FLASHFORWARD: THE COMPLETE SERIES

As intriguing as it is frustrating, FlashForward is an exercise in not getting enough information... and I'm not just talking about the characters in the show.

Imagine that the whole world blacks out simultaneously for two minutes. Planes crash, cars plummet off bridges, people falls down stairs... 20 million people die. But during these two minutes, those lucky enough to not bonk their heads when they crumple to the floor all have a vision. Turns out, that they are all imagining their futures at the exact same moment six months from now. When everyone wakes up and starts chatting with each other, they slowly piece together that they've all shared a bizarre gift (or curse, depending), getting a glimpse of where they will be in their lives at that same moment. But is this a blessing? A curse? Can the future be changed, or will fate bring you to your destiny, no matter how you fight it?

It is certainly an intriguing idea, and is portrayed well enough to keep the viewer interested. But something nagged at me while watching the whole first (and only) season of FlashForward. Why did I never feel the need to pause the DVD when I went to putter around in the kitchen to get a snack? Why, when I realized that I accidentally skipped an episode somewhere in the middle, that I didn't feel like I missed anything? Why did my friend and I break into conversation and/or discussion in the middle of a scene and not bother rewinding to see what the characters were talking about?

This is a show that SHOULD be smart and clever and mind-bending. The actors are certainly up to the task, given the material that they have to work with. An FBI agent Mark (Joseph Fiennes) sees himself starting at a mosaic of information about the blackout, while going on a drinking bender (he's a recovering alcholic). His wife Olivia (Sonya Walger) sees herself getting out of bed during an intimate meeting with a man she's never met named Lloyd (Jack Davenport)... who turns out to be a scientist, who, with his colleague Simon (Dominic Monaghan) may know more about the blackout than he's letting on. In the meantime, Mark's FBI partner Demetri (John Cho) has no vision at all. Does that mean he dies sometime in the next six months?

There are many more characters. MANY more. The ones I liked the most were FBI agent Janis (Christine Woods), a gay single woman who sees herself pregnant, a desire she never had, but suddenly now wants more than anything.  And I liked the FBI boss Stanford (Courtney B. Vance), who is really the most believable and normal person of the bunch. Stanford's vision of the future? Sitting on the toilet. Seriously, as we were sitting there watching the series, hour after hour, my friend and I decided that our vision of the future would be of us sitting on our asses in the middle of watching hour after hour of some random TV show on DVD.

I really wanted to like FlashForward more. You could tell by the second half that the writers knew the show was going to get canceled. There is an attempt to wrap things up, but storylines start to feel rushed, and huge twists are thrown in, as though they were throwing various plots at a wall to see what would stick. Shoot, when Annabeth Gish shows up as a baddie that dresses like an undercover dominatrix, you have to wonder who at the writing workshop thought that that was necessary to forward the plot. Not that we minded seeing Annabeth Gish dressed like a barely-clothed baddie (whapish!).

But FlashForward never feels as smart or as well-written as it really ought to be. In an era where there ARE smart sci-fi and fantasy shows out there, like LOST or Battlestar Galactica, I guess I just expected more.