Mark makes his way into the desert. Per Frost's instructions, Mark grabs a compass and a bottle of water, and heads out into the hills. He meets Frost, who pulls a gun on him and says, "It's time
for you and me to save the world." With an hour and a half remaining before the gun fires (did anyone else have flashbacks to that God-awful "V" countdown clock that aired during Lost?), mark asks why, if Frost wants to turn himself in, he hasn't just gone to the FBI. Frost explains that he can't trust the FBI, and neither should Mark. Mark explains that they caught the mole, but Frost simply scoffs. He throws a pair of handcuffs at Mark's feet and tells him to put them on. Mark asks if he can take a drink of water first. Frost doesn't see why not, so Mark sips his curiously yellow water. He bends to pick up the handcuffs, but looks up and spits the water into Frost's face. Frost yelps in pain -- it isn't water, but gasoline siphoned from Mark's gas tank. Mark disarms Frost and demands to know where Demetri is. Frost yells that he told Charlie all of the information Mark needs. "We are running out of time!" Mark pleads with Frost, not wanting to deal with the lunatic's games any longer. "The whole world is running out of time!" Frost retorts. Mark demands again to know where Demetri is, but he is distracted by a glint on the horizon. Frost sees it too, but it is too late. A shot rings out and slams into Frost's chest. Alda, the gunman, hops on her motorcycle and speeds away. As Frost begins to fade, Mark demands to know more answers. Where is Demetri? When will be the next blackout? All Frost can answer is, "I did what I did for a reason," before he expires. Mark looks in Frost's bag for any clues as to where Demetri might be held. He pulls a number of photos and schematics from the bag, recognizing each one from the office board in his flash. Finding nothing immediately useful, he goes back to the car and its GPS system. Mark calls up the recent destinations, and sees one that reminds him of something: an address on Ingres Street. Ingres was the painter of the Oedipus painting Frost gave Charlie. Mark reenters the address and speeds off.
With four minutes remaining, Mark arrives at the address on Ingres St. When he finally gets cell phone service, he calls FBI headquarters, he informs Janis and Wedeck where he is, but that there are a number of warehouses and he doesn't know which contains Demetri. They relay to him (thanks to Zoey who is at the FBI), that he should find Building 7. With Janis' help on the satellite image, Mark finds his partner. Demetri quickly tells him about the trap's mechanisms. Mark pus his finger between the trigger and the firing mechanism, and grips the gun with the other hand to try to move it's aim. Both men note their situation. Mark says, "My hand. My gun. Just like Nhadra said." With the clock winding down, Mark desperately tries to figure out a solution. Demetri tells him, that no matter how the situation turns out, "No regrets, Mark." Mark remembers what Frost said, that he gave Charlie all the information he needs to free Demetri. Noticing the red and blue wires, Mark thinks of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Mark decides to remove the red wire, and then the blue wire. Having done so, he can now move the gun without setting it off automatically. With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Mark slowly raises the gun. The laser sight moves up Demetri's chest to his forehead. 3...2...1...BANG, BANG, BANG!! The mechanism pushed Mark's fingers into the trigger, firing the gun. Fortunately, the three shots narrowly passed over Demetri's head, hitting a picture of Demetri on Frost's diagram. The men joke to release the tension, but figure Demetri might still be in danger if he gets out of the chair. Mark tells him to stay low as he quickly pulls Demetri from the chair. When he does, water sprinklers open on the diagram, washing it all away.
Olivia and Vreede make their way to a neurologist's office (it's Elvin from The Cosby Show!). They found the doctor's address book amongst the victim's belongings. The doctor explains that it had been stolen from him. Vreede asks if the doctor knows of any patient that may have been the culprit. Unfortunately, he honestly can't think of anyone. Outside the neurologist's office, Vreede and Olivia stand in line from a coffee cart. When Olivia goes to order, a slightly disheveled man spits out Olivia's order before she does. His name is Gabriel, and he tells her that what he just ordered her is what she orders all the time. Olivia replies that she's never been to that coffee cart before. Gabriel says that she's been in that line before, and that he's been behind her...in that line...on that day...many times before. He continues, saying he was part of the Raven River experiments, and that it was his friend that texted her. Gabriel leaves, shouting to Olivia, "Dominoes are falling, Olivia," leaving her in stunned silence.
The FBI is in Frost's warehouse collecting evidence. With Demetri embracing Zoey, Janis makes her way to the wall. She asks what was on it. Mark explains Frost's "garden of forking paths," concluding that all of the paths led to one point at the top of the wall: the date December 12, 2016, simply marked "The End."
Commentary
Well, OK! Now that was a great episode of FlashForward! The plot moved quickly, there was some great action, a jail escape, the death of a major player (Frost), some snappy dialogue, and very little Bryce or Nicole (I kid, I kid). This is the type of episode that should have been the hallmark of the series in the fall. While it was light on character development -- which has been one of the major improvements of the series' spring return -- the speed at which the episode moved was an effective substitute. Further, there were really only two plots during the episode: Mark/Demetri/Frost and Olivia/Vreede. Yes, there was the Zoey/Alda "C" Story, but this was really a subset of the Mark/Demtri story. having a tighter focus allowed the episode to freely move between the two stories without losing momentum in either. When there are three, four or five plots that need to be serviced in an hour, there can literally be 30 to 35 minutes in between a given character's scenes. It becomes impossible to remember what the heck was going on, and really breaks the episode into much smaller, non-integrated parts. This was the first time in a long time that I couldn't believe an hour of FF had flown by. I, honestly, can't speak any higher for the tone and flow of this episode.
As far as what specifically happened in the episode, as almost all FF viewers believed, Demetri survived. There was just no way they were going to kill John Cho off. Although the outcome was predictable, I enjoyed the manner in which the outcome was arrived. Yes, the Saw deathtrap was a bit silly, but I liked the way Mark was forced into the exact situation (his hand on his gun, pointing at Demetri) he and Demetri most feared. I also loved the fact that the sprinklers washed away Frost's "garden" when Demetri came off the chair. Nice idea and great execution. Lastly, I really enjoyed the introduction of some not-too-distant doomsday. The creators of the series said that they had six or seven seasons planned in advance, and this was evidence to support that claim. Unfortunately, most of the rumors swirling around the show speak to the series' imminent demise, but if they have another few episodes this season that are like this week's, they just might earn themselves a reprieve and a renewal for Season Two.
So, what did you think about "The Garden of Forking Paths"? Did you enjoy it as much as I did? Did you miss Nicole, Lloyd or Simon? Are you glad Demetri is safe? What do you think will happen on December 12, 2016? Drop your questions, comments and theories below. Be sure to check out TVOvermind.com for promos and photos for next week's episode of FlashForward, and all of your television needs. I will see you next week for another recap. Until then, I'm off to make sure my work isn't sloppy.
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I love this show! I wouldn't want it to be cancelled :(
This was a great episode. I am so glad Demitri was not killed off. Also, you can definately tell that Olivia and Marks's marriage is probably over. She was pretty cold to Mark in the office and she hasn't tried to change her flashforward with LLoyd especially after going to his house knowing what was going to happen. I hope they catch on to Janis as the other mole quickly before she does alot of damage. I think this is a great show and I hope ABC decides to give it another season.
The elaborate deathtrap thing kind of jumped the shark. If the mechanism was simply set to push on the trigger to fire the gun, jamming something behind the trigger would have kept it from firing. Mark's wallet, keys, gun barrel, anything wide enough to keep the trigger from moving. Dumb!