I have to tell you that I'm really hoping this show can deliver what it has promised. So far I have not been disappointed, but I've lowered my expectations. Flashforward is not LOST and despite the hype that it was going to grab our imaginations in the same way as LOST has, we need to let go of our favorite castaway mysteries and embrace what we have been gifted. Admittedly, I am not spending as much time trying to delve into the mysteries as I do with LOST. I am, however, truly enjoying Flashforward.
Gimme Some Truth is a song written by John Lennon in either the late 60's early 70's about governmental corruption. This was our first clue that we might see some hint of governmental conspiracy and boy were we ever given a treat! Practically every federal agency is investigating the GBO and each one has a different idea as to the cause, from possible airborne psychogenic substances to aliens to the CIA's assurances that it was China. Am I the only one who found the exchange between the CIA director and Senator Clemente as laughable as the guy who claimed Aliens caused the GBO?
I'm not going to do a chronological recap today, and you'll see why later. First let's deal with Olivia and the fact that she is not only feeling the stress of her own flash, but that of her husband's as well. She overhears Aaron talking to Mark on the phone and telling him to go to a meeting. Just a friendly reminder, he tells her, but also reminds her of trust. She needs to trust the strength of her marriage and, ultimately her husband. Time will tell if she can let go of her fear and hold on to that trust.
Which brings us to Janice and the revelation that she is gay. It really wasn't a surprise since she neither confirmed nor denied it in 137 Sekunden when Geyer confronted her about the ring on her left thumb. Janice sure can kick butt though. She's still one of my favorite characters. We meet Maya, Janice's current lover. It isn't clear if their relationship began after the GBO, or before the event, but Maya checks Janice's MOSAIC profile and uses it to push Janice for a more committed relationship, which backfires and has Janice breaking off the relationship, but not before Maya gives her a talking clock.
Gough, Janice and another FBI employee are working on the information hacked from the CIA, during which they find the appearance of five pylons being built in Somalia over a period of five months just prior to the event in Ganwar. They let Mark, Dimitri and Vdeek know about it, and continue their search.
We start with crashing cars, grenade launchers and big booms, then rewind to 39 hours earlier, where Mark, Vdeek, Dimitri and Wedeck are in Washington DC to testify at the newest witch hunt trials and beg for funding. I found it downright intimidating that they had to not only give statements but subject themselves to a lie detector test. Are those things even admissible, let alone reliable?
Stan Wedeck is friends with the President and some very powerful and influential people in DC, most likely relationships forged during his time in DC years earlier. It is abundantly clear that he hates the city and is not pleased to be back. Obviously he left under bad terms six years earlier and it's left a foul aftertaste that he can't get rid of. The President is slick and apologetic to Stan. Later he offers Stan the job of Director of Homeland Security and tells Stan to think about it.
Very quickly we learn that Senator Clemente has an axe to grind and her main target is Stan Wedeck. There's very bad blood between them and she was only waiting for his body to go floating by on it's way down the river. This is when my 13 year old daughter called her a very bad name and I realized that perhaps I need to spend some time working with her on her vocabulary. We learn that Wedeck worked for President Segovia during his campaign several years earleir. We also learn that Clemente may have been running against Segovia for either the Presidency or the candidacy. Either way, she lost and blames Wedeck for that loss.
Clemente drills Wedeck, and then pounds Mark into near oblivion. I was put off by her pit bull demeanor, and found it difficult to accept the way she was going after Stan and his team. Really, she only mocked the CIA for their China theory and I didn't see a report on "their" lie detector tests sitting on the table.
Wedeck has not always been a good person and has done some things in the past that he is not proud of. We see that clearly. He does, however, stand by his actions and refuses to back down. I think he is trying to be the man he was before his stint in Washington jaded him, and we see this when he turns his back on the job offer and instead blackmails his friend to get the funding he needs. His faith is so solid in their investigation, that he is willing to put his career and life on the line.
Speaking of putting one's career on the line, I can't imagine how devastated Stan was when Mark finally confessed that he was drunk during his flash. Stan had taken a leap of faith, and despite getting concrete results, he realizes that he just may have blackmailed his friend, and the President, for nothing more than a drunken haze. In the end, I feel that his faith and trust will be justified. Mark and Stan work through their differences and agree that no-one else will know.
Which brings us back to the start point of Gimme Some Truth. The four agents are heading home, and Mark is talking to Janice on the phone when the coordinated attacks occur. The big black SUV crashes into the car, backs up, the doors open and someone opens up a can of whup on our agents. Thankfully they just barely manage to escape the car before the explosion and come out guns blazing, chasing their would be assassins from the parking lot. I really loved the cover of Dylan's Rolling Stone playing during this scene, considering Vdeek and Dimitri were singing it earlier in the karaoke bar.
Olivia receives an anonymous text message telling her that Mark was drunk in his vision. Only two people know the details of Mark's vision. I'm going to let you speculate as to who spilled the beans about Mark's little omission.
At the same time, Janice is heading home when she is attacked. At first she takes on two guys and really kicks some bad boy rear like no other. Unfortunately she is shot and falls to the ground, remembering her own flash and likely realizing it may never happen, but not before getting off a shot of her own and taking down one of her attackers. The little alarm clock was poignant as it tracked her blood into circles on the pavement, telling her to wake up.
QUESTIONS:
Why the constant references to all things Chinese? First the "Chinese fire drill", then the CIA's obsession with China being at the root of the GBO, and then the attackers were largely Asian.
Was that guy administering the lie detector test serious when he asked Mark if he recognized the masked men invading his office? Am I the only one watching who wanted to slap the guy upside the head and call him dodo?
What more has Stan done in the name of his friend's Presidential campaign that Clemente can drag through the mud? He had to have done far more than pay off an ex-mistress to disappear for Clemente to be that angry at him.
Karaoke? Really? People still do that? Really?
If Sagovia is President in his vision, and Clemente is President in her vision, who's vision is true? And what has happened? Does that mean that some visions are "wishful thinking"?
If Janice survives (I think she will) will she re-evaluate her life and start that family? And wouldn't it be a smart move to have Maya bear the child considering Janice's line of work?
Who ordered the hit on the LA FBI field office agents? It has to be someone powerful and knowledgeable of where these people would be at that point in the day. Clemente? President Sagovia? A really pissed off Maya?
What else has Stan done to help his friend win the Presidency? Why did the President make him leave DC so long ago and what happened that caused him to despise the city.
Now that Sagovia has chosen Clemente as VP, do you think he should order a knife and bullet proof suit just to be on the safe side? Maybe employ the occasional human shield?
Will the mistress take off to Puerto Rico now?
Is it possible that the government knows exactly what caused the GBO and how it happened, but they (meaning the CIA) are not saying. Could it be possible that the government may have had an active hand in the cause?
QUOTABLE QUOTES!
"Did you recognize the men? - Lie Detector Dude
"I did mention they were wearing masks, right?" - Mark
"That's just Congress masturbating to the sound of it's own voice" - Sagovia
"Is Oprah building a school?" - Dimitri
"..be quiet, the grown ups are talking." - Janice
"If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by...Are you ready to float, Wedeck?" - Clemente
"If my fifth grade teacher could see me now. She always said I'd end up either dead or in jail." - Vdeek
"There's time, my friend, there's still time." - Dimitri
"Wake up. It's time to get up. Wake up." - alarm clock
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
In reference to my earlier question regarding both Sagovia and Clemente having visions of being President at the same time. Something to remember, though, is that we have not yet seen Clemente's vision, so we have to take her at her word (if that's possible)
In his vision we see President Segovia awakened by a Secret Service dude, who calls him President and tells him that something has happened.
It is my understanding that former presidents are addressed as "President" even after their terms are up and they have moved out of public office. It can be possible that both visions were true, but from different points of view.
The crows have popped up again, and I think we can't dismiss them too quickly. It is said that crows have extremely high intelligence (greater than Clemente's Senate Intelligence Committee?) and are a harbinger of the health of our environment.
Now that we saw a carload of nasty dudes open fire on a carload of FBI agents in a parking garage, the prospect of two armed men entering an FBI office seems that much more possible, doesn't it? Just asking.
Next week's episode is called Scary Monsters And Super Creeps. How appropriate considering it will air just two days before Halloween.
