Back in the present, Mark finds Janis in the office. He asks her what is up with her lately; she hasn't been herself lately. Janis confesses that she is pregnant. Mark offers his congratulations. "Your
flash forward is coming true," he says with a hint of dread about the meaning of flashes coming true to his own life. She continues, telling Mark that there was a question about the health of the baby, and that's why she has lost her edge. Everything is fine, though, so she wants Mark to know that he can count on her. He assures Janis that he has never doubted her. They move on, trying to review everything they know about Frost. Mark repeats Frost's final words. Janis says the meaning is obvious: clearly, Janis is going to save Mark's ass. Mark laughs, but wonders if maybe it is Olivia that will save him. They also remember that Frost was an expert chess player. Chess. Something dawns on Mark. He moves to the Mosaic board, and takes down the Queen chess piece. Noting that the Queen is also called "the Lady," he contemplates the figure. Grabbing a paperweight, Mark smashes the Queen. Amongst the resulting pieces, Mark finds an Alpha Ring, like the one given to Simon, Suspect Zero, the day of the blackout.
In Afghanistan, the contact drives Aaron toward the mountains under the cover of night. When they round a corner, they are met by an armed group. Aaron wonders if they are Taliban, but the contact doesn't know. Before they figure it out, the group fires on the truck, killing the contact. Aaron jumps out and seeks protection behind the truck. As the armed men advance on Aaron's position, an opposing group of armed men jump out and kill the men who fired on Aaron. Aaron is led from his position of safety by this new group. Once out in the open he sees a familiar face. It is Khamir. Aaron asks how Khamir found him. "You don't blend as well as you think," Khamir replies with a smile.
Olivia and Vreede arrive at the abandoned and boarded up Raven River hospital. Once inside, they split up. Olivia finds some files, but is startled when she sees Gabriel, who tells her that she's not going to find for that which she is searching. Hearing the commotion, Vreede runs to Olivia. Olivia asks Gabriel how he knew about the accident at the coffee stand. Gabriel begins rambling about how he saw the accident before. He's also seen Olivia and Lloyd, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. Gabriel then walks away into another room. "This is where they did it," he tells Olivia and Vreede. He explains that this room was where experiments were conducted on he and other patients. He remembers being strapped down, seizing, with electrodes attached to his head (this is the flash from the title card for the episode), and eventually falling unconscious. Gabriel points to a corner, "That's is where he watches." Vreede tells him that Frost was the doctor who conducted the experiments. Gabriel says Frost told them that they were special because they could remember the future. He continues, saying that Frost told his cohorts that the patients were to be killed after all of their flashes could be extracted. Vreede tells Gabriel that Frost can't hurt him anymore because Frost is dead. Gabriel smiles at the news. Olivia asks Gabriel why he's been following her all these years. He tells her that she's going the "wrong way." That every time he saw a flash during the experiments, he saw Olivia, and that she was always married to Lloyd. Harvard was a fork in the road, and she took the wrong path by not going to Harvard and marrying Mark. Gabriel ends his ramblings by telling Olivia that she is necessary -- the puzzle can't be solved without her.
At L.A. FBI headquarters, Lloyd and Simon have been brought in to speak to Mark, Janis, Wedeck and Vogel. Mark shows them the ring, and explains how it matches the one Suspect Zero was wearing. Simon betrays nothing as he rises with the "revelation" that the ring is a QED: Quantum Entanglement Device. Lloyd notes that this is what he and Mark are talking about in their flashes. He continues, surmising that the ring allows the wearer's mind to remain anchored in this consciousness and time when the blackout happens. Mark deduces that maybe the men he saw in his flash aren't coming for him, but rather, the ring. A look of concern quickly passes across Janis' face, and it is noticed by Vogel.
Two years before the blackout, Janis enters a restaurant. She makes her way to the back and sees Vogel sitting alone at a table. Vogel introduces himself and congratulates her on graduating from FBI training at Quantico earlier in the day. He is meeting with her regarding a special assignment. He's not with the FBI, but rather the CIA. The Bureau and Agency have never really seen eye to eye, so an attempt is being made to rectify that problem. The CIA has looked into the files of the twenty recent FBI graduates most-likely to flip to the other side for the right price. As Janis is financially strapped, gay and facing other difficulties, she is the most likely target. Janis immediately assures him that she loves her country and would never betray the Bureau or her fellow agents. Vogel knows, the Agency did their due diligence. The CIA believes something big is about to go down, so they need a "dangle," an agent that can be held out to the bad guys for recruitment. They need someone on the inside, and Vogel would like to know if Janis would be that double agent (really, a triple agent, as no one on the FBI would know she's a double agent). He warns her that the assignment won't be easy. She'll be in constant danger, will have to lie to her friends and colleagues, and will likely be asked to do something completely against her nature. "Are you capable of that?" Vogel asks.
In the present, Janis enters the pet store. She tells Carleen about the ring. Carleen informs her that she'll have to get it. Janis is incredulous; the ring is being held in a top security, underground vault in FBI headquarters. Carleen remind Janis that she has failed twice (not following Mark to find Frost, and not securing the blueprints), and she doesn't want to fail again. Janis will secure the ring. Janis turns to leave, but Carleen stops her at the door. "Oh, and we'll need you to kill Mark Benford."
Commentary
Coming off perhaps the best episode after the pilot last week, FlashForward was still firing on all cylinders. This week's episode was fast-paced, had a couple great reveals, and gave us the long-anticipated (at least by me!) backstory of Janis. Yes, like the Bryce/Nicole story, I could do without Aaron's plot, as it distracts from the more compelling mystery surrounding the blackout. At least some crumbs of a connection between the two plots were laid down by introducing the fact that Frost's photos had traces of Afghan soil on them. Regardless, the rest of the episode was so strong that the brief detours to see what Aaron was doing were inoffensive.
As was suspected when we first learned that Janis was a double agent, she is really a triple agent (I told you pregnant women can't be bad guys!). Although it could have been really hokey, this reveal was handled quite well. Not only did this story deepen our understanding of Janis and her motivations, it shone a big light onto the previously obscured man that is Vogel. Knowing that he is working with Janis to bring down the blackout conspirators, Vogel's future where he is telling someone that Mark is dead becomes all that more compelling. Is he saying that knowing it will be leaked to Carleen and the conspirators through Janis, and in the process, hiding the fact that Mark isn't dead? I've enjoyed the mystery surrounding Vogel, and this reveal only makes that mystery grow in a very positive way.
I also enjoyed the bit of comedy that was shining through here. Vreede was the proprietor of most of it. Namely, his comment about the condition/scariness of the abandoned hospital, and his playful flashing of the flashlight at Olivia were a couple well-needed lighthearted moments. The series has been so intense since its return that it can very much afford a comedic moment here and there (like Wedeck with Charlie and the jelly beans last week) to give the audience a chance to catch its breath. All in all, I thought this was a pretty good episode, and definitely one in the direction the series should be moving (especially if we never see Bryce, Nicole or Keiko, and maybe even Aaron and Tracy, ever again). My only regret is that this episode fell on April 29th, the day of the blackout; however, due to the show's spring premiere getting pushed back two weeks, the flashes did not occur in this episode. Oh well. I look forward to when they do happen in a couple weeks.
What did you all think of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"? Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did? What did you think about the reveal of "Janis as triple agent?" Are you worried about her baby? Are you enjoying Gabriel, or just finding him annoying? How do you think Olivia is central to solving he puzzle? Drop your questions, comments and theories below. Be sure to check out TVOvermind for any news about FlashForward and all of your TV needs. I will be back next week with another recap. Until then, I'm off to get full on popcorn.
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Afghanistan is not a distraction. Remember that the Jericho contractors have blue stars tattooed on their arms, and that men from Jericho delivered the QEDs to Flosso. I'm betting Aaron finds that the Afghan village that Jericho wiped out two years ago was another flashforward test site, like the Somali village.
I agree with you to a ceratin exten, I do remember the three-star guys. I mentioned toward the end of the recap that the connection back to Afghanistan exists in that the soil from Frost's photos was from Afghanistan. My only point was that, for me, Aaron's scenes are a distraction from the more intriguing plots currently occurring in L.A. with Mark/Demetri/Janis and Olivia/Lloyd, et al.
Aaron's story bores me. I found the time flashes too quick and difficult to follow. Otherwise, it was a good episode.