FlashForward Delivers on the Hype

Filed under FlashForward, TV

“FlashForward” has probably been the most anticipated new show of the season, and with very good reason. The premise is that for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the entire world blacks out, but they all get a glimpse into their future and what they are doing on April 29, 2010. The big question is why and how this happened. After watching shows like “Lost,” I definitely went into this show expecting a lot of vagueness and question after question being raised, and while there was some of that, the writers wasted very little time in cluing the characters into the greater implications of their circumstances. The characters could have withheld what they saw from each other (characters on “Lost” rarely share information), drawing things out for dramatic effect, but the characters exchanged stories willingly, helping to move things forward.

Joseph Fiennes plays the lead of a generally ensemble cast, a sober FBI agent and family man named Mark Benford. His wife, Olivia (played by Sonya Walger, best known as Penny Widmore from “Lost”) is a doctor, and the remainder of the cast is generally fleshed out from them to include other FBI agents and Olivia’s co-workers at the hospital. John Cho is a familiar face in the cast as Mark’s partner Demetri, best known as Harold from “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and its sequel “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” but recently he’s shown there’s more to him than just comedy, with a role in “Star Trek.” Here, he plays a tough agent who finds himself grappling with the fact that he didn’t see anything during the black out, thinking that could mean the worst and he isn’t alive to see April 29, 2010.

It’s great to see how quickly things move in this show, which is a major draw to continue watching. The characters didn’t bumble through the episode after the flash forward, and the pacing didn’t slow down once they realized they all experienced flash forwards. They began piecing it together.  One agent sees himself with another agent in London, and calls her to confirm that they experienced the same flash forward, proving that these were more than just hallucinations. Once they confirm this, the agents discuss a way of compiling what everyone saw, suggesting that they open a website where people can post their flash forwards and the FBI could begin looking for a pattern. Mark, Demetri, and another agent, Janis, are tasked with heading up this project, and they get straight to work. By the end of the first episode, Janis has already pulled up a very interesting piece of surveillance footage from during the black out…and it’s definitely enough to draw me back in next week…Thursday night at 8.