Spotlight: FlashForward - Revelation Zero

And so FlashForward finally returns to our screens. I don’t have  time this week to do a blow by blow account of the episode so I’m just going to try and hit all the major speedbumps along the way.

What I Didn’t Like?

Conversely, this is a much shorter list than what I did like, which is unusual for FlashForward.

I’ve never much cared for the fact that the entire Mosaic project was based on what Mark saw in his flash forward. Not only does this horrible trend continue in this episode, but Mark undergoes a kind of hypnotherapy to enable him to remember even more details of what was on the “Big Board”… So Lame!

I didn’t like how quickly Lloyd’s kidnapping was resolved. After it being a rather huge deal prior to the hiatus the whole thing was resolved within half an episode… by using the stupid drug induced hypnotherapy.

My final niggle with the episode was that I don’t believe that the show originally intended to have Simon be Suspect Zero (the man who was awake on the stadium CCTV camera). To me the body shape looks all wrong. Also, why would the “Three Star” group send Simon to a public location where he was likely to be caught on camera the day they were planning to test the blackout? Surely that would cause suspicion? Why would they want that?

What Caused the Flash Forward?

We discover this episode that Lloyd was not responsible for the event. That the experiment NLAP was carrying out simply amplified the effects of the blackout. It seems that NLAP was trying to find dark matter and somehow that interfered with the 3 Star’s test.

But while Lloyd might not have been the cause, it seems that Simon was definitely involved. It turns out that Uncle Teddy, AKA Flosso a high-up in the Three Star group had been funding Simon’s education since he was small. In return Simon was asked to spy on the NLAP project and report the date of their experimental attempt to find Dark Matter.

We also discover that the Three Star group intends to use the blackouts to control the future. Hence the new tagline “There is going to be another Blackout.”

Simon

So, most of this week’s episode resolves around Dominic’s character Simon. We discover that the Three Star group killed his father in order to give Simon a convincing excuse to not be present during the NLAP experiment. Although why kill his father? Why not just kidnap Simon? We also discover that his little sister Annabelle is being held by the Three Star group to force Simon to continue helping them.

Simon however, bitter that his “uncle” killed his father, chopped off his finger and kidnapped his sister is fed up of being pushed around and isn’t about to play ball. To that end he murders “Flosso” muttering “I never get pushed around and I always get even”

Mark

So then, the main character… Well, it seems that Mark wants to be reinstated? I thought the reason for all the gun toting in Hong Kong was so that he wouldn’t be an agent anymore and therefore wouldn’t shoot Demetri.

Anyway, he continues to investigate the Blackout on his own, using a drug induced vision to remember details of his flashforward. These details lead him to Lloyd and Simon, but they also indicate that “There will be another blackout” and that Lloyd Simco knows about it!

To be fair, since the show started there has been a lot of talk about what the world would do if there was another blackout and how such a thing could be guarded against. Now it appears that the Three Star group want to use the blackouts in a controlled manner to gain access to the future and use that knowledge to consolidate it’s power.

And that is about it (I think) definitely a better episode than most of those that have proceeded it. Not perfect by any stretch and if the show continues to be propelled by blackouts it could grow tedious quickly, but I’m looking forward to tonight's episode and what exactly is going to happen in the season finale!

This has been My Two Cents… join me on Sunday for a round-up of the week’s Tv.