TV episode review
US airdate 22 April 2010 (ABC)
UK airdate 26 April 2010 (Channel 5)

March 15th, 2010: the day Demetri Noh will be killed by Mark Benford...

One of the longer running threads in the series finally comes to a conclusion this episode, as Dyson Frost creates an elaborate killing machine that will ensure that the future predicted for Demetri comes true. Two thoughts immediately come to mind when this is revealed: why does he go to such trouble? And will the producers really kill off John Cho?

We never get a proper answer to the first question – Frost mumbles a lot about probabilities and chances, but there isn't space in 41 minutes of television even to begin to explain the theories behind his decision or why he suspected that in fact Demetri would actually kill him on March 15th.

And as to the second, it always seemed unlikely. Readers of the original novel will know that the character upon whom Demetri is based also managed to change his fate, and the TV version was at pains to point out the future could be changed very early in its run.

At the end, Mark remembers one specific detail from the probability diagram of future dates that Frost had in his lair – "The End", predicted for 2016. The producers might as well have put up a huge sign saying "Please renew us for further seasons"...

Unfortunately, the network's own garden of forking paths doesn't seem to be pointing in that direction, even if this episode returned the show to some form of coherence. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 6/10