British TV reviews and so much more. I've really just about had it with all you scumbags. Aerial Telly forever - worthless Twitter groupie slime never.
"a depressing but brilliant read.... a superbly written manifesto for nothing." Daniel Hart
Can you remember what you were doing when The Event happened? You know the one - every human being on the face of the earth blacked out for 2 minutes 17 seconds. Airlines fell out of the sky, cars ploughed over bridges; games of Yahtzee abruptly came to a halt. FBI agent Mike Benford (Joseph Fiennes) was speeding across a bridge tailing terrorist suspects. Like the rest of the world he has visions of six months in the future during the blackout, a kind of FlashForward. In his case, he was discovering what happened during The Event which is sure to come in handy for the next six months when he will be finding out what happened during The Event. Can you solve the mystery? Can you change fate? Can I change the channel?
"Benford was discovering what happened during The Event which is sure to come in handy for the next six months when he will be finding out what happened during The Event. Can you solve the mystery? Can you change fate? Can I change the channel?"
I'm here now so I guess I'm committed. Much like Mike, who storms into action by asking questions, attending meetings and shit. He's asking himself, for example, why he was drinking again in his FlashForward. Those AA meetings were going so well. Maybe he should ask his wife Olivia whose vision features her apparently hooking up with Miles from This Life (that's Jack Davenport as Lloyd Simcoe). Olivia is played by Sonya Walger who you probably remember as Desmond's yachtswoman fuckbuddy Penny on Lost. Walger always sounds like she's doing an over the top , little bit too clipped, Gwyneth Paltrow vocal coach, English accent on Lost even though she is actually English. Bizarrely, her American accent is more convincing. How you like them Bramleys?
"Demetri dinnae like his future. Well, I don't like the shape of your head, vision boy - it looks like an abandoned game of jenga."
It's funny what a global consciousness shift can do to people. Mike's annoying partner, who we'll call Demetri (John Cho) because that's his name, got nothing in his FlashForward and therefore believes, not unreasonably, he'll be dead in six months. He dinnae like his future. Well, I don't like the shape of your head, vision boy - it looks like an abandoned game of jenga. Pick up your cross and follow me.
It's not just the blockhead who's confused though. Everyone has a theory about The Event and the clever money is backing a conspiracy. CCTV footage reveals a dude in black walking around a crowded baseball stadium during the blackout without a care in the world. Literally within minutes Mike's crack team of FBI highflyers come up with a cool name for him: "Suspect Zero". He's much like post 9/11 Ground Zero except he's not a gigantic smouldering piece of shit that opportunistic gladhanding fucks visit (as far as we can tell -- he's something of an enigma as mysterious Mr Xs often are).
"Literally within minutes Mike's crack team of FBI highflyers come up with a cool name for him: 'Suspect Zero'. He's much like post 9/11 Ground Zero except he's not a gigantic smouldering piece of shit that opportunistic gladhanding fucks visit."
Listen to me, shitbird. Cars blowing up, goofy sci-fi, half remembered visions and shady conspiracy -- all fine with me. Get me hot dames and time travel and I'm there. My problem is it's feeling a little bit too much like Heroes for my liking. That "save the cheerleader, save the world" bollocks with people trying to escape a predetermined fate really doesn't fly for me and inevitably ends up with some shocking cheating in the denouement. No rikee.
John Cho looks like he was dropped as a child; Joseph Fiennes acts like he was. For all that, it is kind of intriguing. I'm gonna be sticking with it for a while at least. It's not going to be as good as Lost but it may just have something that isn't utterly predictable and nausey. Aerial Telly is not standing for any nonsense. Trust.
The best thing about it: I guess the kangaroo was cool
The worst thing about it: Right now, not really caring whether anyone lives or dies.
The verdict on FlashForward: Flash! Aah-aaaaaaah! It's quite reasonable.
