TV Review: FlashForward 1.14 – “Better Angels”

Episode: FlashForward 1.14 – “Better Angels”
Original Air Date: April 1, 2010

Screencaps from burgundy_shoes.

Holy awesomeness! This week’s episode, “Better Angels,” was really kickass and exciting, but also frustrating. My predictions and theories are all twisted up. Nonstop spoilers starting now.

There was so much action this week, I don’t even know where to start. This whole Somalia jag was very revealing and is helping to widen the focus on the blackouts as a whole, but it’s also throwing me off of my hopes that the visions do come true.

For anyone who reads my reviews, you know that I want the visions from the flash forwards to come true; I’m dreading some kind of outcome where half of them come true and half don’t. Thus, I’m pulling for Demetri to die, Janis to get knocked up, Lloyd to wake up in Olivia and Mark’s house, etc. I want to see all of the visions work themselves out, so that’s how I go into each episode and scenario.

That said, this mission to Somalia had me all over the place. In the column for proving that flash forwards do come true, we have Janis getting pregnant. At least, I am assuming that she and Demetri went ahead and did what desperate times call for. When Janis was lamenting about being un-pregnant, and Demetri said, “the weekend’s not over,” I about died. I think I fell out of my chair. This is perfect and awesome in so many ways. First of all, it’s ensuring that Janis does get pregnant, just like she saw herself in her vision. Also, Demetri is, in a way, acknowledging his impending doom. He even told Janis he’s not so worried about cheating on Zoey, and that having a little legacy of himself continue on (after his assumed death) would be nice. The whole conversation was tangibly awkward and awesome, and just well done. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that a part of me was a teensy bit afraid that Janis was going to get pregnant in a not-so-amicable way. This whole setting in Somalia has been more violent than most of the show, so I don’t think I’m off base. I mean: hostage situation, angry gunmen, Somalia, war time, a character we know should be getting inseminated… let’s just say I was fretting a violent worst-case scenario, so I am delighted in Demetri’s offer for more than one reason.

So, one point in the prophesies-are-coming-true column, yes. But now we have to give a point in the not-coming-true column: Vogel shot and killed Abdi. Abdi is the Somalian leader guy the whole episode focused on. Janis was able to dissuade Abdi from taking violent actions by showing him Mosaic online, and helping him re-interpret his own vision. He is seeing himself as a beacon of peace, not as a war lord. Others on Mosaic entered visions seeing him speak. But now he’s dead, shot in the back. So what does this mean? Not only is his vision untrue, but so are those of the others on Mosaic who reported being in attendance at his speech. Part of me hopes he’s not really dead, maybe just wounded? I know they fooled us before with Janis, but even that seems like a long shot and a bit too cheesy.

The science-y stuff was good this week too. All the talk with Simon and the accelerators; I liked that. And it does make good sense that what took five accelerators in 1991 could now be accomplished on one, more powerful machine. It’s coming to light that Simon is not nearly as in control or in-the-know as he acts like he is. I enjoy that very much.

What I’m not tracking on is all this D. Gibbons stuff. Charlie (Mark and Olivia’s daughter) says “D. Gibbons is a bad man” in her flash forward. Now we’re finding out that D. Gibbons was in Somalia in 1991, he also goes by the name “Dyson Frost” and, 19 years ago, he left a video message for Demetri. I’m not sure how he plays in, or who he is affiliated with. Obviously, he’s behind the blackouts somehow. Did he have some kind of super vision of himself way in the future, and that’s how he knew to leave a message for Demetri? Is that kind of stuff getting too far-fetched and cheesy (I am leaning towards yes on both questions, by the way)?

Also, with talking about Charlie’s vision, I guess I have to mention what else was revealed. Olivia coaxed her into admitting she overheard someone saying “Mark Benford is dead.” That someone was Vogel, and he admits that he saw himself saying it in his vision as well. So, hmm. Does this mean the masked men shoot Mark towards the end of his flash forward? No. Because if Mark dies at the end of his blackout, word would not have spread fast enough to be part of other people’s blackouts. Mark has a significant enough vision, so I don’t think it’s feasible to say he dies within the first minute of his vision, and then by the sixth minute others were already alerted. I think it’s going to pan out to be some kind of miscommunication. Like the masked dudes going into the office after Mark are going to radio him in dead before they actually follow through. It’ll be one of those “he’s as good as dead” things, and the “as good as” has been dropped to titillate us and keep up on the edge of our seats.

For the record, I also am uninterested in whatever Bryce and Nicole were prattling on about at the hospital. I’m hoping his Japanese-girl vision plays out and that his cancer is cured. So seeing him coughing and flirting with Nicole — not interested. I really am a stickler for only liking elements of the show that help contribute to FFs coming true!

For my favorite line of the show, it’s really a toss-up. I seriously died when Demetri said to Janis, “the weekend’s not over.” That was amazing! Another stunner line had to do with Demetri trying to act like he’s hard and Vogel calling him out. The reason Demetri doesn’t think he’ll get shot in the head is, as Vogel tells him, “you’re waiting for three in your chest.” This Vogel character has stepped up all of a sudden, and I thought when he called out Demetri, it was really hardcore.

I think this episode was so strong in plot, action, dialogue, and its building intrigue. I am really excited for next week’s episode now.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars