Overall: 8.0
To what depths would you sink in the name of love? In this solid showing, some shocking answers to this question are presented.
Spoilers after the jump!
Plot Synopsis:
Off the Grid: Aaron tracks his daughter down in a local bar and, with impeccable logic, convinces her that she will be much safer if she stays sober and at home. Unfortunately for Tracy, this turns out not to be the case. Aaron lets slip to Mike Willingham that Tracy is alive, and Mike immediately tips off Jericho. In the middle of preparing dinner, Tracy is drugged, packed in a box, and shipped off to Afghanistan.
When Aaron comes home and discovers that Tracy has been taken, he quickly puts two and two together and seeks out Mike. He finds the former soldier packing up for a move and offers to buy him a burger. Aaron drives Mike to an out-of-the-way place, then opens a can of you-know-what on the kid, threatening to break Mike's arm if Mike doesn't tell him where the goons from Jericho took Tracy. Then, after gagging Mike and stuffing him in the back of his pick-up, Aaron heads over to the home of Jericho's head of operations, James Erskine, where he cuts off Erskine's power. Aaron demands to know where Tracy is, but Erskine feigns ignorance. In response, Aaron explicitly declares war.
Outside the Erskine property, Aaron uses his laptop to listen in on Erskine's phone line. He hears that Tracy is being held in Kandahar. Then he hears Erskine order his man to "take care of the father". Aaron hangs Mike upside down outside Erskine's kitchen window as a warning, then calls Mark, letting his friend know that as of now, he will be "off the grid." Presumably, we will next see Aaron in Afghanistan.
Zoey Takes Matters into Her Own Hands: Knowing now that what she saw was not her wedding but Demetri's memorial service, Zoey is determined to prevent that possible future from coming to pass. First, she visits Mark, asking him if there is any situation that would drive him to kill Demetri. Mark emphatically denies that he would ever harm Demetri -- unless he should turn out to be the company mole, that is. "Well, if we're playing 'Wild Accusations'..." he snarks as Zoey storms out.
Later, Zoey shows up at the office with lunch for Demetri and a FOIA request for Wedeck. Wedeck refuses to give Zoey the files on the Mosaic investigation, but Zoey pulls out her big lawyerly guns and forces Wedeck to comply. Demetri is distinctly unhappy that his fiance is rooting around in his business - particularly when Zoey decides to represent Alda Herzog in the hopes of wresting information regarding Demetri's murder from the detainee - but Zoey defends herself by declaring that she will stop at nothing to make sure that Demetri is alive for their wedding day. "I'm scared," she admits, and Demetri softens, agreeing to go down to the evidence locker to personally destroy the fated murder weapon.
At the end of the episode, however, Demetri discovers that someone has made off with Mark's gun. Eeep!
On the Matter of D. Gibbons & Somalia: Meanwhile, Mark calls Lloyd Simcoe back in for questioning. Mark believes Lloyd knows who D. Gibbons is, but Lloyd denies this charge even when he is shown an artist's rendition. Mark then asks Lloyd to run through every detail of his flashforward. During this retelling, we learn - among other things - that Lloyd received a text message from Simon containing a portion of a mathematical formula that Lloyd had written in lipstick on Mark's bedroom mirror - the "QED". Mark again asks Lloyd why he called D. Gibbons a liar in his flashforward, and Lloyd finally lets it slip that he does know who the man is: Dyson Frost, a scientist who stole Lloyd's work on wave mechanics years ago. Lloyd further admits to Mark that he gave his torturers all of the specs of his research project to protect his son. Mark tells Lloyd that Dylan will be safer if the scientist continues to cooperate.
Armed with a name, Mark discovers that Dyson Frost published a paper describing the consciousness of crows. He presents this new information to Wedeck in the hopes that Wedeck will agree to green-light a trip to Somalia. Agent Vogel is ultimately the one who persuades Wedeck to clear the mission, remarking offhand that it is better to ask for forgiveness later than to ask for permission and be rebuffed. Mark, though, will not be going to Somalia; Vogel claims he wants to protect what's in Mark's head. Instead, a team consisting of Vogel, Janis, Demetri and Simon - who convinces Vogel to let him participate at the last minute - will make the trip.
Other Developments: Janis has now signed on as a patient at a fertility clinic. And we also learn that Aaron has done some time in prison for assault.
Writing: 8.5
In filling in Aaron Stark's back story, the writers have made him a far more interesting character than he has been previously - and having him go completely off the rails for his daughter's sake was an extremely compelling risk for the writers to take.
Overall, there is a unity of theme in this episode that is striking enough to deserve praise. Not only does Aaron resort to kidnapping, assault, and intimidation to get Tracy back, but we also have Zoey's making deals with an alleged terrorist to avert her fiance's murder and Lloyd's admitting to giving up his scientific secrets to protect his son. In each case, the characters involved are discovering just how far they are willing to go to safeguard someone they love.
Acting: 8.5
I disliked O'Byrne at first, but he is now starting to grow on me. His flashback sequences in this episode were very well done - particularly his reaction to the news of his daughter's "death." Meanwhile, I remain quite impressed with the work of both Christine Woods and Gabrielle Union, who bring a lot of genuine emotion to their respective roles.
Message: 7.0
I continue to appreciate the main characters' drive to change the future as they have seen it. But I can tell this is going to be a series for which I will sometimes have to grin and bear things that bother me - the seemingly unavoidable Hollywood stamps. I'm happy to do so - the show is just so suspenseful and so well made that I would hate to dismiss it on account of a few annoyances - but that doesn't mean I won't use this space to point out said stamps whenever I see them.
I've already mentioned before that I am less than enthused by the roles both the CIA and Jericho (a.k.a. the typical military contractor boogeyman) play in FlashForward's unfolding arc, and this week's episode has not made me any more sanguine regarding future developments. In addition - and I hate to say this - Janis' plot is filled with more Hollywood sentiment than clear thinking. Janis' scenes in this episode are well written, well performed, and emotionally affecting -- but in the cold light of day, they also feel a little selfish. Children are not supposed to be brought into this world to satisfy an adult's quest for "meaning" - and they are certainly not something we are entitled to. When you bring forth a child, you are taking on the lifelong responsibility of caring for a little person with his or her own soul. Can Janis handle this monumental task on her own? I am skeptical; indeed, I think it's a mistake for shows like House and FlashForward to glorify deliberate single motherhood as "just another lifestyle choice."
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