(S01E19) Tonight's episode was written by Robert J. Sawyer, the author of the book 'FlashForward,' which this series is loosely based on. He's been a story consultant on each episode, but this was his first time taking the reins and steering the ship himself.

He chose a pretty important episode to do so, in that it touched on elements leading all the way back to the beginning of the series. There was a pretty extensive use of flashbacks, to make sure we were keeping things straight. They even did flashbacks of events that had just happened earlier in the episode. It worked, surprisingly enough, in keeping things moving forward.

Other than the escapades of Aaron the mercenary, we got a lot of progress in putting the pieces together. Simon's character got perhaps even more complex, and even Al Gough's valiant sacrifice came back into play. Can you cheat the destiny ahead of you, or will fate find a way of meeting you anyway. When did this turn into 'Final Destination'?

This week it was all about cheating death. At first, those who'd survived past their foreseen expiration dates, the "Blue Hand Club," were being taken out by one of their own, Slingerland. That's one way for the universe to course correct. Or actually, it's unclear if that is a true course correction. It could just as easily be a lunatic who thinks this is what he has to do.

But then we get to Ceilia, the woman Agent Gough was supposed to accidentally kill by hitting her with his car. Sure, Slingerland tried to run her down, but Mark was there in time to save her. Unfortunately, he called Inspector Kingston and told her to drive as fast as she could toward the scene, and it was she instead that hit Ceilia and put her into intensive care. The phone call she received was eery enough. We now know that she'll receive the call Al got on April 29 to tell her Ceilia had passed.

That's a course correction, and that's scary as hell for people like Demetri. Will Mark's gun still kill him, or will another agent's gun do him in? Maybe it will be a kitchen knife from Mark's house. All it has to be is close to the way it was supposed to go down. Tragic Super Soaker accident?

I was glad to see Simon's sister recovered, if only because she's been kidnapped way too long. It was getting a bit ridiculous. The question now is what is Simon up to that he had to say goodbye to both Lloyd and his sister. We know he's taking the ring to the powers that be, but does he expect to die in the process. I mean, yeah, that seems pretty likely, but he's a smart guy.

That and his sister says he's going to cause another blackout.

The other key to the puzzle I can't find the lock for yet is Gabriel McDow. We know he's important, but other than that I don't know how he'll fit into things. The drawing of Mark's board was a pretty awe-inspiring moment. Amazing line work on that. The vision of his flashforward had him moving the red strings around on the board, as if he was literally there. I imagine that's a scene yet to come, if it will at all.

Less essential to any of that, but more on the personal and emotional level, I was both excited and worried when I saw Keiko's file in Nicole's hands. With the growing feelings between her and Bryce, would she give it to him? Surprisingly, she was intending to until he embraced her in a moment of remission euphoria and declared that now is all that mattered.

Still, it's a lingering matter that's out there. And, assuming Nicole still does the job, she'll be meeting Keiko soon. Since Nicole knows Japanese, there's a good chance she'll learn that Keiko only came her to find Bryce. Then she'll feel even worse about keeping it a secret from him. At any rate, won't the universe just course-correct anyway so that Bryce and Keiko get together, no matter what anyone wants?



If the universe course-corrected to kill Ceilia in a car collision, and it's apparently course-correcting to put Olivia with Lloyd, then what else is inevitable? Can they change anything? We've only got three more episodes to find out, and I think we hit April 29 in two weeks. What do you think will happen?

[Put the pieces together with clips and full episodes of 'FlashForward' on SlashControl over and over again. Check out the latest episode below!]