TV Review: FlashForward
Originally published at Grasping for the Wind. Please leave any comments there.
FlashForward is a TV series based on the novel of the same name by the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell award winning author Robert J. Sawyer. The show, a piece of near future science fiction, draws the viewer in by presenting a problem that raises many more questions than it answers. One so compelling the viewer just has to keep watching to know what happens next.
The first episode “No More Good Days” opens like a standard crime drama. FBI agents Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and partner Demetri Noh (John Cho) are chasing bad guys through the streets of a California city. We then jump forward to see Benford and Noh awakening from an apparent crash. But as they do, we learn that it was not just they who were involved in an accident, but that the whole world had blacked out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which time they see visions of their future.
In subsequent episodes we see Benford, Noh and their boss Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) and fellow agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) taking the lead in investigating the cause of the worldwide blackout. It is they who first discover “Suspect Zero” a man apparently still awake during the blackout, and it is they who continue to turn up clues to the reason. Each episode ends with a similar significant cliffhanger, and I was thankful to have the DVD version so I could watch the first 10 episodes in just a few sittings.
Benford and his team are eventually given free rein to investigate the FlashForward event. This is mainly because Benford saw a vision of his future during his FlashForward, with himself as lead of the investigation.
Even as the characters are dealing with the larger issue of the FlashForward, they also have personal problems. Benford - the primary motivator of the story - saw a return to his alcoholism during his vision and his wife Olivia (Sonya Walger) sees herself in love with another man. Olivia is honest with Benford, but he is not, and a marital tension arises. Noh didn’t see anything, and so fears he will be dead on April 29, 2010 - the future day the visions seem to have revealed to most everyone. Others have more prosaic visions, which may turn out to be much more complex than they first appear.
The story is extremely compelling. The episodes ask questions about the relationship between prophecy and free will. While entertaining in its 24 like government conspiracies, it also looks at the personal effects of knowledge of the future, especially in the relationship between Olivia and Benford. The story easily hooks the reader, as it has action, suspense, love, and mystery all rolled up into an easily relatable package.
The acting is decent, though not great. Only a few of the main actors have had previous significant billing, and the show relies mostly on Fiennes for star power. This is a problem because Fiennes, a Brit, has a hard time Americanizing his accent. Instead of the smooth inflection of the actor I would expect from the star of Shakespeare in Love, we get a raspy voice that sounds the same throughout the show. Even when Fiennes’ character is talking to the daughter he loves, it sounds as if he is talking to a suspected perp. For Hugh Laurie (House on House) this works for the character, but in family man Fiennes, it sounds forced and unpracticed. As the show progresses, there is some improvement, but in the initial episodes, this is a turnoff.
Vance seems to simply have reprised his role as the prosecutor on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. He delivers his lines with nearly the same expression and voice as from the show - enough to be almost indistinguishable. This is works in his role of director of the local FBI agency but it will be familiar to viewers of his previous TV role. Cho, Woods, and Walger are relative unknowns and their acting and do quite well in their roles - making them believable and empathetic. I do think Woods seems to be rather monotone in her delivery in the first few episodes, so her character is probably the least interesting of the bunch as a result, until her story begins to be developed more fully.
All in all though, it is the story that is most compelling. Even as Season 1.1 ended, the viewer was left with many more questions than answers, and even the seemingly lackluster acting rose to the occasion. New stars and characters were added as the season went on, but undeniably, this show only becomes more riveting with each and every new episode.
I watched Season 1.1 on the recently released DVD, which contains a couple of bonus features. The documentary that describes the effects is interesting if you like background on just how shows like this are made, and the FlashForward: A Look Ahead certainly wet my appetite for more in the second half of the season, set to begin on March 18, 2010.