A Major Game Changer on FlashForward

FlashForward has not just been the best new series of the season, it actually might be the best series of the season. As in my previous post, the show actually moves, and really hasn’t slowed down since its premiere. As the characters grapple with knowing their future, the major question of the series has been whether what they saw is what would happen, or if it happens because they saw their future. Can they change it or not? Well the last episode proved to be a game changer, possibly answering that question.

Using clues he remembers seeing on the mozaic in his flash forward, Mark (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri (John Cho) have been investigating leads, trying to figure out what the clues may lead to, seeking out a cause for the flash forwards. Agent Al Gough (Lee Thompson Young) has also been involved in the investigation, and has begun helping with one such lead that is a sticker with a blue hand on it, which they started looking into after they were attacked by a group of men with the same blue hand stamped on their hands. Ultimately, they learned that there was a Blue Hand club, basically a murder club for people who didn’t have flash forwards, and therefore believe they will be dead.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT COMING UP FROM EPISODE 7: THE GIFT. Now, what we did know was that Al had a flash forward and saw where he actually was, looking over a file with MI6 Agent Fiona Banks (Alex Kingston). What we didn’t know, was that Al received a phone call from a lawyer, breaking the news that due to some freak accident he was involved in, a woman named Celia died and her twin sons were now orphans. What the episode leads up to is Al’s decision to kill himself, hoping that his death could be a game changer, ensuring that Celia will live.

Al’s death may be the most important thing that has happened on this show so far. It provides some major insight to the show, that being that the flash forwards are not necessarily written in stone. For all we know, Al’s death could cause a butterfly effect and drastically change the outcome of future events. Then again, whatever accident he was involved in may still occur, just with someone else in his place. What we know for sure though, is that the future can change, which is huge.

Granted, there are still questions dangling, such as how the mysterious Simon (Dominic Monaghan) and Lloyd (Jack Davenport) are responsible for an event like this? That one will no doubt take a while to getting around to, but more immediately it should be interesting to see how Al’s death will affect theories on the show and the show as a whole, and if any characters will attempt any more game changers. No doubt they will.