Another episode of FlashForward tonight on Five. There’s so many plot strands ongoing at the moment that the “previously on FlashForward” section seemed to take up half the episode this week.
One of those strands you might have forgotten about was Jericho, the mysterious private military contractor. They were involved in a massacre in Afghanistan which they tried to cover up by blowing up the Humvee in which Aaron’s daughter Tracy and her friend Mike were travelling. She secretly made her way out of the country when she was thought to have been killed.
The episode starts with a flashback to 1994, where a very young Tracy is visiting Aaron in prison. Later, we see the moment, two years ago, when Aaron was told of Tracy’s death, and then her funeral, when Aaron started drinking more than ever. In the present day, Tracy is going to bars and starting to drink almost as much as her father used to. He tells her to stay at home, where it will be safer in case Jericho are looking for her, as she believes. At work, Aaron tells Mike that Tracy is alive and at home. Suddenly, two men knock her unconscious and take her away in a box. Aaron instantly makes the connection with what he told Mike, and takes him to a remote spot where he beats him to a pulp.
Mark gets Lloyd to talk through his side of the phone call in his flashforward, when he remembers an equation was written in lipstick in the bedroom mirror. It’s an awkward moment for both of them. He knows who D Gibbons is – his real name is Dyson Frost, Lloyd remembers he saw him giving a lecture, passing off Lloyd’s theories as his own, before later apparently dying, but actually faking his own death and changing his name. Lloyd has no idea why Mark’s daughter Charlie knows that “D Gibbons is a bad man”.
Janis goes to a fertility clinic, desperately wanting to have the baby she saw in her flashforward despite the doctors saying it’s too early. She wants that particular baby, no other, and she needs to conceive in a week’s time for everything to match up with what she saw.
Aaron pays a visit to James Urskin, the founder of Jericho, pretending to be there to fix a power cut, but actually bugging his telephone. He asks where his daughter is, but Urskin says he has no idea what he is talking about. Later, he overhears on the phone that Tracy is in Khandahar, which helps to make sense of his vision, and then hears Urskin say “get rid of the father”. Following this, Mike’s mobile phone rings, so Aaron hangs him upside-down outside Urskin’s window.
Meanwhile, Demetri tells Zoe about Mark’s gun being used to kill him, and is determined to do all she can to get information to prevent it from happening. She requests files under the freedom of information act, much to Stan and even Demetri’s annoyance, questions Mark about why he might pull the trigger, and finds some information she thinks is useful in the testimony of Alda, the terrorist suspect arrested in the pilot episode. She interviews Alda, and makes a deal to represent her in exchange for information which could save Demetri.
Together, Zoe and Demetri go to collect Mark’s gun from the evidence locker, to destroy it once and for all, but when they get there they find that the gun is missing.
Not a bad episode overall, lots happening, and there’s the feeling that the writers are finally trying to make sense of the complicated mess of plot threads that were left before the mid-season break. Not perfect, but there is at least some momentum in the show now. One other thing about this episode – really, really poor ADR. Huge chunks of it were like a poorly dubbed kung fu movie.
Next week (hopefully) it looks like Simon, Janis and perhaps Demetri or CIA agent Vogel will be going to Somalia, which should prove to be interesting.
Transmission 