Flash Forward 1.08: ‘Playing Cards with Coyote’
After the shock of Tracy’s survival and Al’s suicide last episode, many of the characters are still in a state of shock. This week’s episode begins with Celia receiving the letter from Al about her future. Unsurprisingly, it makes headlines all around the country as people start to talk about changing the futures they saw in their flash forwards, the overall theme of this episode.
Janis comes back to work after recovering from her attack and gunshot wound and immediately asks Wedeck to let her resign. He refuses, however, because she is still a key player in the Mosaic investigation and her help is still sorely needed, especially after Al’s suicide.
At the hospital, Simon confronts Lloyd, who still wants to come clean and tell the world they are responsible for the blackouts. Simon doesn’t take kindly to the notion and offers Lloyd an alternative deal. They will decide which action to take as they apparently always have settled arguments — over a poker game.
Meanwhile, Demitri gets a lead on the men Mark saw in his flash forward when a witness to a murder gives the FBI a video of the attack. In the video, the killer has three stars tattooed on his arm, like the man Mark saw in his vision. When the team arrives to speak with the witness, however, they find another crime scene at her home. Apparently the men who she recorded found out about the video and killed her roommate, thinking she was the witness.
Back at Aaron’s home, Aaron is still trying to get used to the fact that his daughter, Tracy, who he though had been dead for the past two years, is now sleeping in his living room. She won’t tell him what happened, however, and asks that he not tell anyone that she is alive. After awhile though, Aaron forces her to tell him the story of what happened while she was overseas with the military.
According to Tracy, she saw a team of private military contractors from a company called Jericho, wipe out an entire village. They found out she saw what they did and attacked her Humvee, leaving her badly wounded and on the run for her life. She swears Aaron to secrecy, but he still goes to Mark for help.
That night, Mark and the team use the witness as bait to lure out the tattooed killer. While Janis is speaking with her and Mark and Demitri keep watch outside, suddenly the lights go out. Mark and Demitri rush in, spot the killer and Mark shoots him on the spot.
Afterward, Demitri confronts Mark, asking him why he didn’t wait and try to subdue the killer for questioning. Mark tells him he had no choice. Later at his home, however, Mark admits to Olivia that he killed the man on purpose to change their future.
At the end of the episode, Simon is winning the poker game versus Lloyd. In a rash move of ego, Simon tells him that the final hand will be winner-takes-all as he is sure Lloyd has nothing in his hand. To his surprise, however, Lloyd has a straight flush and wins the game. Simon now must go along with Lloyd’s plan to admit their responsibility for the blackouts.
At the FBI building, Janis gets a better-rendered image of Suspect Zero, the man who was walking around during the blackouts. On his hand is a large ring, which Wedeck hopes will help to identify him.
Before the final cut, Mark relaxes in his home with Olivia, confident he has changed his future. What he doesn’t know, however, is that there is an entire gang of men with the same tattoo as the man he killed that night. One of the men brings the case taken from the man murdered at the beginning of the episode to another man sitting at a table in the center of a darkened warehouse. Inside the case there are six rings, each with a single small symbol inscribed (one is missing, according to the man). Before leaving with the rings, the unidentified man quotes Oppenheimer on the creation of the atomic bomb and kills the star-tattooed henchman who handed him the case as the final credits fall with the tease.
