FlashForward 1-19 “Course Correction”
Lloyd says the forces of the universe may be forcing them toward the futures laid out for them, and the host says that the people who were supposed to have died shouldn’t rest easy, as the universe may want them dead after all. Lloyd admits it’s possible, and I like that they show a shot of Dom in a limo, since this idea was his entire arc for the third season of Lost.
And now it’s an ambush! The next guest is Celia, whose future was changed back when Al committed suicide so he couldn’t indirectly cause her death. The host calls her one of Lloyd’s “statistical anomalies”. Douche Chill! She lays out her story, and then they start taking calls. A guy from Muncie asks if the Blackout caused anybody brain damage, and Lloyd says it did not. Further, he says it’s impossible that there could be another one, and he knows that isn’t the case. In Mark’s office, he explains to Demetri that unless they know when the next Blackout is coming, they can’t tell people that there might be one. Lloyd ends the broadcast by saying that on the 29th, they’re all going to be where they’re “supposed to be”. This does not make Demetri feel better.
Dom is being driven somewhere, and on bridge, they pass a girl that he recognizes as his missing sister, Annabelle. He makes the driver stop, and runs toward her, though she says not to come any closer. There are laser dots all over her face, as if about six rifles are trained on her. She says they want Simon and the ring – he has twelve hours, or they kill her. She’s freaked out and yells at him to go. She doesn’t provide very much information about what he’s actually supposed to do, I notice.
Dom arrives at the FBI building and chased down a guy in a sweater, who Dom identifies as being a “tech wizard” and asks him to run down a license plate number. But he doesn’t want Sweater Guy to tell anybody else. Dom tells him to name his price.
Back at the hospital, Bryce, who we haven’t seen in awhile is having a chemo session. Nicoles comes by to visit him. She says she’s stalking him, which is not a complaint anybody ever really has about pretty girls. Nicole gives him a book that, she says, helped a lot with her mother. It’s called The Places that Scare You. She says she wishes he’d tell her when he was having chemo, he says he doesn’t want her to feel obligated to come, she says it’s not an obligation. You know, I like these two more than I did at the beginning of the season, but they really had better have things happen in the near future.
We cut to a crime scene – there’s a dead body who doesn’t look familiar. Fiona Banks (from Al’s Flash) is there, and Demetri shows up as well. The victim was supposed to die on March 2nd from a drug allergy. He survived the date, and now he’s dead. His coffee tested positive for rat poison. So somebody’s killing people who were supposed to die? He also died in a room full of guns, but he was supposed to die from a drug allergy, not a gunshot wound. They’re re-creating the predetermined cause of death as closely as possible. And you know what else they find? A flier for a Blue Hand party. Yeah, that’s back.
Olivia and Lloyd walk together, while Lloyd whines about how he lied on TV. He’s also not sure that the Blackout didn’t cause brain damage. I do not like seeing them together. Mark may be hard to take sometimes, but they’re married. You know? This kind of thing just pushes my buttons, and it makes me like Olivia less. Plus, I already feel like she’s cheating on Desmond, because TV shows blur together for me.
Mark calls Dom to his office, and it turns out Sweater Guy wasn’t willing to jeopardize his career. He ratted Dom out. Mark ran the plate, the car was stolen in San Francisco. But they also have traffic cam footage of Dom and Annabelle on the bridge. See, Dom’s been telling people that she ran away, but that is pretty definitely not the case. Mark thinks this makes Dom vulnerable, and that maybe he’s been compromised. Mark is not happy.
Dom searches traffic camera footage while Lloyd stays on task with the QED. He accuses Lloyd of losing track of the people while he focuses on abstract concepts. Dom finally admits that his sister has been kidnapped, but he does it in a way where he’s kind of a jerk about it.
Mark and Stanford discuss why Dom’s been keeping secrets – Stanford thinks that whether or not he’s compromised, they need his expertise. He tasks Mark to find Annabelle.
Demetri and Fiona visit a classroom where the guy who ran the Blue Hand parties is teaching. His name is Slingerland, but I know he used a cooler name when he was creeping it up. Apparently, he got to return to his old life. He recognizes Andrew, the dead guy, from the Blue Hand, but says he got out of all that – still, the universe has to balance itself. Fiona asks for a list of any Blue Handers who knew Andrew.
Olivia’s in the hospital talking to Bryce. Baltar’s tests came back, and other than some messed-up feet, he’s doing OK. Did we even know he was in the hospital? Did I miss a scene? Or are they talking about an unseen character with the same name. And yes, I probably recapped the scene where they brought him in for tests, and I have no recollection of it. It’s been a long week.
Dylan Simcoe pops us and asks where Charlie is. Olivia explains that she’s at school. Hey, guess who’s with Dylan? Lloyd. He’s on the make once again. Then Baltar shows up in his hospital gown, and announces that he knew it would happen. Olivia leads him back to his room, as he talks about how good it is that she and Lloyd are together. Vreede shows up with lunch for Baltar and pulls Olivia aside. He says they need to bring in Baltar for questioning, and Olivia stalls.
Vreede asks Baltar about some elaborate drawings amount Baltar’s belongings, and it’s pretty clear that he’s trying to recreate Mark’s Big Board. So has he seen it, or did he see it in one of his many Flash Forwards? You know, this seems weird for a Lost fan to say, but I think they actually have too many balls in the air right now.
Sweater Guy shows Mark and Stanford some feeds from a traffic cam that may be pertinent to the search for Annabelle. Mark heads out to follow up – Dom tries to invite himself along, but Mark tells him to stay put and quit lying. Back in the computer lab, Dom finds that his access has been revoked – it looks like he can’t even get to the Blackout ring, which is what he needs to get Annabelle back.
Bryce visits his doctor, who has good news for him. He’s officially in remission. “The future awaits”, says the doctor. Meanwhile, Nicole is at the hospital and one of the nurses asks if she can help out in the prison, giving flu shots to detainees. As she looks through the records, she sees that one of them is Keiko..
Demetri and Fiona question an employee at the “Coffee Fanatic”. The guy identifies Andrew as a regular, and says last time he saw Andrew, he was with a tall, geeky guy
who wore a horseshow ring. So that would be Slingerland, then. Yeah, he’s still a creep.
He’s teaching his class about free will, and then he spots the FBI agents outside the window. He leaves the room just ahead of them, and one of the students says he left a message for Demetri: “The universe always pushes back”. Demetri remembers a reference he made to “going on TV and telling the world”, and reasons that his next target is Celia.
And there he is – he’s in his car at night, watching Celia walk down the sidewalk. He guns it and drives right at her, and at the last second gets slammed by another car – Demetri! He yells at Celia to run while Slingerland staggers out of the van. He chases her while Demetri chases on foot. Slingerland finally drops – it looks like a heart attack, but Celia darts out in front of Fiona’s car and gets hit. She’s still alive, so Demetri calls in the emergency. Slingerland gasps out that the universe isn’t going to let them survive, and then he dies.
In a parking garage, Dom approaches Lloyd – he says he wants to make up for his bad behavior. Lloyd seems touched and it comes off as sincere. Dom leaves, with Lloyd wondering what the heck happened.
Bryce finds Nicole in the hospital – he’s filled with glee, she’s mopey. They each have something to tell the other, but Bryce leans in for a kiss and then tells her that he’s in remission. He doesn’t want to waste any more time looking for his future – he wants Nicole. So obviously, she doesn’t tell him about Keiko.
Demetri and Fiona are in an office – Demetri tries to reassure her that there was nothing they can do about Celia. She starts thinking about Al’s last words to her – suggesting that she put tape on the window so the bird doesn’t fly into it on April 29. She gets a call from the hospital. The doctor isn’t optimistic. She leaves the room to talk and it’s framed almost exactly like Al’s Flash, only with Fiona as Al and Demetri as Fiona. Fiona realizes that the doctor will call again on the 29th to tell her that Celia didn’t make it.
Mark continues his search for Annabelle. At a warehouse, he bumps into an electrician, who says a van had plowed through the area earlier causing some damage. Mark calls in a team to break it open, and they find the van with Annabelle inside. Mark phones Dom with the news, and he asks to speak to his sister. They have a nice moment on the phone,, and them Dom hangs up, gathers his stuff, and leaves. When Mark returns to the FBI building, sure enough, Dom took the Blackout ring.
That night, Olivia and Lloyd are together in a house – I think it’s Lloyd’s house, actually. Olivia’s showing him the scans of Baltar’s brain, which probably isn’t legal. I mean, he’s still a patient, and confidentiality exists, right? Anyway, there’s no brain damage, even after hundreds of Flashes. Lloyd then turns it around to how the two of them should be together, because that’s what the crazy guy said. Their kiss is interrupted by a knock at the door. And who’s knocking? Decency, that’s who. Oh, also Mark. You can imagine how happy he is to walk in on this. Olivia leaves, and an angry Mark tells Lloyd that Dom has disappeared. Lloyd remembers that before the other Blackout, Dom insisted that the experiment go forward, even though he wouldn’t be there. These two guys? Officially Suspicious.
Back at the FBI, an analyst shows how Dom is a match for Suspect Zero. Mark and Stanford are not happy, as you can imagine. Mark shows Annabelle some pictures to see if she can recognize her kidnappers, but she says she never saw any faces. He asks what they wanted from Simon. She doesn’t know, but she finally admits that she overheard that Simon would cause another Blackout.
Next week: The episode that’s set on April 29. This is the one that we’ve been waiting for!
