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FlashForward

Playing Cards with Coyote

Season 1, Episode 8, Aired Nov 12, 2009

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7.4

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Mark gets a lead on the tattooed assassin that he saw in his flashforward. Simon and Lloyd play a game of poker to settle old scores. Aaron uncovers the harsh truth behind Tracy's death. Janis has second thoughts about her career.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Julio Oscar Mechoso

Det. Rick Malchiodi
GUEST STAR
Elizabeth Rodriguez

Ingrid Alvarez
GUEST STAR
Creagen Dow

Billy

Jack Davenport

Lloyd Simcoe
Courtney B. Vance

Stanford Wedeck
Joseph Fiennes

Mark Benford
Christine Woods

Janis Hawk
Zachary Knighton

Bryce Varley
Peyton List

Nicole Kirby

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Fan Episode Reviews (4)

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There definitely was some action and whatnot.. but something was missing, and has been for some time now.

8.5

"Great"

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Oct 22, 2011

Flashforward has been suffering from a major problem as of late. Despite there being forward momentum, it still doesn't feel like enough. For every inch the show moves forward, three more questions arise in its place. And while I would tell myself to be patient if it were Lost or Fringe or any other show, Flashforward is making it extremely hard to care. The show's first five episodes or so were compelling and provided some genuine shocks. There was a lull, an incredible episode last week resulting in agent Gough's death, and now back to the same snail-crawl pace.

I've grown increasingly disappointed in Joseph Fiennes' performance. He's certainly a solid actor, but the writing hasn't given him much to work off of. He stands around with a brooding look upon his face and talks about his flashforward, but doesn't do much else. There's been a few episodes this season where his full potential is hinted at, such as "Gimme Some Truth," but for the most part, he hasn't performed at the level I thought he would.

And the poker game? That was just a waste of time, filler to make the episode reach its 43 minutes. The real tension was in the Ingrid storyline, with Janis, Benford and Noh all trying to protect her from the people Benford saw in his flashforward. I did enjoy watching to see how that panned out. And as for the ending, it gives us yet another question to ponder: who's the guy who took the briefcase? And what are those rings for?

My head's spinning, and we're not even ten episodes into the show. I hope it can balance itself out soon.moreless
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Something still missing...

8.0

"Great"

By DonStants2, Oct 22, 2011

There remains something slightly missing from this show, and I can't put my finger upon it.

I think its perhaps the overwhelming amount of storylines. Aaron's story with his daughter is happening a lot more differently than I expected. Thrown in we had Janis' story, Nicole and Bryces, Olivia and Marks, another clue on Mark's board, and Lloyd and Simon's poker game (a little much to stake a bet on, perhaps!?)- it was just too much at once.

Don't get me wrong, there were some good parts, and the episode as a whole was quite intriguing, but the writing lacks finesse sometimes, the dialogue quite weak in places- and perhaps a little repetitive.

A good episode, but the Series remains quite hit and miss.moreless
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Probably the worst episode of the season so far but coming off such a strong episode last week was going to be difficult to improve upon.

6.5

"Fair"

By cisumtixe, Jan 10, 2011

There is a common trend in TV, once you have created an amazing episode that it is rare (if not, at times) to improve upon it or reach the same standards.
Which, unfortunately is exactly what happened in this episode of FlashForward. After such an interesting and game changing episode last week it comes as no surprise that the writers had to move a bit slower in pace this week (Which is the shows main problem) However, while it wasn't great and was most likely the worse of the season it was still rather entertaining and fortunately expanded on the mysterious character played by Dominic Monaghan.
I hope it improves next weekmoreless
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This was a very boring very unrealistic episode

1.0

"Abysmal"

By igor_is_god, Jul 26, 2010

The episode starts with the dead of the agent and the world is shock, because in the whole world for 1.5 mounts no one tried to kill himself before even do he saw his life falling apart.
And then continue with a very boring and ridiculous poker party where they wane't to prove a point but faile miserebly.
In the between we saw Jericho (no wait that was not Jericho it was a girl from Afghanistan chased by the paramilitary organization called Jericho), this was just stupid.
At the end we had a murder that may not be a murder and a final scene that showed us that the future is not changed for our superhero (and guess what that scene also happen in a garage or abounded factory like most of the show scenery).moreless
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Dominic Rains and Brian O'Byrne on Flash...

© 2009 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Joseph Fiennes and Brian O'Byrne on Flas...

© 2009 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Joseph Fiennes and Brian O'Byrne on Flas...

© 2009 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Episode's key word: Will
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- E-mail addresses (they don't work either) were shown: gordon_myhill@nlap.us.com gabe_clayson@nlap.us.com philippe_tarhan@nlap.us.com elizabeth_rhee@nlap.us.com
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QUOTES (5)
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- Lloyd: You want to wager the fate of millions of people on the outcome of a... poker game? Simon: The gods did it all the time. Dice, Chess. Whatever took their fancy. They loved tinkering with the lives of mere mortals. Lloyd: We're not gods, Simon. Simon: Twenty million deaths on our shoulders. Isn't that what you said? If that doesn't qualify us for godhood, tell me... what does?
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- Stan: If Al's death proved anything, it's that our choices still matter, now more than ever.
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- Simon: You dropped off the radar, Lloyd. Without so much as a phone call. I've had to check myself into the hospital to have my bruised ego x-rayed.
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- Lloyd: You always do this. Simon: What's that? Lloyd: Use intellectual argument to defend your behavior. Simon: What? Lloyd: Okay, so you sleep with Cabrini's wife, and you call it electromagnetism. You fire your assistant and blame Darwin Simon: Shut up, Lloyd. Lloyd: And now you've upended the entire world, and you hide behind deterministic rhetoric.
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- Three-Star Commander: After the first atom bomb test, you know what a colleague of Oppenheimer said? "What a foul and awesome display." He then added, "Now we are all sons of bitches."
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NOTES (2)
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- Music: Unthought Known (Pearl Jam)
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- International Airdates: UK: November 16, 2009 on Five Australia: November 16, 2009 on Channel 7 Norway: November 26, 2009 on TV2 Sweden: December 18, 2009 on TV4 Czech Republic: January 18, 2010 on AXN Finland: March 4, 2010 on Nelonen Latin America: April 13, 2010 on AXN Germany: April 19, 2010 on ProSieben India: October 20, 2010 on Zee Cafe Slovakia: January 17, 2011 on JOJ
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Aaron: I know this sounds like a Baldacci novel. This is an allusion to David Baldacci, an acclaimed author of 18 best-selling novels. Baldacci's novels are about the intelligence services.
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