FlashForward Episode 1.04 Black Swan

Mark and Demetri argue about their cases, Olivia and Bryce disagree on how to treat a patient and Nicole hopes to atone for something she hasn't done yet.

Demetri questions the terrorist suspect he and Mark captured the day of the blackout. She claims to be Alda Hertzog, though we're not sure how many of her multiple fake passports actually bear that name. Alda throws the feds a bone when she mentions something called Customer Choice Restaurant Group located in a town called Indio, which has had multiple wiretaps in the past. Alda unnerves Demetri by making an offhanded comment about him running out of time. You just know Dem's still anxious about that ominous anonymous phone call he received.

Against Mark's wishes, Demetri talks Wedeck into letting them go to Indio where they investigate a restaurant that is supposedly owned by Customer Choice Restaurant Group. A shady looking man bolts out of the place when he hears Mark and Demetri are with the FBI. When they catch the runner, he turns out to be nothing more than a lowlife Russian drug dealer.

Demetri is beyond frustrated. He gives the loudmouth dealer a little tune up until Mark jumps in. Then Demetri starts in on him, claiming he's sick of following leads from Mark's flash. Mark thinks Demetri's real issue is that he didn't have a flash and he's losing perspective. Demetri finally tells his partner about the anonymous call he received saying that he's going to be murdered on March 15th. Mark tells him that's why the Mosaic investigation is so important. He says, "We can use what we saw to stop what we saw."

When they get back to the office, Mark takes a whack at questioning Alda about the blackout. She's evasive but speaks of a metaphor used to describe a high-impact event, something so rare it's beyond the realm of human expectation. It is called a black swan and comes from a time when scientists assumed all swans were white. They were wrong. Think Alda knows anything about the blackout? Or is she just playing games?

One of the agents on Mark's team, Al, does a search on the Mosaic Collective web site for someone named Celia. He seems distressed when results pop up but Mark stops by and Al snaps back to normal. Mark wants Al to reach out to a computer hacker they once arrested. He plans to ask him to infiltrate the CIA database for info on a possible blackout in Somalia in 1991. We're not sure, but isn't it illegal to steal info from the CIA even if you are with the FBI?

Olivia and Bryce treat a patient named Edward Ned who was in a bus crash the day of blackout. Friends call him Ned. That's right; the guy's name is Ned Ned. He says that he was rocking out at a bar in his flash forward. Oh, and Ned, who is white, claims that in his flash, he was black.

Ned needs needs surgery surgery. But he's not worried. He knows that six months from now he'll be living life as a fearless black guy, like Shaft or Bryant Gumbel. Bryce does a little research on pigment change and believes Ned has Addison's disease, which means his body is making melanin compounds instead of adrenaline. It explains why he is so calm in times of distress and why his skin is going to get dark.

Bryce tries to convince Olivia not to operate until the proper precautions are taken for Addison's disease. But Olivia refuses to base a medical decision on a patient's crazy dream. We're thinking she's doing the denial thing because she's still freaked out about her flash. Bryce thinks the same thing and calls out his boss, who kicks him out of the OR.

During the procedure, Ned crashes. Olivia is losing him until we see a look of unavoidable acceptance fill her eyes. She orders the proper meds to treat a patient with Addison's disease. Just like that, Ned makes a comeback and stabilizes. Olivia has been forced to accept the reality of the flashes.

Nicole is ready to start babysitting Charlie again. We find out that Aaron's daughter, Tracy, used to babysit her. Troubled by her flash, Nicole finally reveals what she saw to Mark. Someone was drowning her and she believes she deserved what was happening to her. She saw the man's face just before he pushed her back down into the water. And then she was gone. Mark assures her that he'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's safe.

Lloyd Simcoe tells Bryce about his flash. In it, he received an urgent call and also heard a woman's voice. He didn't see who the woman was, but he knew that she was important to him. We know that it is Olivia, who has been playing a game of "Avoid the Lloyd" with very little success.

Lloyd receives a call on his cell phone. We see on the readout that it's from someone named Simon. Lloyd doesn't want to talk but Simon insists. He says, "Talking to me is just one of those little inconveniences you're going to have to put up with now that we're responsible for the single greatest disaster in human history."