Post by The Curmudgeon on Sept 19, 2010 15:51:09 GMT 2
Skip to the end...
"The New Lost." I wonder how often we'll hear that phrase in the future, every time the next "High Concept" sci-fi drivel comes along? Because even though it's meant as hopeful praise by over-eager critics, it's this albatross that only leads to disappointment with the show in the long run. "Heroes" was described as The New Lost, right before it held its nose and dive bombed into the toilet after its first season. And then, of course, Flashforward, another New Lost, with it's chin-stroking premise and flashy, expensive opening episode. Which, as is now tradition, ran out of steam after that episode and spent the next 21 torturous hours wrapping itself in knots and boring everyone senseless before being rightfully drop-kicked into TV oblivion.
So that all important premise first; everyone on the planet collapses and loses consciousness for 137 seconds, at which point they see a glimpse of their life six months in the future. Ooooh, how about that, then? Some people see nothing (gasp! They're dead! But how?) Some people see themselves with a different partner (gasp! But how?) and our hero Mark (played by charisma-vacuum Joseph Fiennes) sees himself surrounded by a wall of clues he'd collected in those 6 months whilst someone with a gun tries to kill him (gasp! But.. yeah, you get the idea). The most crucial clue of all was something he missed though. Buried among the scraps of paper and Polaroid pictures was, in my handwriting, the words, "ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE CARES."
And that is the killing blow to Flashforward. Original, intriguing premise aside, there is just nothing TO Flashforward. Everything that made Lost great, the reasons its the new benchmark for all future science fiction television, have all been, oh ho! "lost" in the production of FF. Interesting, believable, layered characters. Episodes packed with action, suspense, humour, sadness. Story arcs packed with twists, mis-direction and surprise. A need for in-depth knowledge of the show that rewards patient, dedicated fans. And, whatever you think of the finale of the show, Lost had all of these and more, and, crucially, Fast Forward has none of them.
Like Heroes before it, things will happen in Flashforward. Buildings will explode, guns will fire, people will shout, people will throw themselves off buildings, that annoying smug idiot with the sick kid will be revealed as the guy behind it all, Joseph Fiennes will be tempted to, dun dun duuuuuun, DRINK AGAIN, causing him to, oh no, ACT A BIT), Joseph Fienne's wife will be as bland and boring as possible and.. oh God, it's a struggle even to write all of this. Like I said, things happen, but you will NOT care. Not a bit. You're only watching it because you've been told it's "The New Lost", you'll have been tricked into the (really pretty good) opening episode and you'll wonder why, deep down, you couldn't give a crap about any of it. Dominic Monaghan could devolve into Splinter, complete with pink bathrobe and walking stick, and you wouldn't even blink. You'll wonder why you can't remember any of these characters names. You'll be puzzled why you can't actually remember why certain people are doing certain things. You'll find yourself asking "who's this guy again?" And you'll wonder; maybe it's part of the overall Flashforward effect, the fact that the episodes last an hour and you curiously lose consciousness after the first 12 minutes, until you wake to the sound of the end credits rolling and another hour of your life gone up in smoke.
Boring, 2D characters running around joylessly piecing together a puzzle that's not interesting in the first place. That's not great writing - that's just a waste of a good concept. With better writing, better characters and a pinch of a sense of humour could have made Flashforward another sci-fi triumph instead of yet another casualty. Still, never mind. I see that the 80s sci-fi classic "V" has been remade. Wow! How great is THAT going to be?
Oh.
