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FlashForward: Let No Man Put Asunder

“You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

I had the chance to watch this episode with my little brother Joe. He’s not much of a TV watcher, so before I hit ‘play’ on the DVR, he said, “Now, this is the one with the government agency that doesn’t play by the rules, right?” I gave that some thought, and then realized that he just described every single show that I review. The FBI didn’t really play by the standard rules in this episode—at least not in the parts that we saw. Demetri’s wedding and disappearance were really the focus of our heroes’ endeavors this week. It might not be the best use of a bunch of special agents, but it was actually kind of touching.

This episode was almost all about Demetri. We got his ‘Greatest Hits’—sort of. A few more major milestones would have helped me say goodbye to this character, who is one of the only ones I like without reservations. But, again, I kept wondering if this cliché was on purpose or not: are we supposed to be saying goodbye to Demetri? Or, is this all a fake-out, so that when he survives we’ll be surprised? I hope it’s the second choice, and I’ll tune in next week to find out.

FlashForward isn’t quite willing to take the risks that Lost does: they’re not willing to just follow one plot for an entire episode. So we got some more development of two other plotlines: Aaron’s back on the grid and on his way to Afghanistan; Olivia and Lloyd are bumping up against each other. I thought the play-date manipulation on the part of the kiddos was charming, but I’m feeling kid-happy these days. Aaron’s quest is sort of interesting, but on the whole I’d rather see episodes that focus on these stories more completely. Just a Demetri episode, or just an Aaron episode—that’d be nice.

All in all, though, this was a pretty good transitional episode. We’re left with quite a cliffhanger: can Frost really fit two entire people into the back of a Citroen?

Little Joe’s final analysis was that it wasn’t awful, and he asked if I had anymore saved on the DVR—he looked sad when I said no. But he also said that he couldn’t really get into the stakes of the show. It just didn’t grab him. It’s not really grabbing any new viewers: the ratings keep sinking.

Flashes:

• Mark Benford sounded very Texan in the opening flashback. Joe says: “His accent makes no sense.”

• Marcy the Mole was supposed to leak the Mosaic information to the Bad Guys. But isn’t Mosaic online, for anyone to play with the data and see what’s going on?

• Joe says: “Is Air Force One dirty?”

• Randy Savage is a pro wrestler. They should have picked someone that most of us didn’t have to Google.

• No Keiko or Bryce this episode.

• The spinning roulette wheel was our Significant Object of the Week. It’s a metaphor for fate. ‘Where it stops, nobody knows.’

Quotes:

• Mark: “If you think I’ve been making good choices lately, you’re crazier than I thought.”

• Demetri: “There’s not a chance in hell I would ever go out with you.” Ah, a meet-cute.

• Lloyd: “I can offer you a carton of milk that expired yesterday, some juice boxes, or a bottle of gin.”

• Olivia: “You did not just compare yourself to Lancelot.”
Lloyd: “Believe me, the other comparison was between protons and neutrons, and under the circumstances I went with the stronger choice.”

• Mark: “There’s a method here. We just don’t understand it yet.”

Two and a half out of four tiny European cars.

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

1 comment:

  1. I'm hoping they won't kill Demetri because after ruining Janis with the mole stuff i won't be able to bear losing John Cho too. Who else would i be left rooting for? Well that question seems to be a moot point with the ratings the show is getting.

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