Monday, April 19, 2010

FlashForward, 1x15, “Queen Sacrifice”

Episode Title: Queen Sacrifice
Writers: Byron Belasco and Timothy J. Lea
Director: Bobby Roth
Originally Aired: 04/08/2010
Grade: A

I thought this was a pretty fun episode, despite some questionable plot twists.


For example: Mark does some retarded code-breaking bullshit with a chess tournament Dyson Frost played in almost 25 years ago, figuring out that the chess moves form a code that yields a phone number when de-coded. He decides that he and Demetri should go and visit the guy Frost played the chess game against, but before they leave, Mark calls the new phone number and leaves a message for Frost. Then they go to San Francisco to question Frost’s opponent and find him murdered.


My first thought was, “No shit! By calling the number, you tipped off Frost that you’d found the guy.” Mark’s first thought was that the FBI has a mole. I think Mark’s guess actually makes more sense, because it seems pretty clear that the entire point of Frost playing the chess game in order to encode the phone number was to lead Mark and Dem to his opponent—Frost wanted them to find the guy and question him, otherwise why set the whole thing up in the first place? And why not kill the guy years ago rather than waiting for Mark to make that phone call? Still, that’s a lot of mental steps to expect viewers to make, and I’d guess that many had thoughts along the lines of my first guess and were confused as to why Mark was suddenly hell-bent on finding a mole.


As for Janis being a second mole, it seems pretty likely, particularly because she’s the one who found the security footage of Suspect Zero, who we know was Simon. Getting caught on the security camera was pretty much the only reason for Simon to be at the stadium wearing a fancy blackout immunity ring in the first place, and Janis is the one who led the FBI straight to that clue. Also, it seems like the "Queen Sacrifice" metaphor only works if Janis really is a mole.


Factually, Janis being a second mole is fine. There's actually some evidence that points in that direction, so if it's a retcon, it's a good one according to the facts. Tonally, though, it just feels... not right. I guess I just didn't like the "sudden face of Eeevil" she pulled there, because it's like we were supposed to think that everything human and vulnerable that we've seen about her so far is somehow a lie, and this narrow-eyed, calculating bitch is the "real" Janis.


This sort of character reveal also kind of breaks the fourth wall for me, because it makes me think, "Oh, so the cameras were only rolling when she was doing normal stuff like obsessing about her baby and going on dates, not when she was doing nefarious bad guy stuff. How convenient."

I do hope that's it's all a misdirect on her part, or at least that there's more to it, because she's my second favorite character, and she's possibly pregnant with my favorite character's baby. If it's not handled well, I won't exactly be mourning the show's cancellation.


This episode also addressed the Keiko/Bryce/Nicole storyline, and I’m beginning to think that Bryce and Keiko’s flash-forward isn’t the joyful first meeting of soul mates that they’ve both interpreted it to be. Maybe they’re so happy to meet because their search for one another led them both to love with other people. Bryce might never have grown so close to Nicole if they hadn’t started bonding over trying to help Bryce find Keiko, and Keiko never would have come to America to meet the cute mechanic if she wasn’t looking for Bryce. Obviously the mechanic saw something in his flash-forward that he didn’t want to talk about, but there’s no denying that he and Keiko had some chemistry.


Other Stuff


-Was the supposed security detail on Olivia and Charlie really what it seemed to be? Usually when the wife calls the hubby’s voicemail to thank him for the thoughtful security detail, hubby later listens to said voicemail and is like, “What security detail? Shit!”


-What was up with no one bothering to unmask Marcy’s dead getaway motorcyclist? I wanted to see his face, and there was even a lingering shot of his dead body, so I’m hoping it’s not a completely dropped plot point.

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