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FlashForward: Playing Cards with Coyote

"Everything's back to being up to us again."

There's something that's just not working for me.

I'm getting tired of everyone's knee-jerk reaction to their FlashForward. If it's not "I have to prevent it," it's "fate rules us all." I sort of want to shake them all and say, will you just live your lives already? But, see, how people react to the knowledge of their future is the basic premise of the series. It's a very cool premise. Are they just not handling it as well as they could? Is there a lack of "compelling" on the part of the characters?

Maybe it's that they're hitting and missing. I felt that "No More Good Days," "Black Swan" and "Gimme Some Truth" were really good. This episode just felt like something to slog through in order to get to the end, and I didn't really want to review it. When I contrast that to how I felt about the Supernatural episode that aired directly afterward, there's just no comparison. I'm not going to keep reviewing a show that I don't love. Gimme some love, people.

While the rest of the world has apparently gotten Al's memo to Celia (and how did it get to her if he didn't know her last name?), Aaron still believes that his flashforward is the be all and end all. I guess I can get that, considering how his daughter Tracy (Ruby from Supernatural) is actually alive and all. Apparently, the Blackwater-like corporation of evil, Jericho, tried to have her taken out. Their mercenaries, who conveniently have star tatts on their arms so that we can easily identify them, also appear to be working with Simon's organization – was it Milos that he called it? And of course, Simon's organization caused the FlashForward, while working on a mysterious superweapon. I think. It all feels like interconnected evil. I could just be jumping to conclusions, though.

So far, Simon has shown up to harass Lloyd, say something tantalizing, and leave. At least this time we got a pointless card game, where we learned that Lloyd has principles (except that he cheats at cards), and doesn't care about either money or Simon's opinion of him. I am assuming that "Playing Cards with Coyote" was a reference to Simon being a nasty, scavenging predator who eats cats in the valley, not a flattering portrait of our beloved Dominic Monaghan. Why hasn't Simon just had Lloyd killed, already? Especially when he has access to plenty of star-tatted mercenaries to do the job?

(I am assuming "Playing Cards with Coyote" has nothing to do with the actor playing the president.)

Janis has come back to work and is already looking at sperm banks online. Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on this episode. They're trying to say that like Eloise Hawking told Desmond, the universe course-corrects; Janis would have wanted a baby, anyway, the future can be changed, but it tends to go in the direction it originally intended to go. But getting shot seems to be what made her want a baby in the first place, brush with death and all. In which case, in the FlashForward, she was in a universe where she hadn't gotten shot... okay, I have to stop now. I can't stand it.

Finally, there seem to be seven rings that apparently counteract the effect of the FlashForward. Seven rings to rule them all. I'm not sure I'm on board with magic rings, no matter what cool scientific principle is behind them.

Flashes:

— There is apparently a mole at the FBI. Someone we know?

— The reveal of all the guys with star tatts made me laugh out loud, even though I could tell it was coming.

— Mark is still totally devoted to figuring out his Wall of Weird, while Olivia is tossing sexy undies Mark gave her in the trash to prevent future sex with Lloyd.

— Simon has a god complex. That doesn't surprise me.

— Olivia and Simon had a scene together. A little Lost reunion. Although I don't remember them ever having a scene together before. Well, except for via video in the Looking Glass.

— Ingrid's business was called "Bird's Plus," with an incorrect apostrophe. I thought the birds were going to have something to do with the crows. Guess not.

— "Something out of a Baldacci novel"? Who is Baldacci?

I really should watch the episode again, because I'm pretty sure I missed something important... but whatever it is, I'm sure you guys will tell me. Two out of four star tattoos,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

6 comments:

  1. I wondered the same thing about "Baldacci".

    I found more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Baldacci

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  2. I think that Coyote is also an allusion to the metaphorical trickster of Navajo tradition. He played an important role in creating the world, as I recall, but also just messes around with it a lot. So Dominic Monaghan is Coyote, and Lloyd tricked the trickster.

    And how is Janis better already? How, I ask you? How?!

    And that, my friends, is all I have to say about this episode.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Billie, I'm right with you on this show. I, too, feel like I'm watching just to get to the end. Most weeks, it's like an unpleasant chore I have to slog through. After last week's (which I loved), this dull outing was extra painful.

    The characters just seem so simple-minded. I find myself wondering how they'd react if I dangled shiny baubles (or snausages) in front of them.

    Mark is the Idiot in Chief. What the hell makes him think only one guy in the world has a fairly simple tattoo like that? A tattoo that is practically screaming "symbol of some kind of organization"! He didn't see the faces of the people in his FF. Why would killing one unidentifiable guy ensure his future safety? Idiot!

    I think I'll give this show through the end of sweeps, but I don't know if I'll be back on board with it in the new year.

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  4. Yeah, the show is starting to lose me too. Now that I know who caused the blackout I’m struggling to give a damn about the how and the why. Plus the characters all have the annoying habit of allowing the needs of the plot to dictate their actions rather than basic common sense.

    ABC was hoping for a new Lost. But they might’ve found a new Invasion instead.

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  5. I don't think the mercenaries have anything to do with Lloyd and Simon. I don't think Lloyd and Simon caused the flash forward at all; Simon, what with his god complex, would like to think he did, and Lloyd is swallowing the line. Simon is going to be very upset when he discovers that shadowy triple star syndicate were responsible, not him.

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  6. Flash Forward has taken some very interesting turns lately, but as the suicide of the FBI agent proved, there is a paradox in people seeing their future. If they can kill themselves they alter what happens to everyone else seen in their flash forward and thus change the future. The show reminds me of Back To The Future.

    ReplyDelete

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