FlashForward Episode 01-22: Future Shock

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8:42 Mark’s in jail.  Liv and Charlie are at the beach.  Nicole’s at her house, devastated and staring a pictures of Keiko.  Keiko’s at the airport.  Bryce is at the detention center.

Bryce learns that Keiko was released an hour ago.  The receptionist isn’t very helpful because she wants to get back to her romance novel.  Bryce tells her the story of flying to Japan because of the t-shirt.  She asks if it was really his FF.  It was. She says that’s funny because in her’s she had $100 in her pocket, and didn’t know how it got there.  Bryce hands over the money.

Aaron doesn’t know how Tracy’s dead.  The doctor agrees to keep working on her.  He finds a pulse.

Dem, Simon, and Janis reach NLAP.  Simon gives them a rigged up cell phone to get to the guard. Dem doesn’t trust Simon, but he trusts Janis.  If she’s in, he’s in.  In the meantime, though, the baby’s doing something weird.

Stan bails Mark out of jail and gives him his badge and gun.  He’s already regretting that move.

9:02 PM: Stan admits to Mark that he hasn’t been real observant lately about what’s going on with him.  Then he gets a phone call about bombs in the building.  He turns the car around and tells Mark they’re going back to the office.

Janis drives up tp NLAP.  She’s “faking” a problem with the baby to get close to his security badge, but Dem figures that out that it’s real.  The guard calls an ambulance.

Dylan and Lloyd find Charlie and Liv on the beach.  Liv sends Charlie and Dylan back to the car and asks Lloyd how he found them.  His bodyguard talked to her bodyguard.  He still insists on going back to her house.   She give Lloyd the key to the house, but he needs her there.  He can’t do it alone.

Bryce is leaving the detention center and runs into Nicole on her way in.  He got a contact number from the guard, and it’s the restaurant.  It’s in LA.  Nicole apologizes for trying to keep them apart.  Bryce apologizes for leading Nicole on.  He put his clothes on that morning, and just realized they were what he was wearing in his FF.  He has to go.

Keiko , her mom, and the ICE guard are going through security.  Mom sees how devastated she is, and tells her to be careful when she runs.  Then Mom takes out the guard with her bag and Keiko takes off towards the restaurant.

Stan and Mark pull into the FBI.  Mark wants to help search the building, but Stan tells him to stay in the car.  He hands Mark a cell phone and tells him that he tracked a friend down for him to keep him company while he waits.  It’s Aaron.  Mark admits to drinking.  Aaron tells him to take care of himself.  Mark sees Hellinger and gets out of the car.  The two men talk, and then Mark heads into the building.  Hellinger signals to the SWAT guy.  It’s on.

Liv and Lloyd bring the kids back to the house. It’s 9:33.  Lloyd gets to work.  Liv wonders if they have to “take their positions” at 10 and wait for the break-through.  Lloyd assures her that he’ll keep his shirt on this time.

Dem and Simon make it into NLAP.  Simon goes through a door that immediately closes, locking Dem out. He keeps insisting he doesn’t know what happened.  Simon lets him back in, though.  As proof that he’s trustworthy, Simon gives Dem the ring.

Back at the FBI, the evacuation is in full swing.  Mark runs into Vogel.  Vogel points out that Mark’s not going to make it out of the building alive. They’re going after MOSAIC.  If they are, then Lloyd’s not safe either.  Vogel needs to protect him.  Vogel knows where he is.

Charlie calls Liv upstairs.  The adults run up to find Dylan writing on the mirror in Liv’s lipstick.  Dylan’s writing the formula.  Dylan asks if they can have  cookies now.  Liv tells Charlie to take Dylan downstairs to find the cookies; she does, but she points out that Dylan already knows where they are.  Left alone in the bedroom, the two adults talk about the equation.  It’s the Tachyon Constant, the greatest mystery in Quantum Physics.  They have to solve it.  Right now.

The faux-SWATS take out the real SWATS.  They don their masks and head upstairs.

Janis is brought into the ER and finds the doctor who gave her the ultrasound.  She hasn’t felt the baby move in three hours.  They need to get an ultrasound.

Vreede tells Stan that Mark’s in the building.  Unfortunately, that’s also where Vreede left his car keys.  They’ve got 23 minutes before the building blows.  They’ve got to get Mark.  And the keys.  Together, the men head into the building.

Liv’s convinced that the answers Lloyd needs will be there at 10:00.  They’re sitting on her bed.  She’s resisted the moment for so long, but since they’re there and they’ve got some time….They kiss.

Stan and Vreede are heading up the stairs when they hear shots.  Stan goes up, Vreede goes down.  Mark’s staring at his board

Bryce is trying to talk his way into the restaurant.  They’re having a private party, and he can’t come in. Bryce promises that if she’s not there at 10:02, he’ll leave.   It appears to be a lost cause, but then one of the waitresses recognizes him as Keiko’s man. 

Keiko’s in a cab, stuck in traffic.  She so should’ve gotten directions from Bryce.  Remember, he can make it anywhere REALLY really  fast.  It’s 9:53.  She pays the cabbie, leaps out of the car, and runs like the wind.

Nicole’s driving over a bridge.  She’s not paying attention to the road.  When she overcorrects after drifting into another lane, she runs off the road.  The car plunges into the water.

9:55 PM, Simon and Dem are at NLAP.  Simon’s having a problem finding the program he installed. Still, he’s pretty blasé about it, even offering Dem a beer.  He remembers a text he was supposed to send Lloyd.  A “Damned Wave.”  Lloyd used to call it his “tearful goodbye” because it was his email signature for years. 

It’s 10 PM.  Nicole’s in the water, Keiko’s running.  Bryce is at the restaurant.  Tracy opens her eyes.  Janis is in the ultrasound.  Lloyd (still dressed FYI) gets the text and makes the call to Mark.  Mark picks up the phone. 

Lloyd tells Mark that he solved the problem.  The next blackout will be in April 2010.  Sometime in the next two days.  Mark looks at the board.

Keiko reaches the restaurant and finds Bryce. 

Nicole is pulled OUT of the water by the other driver.

Janis learns the baby’s fine, but It’s a boy.  She’s not disappointed; just surprised.  The doctor tells her that the future’s like that.

Liv sees Lloyd on the couch.  They’re both dressed.  She doesn’t say, “Hi, honey.”

Vreede chases the masked gunman down the stairs.  He punches in a code and leaves the building.

Stan hides in the bathroom for cover from his masked gunman.

Simon tells Dem, “Welcome to the future.”

Mark notices that the strings were wrong.  He remembers Gabriel telling them to “make it look right.”  He starts repositining the strings and realizses that they’re all pointing to a series of letters and numbers that spell out “April 29, 10:14 PM.”  That’s when the next blackout is.  He’s got 12 minutes to save the world.

And now, there are masked gunmen on the floor with him.

Simon figures out that Hellinger’s team installed fake code to block Simon from fixing it.  He gets around it and hands Dem a jump drive. Everything he needs to trap them is right there.

Charlie looks out the window.  She sees Vogel in the backyard.  Liv runs up and sends her away.  Liv hears Vogel tell the other agent that Mark’s dead.  He ran into the building and doesn’t have a chance.

The gunmen search Mark’s floor.  When Mark’s phone rings, they take out his office with their guns.  It’s a pretty darn impressive display of firepower, actually.

Nicole wakes up at the side of the road with the guy who saved her in his FF.  His name’s Ed, and he’s called an ambulance.

Simon figures out that someone’s accessing the mainframe from outside.  They’re activating another blackout.  Dem pulls a gun on Simon and orders him away from the computer.  He’s a lying son of a bitch.  Simon insists that he won’t let “them” turn him into a monster.  He’s actually trying to STOP the next blackout.

The gunmen walk into Mark’s office.  He’s hiding behind a grate.  He disarms one, shoots another, and starts taking out the lot of them using the flame thrower option on the gun.

A masked gunman enters the bathroom.  Stan leaps from his stall and takes him out.

Eight minutes left on the bomb.  The gunmen are still searching the floor.  Mark calls the elevator, and it distracts them long enough so that he can finish off his set.  Mark tries to pick up the phone to call Stan, but his phone’s been shot out.  He runs upstairs to another one.

With three minutes left, Mark calls Stan.  He tells him to make the call to the White House about the next blackout.  Mark makes another call as two more gunmen start searching the cube farm for him.

Good news travels fast.  The entire world prepares for another blackout.  Mark calls Liv to tell her about it.  He loves them both.  She tells him to be safe.

Dem and Simon realize there’s another blackout coming.  Simon tells Dem to put the ring on, but since he didn’t see his future the last time, he doesn’t want to miss it.  Simon knows his future…it’s right now.

Mark takes out another gunman.  There are 39 seconds left on the bomb clock.  He runs like the wind in an effort to get out of the building.  He’s about to leap for a helicopter outside his office when the second blackout hits.

Around the world people are passed out.  Bryce and Keiko are holding hands.  New visions appear.  Children, babies, loading guns, wills being written.  Janis is passed out in a wheelchair.  Lita, wearing a Decoder Ring, wheels her away.  The kangaroo is awake as well.

Charlie has a vision of herself standing at a window.  A man tells her to tell him what’s wrong and she turns around smiling. “They found him.”

The FBI building blows.  Where is Mark?

And…it’s over.

Thanks to all of you for reading over the last year.  Thanks as well to all of the cast and crew for putting forward such excellent and enjoyable work week after week.  It was a fantastic ride.