FlashForward, 1x13, “Blowback”

Episode Title: Blowback
Writers: Lisa Zwerling and Barabara Nance

Director: Constantine Makris

Originally Aired: 03/25/2010
Grade: B

This episode was a bit slow, and also had the likely unintentional effect of making several characters look like idiots.

I’m glad that Mark pointed it out, but we still never really got an answer as to why Lloyd withheld information about the possibility of another blackout, the formula, the QED, and so on. Obviously he knew it would be awkward to share that given the marital issues element, but for a guy who seemed pretty damn upset about killing 20 million people, I would have expected him to suck it up and spill the info without being forced to.

Also, Aaron is a moron for revealing to Mike that not only is Tracey alive, but she’s staying at his house. Seriously, Aaron has all the same information that I have, and I knew he was a Jericho spy.

I think that’s one of the show’s biggest problems. It’s one thing for viewers to figure things out because we have access to a wider network of information than the characters do. It’s quite another thing when a character has all the same information that viewers have, and they still can’t make an obvious connection. For another example, Mark knows that he was drunk in his flash-forward and doesn’t remember everything. He also knows that someone texted Olivia about his drinking. It doesn’t occur to him that there might be a connection? Even if that’s not the correct assumption, he should still have thought of it! These people are too stupid to have so much responsibility…

Going back to Aaron for a moment, I’m glad that he didn’t kill Mike. Stringing him up outside the house like a trussed pig was still an “unpredictable psycho” move with the added benefit of being difficult for the guy to explain the his family. I doubt they have much of an idea what hubby/daddy does for a living.

Demetri’s anger over Zoey prying into the Mosaic investigation was never really explained, probably because if we actually knew why, we couldn’t think that he’s anxious because he’s afraid Zoey will figure out that he’s a mole. Even though the reason for omitting his motivation is obvious, I still choose to believe he’s not the mole. I’ll fanwank that he felt like she was (somewhat unintentionally) questioning the FBI’s competence, and by association, his own competence. He was probably also afraid that her investigation might get her killed along with him.

I loved the baby talk between Dem and Janis. I wonder if that’s going anywhere? She’s going to have a hard time getting preggers in Somalia…

Other Stuff

-So Dyson Frost got his hands on Lloyd’s work before it was published, which sounds a lot like what happened with Simon’s work in the early 90s.

-I’m sad that Demetri and Zoey have no chemistry. He has more chemistry with Janis the lesbian. Dem is snarky and kind of sexy—he’s the guy viewers want to seeing sharing UST with someone, not saddled with a boring and annoyingly sincere fiancé.