FlashForward: The Crow Theory

crow theory

After watching the third episode of FlashForward, “137 Sekunden” I thought for about 2 minuten.

What seemed strange to me, intentional or otherwise, was the link between crows and the blackout(s). Why were crows the only birds effected by the flashforward? Maybe this was done for stylistic purposes and crows are meant to represent birds in general?

However a couple of peculiar facts concerning crows and their disposition remain. For example crows are extremely susceptible to the West Nile Virus, which has three distinct effects on humans. The first is asymptomatic infection, which is a disease that does not display symptoms. A person infected with this highly contagious disease does not even know he has it. The second symptom is called a mild febrile syndrome, or West Nile Fever. The third, and most interesting, is called West Nile Meningitis. This disease causes an inflammation of the protective membrane covering the brain and is most often associated with symptoms such as confusion and altered consciousness.

Perhaps Olivia, the agent’s wife, will have a much bigger role to play besides an adulteress.

FlashForward: 137 Sekunden Review

137 Sekunden

Our senile “scientist” turned out to be a mass murderer by the name of Rudolf Geyer, a former Nazi who seems to have the answers to why birds in particular are effected by the blackouts. He claims that in his flashforward, he sees himself talking with a U.S. customs agent and telling him that “murder” has given him freedom, a clever pun since “murder” also means a group of crows.

Geyer tells Mark, the FBI agent, about the number 137 and its Kabbalistic implications. Mark seems frustrated with Geyer and pushes him to reveal more, at which point the Nazi tells him that when he awoke from the blackout, he noticed a dead “murder”, group of crows, in the court yard. Geyer tells Mark that this is all he knows and that this piece of information will lead the FBI agent closer to the truth. For some reason, when Geyer handed Mark a book on birds, it seemed to me like he was hiding something. I have a feeling that this isn’t the last time we see Rudolf Geyer, and that he might even be the main culprit in the story.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this episode was the cliff-hanger in the end. We see a large structure in Somalia, to which a number of crows flock, with fatal consequence. We also find out that this isn’t the first time a “flashforward” had occurred, in fact it has happened before, once in Ganwar, Somalia, 1991, and each occurrence seems to be accompanied by a sharp dip in worldwide crow population.

So far the writers of the show have done a good job of keeping the story interesting without giving away too many plot elements. At this point, anybody’s guess is as good as mine. What I can tell you however is that several signs seem to point in the direction of a “manipulated” flashforward, instead of a “naturally” occurring one. The Blue Hand, D. Gibbons, Suspect Zero, and the Tower in Somalia, all seem to point in one direction, a group of conspirators who have artificially manufactured the blackout. However some may argue that the blackout has been caused by a naturally occurring phenomenon, and that the Tower is simply a way to detect and monitor this phenomenon.