Lower Decks

I described FlashForward last week as a “safe” show.  It was a term I saw used by another reviewer, but it generally meant that the show wasn’t taking any risks and not showing us too much (in fear we wouldn’t like it).  I thought it fit for the first two episodes, but I think this episode finally took the show’s first bold step – its first risk.

One of the things I’ve liked about the show so far is the contradictory nature of the flashforwards.  I thought, when first watched, that the flashforwards are written in stone.  That, perhaps, the debate of the show would be whether or not the future could be altered.

And while that’s already been played a lot (primarily through Mark’s family), this week’s episode brought into question whether or not the future from the flashforwards was even real.

Note that Demitri’s fiancee (Zoe, played by Gabrielle Union) saw a vision of her wedding day, and she claims to see him there.  We know this is supposed to be impossible, based on the evidence that says he will be murdered before the flashforwards take place.  If Demitri was at the wedding but didn’t see it himself, it would be the first (and, so far, the only) time that the visions don’t add up.

Of course, there are explanations for Zoe’s vision – we see the image ourselves, and Zoe was too far away from the group of people at the ceremony to make out any faces.  Perhaps Zoe is simply going through with the ceremony despite Demitri’s death, or maybe she’s marrying another man.  Or maybe the flashforwards are all possible futures, and they just happen to intersect for certain people.

Then there’s Aaron, the most desperate figure in the show, who’s trying to prove that the vision of his daughter (alive, even though the military said she was killed) is true.  He asks Mark for a favor – to get Tracy’s (the daughter) body exhumed.  He’s successful, but it’s said that the body matched the DNA on record.

Again, there are explanations that could make things work.  Maybe Aaron saw a twin daughter that he didn’t know he had, or maybe the military made a mistake on the DNA file.  Or, again, maybe the flashforwards aren’t the true fate that we thought they were.

It’s just interesting to have that in there as a possibility, especially since I didn’t think it was one when the show first started.

The other interesting twist came at the end, when it was discovered that a similar blackout might have happened in Somalia in 1991.  It all started with information provided by a former Nazi, who claimed that he could explain why the blackouts lasted for exactly 137 seconds.

That information, along with most of the Nazi’s information, didn’t seem very relevant – that the characters that make up the word “Kaballah” make up 137.  This hints at a religious connection to the flashforwards, but the numbering seems arbitrary.  His other information, that as soon as he woke up, he saw a “murder” of dead crows in the jail yard, is a little more fruitful.

Mark asks Janice (who, throughout the episode, is upset and angry about allowing the mass-murderer to walk in exchange for potentially-irrelevant information) to investigate any similar mass-deaths for crows.  The biggest one they could find was connected to another supposed instance of mass loss of consciousness in Somalia.  A flashback at the end of the episode confirms that something like that happened.

And that’s one of the things that makes the episode interesting.  It’s certainly not the “John Locke” moment that I am looking for, but it certainly says something about the show.  That the flashforwards weren’t an isolated and/or unique event is pretty big, and the investigation into the previous blackouts is something I’m really looking forward to.

A very strange thing, however, was the image of the bird that seemed to fly over the Somali savanna during the 1991 blackout.  It’s one of the biggest clues that we’ve received, so far, but I can’t tell you what it means.  All we know is that birds are some sort of key to this phenomenon, and I’m guessing they’ll play a part in the endgame.

Outside of that, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the episode.  I thought the ex-Nazi stuff was interesting, but it was a bit infuriating to see the Nazi’s information be so vague.  I was hoping that it would be a bit more descriptive, but I’m guessing that’s too much to ask for in the third episode of a series.

Demitri’s arc was also pretty interesting – he’s obviously shook up about the idea that he’ll die in the future, but Zoe’s presence seems to calm him down a bit.  He embraces the future a bit more after learning that Zoe saw him in her flashforward, a bit more confident that he might not die after all.

There was also the little piece featuring the wife of Stan, the FBI director, acknowledging that she’s adopted a little child she’s never seen.  At the memorial for agents that died in the blackouts, she sees him for the first time, much like Olivia’s interaction with Lloyd from last week.

All in all, the show is progressing.  They didn’t do as much of the “flashback to the flashforward” stuff this week, and that was good.  My fear, though, is that there might be too many characters.  Every character seems to have a couple of minor characters connected to them, and I’m guessing that casual viewers will get a bit confused if the show isn’t careful.  I kept notes for the episode, and I had to write down a few names that I couldn’t remember whenever they were mentioned.

And the character list we have doesn’t even include Dominic Monaghan’s character, who has still yet to appear.  Although his appearance is another thing that I’m looking forward to.

All in all, a pretty solid episode.  Hopefully my next review will be on time, and we can get back on track this week.