SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have been watching FlashForward. Don't read ahead if you haven't seen episode 14 yet.
Anna Pickard's episode 13 blog
"Better Angels"
Anyone tuning in specifically to find out what happened with Aa-Ron after last week's shenanigans should be warned, he's still on the AA-run, and there's nothing to be seen of him. However, this evening does contain the random violence that we've seen regularly of late, so fingers crossed you'll still like it (those of us who still have our fingers).
Flash review
After last week's babytalk, Agent Janis was hoping to spend quality time with a turkey-baster, but she's expected to work instead as she, Demetri, Dr Simon, Agent Vogel – and a small team pretending to be a humanitarian charity called Red Panda – travel to Somalia to follow up on reports of the localised blackouts and towers there.
They find a man called Abdi who doesn't believe them to be charitable and kills a couple of the anonymous/expendable members of the team to prove it. As one of the only members of his village to avoid the blackout 20 years ago, he has risen to power through fear and awe (his willingness to murder people to prove a point presumably helps). His FlashForward revealed him as leader, speaking at a rally at a stadium – and he has been seizing power violently to make it so. Janis, however, shows him the Mosaic website and discovers others saw him speaking at a US peace conference. Is that his fate instead? Or are neither right – quite possibly, given that Vogel shoots him dead two thirds of the way through the episode.
They find out more about the blackout, how the man that used to be known as D Gibbons but is now otherwise known as Dylan Frost was present at the big spooky tower in the weeks following the blackout, interviewing the participants (then leaving them in a basement to die).
In other news, Bryce and the Benford's babysitter (yes, Nicole, but I can never remember her name. Not a good sign) had some touching moments, in which he revealed his cancer, and she revealed she'd like to be a psychiatrist. Demetri, noting that Janis was sad about not spending the weekend making babies on schedule, offered to help out on that front, and Mark and Olivia decided that as they're failing to save their marriage, they should separate instead.
Flashy ideas and forward thinking
• There something arbitrary and therefore annoying about D Gibbons shifting identity. It wouldn't be quite so infuriating if I didn't honestly suspect that they'll change it to D Gibbons aka Dylan Frost aka Something Else Random.
• I was alarmed by the speed Team Somalian Daytrip went from watching their colleagues get murdered to being fine and trusting with Abdi. I realise it's a more violent world post-blackout, but so little about these characters is empathetic.
• How to get the kids to open up and talk about things? Engage in endless bouts of dialogue from in-world children's show Tim-Tim and Squirrelio. I wonder if I wouldn't just be happier watching an hour-long version of Tim-Tim and Squirrelio, especially during the Olivia and Mark Benford's endless "we must save our maaawidge…" conversations.
• At least we're seeing some more interesting diversions in dialogue since the return. Demetri's argument for becoming the father of Janis' baby can be summed up in the three line exchange: "Desperate times..."
"But I'm gay!"
"I will make you gayer!"
Which is somewhat disappointing news for anyone wondering about Demetri's prowess as a lover. Or, for that matter, as a future husband.
• There's something about Simon Campos that makes you want to punch him. In Somalia, he said almost nothing useful at all and just got randomly beaten up for making snarky remarks. I did wonder if that's why they're bringing him along on trips these days: he's like a punch-deflector for the team.
• Equally, we need to find some modern, non-genre-specific version of the old Star Trek redshirts. Because this show goes through them like billy-o.
