'FlashForward' - A561984
And the show ends the first half of the season with a bang, set your Tivo's for March!
This review may contain spoilers.
The mostly consistent show left on a high note, with a lot of our questions being answered, and even more intriguing ones popping up.
This week we got to see the infamous D. Gibbons again, and we found out the truth about Zoeys (Gabrielle Union) flash forward. It turns out that she didnt see Demetri (John Cho) at their wedding in April, she saw herself at his funeral. Not exactly a beautiful thought, though apparently no one wears black to his funeral and its on an exotic beach.
Lloyd (Jack Davenport) and Simon (Domonic Monaghan) admitted to the whole world that the flash forwards were the result of an experiment gone wrong, one that they are responsible for. Simon is seemingly apologetic when hes in front of a camera, but he seems to have no remorse for his actions otherwise.
We also found out that the woman (Shohreh Aghdashloo) on the other line of the mysterious phone call Demetri received predicting his murder is a bit like Mark. Shes got a window in her office where shes set up a board full of clues to the blackout, so shes a bit obsessed with answers as well. She appears to have more answers than Mark does, so Im sure well see her again (not to mention the actresses recent Emmy win). Oh yeah, shes also housing the mysterious D. Gibbons, one of the only men to not black out during the flash forward.
Mark (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri headed out to Hong Kong to try to find this mysterious woman, and it really wasnt that hard at all. Mark goes a bit off the deep end when he hears what she has to say - that hes the one thats going to kill Demetri, and with the gun in his holster. Hes tough when hes in the country, its a shame hes not so tough when it comes to Lloyd and Olivia (Sonya Walger) - theyre off connecting back at home in California despite their best efforts not to.
What Worked
Olivia and Lloyd are beginning to come together in this episode, with a few sweet moments passing between them despite their attempts to stay away from one another. She even ends up with his son in the end of the episode, and Lloyd being hauled away in an ambulance by his kidnappers. Where are they taking him? Well have to wait until March to find out.
What Didnt Work
The most sure fire way to make a complex plot not lose your audience is to make it so convoluted with big fancy scientific words that the audience just goes with it instead of trying to figure out what the heck it is your talking about. Is that what FlashForward is doing to us to explain the experiment? The jargon they used was enough to make me tune out, Im pretty sure Im not the only one. Hopefully the confusing parts will be filled in when the show returns in March.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
FlashForward stars Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Jack Davenport, Dominic Monaghan, Sonya Walger, Courtney B. Vance, Zachary Knighton, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Christine Woods. A561984 was directed by Michael Nankin and written by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga.
"FlashForward" airs Thursdays at 8 p.m.ET on ABC.
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