And…we’re back. After a quick recap of the first 10 episodes, the eleventh and twelfth kick off with a bang. Actually, it’s Gil Bellows on the side of a building.
Someone is telling a story about a window washer in LA on the day of the blackout. He very nearly didn’t survive because he fell out of the carrier while unconscious. At the very last second, he was saved by the safety catch linking on to something as it wended its way down the building. Though this isn’t confirmed, I’m pretty sure that when he woke up, he freaked.
The story is told to illustrate the fact that none of them are in this alone. From Aaron (yes, he’s back with his super-boring storyline) to Bryce; Nicole to Mark, the tapestry is being stitched together in a larger picture. And as Timothy (Bellows) tells his story, it looks like he’s starting to preach to a small assemblage of followers. Yup, there’s nothing like a blackout to bring out the crazies.
Though, seriously, anything that gets Bellows on television again is a good thing.
Stan is watching video of Mark pulling a gun at dinner. He wants to know what the hell Mark was thinking, but all Mark wants to know is if he can see Liv since she’s just almost been kidnapped. Stan still wants to chat, and Mark accuses him of not doing his job. There’s absolutely nothing being done about Somalia (it’s a war zone, Stan’s working on it), D. Gibbons (he’s on the 10 most wanted list) and Suspect Zero (every cop in Detroit is tracking him down). Stan says that he can come back provided that he sees a therapist three times a week. Instead, Mark takes tons of pictures of his board o-fun, and walks out of the office.
Liv’s fine, by the way, she’s being interviewed by Janis and Vreede (who, I still believe is the mole). She’s telling them about the paramedics being wrong and Bill the security guard being shot and how Mark jumped in and got in the middle of it. Yes, she actually said “Mark,” but of course she means Lloyd. She asks Janis and Vreede to find him.
As Mark leaves, Simon gets his attention. He’s got video of the abduction, and Mark sees how they actually hit Liv. Together, they watch the footage of Lloyd hugging Liv before the paramedics show up. According to Simon, “working for the FBI is much more interesting than academia.” Liv, of course, claims that it’s not what it looks like; Mark, of course, pretends that he’s cool with it (but yeah, he’s totally not).
Stan leads Janis, Vreede, Demitri, and that boy-crazy agent that could have flung herself off the building with a far-less emotional resonance than Al into a room, where they encounter Simon and Agent Vogel, their buddy from Hong Kong. Vogel’s officially on the task force. Aren’t they excited? Simon suggests that they cast a wider net in their search for Lloyd. His mind is a priceless resource.
Lloyd is in a dungeon with a hot blond guy with a European accent. Lloyd invites him to go to hell, blondie tells him he’s about to find out what that means, exactly.
Back at the meeting, Timothy’s still telling stories. Interspersed with scenes of a crazy woman who wears angel wings and sets The Bible on fire. She’s Nicole’s mother, and she’s a horder that would give the people on A&E a run for their money. Nicole’s sister shows up, and the girls exchange snips about how someone has to watch mom on a regular basis.
Mark’s set up his photo wall in the living room. Liv wants to talk about what he saw in the video tape, but he’s just glad she’s okay. The thing is, she isn’t. He’s not the easiest guy to come home to. Liv wants to know if they could just move. With everything bad happening in LA, wouldn’t that solve their problems?
Team Find Lloyd listens to the 911 tapes. Simon offers to bust into Lloyd’s laptop, and Vogel takes over the investigation. It doesn’t look pretty.
Mark meets with his therapist. She tells him he’s got a God complex, and that she thinks he saw something in his FF that makes him think he’s the center of the universe. She’s not signing him back into work until they figure out what that is. She offers to use a drug to enhance the memory of his FF to make sure that he remembers the entire thing. He’s not enthused about that idea but offers to meet with him when he’s ready to continue therapy.
Janis and Simon are at Lloyd’s house working on the computer. He wants a beer and sends Janis to the kitchen to get it. When she turns around from the fridge, two guys with those funky masks are staring at her. They attack her and kidnap Simon. They throw him into the same basement that Lloyd’s in.
The hospital administrator is trying to kick Dylan out of the hospital, but Liv and Bryce want to keep him. She insists that his clot’s gotten worse in the night, and fools the administrator into keeping him. This kid is SERIOUSLY never getting out of that hospital.
Vogel and Demetri are looking for the ambulance. Vogel thinks they should just wave their guns around like a couple of idiots. It worked so well in Hong Kong. Dem takes offense, but Vogel insists that he just needs to get it together. Otherwise, Zoey’s going to be walking down that beach ready to marry someone else. Dem hits him, but when Vogel throws him to the ground, they see the flies. Opening the box car, they find the bodies of the two real paramedics who were replaced by the guys who nabbed Lloyd.
Bryce gets Nicole to check on a patient who’s just woken up from surgery. She’s a little bummed that he’s not more “Nicki, I love you,” but when she turns around to go check on her guy, she sees a much more interesting fellow. Namely, the one that will attempt to drown her in a few weeks. She chases him through the hospital, but he’s gone. When she tells Bryce and Liv, Liv tells her that they’ve talked to Security. She should also call some detective friend of Mark’s. Bryce tells her that it’s going to be okay. She mentions to another nurse that she’s still hoping it’s a bad dream, and that’s how she ends up at the Sanctuary meeting with Timothy.
Lloyd and Simon are in the dungeon. Simon’s still pushing the “we’re not responsible” angle, but Lloyd tells him that their captors are pretty sure that he’s wrong. One of the captors reveals himself, and it turns out to be the guy with the rings. He introduces himself as Flosso and announces that he’s a villain. Yeah, like we didn’t see that one coming already. After all, the guy does smoke (which Flosso claims that all villains do). Flosso asks about the experiment. He wants to know how many electron volts Lloyd’s experiment caused. He claims that Lloyd didn’t cause the blackout, he just amplified whatever Flosso and his goons were doing.
At the train yard, one of the agents finds the case of a Palm Pre. If they find the phone, they may find the ambo and the goons who took it. Save the cheerleader, save the world? Wait, wrong network.
Lloyd and Simon are talking about their FFs. There seems to be a problem with the timeline. Lloyd remembers getting a text from Simon, but Simon’s in the middle of killing someone. Maybe Lloyd just retrieved the text during his FF? But why don’t their futures match? Lloyd reminds him that anything’s possible, Al proved that. He slips a note out the window that reads “Help us.” It’s supposed to be attached to the window, but the wind picks it up.
Mark’s in the doctor’s chair ready to take his memory enhancers. She reminds him that it’s a lot like AA. Mark remembers his full board, including Lloyd’s “Help Us” note. Mark remembers a call from Lloyd where he tells him to go to hell. Simon may have sent the text, but Lloyd didn’t call Simon…he called Mark.
Flosso and the goons find the note that Lloyd threw out the window. He returns it and keeps asking his questions about the experiement. Lloyd continues to refuse to answer, so they cart Simon away for a “wild rumpus.”
Liv checks on Dylan, and he asks her to sing to him. He saved her the cookie from dinner. She sings “When you wish upon a star.”
Mark calls Aaron from the parking lot of a bar. He tells him that he remembers his entire FF, including the part where he appears to be working with Lloyd. He remembers telling Lloyd that unless they can stop D. Gibbons, there’s going to be another blackout. The next morning, he recounts this all to Stan, but Stan wants to know why Lloyd didn’t come forward. Mark wants back in. Stan’s working on it, but in the meantime, Mark should (quietly) work the new clues he’s remembered. Stan tells him to keep the info about the new blackout to himself.
Is that a new Charlie? She gives Mark a picture to put on his wall. She tells him it’s like the jigsaw puzzles at grandma’s. He should work from the corners out. Mark does, with post-its for the clues he knows about but doesn’t have.
Nicole asks Timothy about their responsibility to God. Obedience, etc. She wonders if the blackout was a wake-up call for people to get their lives in order before it’s too late. He wants to keep talking, but they have to leave the room. He invites her for coffee.
Mark’s looking for clues, and finds Red Panda Resources. It’s an Aide organization that supplies the third world with clean water. Mark wants to know if he can piggy back on a mission, but the Panda administrator tells him it’s a nice try.
Nicole has coffee with Timothy, but installs Bryce at the counter just in case things go south. He wants to know what upset her earlier, and she tells him about her FF. He tells her that the ultimate interpretation is up to her. He thinks it’s a new reality of fate and free will. Every day , God put something good in her life. She should embrace it. She sees Bryce, and it’s obvious that she thinks she might just want to embrace him. Timothy points out that the answers they seek are all too often right in front of them. Like Mark, with the cheese steak flyer on which Lloyd has written his note. He finds it under the windshield of his car. Talking to the owner, he finds out that their old location burned during the blackout.
Flosso has resorted to the Godfather realm of getting answers. His goons hold Simon down and threaten to chop off his fingers with a cigar snipper if Lloyd doesn’t give them the information he wants. Which they do. Flosso also shows Lloyd some photos of Dylan and Lloyd that were taken before the blackout. Lloyd’s been under surveillance for quite a while. Lloyd starts giving up the goods.
After coffee, Bryce and Nicole head to her place. He tells her that he just wants her to be careful. He wants to hang out, despite the crazy mother. They find Mom at the house making collages on the wall with pennies. Mom claims to have been struck by lightning six times. The collage is comprised entirely of 1989 pennies since that’s the year Nicole was born.
Dem and Vogel race towards an abandoned restaurant. The phone pinged there, and infrared shows four (FOUR) guys inside. They call Janis who wants in on the takedown. When they get there, though, all they find is a bomb that’s tied to the FBI’s radio frequencies. The ambo blows, and it’s another message to not go where they’re not wanted. Vogel points out that on October 6, “they” must’ve seen Mark and Dem as well. They’ve known from the beginning that the two of them have been at the center of the whole thing. That’s the angle they need to work.
Bryce waits for Timothy outside of Sanctuary. He’s not sure what Timothy’s selling, but he wants to make sure that Nicole doesn’t get hurt. Timothy is adamant that he’s just preaching a little more love. What’s Bryce afraid of?
Mark finds the restaurant, but it’s locked. One thing that I’m sure will come up later…there’s an Eight Ball painted on the window. In his vision, he clearly tells Lloyd that he wished Lloyd had been “behind the eight ball” when Mark came crashing through it. Mark remembers this too, and rams the building just in time to save Lloyd and Simon from being executed by Flosso and the goons. Simon grabs a gun and runs off, tracking down the goon who chopped off his finger and shooting him. Lloyd shows him the Help Us note, and Mark tells him about the remembered FF. It’s time for Lloyd to tell him everything. The paramedics load Simon into the ambulance. Flosso is already sitting there. Simon points out that he’d give him the finger, but he’s running out of ‘em. Flosso says that it was an improvisation. Besides, they need to divert suspicion away from him. Simon insists that hes’s done being Flosso’s bitch. Flosso shows him the video of Suspect Zero at the ball game…it’s Simon. If Simon doesn’t behave, Flosso will tell all about the video.
Back to the day of the blackout. Simon and his family are at his father’s funeral (and I swear the picture they use for Dad is that of Michael Eisner). Simon leaves to take care of some details at the funeral home, but instead he’s spirited away to a helipad so that he can take in a baseball game in Detroit. Simon goes to the game, has the conversation with D. Gibbons, and learns that he’s been a part of whatever is going on since he was 13. He eats his way through a tub of popcorn and finds the ring. Following instructions, he puts it on and finds himself the only one awake during the blackout. Continuing to follow instructions, he walks into the nearest tunnel. Flosso and a goon are waiting for him. He gives the ring to Flosso and follows him.
At the hospital (present day), Liv is taking care of Simon. He’s lost his pinky. Janis springs him (again, someone gets hurt way worse and gets out of the hospital before Dylan) and announces that he’s a guest of the government. Simon tries to charm her into letting him go back to the hotel. He’s not trying to seduce her, just disarm her. He starts breathing funny and Janis runs off to find someone to help him with his penicillin allergy. As soon as she’s around the corner, he takes off.
Also a guest of the government: Lloyd. Mark’s interviewing him about the possibility of another blackout. He wants to know why Lloyd didn’t step forward. Lloyd claims that he didn’t come forward because the man who told him there was going to be one was drunk. Mark needs to know Lloyd’s side of things. Now.
Janis tracks Simon to Toronto and tries to put him back on a flight to LA. He wants 24 hours in Toronto first to take care of some personal things. We learn that Annabelle (from the bracelet) is Simon’s little sister. She ran away after their father’s death, and that his mom’s been writing personal notes to her in the papers. Personally, I think a Facebook group would be much more effective. But that’s just me. Janis agrees to give him 24 hours, and tells Stan that she thinks there’s more to it than just a missing sister. Stan agrees to give them the night as long as he has an electronic monitoring bracelet on at all times.
They visit Simon’s family and learn that his mom blames herself for Annabelle running away. He comes home every month to help look for her. He decides to take a shower before heading out. In reality, he wraps the bracelet in foil and takes off. He ends up at a guy named Phillip’s house. Phillip is an old professor of Simon’s. They’re quoting Shakespeare when Janis joins in. She figures that whatever they have to say to each other, is worth ditching the FBI, so they might as well say it. Simon asks if it’s possible for the experiment to actually have caused the blackout. Phillip thinks that it is. Simon wants to find a way to prevent another blackout.
Back at Simon’s house, his mother and Janis are cooking dinner. Someone rings the bell. Simon’s mom explains that it’s the boys’ Uncle Teddy. It is, but it’s also Flosso. This explains quite a bit…. Teddy’s the reason they moved to Canada. Actually, it’s Simon’s smarts. He started at the University of Toronto when he was thirteen. Simon’s being bitchy towards Teddy, and Janis wants to know what his problem is. Simon flashes back to the day of the blackout…where he learns that his father conveniently died in a hunting accident in the days before the blackout. Flosso/Teddy reminds Simon to make up a story about his FF and stick to it. As the driver walks him out, Simon realizes that the driver killed his father himself. In retaliation, Simon kills him…with his bare hands. That’s the story he’s been telling.
The phone rings, and Annabelle is on the other line. She claims that she’s at Port Authority and wants to come home. Teddy shows him the video phone feed of the actual call, and Simon sees that she has a gun to her head. Annabelle is just insurance that Simon behaves himself. He figures out that it was the ring that kept him awake during the blackout. Teddy tells him to behave himself, Phillip can’t help either…Teddy killed him too. Simon realizes that Teddy needs him alive. Simon calls his bluff and kills Teddy. As he does, he claims that he always gets even.
