With its cinematic sweep, huge ensemble and mind-crushing premise FlashForward started off last fall with great promise. Sadly, the time-warped soap opera crashes and burns Thursday with a series finale that brings the curtain down on the mysterious conspiracy that triggered a 2-minute, 17-second global blackout enabling people to see six months into the future.
The biggest mystery is why ABC renewed its disappointingly generic alien drama V but pulled the plug on FlashForward. With the exception of Morena Baccari as lead alien Anna, V is the weaker show, dragged down by uninspired acting and cardboard dialogue.
To be sure, FlashForward (8 p.m./7 p.m. Central) suffered from uneven scripts and an over-reliance on "who-cares?" soap opera complications. Most damaging, the expensive-to-produce series took a dive in the ratings this spring.
Still, it's a shame the show won't be coming back. Here are five reasons FlashForward should have lived to see another season.
The bad guys were good actors.
Though they got killed off quickly, villains Dyson Frost/D. Gibbons (played by Michael Massee) and Flosso (Ricky Jay) hit the ground running with crazy flow charts and lines like "Let the wild rumpus begin." As covert brainiacs, these actors had menacing smarts to spare.
The puzzle was tight.
Most of the breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the early episodes paid off later. For example, all those dead blackbirds discovered in Somalia in 1991? Explained. Suspect Zero, the only man caught on surveillance tape who managed to stay awake during the global blackout? Also sorted.
The cast had color.
True to the blackout's global dimensions, FlashForward expanded beyond the network standard of white heroes to rope in a broad range of black and Asian characters. John Cho was especially strong as Dmitri, the FBI agent with the inexplicably Russian name.
Dominic Monaghan.
Whenever the relationship angst faced by characters destined to die or betray each other threatened to drag FlashForward into the soggy morass of doomed love, viewers could count on Dominic Monaghan to drive a stake into the show's sentimental heart. As the arrogant genius Simon, the Lost star cranked up FlashForward's voltage every time he appeared onscreen.
The autistic guy
Recent episodes showcased a breakout performance by British actor James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) as twitchy idiot savant Gabriel McDow, who'd been brainwashed by the flash-forward masterminds. The character added a much-needed quirkiness factor that would have been a boon in future episodes.
What's your take on FlashForward? Did the series overstay its welcome? Did it stink from the start? Or do you wish the show had been given a second season to tease out the space-time conundrums even further? Weigh in below.
Ensemble pictured above, left to right: Jack Davenport as Lloyd Simcoe, John Cho as Demetri Noh, Sonya Walger as Olivia Benford, Zachary Knighton as Bryce Varley, Christine Woods as Janis Hawk, Joseph Fiennes as Mark Benford, Courtney B. Vance as Stanford Wedeck, Peyton List as Nicole Kirby, Dominic Monaghan as Simon and Brian F. O'Byrne as Aaron Stark.
Images courtesy ABC.
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