FlashForward: is network TV forward progress

Until recently, I had no clue that I had given up network television.  It’s one of those gradual occurrences like gray hair or turning into your mother.  You just don’t notice until it becomes blatantly apparent when you switch to a higher wattage in the bathroom or when a good friend enlightens you.

My good friend asked me if I watched FlashForward.  Now, she is a bit of a comic geek, so I naturally assumed she said Flash Gordon.  I rolled my eyes and said no.  She began to explain, and what I was hearing was no Flash Gordon, unfortunately, as I take joy in irritating her with my purposeful, yet playful, digs upon her graphic world.

My friend was explaining to me the new ABC prime time series, FlashForward, where an average day unfolds like any other day until the populous of the planet loses complete consciousness for two minutes and seventeen seconds.  Twenty-two million people die as one can imagine the lethal result of running down a flight of stairs, driving a car down a busy freeway, or flying a Northwest jet (ok, bad example) and suddenly passing out for a couple of minutes.  In these 137 seconds, survivors glimpse a snapshot of themselves, six months forward.

By creating a social network forum called the Mosaic Collective, the Los Angeles field office of the FBI is piecing together these flash forward recollections from people all over the world in an attempt to create a first account image of what Earth will look like in six months.  Agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) finds himself obsessed with the investigation as his flash forward reveals him a 12-step dropout on his sobriety and hunted by masked gunmen as he gets closer to breaking the Mosaic case.  Olivia Benford, (Sonya Walger) is a trauma surgeon and wife of FBI agent Mark Benford whose flash forward has her in love and living with another man who she has never seen before until she performs emergency surgery on his autistic son after the blackout.

Aiding in the investigation is Demitri Noh (John Cho) whose flash forward is completely blank.  He receives a call from a woman of international intrigue who informs him that he saw nothing because his death is eminent.  Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) is a quick-witted and snarky (be still my heart) martial arts expert who uses hacked CIA intelligence to uncover a similar loss of consciousness in the region of Somalia in 1991.  Janis’ flash forward is interesting in that she learns she is sixteen weeks pregnant with a baby girl.  Interesting is that she has no current serious love interest, and oh yeah, she is a lesbian.

I’ll stop here as I don’t want to give anything else away other than there are simultaneous attacks on all the FBI agents!  As you can see, I watched all six previously aired episodes over the weekend.  I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The premise is different, it appeals to my geeky science side, and the suspense leaves me wanting to know more.  The last part alone is a minor miracle when it comes to network television.  There are no has-been, half-dead celebrities or indicted politicians tripping the light fantastic while in return tripping my gag reflex.  There are no crazy custodians of litter-sized offspring pimping their carnival sideshows for clothing contracts.  There is just good, fresh writing and good acting, which is more shocking on network television this day and age than the lesbians kissing.

Though at times the pace can be meticulous, it doesn’t diminish my desire…so far.  I anticipate sweeps as I believe the tempo will crescendo into the finale.   And yes, there is yet another pregnant lesbian…kind of.  It’s a flash forward and the character is stunned as she has no desire to be a mother and no long term partner prospects.  Which brings one to a logical question.  Are these flash forwards actual glimpses into the future, or are the characters driving their visions to fruition by the actions they are taking now?

Wish I could flash forward to Thursday, 8:00 EST to find out…