Initial Thoughts: 1.02 “White to Play”

FlashForward continued where it left off last week with last night’s second episode titled “White to Play.”   The episode mostly focused on the unknown flash of Mark and Olivia Benford’s daughter, Charlie, and the first major clue from Mark’s vision which was simply the name D. GIBBONS.  The episode was on par with last week’s pilot, in my opinion, and had plenty of mystery, thrill, humor, and various other fun and exciting tidbits.

As the episode began we saw a bunch of children lying on the ground, with only Charlie looking over them.  At first I wondered if we were seeing her vision, or if maybe she was awake during the blackouts, but that made no sense at all.  It quickly became apparent that the kids were simply playing a game (called Blackout, go figure) and Charlie had no interest in playing.  When “No More Good Days” ended last week the first thing I had said to my wife was, “I wonder what the little girl saw.”  I had no idea we’d find out so quickly, but it was one of the main curiosities I had leaving the pilot episode.  We didn’t get our answer last night, but we got close, and one hell of a chilling finish, in my opinion.

Mark and Dimitri focused on the investigation, with Dimitri still being the one person who doesn’t seem to want to believe any of this stuff (since obviously he thinks his flash forward means he’s dead).  They were focusing on D. Gibbons, when suddenly a woman named D Gibbons entered the precinct.  Through her flash forward and various other bits of FBI investigating, they learned that a man in Pigeon, Utah had stolen Ms. Gibbons credit card and was using it.

Probably the coolest scene of the episode was when they finally entered the room the man (D. Gibbons) was in, only to have him set the entire place ablaze.  But not before we got a nice, but quick glimpse of some major computer hardware in the room.  One of the police officers of the town was killed, meaningful only because she had just explained to Dimitri that she had also seen nothing, which amplified his fears that he is a dead man.  D. Gibbons also said, “He who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over,” a quote from Beilby Porteus (or Porteous) who was a leading abolitionist in England during the late 1700s.  I have no idea if there’s any significance to Porteous but wanted to mention it.  I also clearly noted the numbers 11:12 on a clock (maybe) or some other digital display next to D. Gibbons.  He escaped, of course, which I actually didn’t realize at first and had to rewatch it.

Another fantastic scene was after Olivia had finally met the man from her flash forward.  She takes Charlie to work and asks Charlie if she’d ever seen the man before, as he sat next to his autistic son, Dylan.  Suddenly Charlie freaked out, screaming “Dylan, what happened to Dylan!”  The scene was done well and kudos to the girl playing Charlie as she was fantastic.  So add to the cluebox the fact that not only does Dylan know Olivia, somehow, from his flash forward, but Charlie also knows Dylan from her flash forward.

And in the final scene with Charlie, Mark is trying to ease her mind about the flash forwards, thinking that she saw her mother with another man and thinks that their family is about to be torn apart.  But then Charlie shocks us (and actually gave me chills when she says, “I don’t understand my warning…D. Gibbons is a bad man.”  Holy crap!!  The knowledge that Charlie is going to somehow meet D. Gibbons is scary enough and although we don’t know what she saw, it clear that her flash forward is going to be an integral clue.

Other things of interest that we learned this episode includes:

• D. Gibbons was on his cell phone during the blackouts, and his cell signal was triangulated to be at the exact same stadium as Subject Zero meaning that both of them were conscious during the blackout.
• After being criticized by his partner, Mark throws the friendship bracelet his daughter gave him into the fireplace, attempting to change the course of what is to come.
• Squirrelio made a second appearance in this episode as Charlie’s favorite stuffed animal.
• Dimitri was contacted by someone who said that they saw a briefing stating that he had been murdered on March 15, 2010.  While this seems to cement Dimitri’s fate, this strange woman also managed to call Dimitri, on his personal cell phone, only moments after he made his Mosaic post.  She also wouldn’t tell him how she was able to get his number or get a hold of him so fast.  I smell something fishy here.

That’s it!  I enjoyed this episode as much as the first and I hope that the good ones keep coming.  Be sure to let me know what you thought of the episode below, in the comments.  And keep your eyes open for some screen shot and investigation posts coming up over the next day or two for this episode.