Demetri and Fiona, meanwhile, head to the coffee place from where the poisoned coffee cup found at Andy's residence came from.  They interview one of the baristas who remembers Andy coming in.  He came in with one of his friends: a tall guy with a horseshoe ring.  Demetri remembers seeing Slingerland wearing a horseshoe ring (and drinking a cup of coffee!).  Demetri and Fiona make their way to the school, but Slingerland sees them coming, so he runs out of the classroom.  When the agent enter, one of the students asks if he is Agent Noh.  When Demetri replies in the affirmative, the student says the teacher wanted her to tell Demetri "that the universe always pushes back."  This statement reminds Demetri of Celia's comment on the news program that the universe has a different plan for her.  Slingerland is going after Celia.  Slingerland waits in a car until he sees Celia walk down the sidewalk.  He accelerates toward Celia (who was supposed to be killed in a car accident by Al), but just before he hits her, a car, driven by Demetri, crashes into him.  Slingerland gets out of the car and tries to chase after Celia, but Demetri tells her to run.  Demetri radios Fiona and tells her that hes chasing after Slingerland on foot; Fiona says she is on her way.  Demetri catches up with Slingerland and knocks him down.  At that moment, Celia turns to see the scene, but is hit by a car -- Fiona's car.  Demetri rushes over, to find Celia still alive.  He goes back to Slingerland who again tells Demetri that the universe will remain in balance and get what it wants.  Slingerland's last words to Demetri are, "See you soon," before dying.

Meeting in a parking lot, Simon tells Lloyd that he is sorry he didn't tell his only friend about Annabelle's kidnapping.  Lloyd reiterates that he would have helped, to which Simon assents. Lloyd asks if Simon wants to grab a drink, but he demurs -- Simon has to be somewhere.  At the hospital, Bryce runs up to Nicole, telling her he has news for her.  Nicole, clutching Keiko's file, has news as well.  Bryce, unable to control his happiness, grabs a hold of Nicole's face and kisses her hard.  His cancer is gone!  Further, he doesn't want to waste any more time; they need to forget what they saw in their flashes.  They are here now.  This is what matters.

Later that evening at FBI headquarters, Fiona stresses over hitting Celia.  Demetri tells her that it wasn't her fault, it was an accident.   Fiona remembers a conversation with Al when she told him about her flash, and about the bird hitting the window.  Al remarked that she should try putting tape on the window so the bird can avoid it.  She said that the bird might just fly into another window.  "But it's worth a shot," Al had replied.  Fiona's phone brings her back to the present.  It's the hospital: Celia's injuries are extensive, so the doctor is no optimistic about her recovery.  The doctor reminds her that it was an accident.  "There are no more accidents," Fiona says to herself as she hangs up.

Mark is out searching for Anabelle.  He stops at a set of warehouses and finds a maintenance worker.  The worker explains that a white van tore out of the complex, damaging an electrical box along the way.  Mark thinks he knows where to find the van, so he calls for the SWAT team.  When SWAT arrives, they surround a white van abandoned in a warehouse.  Mark slowly opens the back door and finds Annabelle, alone, tied up in the cargo hold.  Mark calls Simon and tells him that Annabelle has been found.  Simon asks to talk to his sister .  mark agrees, but then Simon has to talk to Mark.  "No more lies," Mark tells Simon, and Simon agrees.  Simon makes sure his sister is OK, but when she hands the phone back to Mark, Simon hangs up, and leaves the hotel room he was in.  Mark and Wedeck run into the room Simon and Lloyd have been working and find that he ring is gone.  Simon must have taken it.  (Note: There must have been a scene cut out where Mark and Wedeck find Simon with an odd interest in the ring, because the jump from Simon hanging up on Mark to the ring being gone was way to large.)

At Lloyd's house, Olivia is over, showing Lloyd Gabriel's brain scan (and enjoying a glass of wine).  Gabriel had hundreds of flashes, but has had no brain damage.  Neither had any of the patients who were having scans at the moment of the blackout.  There is no need to worry.  Lloyd notices in Gabriel's file that Gabriel is a savant, and asks about Gabriel saying that Lloyd and Olivia are supposed to be together.  Did Gabriel mention if they were happy?  Olivia responds that she only knows how she felt in her flash (i.e. good).  They kiss.  A knock at the door interrupts them -- it's Mark.  Olivia, embarrassed being caught there, quick;y packs up her computer and files.  As she exits, Lloyd tries to save the situation by thanking her for showing him the brain scans (not a lie!).  She says it wasn't a problem, and tells Mark she'll call him.  Mark, chooses to ignore the scene, and tells Lloyd about Simon disappearing after Annabelle was rescued.  Lloyd reflects and tells Mark that earlier that day, Simon acted as if he was saying goodbye to Lloyd.  Mark asks him if Simon was acting strange on the day of the blackout.  Lloyd remembers how after Simon received the call that his father had died, Lloyd asked if they should delay the experiment.  Simon was adamant that the experiment occur on October 6th at 11:00am.

Lloyd and Mark return to the FBI to meet with Wedeck.  Mark asks if Simon is capable of perpetrating a global blackout.  "Simon is capable of anything, and he always has a plan," Lloyd replies.  Wedeck has asked the tech to compare Simon to Suspect Zero.  Simon's physical attributes match Zero 99.9%.  Although eye witnesses put Simon at his father's funeral in Toronto, there was a private Canadian plane that asked for an emergency landing near Detroit, the location where Suspect Zero was filmed awake during the blackout.  "Simon Campos is Suspect Zero," Mark states.  Mark moves on to questioning Annabelle about whether she can identify any of her captors.  She cannot, as they all wore weird looking masks.  Well, then what would the men who held her wnat with Simon?  Annabelle replies that she doesn't know.  Did she hear anything at all?  Anything that would give a reason to why they would want Simon?  Dead into the camera Annabelle replies, "They said Simon is going to cause another blackout."

Commentary

If FlashForward had produced fall episodes like those show since its return this March (and they didn't take four month hiatus), I guarantee the show would be on stronger footing.  Again, FF gave us a great episode this week.  It was fast paced, moved the mythology along, yet still had some resonant emotional moments.  Heck, even the Bryce/Nicole scenes were excellent, and didn't distract from the more interesting (and important) Mosaic storyline.  Yes, Janis was absent from the episode, but all in all, I thought it really worked.  There were some great directorial and thematic moments, as well.  Namely, the relationship between Demetri, Fiona and Al.  I thought the story did a wonderful job showing how Demetri's "energy" has balanced the "energy" lost when Al killed himself.  Al was supposed to live and kill Celia with his car.  Demetri was supposed to die.  Al died, and Demetri lived.  Further, Fiona (another agent investigating Mosaic) killed Celia (likely) with her.  This was all brought home directorially when Demetri and Fiona were in FBI headquarters, at night, sitting at the table as the camera panned across them.  This was a replica of a similar scene between Al and Fiona in "The Gift."  Throw in the conversation, at least in Fiona's mind, with Al about the bird, and the connection was complete.  Really great work by the writers and director.  Again, I really enjoyed this episode, and wish installments like this and the others this spring were the norm back in the fall.  This could have been a great show, and not one likely to be axed by ABC in two weeks.
What did you think about "Collision Course?"  Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did?  What did you think of the Nicole and Bryce scenes?  Did you like having them back?  Do you think Nicole will tell Bryce about Keiko (I do)?  What worked for you and what didn't?  Would you like to see more Fiona in the future?  Please leave your questions, comments and theories below.  Be sure to check TVOVermind for any news regarding FF's renewal chances, and for all other TV news.  I'll be back next week with a recap of the episode that takes place on April 29th, the day of the flashes.  Until then, I'm off to find the best thing since sliced bread.

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