The “High Concept” sci-fi show has been very popular in recent years, mostly due to the enormous success of Lost. We’ve had V, Invasion, Surface, Heroes and several others. Most of them haven’t lasted very long. High concepts often start off grabbing the audience by the throat but then when the novelty of the show’s gimmick wears off, people start changing the channel. That’s what happened with FlashForward. Expectations were high but by the end of the first and only season, no one was left watching.
As high concepts go, FlashForward had one of the grandest canvasses of all. The scope of the show was global (rather than being on an island or small town) and the idea was very unique. The story starts in a typical day in October of 2009. We get a look at the lives of some of our main characters as they begin their average day. But at 11am, the entire world - every man, woman and child - suddenly passes out for two minutes. While they are all unconscious, they all have prophetic flash-forwards to the same April day, six months in the future. Then the whole world wakes up to see the disaster that occurs when the whole planet suddenly goes to sleep without warning. Planes and cars have crashed. Patients on operating tables have bled to death. Some people have drowned and others fell. Ultimately, 20 million people died during those two minutes.
While the world is still reeling from the global disaster, everyone individually is struggling to make sense out of their flash-forward. People saw themselves doing things in the future and assume that their fate is preordained. Those who had a pleasant vision begin planning their lives to insure that the good future they saw comes true. Others who didn’t like what they saw become scared or despondent, trying to change their apparent destiny. Some people saw nothing at all and come to the conclusion that they will be dead in six months, and so they being living lives without regard to consequence. No one goes unaffected by the knowledge of their future.
An FBI task force takes it upon themselves to investigate the cause of the black out because one of the agents, Mark Benford (Played by Joseph Fiennes, star of Shakespeare in Love and brother of Ralph Fiennes), had a flash forward that he’ll be close to solving the mystery of the blackout in six months. He also sees assassins coming to silence him.
Working along with Mark is his partner Demetri Noh (John Cho), who is one of the people who believes that he will die sometime in the next six months. Also working with them is Janice Hawk (Christine Woods) who was shocked to see herself pregnant in her flash forward because she is a lesbian. Overseeing this crew is Stanford Wedeck, (Courtney Vance) the experienced department chief who has high powered contacts and knows how to play hardball when he wants something.
Other cast members include Mark’s wife Olivia (Sonya Walger of Lost) a surgeon who fears that the end of her marriage is coming because she saw herself having an affair. Things get more complicated for her when the man in her vision, Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport), shows up at the hospital with his autistic son. Mark and Olivia’s daughter Charley (Lennon Wynn) had a frightening flash forward about her father’s death. Bryce (Zachary Knighton) was a man on the verge of suicide until his flash forward showed him meeting his dream girl Keiko (Played by Japanese movie star Yuko Takeuchi). Keiko had the same vision but she’s on the other side of the world in Tokyo. Can two strangers who don’t even know each other’s names find the other, despite being half a world apart? And then there is the enigmatic genius Simon Campos (Played by a very miscast Dominic Monahan of Lost and Lord of the Rings fame) who may play a vital role in solving the mystery.
The first episode is done on a grand scale and really makes you feel the global effect of the disaster. It’s a very good start. But somewhere mid-season, things start to become slow and repetitious. We’re carried along only by the anticipation of wondering what, or who, caused the mass blackout. Things start to pick up again in the last few episodes as the April day everyone envisioned comes closer, and the finale is exciting, but some may not feel it was worth sitting through the weak middle of the season to get to the season ending cliffhanger, which will never be resolved due to the show’s cancellation. One mystery that seemed so bizarre that it was out of place with the rest of the show was the kangaroo which kept popping up and hopping away.
The most interesting thing about the show is the way it reverses the way humans run their lives. In reality, humans are guided by their past experiences. But in the universe of FlashForward, people are basing their lives and plans on a future event. The future is guiding the present.
One confusing thing about Flash Forward is the inconsistent philosophy about whether or not time is immutable. At certain points time seems unchangeable and set in stone but at others times it seems to be in flux and able to be altered. Some flash forwards play out exactly as predicted, some occur with minor changes and some don’t happen at all.
The cast is a talented group but some of the performances here seem a bit uninspired. There are a few bright spots. Cho, Vance and Woods come across the best. Takeuchi is also very good, despite her limited English. Fiennes, Walger and Davenport are perhaps too understated. Monaghan, on the other hand, tires a bit too hard in a role that isn’t a natural fit for him.
FlashForward has an excellent premise that could have been executed a bit better. It isn’t a bad show, especially at the beginning and end of the season, but given the potential of the concept, being ‘not bad’ isn’t quite good enough.
DVD Bonus Features
The 5 DVD set has 100 minutes of bonus extras.“Architects of Destiny” gives us a behind the scenes look at the making of FlashForward. “On Set” is basically more of the same. “Meet Yuko” lets us get to know the charming and likeable YukoTakeuchi, one of Japan’s top stars, as she arrives in the US to film Flash Forward. “Interviews of the Mosaic Collective” is an amusing companion piece to the series, which has people around the world being interviewed about their flash forwards.“Kangaroo?” never actually answers the question of what’s up with that kangaroo. There’s a “Deleted scenes” section and a blooper reel.
"FlashForward: The Complete Series" is on sale August 31, 2010 and is not rated. Mystery, Sci-Fi. Directed by David S Goyer, Various. Written by Brannon Braga and David S. Goyer. Starring Christine Woods, Courtney B Vance, Dominic Monaghan, John Cho, Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger.
