose chase.  (Side-note:  There’s a lot of bird references in this show with crows, black swans and now geese.)  As riveting as the interrogation scenes were, it was rather mind-numbing to watch them actually go to Indio to the restaurant and chase a petty drug dealer.  However, Alda, for all her resistance to answering their questions, was actually a fount of information.  Alda was the one that ultimately gave us two significant clues.  The first was about the “black swan” theory.  She explained that a black swan is something so out of the ordinary that it is used to describe events beyond the realm of the ordinary.  The second clue she provided was regarding the Sufi parable about an old man and a young boy with a candle and the old man asks the boy where the light comes from –  and the young boy blows out the candle and tells the old man, “if you tell me where the light went, I will tell you where it came from.”  The black-out and the reveal that Lloyd Simcoe was involved with it were the “black swan moments.”  As for the significance of the Sufi parable, perhaps that was to illustrate that it does not matter how the black-out occurred and that they needed to focus on the why it happened. For Alda told Mark, “you’re ignoring the most profound question:  why?”  It is not “who” or “how” that really matter, but the question of “why.”  Like with the boy and the candle, the disappearing light is not the point.  The point is that it happened.  Thus, accept it and address the more pertinent question.

With so many cryptic clues slowly being unveiled, it is clear that the visions everyone experienced during the black-out are stressing them out to their breaking points.  Even Demetri said, “all I can hear is the clock-ticking everyday.”  And with everyone so preoccupied, surely they cannot be doing their jobs effectively.   Thus, it creates a window of opportunity for criminal activity to go uncheck or unnoticed simply because everyone is so distracted.  Maybe that was the point of the black-out.  Like a magician’s trick, while everyone’s attention is focused elsewhere, they can get away with anything.  The black-out is a long-term distraction.  For, as Mark told Demetri, “we can use what we saw to stop what we saw.  We can solve your murder before it happens.”  By effectively taking Demetri and Mark’s attention off of their other investigative work, the diversion is complete.

What Worked

Before learning he was the bad-guy, it was adorable watching Lloyd read Dylan (Ryan Wynott) his favorite book, “The Magician’s Handbook” and acting out all the characters in order to connect with Dylan.

As for the hospital patient, Ned, who had Addison’s disease, it was funny to see how as much as Olivia (Soyna Walger) wanted to ignore all the signs that were revealed in Ned’s flashforward, like her efforts to send Dylan to the PT Department, it kept boomeranging back to her.  Also interesting was Ned’s analysis that, “all that worrying kept me from being the me I am supposed to be.”  It was like watching a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Another fascinating reveal was finding out that Nicole (Peyton List), the awol baby-sitter, knew Aaron (Brian F. O’Byrne) and it was based on his recommendation she got the job with the Benfords.  Adding another layer to her story was learning that in Nicole’s flashforward she saw herself being drowned by an unknown assailant.  That was just bizarre – for her to witness her own death.  Just as horrific was her revelation that she saw, “someone drowning me and I felt like I deserved it.”  What on earth does that poor girl do to deserve such a fate, let alone feel that needed to atone for whatever she would do in the future that justified being murdered?!  It is mind-bending.

What Didn’t Work

It was ludicrous that the priest that Nicole went to see for guidance kept a box of live crickets in his desk drawer and turned her away after giving her a t-shirt  The world feels a bit off-kilter with that kind of behavior.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Black Swan’ was written by Lisa Zerling and Scott M. Gimple and directed by Michael Rymer. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods, Zachary Knighton, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Wynott. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

 

Spotlight on Lou Diamond Phillips

Starting his career innocuously in the mid-1980’s, working as nameless punks or thugs, Lou Diamond Phillips got a break in 1987 on “Miami Vice” and that same year lightening struck with a break-out role as Ritchie Valens in the film “La Bamba.”  He quickly followed up that astounding and critically-acclaimed performance with an even more eye-opening performance as Angel Guzman in the film “Stand and Deliver” along side Edward James Olmos.  (Side-note:  It is fascinating to see that both Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olmos ended up in two pivotal sci-fi television series nearly 20 years later — Edward James Olmos having portrayed Admiral Adama on the Syfy series “Battlestar Galactica” and Lou Diamond Phillips now appears in Syfy’s “Stargate Universe.”)

Riding the wave of instant popularity and box-office success, Lou continued his streak by appearing in the films “Young Guns” and “Young Guns II,” thereby solidifying his role as a young Hollywood heart-throb.  Then through the 1990’s, he tackled a wide-array of roles ranging from playing an outcast in “Sioux City” beside Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“Eureka”), a tortured military soldier in “Courage Under Fire” with Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan, and a medical officer in the sci-fi film “Supernova” with James Spader and Robin Tunney.  Perhaps tiring of the grueling pace of feature film, Lou agreed to tackle a television series and headlined the gothic-horror “Wolf Lake.”  Alas, audiences did not take to the idea of having werewolves living amongst us in modern society and that series ended after only ten episodes.

Not one to rest on his laurels or kick-back, Lou threw himself into an even more ambitious work schedule tackling no less than 8 feature films and 20 television roles in the span of 7 years.  Most notably, he appeared in the second season of “24” (along side his “Young Guns” co-star Kiefer Sutherland) and then did a quick stop-by in the critic’s favorite “Jack & Bobby” to make an appearance as Jack’s father which inspired him to one day become the U.S. public defender.  He also appeared in the television mini-series “The Triangle” with Eric Stoltz (who stars in the upcoming sci-fi series “Caprica”) as the sole survivor of a Triangle-event which left him trapped in a different timeline.

Then in recent years, Lou has made regular guest appearances on the mathematical drama “Numb3rs” as Agent Ian Edgerton and also made a brief appearance earlier this year in “The Beast” (the Patrick Swayze undercover FBI drama).

With such a varied and extensive career under his belt, it is a wonder that Lou has had any time to sleep in the past two decades.  But, being driven and ambitious, he quickly latched onto a new break-out sci-fi series “Stargate Universe” in the ambiguous role of Col. David Telford.  His casting on the show was no less surprising than some of his co-stars as “Stargate Universe” has tried to distinguish itself as the darker, edgier version of its predecessors.  The casting of Lou Diamond Phillips is a testament to that vision as he is an actor who relishes the most challenging and diverse roles available.  It will be intriguing to see where Lou goes both as his character, Col. David Telford in “Stargate Universe” and in his professional career.

Review of ‘Stargate Universe’ – Air

Survival at no matter the cost

“Stargate Universe” is the second spin-off of the successful sci-fi series “Stargate SG-1” which ran for an astounding ten seasons.  Unlike the original “Stargate SG-1” which was based on Earth, or “Stargate: Atlantis” which was based on a portable city on another planet, “Stargate Universe” is focused on a rag-tag group of survivors who find themselves trapped on an alien ship traveling on the outer fringe of the universe.  Fearful of using the barely functioning Stargate aboard the ship as it may lead their attackers back to Earth, they must rely on each other to survive until they can find a way to safely return home.

“Stargate Universe” tackles the ambitious premise of trying to straddle both prior incarnations of the franchise, while establishing its own identity.  In breadth alone it feels larger than its predecessors.  The size of the cast is daunting as the viewer tries to figure out who is who and what role each plays in this micro-universe.

After watching all three parts of its pilot “Air,” a few faces have begun to stand-out.  The most recognizable is Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) who is the scientific genius who everyone defers to simply because without him, they will all die.  Next is the recently recruited video geek/guru Eli Wallace (David Blue), whose fantasies came true when they beamed him up onto their ship and invited him to be a consultant to crack an alien code.  Then on the military-side, there is 1st Lt. Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith) who seamlessly takes charge after the Icarus base attack.  Following Scott, there is 1st Lt. Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman), a medical officer, who seems more concerned about her affair with her superior, Col. Everett Young (Justin Louis), than anything else.  Last, but not least, there is the waif-like ingénue Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) who was accompanying her high-ranking father, Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald), at the time of the attack and she is literally caught in the cross-fire of military and scientific agendas as her father sacrificed himself to give them all a fighting chance at survival.

In the background, there are also Col. David Telford (Lou D. Phillips), Camile Wray (Ming-Na) and M. Sgt. Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith), all who appear to have dubious agendas and inter-personal conflicts of their own.  However, those have not yet been fully explained and are murky at best.  With so many high profile actors in not yet clearly identifiable roles, the series will surely provide much more tangible traits and identities for each.

The series started with a bang as we saw the military base camp attacked and civilians and military personnel evacuated to the only safe-haven they could find — through the Stargate which had dialed an unknown location.  After ascertaining they were aboard an alien space craft called “Destiny,” they quickly moved to meet their basic survival need for breathable air.  The ship had been abandoned for thousands of years and it was not functional.  With the clock-ticking, they had to find a way to jump-start the ship’s life-support systems.  After one human sacrifice to turn a vital lever mechanism to keep things running, it was determined to use the Stargate to find a nearby planet to get the key ingredient they needed: limestone.

So while parts 1 and 2 focused on the attack and reeling from its after-effects, part 3 focused on a 12 hour mission to a nearby planet in search of limestone.  Appropriately, the planet was an arid desert filled with only wind and sand — and a Stargate which the Ancients had the foresight to plunk down there in case it was ever needed.

The advance team diligently scoured the planet, with the typical bickering of those who are not accustomed to working together, and in the end they found exactly what they were looking for — just in the nick of time.

All in all, it is a solid start to launching a high-profile sci-fi series, but one wonders if it can truly stand on its own free of the long-shadows of “Stargate: SG-1” and “Stargate: Atlantis.”  The comparisons between the shows may make this step-sibling series appear to be the lesser of the three.  In “SG-1,” they had Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge — all uniquely entertaining and engaging to watch.  Such comedic rapport has never been duplicated since their reign.  Then in “Atlantis,” there was the epic star-crossed romance of Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Lt. Col. John Sheppard back-dropped against the comedic duo of Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett and the ferocious hearts of Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex.  It remains to be seen if “Stargate Universe” can capture the hearts and imagination of the fans yet again by introducing us to characters that will entrance us the same way.

What Worked

Solid casting of likeable and appealing actors is what captures our interest so far.  To date, Robert Carlyle is the best developed and most interesting.  The ambiguity of his character’s loyalty and motivations is what keeps us guessing and watching.

What Didn’t Work

An avid sci-fi fan, I found “Stargate Universe” a tad tame.  It looks darker and edgier as promised, but it lacked the cut-throat nature of what the average sci-fi fan has come to expect.   Perhaps series such as “Battlestar Galactica” have raised the stakes on space opera drama.  So while the characters show promise and there is a lot of potential for the series, it has not hooked me and made itself appointment-television yet.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Air’ was written by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and directed by Andy Mikita. ‘Stargate Universe’ stars Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Brian J. Smith, Alaina Huffman, Ming-Na, Lou D. Phillips, Jamil Walker Smith and Elyse Levesque. ‘Stargate Universe’ airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on Syfy.

Review of ‘FlashForward’ – 137 Sekunden

Do the ends ever justify the means?

When ABC first debuted the new television series “FlashForward” three weeks ago, the world sat riveted in front of their TV sets.  It was an adrenaline rush that left the audience breathless for more.  Based on the book of the same name by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, “FlashForward,” the series began with the calamitous events that occurred on a seemingly normal day when the entire planet came to a stand-still. For 2 minutes and 17 seconds, every living human-being blacked-out and fell to the ground. It was a world-wide disaster as airplanes fell out of the sky, cars collided, and a multitude of horrific events occurred because there was no one conscious. But “FlashForward” is not merely a disaster show. It is about what happened during those mysterious 2 minutes and 17 seconds. For everyone was not simply unconscious, they were given a glimpse of their future. They were able to see exactly where they would be in 6 months – what they were doing and who they were doing it with. The real story is about whether each will see their vision of the future come true. For some, that is horrifying and for others, it is everything they have prayed and hoped for.

Initially, the central characters are a FBI agent, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), his partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho), his boss, Stan Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), and Mark’s wife, Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger, better known as Penny from “Lost”). They are the characters that we are first introduced to and whose flashbacks we experience. It is also Benford who first clued in that there may be a conspiracy afoot as his flashback revealed to him that he was investigating the flashforward event in relation to something called the Mosaic Collective. For his partner, Demetri, he had a more alarming realization:  he did not experience a flashforward vision which led him to believe that he may not be alive in six months. Then for Benford’s wife, Olivia, her vision was perhaps the most disturbing of all as she saw herself having a romantic liaison with another man – a man she had not even met yet. For all of these individuals, their visions have not brought them peace and comfort in what lies ahead. To the contrary, they will do everything they can to prevent their visions from coming true.

However, for some, their visions brought them hope and peace. Benford’s AA sponsor, Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) saw a vision of his daughter alive, who he thought he had buried after a war-related tragedy. One of Benford and Demetri’s co-workers, Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) saw a vision of herself pregnant and she does not yet even have a boyfriend. And for Olivia’s co-worker, Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton) he had nearly committed suicide right before the flashforward event, and he saw a vision of his life where he was happy and alive. For these individuals, they are very much looking forward to the futures they beheld. So whether the visions are a blessing or a curse remains to be seen.

In the subsequent weeks, we have seen pieces of each person’s visions come true.  Mark is able to track down some of the individuals whose names were on the bulletin board he saw in his vision.  Demetri has received independent confirmation from an unknown intelligence source that he will be murdered a month before the flashforward event date.  And Olivia has met the man she saw in her vision — Lloyd Siemco (Jack Davenport) — much to her dismay.

But, while many things appear to corroborate the veracity of the visions, other events seem to undermine the likelihood of all the visions coming true.  For one, Mark’s daughter gave him the friendship bracelet he saw in his vision, which he promptly burnt.  Another event that had shaken the faith in the flashforward visions was Aaron Stark had his daughter’s body exhumed and the tests verified it was her body in the grave.  Thus, crushing his hope that his daughter is indeed alive somewhere in Afghanistan.  And Demetri’s finace saw a vision of him waiting for her on a Hawaiian beach on their wedding day.  This would suggest that not all the visions are destined to come true.

Thus, while the ultimate question is:  are the flashforwards indeed a vision of the future, it then begs the question: if it is the future, is that future fixed in stone, or can it be changed?  Agent Wedeck insightfully observed, “All of us are making decisions on what will happen — not what could happen.  It makes us do things we would not ordinarily do. . . You think knowing the future would make us less concerned about it.  But just the opposite has happened.  The future is what all of us are living for now. It’s what we’re living by.”

Just because they have seen the future, does it make it true?  Are they each prophets or are they biased based on what they would want to see?

This week’s episode focused on a crafty former-Nazi war criminal who claimed to know why the black-out lasted only 2 minutes and 17 seconds (or 137 sekunden as it is known in German) — and he would only reveal the meaning behind it to Agent Mark Benford.  In a morale quandary, Mark had to decide if the ends justified the means by granting a full pardon in exchange for the information the old man had.  After verifying part of the old man’s vision, the pardon was granted.  Only to find out that their worst fears were realized:  they had indeed been conned.  The only thing the old man saw besides being released from prison was a “murder” of crows outside his prison cell window when he awoke from the black-out.  And it was this vital piece of information that he used to barter his way out of prison.  It was a crushing blow to realize how the old man had used them.

But perhaps the old man was not so crazy after all.  His one clue about the dead crows was something that Mark decided to follow up on and much to his surprise, it had happened before.  In 1991, in Somali, there was a report of an incident where everyone lost consciousness simultaneously and coincidentally, there were thousands of dead crows.  And as Mark thoughtfully remarked, “We have been so worried that the black-out may happen again, we forgot to ask ourselves:  what if it happened before?”

Indeed, if someone does have the ability to control the mass black-outs, it is intriguing to think what have they been doing with that ability before now?

What Worked

Perhaps one of the most deftly interwoven pieces of humor in this past episode was the scene where Zoe, Demetri’s finace, is aboard a virtually empty airplane across the aisle from an ashen-faced gentleman.  When she asks him why he is flying, he replied that all the airline CEO’s were flying that day to prove to the public that it was safe.  The fact that he asks for a stiff drink mere seconds later spoke volumes about how safe he felt about flying that day!

What Didn’t Work

After dangling the carrot of Suspect Zero and D. Gibbons in front of us, it would be nice to actually have a face to put to these mysterious figures.  A mystery drama is never more compelling when evil reveals itself.  It is time for the unveiling of the arch enemy — the show is limping without a nemesis.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘137 Sekunden’ was written by David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim and directed by Michael Rymer. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods and Zachary Knighton. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.