Now that, class, is how you make a pilot. The premise, that for 2 minutes and 17 seconds everyone on the planet blacked out and saw a vision of themselves in six months' time, is one that could go either way. The series could be a collection of heartfelt monologues the meaning of life and angels and whatnot, centred around a plot in which in each episode someone is helped by the "flashforwards." And it could still lapse into that, but it looks like this show is far more interested in being a political thriller with a sci-fi twist. The series also showed itself to be willing to add some complexity. A lot of characters were introduced, providing a number of perspectives, even if Joseph Fiennes is pretty much the protagonist. The visions and the implication that this might have been a man-made phenomenon provides a Lost-like "What the hell is going on?" intrigue, but our characters are also forced to deal with the present realities of everyone having blacked out for 2:17. It's no Battlestar Season 1, but it's solid. Likeable characters, good cast, well paced, intriguing, and witty script, and hey, it's Jack Davenport! David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga both have resumés that range from the impressive (The Dark Knight and Star Trek: The Next Generation/Voyager respectively) and the questionable (Blade Trinity and Enterprise respectively), but so far in Flashforward they have shown themselves to be very competent writers indeed. I'm already looking forward to next Thursday.
ABC, Sep 24 2009. Written by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga. Directed by David S. Goyer.
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