FlashForward: Believe (You’re Making it Awfully Difficult)

FlashForward producers have decided to take a break from the break from the break from the investigation into the mystery of what caused the blackouts.  Who could have guessed?  Instead, this week’s episode delves into the background story of Bryce and his plan to find the girl of his future.  (I guess this is somewhat important?  Now we can fully realize how unimportant the first scene of the series with Bryce on the pier actually was) Anyway, we eventually find out that Bryce was diagnosed before the blackout with a stage four form of cancer and did not have much time to live.  Although he still shows signs of sickness and is undergoing chemotherapy, he is convinced that his future remains bright.  If only we could all be so optimistic with such unfortunate circumstances…

More (Or less, whichever you deem to be more appropriate) importantly, we are introduced to the Asian woman, Keiko, who Bryce meets in his flash forward.  The story seems to go that she is a woman trying to push social boundaries in Tokyo by being hired to work at a major robotics firm and be treated with the respect that anyone else is treated with. (She ends up serving tea to a board meeting because she is the only woman in the office … That’s about as much respect as a Rodney Dangerfield joke) She is also being pushed by her mother to marry specific suitors, but she knows that Bryce is out there.  When Bryce shows up to find her, after spending a flight from LA to Tokyo, he is turned away by her mother.

It’s tough to grasp the essence of Bryce’s ambitions.  He seems to be a little obsessive in searching for a hypothetical love and is risking his health for an indefinite glimpse into his future.  However, we also find out towards the end of the episode that Keiko makes her way to LA driven by a passion separate from that of her mother, which implies that the meeting occurs in LA rather than Tokyo.

The other major plotline for the episode is the ongoing self-destruction of Aaron’s daughter Tracy.  He finds that she is constantly drinking herself to sleep.  What makes the situation even more awkward is that Aaron, a recovering alcoholic, feels uncomfortable around all the booze. (Talk about will power – sounds like rehab and AA meetings have had the same effect on his will power as they have had on Amy Winehouse’s)

To make matters worse for Aaron, Mark finds the text that tipped off Olivia about his drinking.  He decides to confront his AA sponsor and friend, Aaron, who, in his vulnerable state, finds such an accusation offensive, which causes a tear in their relationship.  The only other person that Mark told about his drinking was Agent Wedeck.  When Mark confronts him, a less concrete answer is given, perhaps adding more reasoning behind suspecting him as an FBI mole.

To end things for this startlingly off-story episode, the call that Demetri received a couple weeks back that informed him of his impending murder was able to be traced.  Looks like both he and Mark are headed to Hong Kong (Without Wedeck’s permission).  I guess it’s like NWA said…

Season 1, Episode 9: Believe (originally aired November 19, 2009)

For more on FlashForward, click here.

Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC, Ron Tom, and Randy Holmes