Better Angels - Recap

In the Ganwar region of Somalia, Demetri, Janis, Simon, and Vogel fly in by helicopter, posing as Red Panda workers. Their guide, Awaale, offers lessons in Somali. Janis isn't happy that her plans to become pregnant were interrupted by Vogel. They land and Simon asks Vogel for a gun, but the CIA agent refuses, saying they have Marines providing security.



In Los Angeles, Mark gives Stan a picture of a hydra, the same that he saw in his flashforward, and explains that it represents D. Gibbons, aka Dyson Frost, The particle physicist is a recluse who trained at MIT and became a grand chessmaster at the age of 16. Frost was killed on a boat names Boisteau's Monster, and Boisteau was an 18th century French writer who wrote about hydras. Mark confirms that Charlie knew about Frost in her flashforward and wonders what they can do next. Stan advises him to slay the hydra and continue the investigation.

The team spots the remaining tower near the town and approach. Locals open fire on them and easily capture them, Their leader approaches them and Awaale translates that they are humanitarian workers. The leader guns him down and introduces himself in English as Abdi Khalif, and says they don't need a translator.

The locals get the team into a building and Abdi identifies Simon as the person who claimed he caused the Blackout. Abdi insist that God caused the Blackout and doesn't believe their cover. He informs them that others came and set up the towers when he was a boy, and claimed they would provide power. One day, Abdi returned to the village, discovered everyone was unconscious and ran in terror. Now, Abdi has another outsider taken past them to the street and then shot, He wants to know why they are there and says he will kill them if they don't tell him the truth.



At the hospital, Bryce is vomiting in the bathroom due to his cancer when he gets a page. He bumps into Nicole and notices that she's carrying a medical book and she reluctantly admits that she's considering going into pre-med. As they talk, Nicole notices that he's not feeling well but Bryce dismisses her concern.

In Somalia, Janis suggests they tell Abdi the truth but Vogel refuses to break cover. Demetri disagrees and starts a fight, and they use the distraction to subdue the guards and head for their helicopter. Two men are there, examining the weaponry, including a rocket launcher. One of the Marines takes out the men, but a rocket launcher inadvertently goes off, The team runs to the helicopter and arm themselves, but Abdi and his remaining men arrive in an armored vehicle and recaptures them. Abdi shoots his own men for failing them and insists that the agents fulfill their part of the plan.

Mark comes home and discovers that Olivia has been looking at homes in Denver. She suggests that they might move there but Mark isn't convinced. He then brings up the matter of getting Charlie to describe her flashforward. Olivia is reluctant and wants to talk to Charlie first before the FBI questions her. Mark agrees to let her.



Abdi threatens to kill one of the Marines unless Charlie says who they really are. The Marine quickly gives in and Abdi threatens Demetri, who is unafraid of death. He explains that they believe the towers caused the small-scale Blackout. Abdi disagrees, saying that he saw dead goats and the Black Camel, a bad omen in the region. He talks of how when he returned to the village from the refugee camps, all of the bodies were gone. All of the towers but one were demolished and word spread that Abdi was the only survivor, giving him a fearsome reputation. He used it to become a warlord in the region. On the day of the Blackout, Abdi saw himself in the future as an affluent leader presenting himself as the new face of Somalia and speaking of the "better angels." He wants the CIA to arm him for revolution. When Vogel refuses, Abdi beats him and then shoots the Marine dead.

Left alone, the team considers their options. Vogel warns that they are on their own and there's no one to call. Abdi returns and prepares to shoot Simon, and Janis gets an idea based on his "better angels" comment. She tells him that his prophecy is wrong and insists she can prove it. Abdi takes her to his office to explain, and Janis tells him that the reference to "better angels" is from Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address referring to unity and bringing people together. She says she can find someone who can confirm what he actually saw and asks for Internet access. She brings up the Mosaic site and shows him other flashforwards confirming that he is speaking out for peace, and that he wears his dead mother's necklace. Janis informs him that he will stop a war, not start one.



Charlie is playing video games when Olivia comes in and asks what she remembers from her flashforward, even if it's hard. Charlie warns that if she tells her, something bad will happen, but Olivia promises that it won't. Charlie finally explains that she was in the kitchen with Dylan, She overheard Lloyd saying that D. Gibbons is a liar, but the man wasn't in the house. Next, Charlie heard fireworks in the backyard. When she went to investigate, she saw two men with suits and one of them said, "Mark Benford is dead."

Later, Olivia tells Mark what Charlie said. Mark insists that he's alive in his flashforward, but Olivia still wants to move far away. However, she realizes that Mark won't go. he explains that there will be another Blackout, and he has to try and stop it.

The team explains that Abdi's people didn't die, but blacked out. Now they want to find and talk to some of them. They were driven away in the war and he doesn't now where they are. They go to the tower and Abdi explains that he painted a verse from the Koran on the tower as a warning. He has never been inside, believing it's an evil place. As they approach it, Simon notes that what he was designed was theoretical, but someone created it eighteen years ago when he first conceived of it.



Inside, Simon confirms that the tower is his exact design, even though he didn't conceive it until a year after it was built. Demetri discovers a chessboard and a videotape. They play the tape, which has interviews of the villagers. Frost is on the tape and notes that each subject experienced a two-week consciousness shift, letting them see the future. One of them is Abdi's mother, who was unable to find him but was sure that he would become great one day. Simon finds a hatch leading below and they climb into the tunnels below. He realizes that it's a linear accelerator, one less powerful than the one Simon had at NLAP. He concludes that Frost and his people unleashed a tachyon burst as a beta-test for the global Blackout, and that they may have improved the technology so that they only need one generator instead of five. Meanwhile, Vogel finds a sealed chamber. They open it and find the skeletal remains of the villagers, executed by gunfire. Abdi finds his mother's necklace, and then blames Simon for everything. He figures that God delivered Simon to him to obtain vengeance and prepares to kill him, but Vogel shoots and kills Abdi.



Mark comes downstairs to talk to Olivia, who insists that they leave and put everything behind them. She puts it to him bluntly, and Mark doesn't respond. Olivia figures that he wants it both ways, but he can't save everyone. When she realizes that this decision will lead to the breakup they saw in their futures, she asks him again.

The team returns to the village and Demetri shares a drink with Janis. Janis admits that it's too late for her to have the daughter she saw in her flashforward, even if there are other opportunities later. He jokingly suggests that he's available if she needs to become pregnant and they both laugh. She asks about Zoey, and Demetri admits he probably won't be around in a couple of months, so it would be nice if Janis' daughter was.



Outside, Simon gets a gun from one of Abdi's men, and explains that he killed a man in his flashforward. He asks Vogel what he saw, and Vogel remembers that he was outside of the Benford house, told a man that Mark was dead, and saw Charlie at the door. All he tells Simon is that he was doing his job.

At the hospital, Bryce notes that Nicole is good at listening to people and helping them, and says it will help her become a good doctor. He gives her his good-luck calculator from college and assures her that she'll succeed. As they talk about the future, Bryce finally tells her that he lied to her and he's not sure he'll be around by the time she graduates.



Demetri watches the tape of Dyson Frost when Simon comes in. They briefly discuss the future, and a new section of the tape plays. It's Dyson Frost, who addresses Demetri directly and gets his attention.

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