What happened here? Merely shouting “FlashForward sucks” and walking away doesn’t really cut it. This show had everything going for it: a top-notch cast, great time-slot, a compelling premise, a great network, good looking sets. Why did this show fail?


I guess I can only give my reason why I lost interest in the show. The first reason is that FlashForward suffered from the same long break that V suffered from. It totally killed the show’s momentum.


The second reason is that they gave away too many answers too soon. No one really wants to be dragged around for seasons like Lost but they had a talent for keeping you confused enough to keep watching. We found out who was behind the blackouts too soon. We found out exactly what they were too soon.


My third reason for getting bored with the show is the constant blackout stories. Some of them were good from a artistic stand point but the guy who flashed in a bus and eventually “turned black” was ridiculous. The prime time audience is harsh and doesn’t have patience for an art project.


Long lost love, restaurant, cancer, drowning
There was a big build up for Dr. Bryce Varley and the woman he saw himself with in the vision, Keiko. I was a little disappointed to see him fall in love with hospital volunteer, Nicole Kirby. In the latest episode, Nicole told Bryce that she knew Keiko was being held in a facility for illegal immigrants. His loved faded for Nicole and he went to search for Keiko. He got there after Keiko’s mom came to pic her up. Another really close encounter. I’m tired of the chain-yanking on that. Zzzzz. He also had cancer which sucked. He was lucky enough to have his cancer go into remission which is something that you ALWAYS want to hear in real life but for a fictional character, it was wrapped up a bit too easily.
Nicole is supposed to be drowned soon but we have no reason for it. If it ends up being Bryce or some weird guy… you know what… anything they try to do to wrap up her story will be weak because there is no build up for it. Drowning is not a just crime for leaving an immigrant in a holding facility.





Olivia, Simcoe, Baltar
I believe that Olivia gave up on her relationship too fast. I’m glad to see that she refused to be in the house in her lingerie with Lloyd on the night of the blackout. That was a good move but the separation with Mark was ridiculous especially since they still love each other and have communicated in EVERY episode since the “break up”. As much as I love James Callis, wtf is Gabriel there for other than comic relief and to torture poor Agent Noh? Well, Gabriel also gives out tidbit clues to unravel the mysteries of mad scientist Dyson Frost. He specializes in telling Olivia that in all the versions of the future she is with Lloyd Simcoe. He seems like a lazy way to push the story along without any real detective work.
On a side note, I love hearing James’ ridiculous English accent which switches cadences between Brooklyn to Bronx to Jersey. He provides some of the funniest scenes in the show. He should be on Big Bang Theory as the same guy. That would be comedy gold!


The Dyson Frost thing
What a let down! Michael Massee is a great bad guy in everything. I was excited to see him added to the cast only to be used in the weakest way possible. First, there was a massive wild goose chase to find this guy. After a series of weird clues, a trip to Africa and other useless chicanery, Frost kidnaps Nho and ends up getting himself killed. In a dick movie, he booby traps his notes on the future to be destroyed. It was all useless. I can’t really remember what we learned from all of that. I couldn’t ever get excited about the second blackout. The people behind it seem like a bunch of disorganized yahoos. I don’t think anyone knows how the damned blackout happens.


Janice, Nho, Baby, Double Agent
Every since her flash forward, Janice wanted to have a baby. She didn’t get inseminated in time for it to happen for the day of the blackout so Agent Nho did the generous thing and had sex with her to make her baby FlashForward happen. Agent Nho, having survived his expiration date, has a new lease on life and wants to be part of the baby’s life. This new lease on life includes telling, Zoey, the woman who stuck her neck out for him by bending the rules resulting in getting yelled at by a judge, letting a criminal escape on her watch AND dealing with his mother that he slept with Janice, a lesbian that needs to be pregnant by blackout day. I swear to god if Janice’s sexuality turns out to be part of her cover and she was in love with Nho the whole time, I’m gonna punch a screen. Speaking of cover, Janice is a double agent and has been lying to the team the whole time. At first we think she is betraying us by working for some shadow group but turns out she’s working for the CIA.





I suppose that the audience got tired of being jerked around. FlashFoward went into too many directions. It gave away too many answers about the blackout and those answers were pointless. The show betrayed the laws set in its own universe by allowing futures to be altered then asserting that the universe will course correct all of the alterations. What is the point of that? It makes the whole series a mediocre shade of grey. I hate to see a series that started out so strong with so many resources and so much potential just fade away. Whether or not we get answers or closure, the show has it’s final blackout next Thursday.


FlashForward will air it’s final episode Thursday, May 27, 2010, 8/7c on ABC.
http://abc.go.com/shows/flash-forward