FlashForward looks like ABC’s new shot at creating a new mysterious drama that could fill in the place that Lost will leave open come the end of this season of television. It has that hook of some strange event happening, and a group of people trying to piece together the information available to find out what happened.
In this case, FlashForward takes the premise of the entire human race blacking out at the same time. But it is not so much a blackout, but people seeing a small segment of the future, two minutes and nineteen seconds of the future to be exact. The series does a quick tease with the aftermath of the Flash Forward at the beginning before the credits and then goes backwards in time to four hours before the FlashForward event.
The actual event is rather muted at best when it happens, with people crawling out of cars, down from buildings and smoldering rubble as far as the eye can see. There are a few explosions and at least one helicopter crashing into a building that are presented with horrible special effects. It is a good think that the event happens at one point in time, because the special effects shown in this episode are very off-puting.
Right now, we are introduced to a handful of people that look to make up the regular cast. While I was familiar with John Cho (Star Trek, Harold and Kumar) playing Demetri Noh, Courtney B. Vance (Law and Order, ER) as Stan Wedeck and Sonya Walger (Lost) as Olivia Benford. Some of the others in this ensemble cast include Joseph Fiennes (Enemy at the Gates, Elizabeth) as FBI man Mark Benford and Zachary Knighton (Life on a Stick) as the suicidal doctor Bryce Darley.
FlashForward does start to ask some interesting questions about whether religion and God were involved with this, or what happens if you did not see a vision of the future, which has happened to a couple of the characters. The first episode does a good job of setting up the events for creating a winding mystery, with multiple threads of the story running at the same time.
Right now, after one episode, I can say that this could become the new hook for those that are cringing at the idea of losing their precious Lost. It has the mystery, the drama, but questions could remain about the character chemistry. Bringing back some Lost veterans does not hurt the show, and could help it build it an audience. As long as they stay away from the horrible and cheesy special effects, this should be a great show in the long run of things.
FlashForward – No More Good Days gets a solid 4.5 out of 5 Squirtles at this point in time.
