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Flash Forward - Page 4

post #151 of 327
10/24/09 at 5:51pm
How long can this show go on with about three minutes of interesting material per episode? Ugh.

Also, holy schizophrenia, the writing on this episode.
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post #152 of 327
10/24/09 at 6:09pm
Yeah, the show's central concept is not that great, guys. Its a gimmick of epic proportions.
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post #153 of 327
10/24/09 at 6:13pm
Finally caught this. Wouldn't be great if Fiennes is just drinking coffee from that flask after three days without sleeping?
I smell something odd about the lesbian chef.
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post #154 of 327
10/24/09 at 6:39pm
The shootouts at the end were hilarious - first, the assassins after the lesbian literally run up to her in the middle of the street to shoot her (isn't distance what gives a gun it's advantage?) then the other one runs out from hiding to shoot her and then turns his back on her as she draws her weapon! It was like keystone cops. Not to mention the afore mentioned crash/rocket/explosion that hurts no one in the enclosed space of a parking garage. All the while bad guys conveniently jump out from hiding to get mowed down. It was supposed to be dramatic but I just found it really really funny.
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post #155 of 327
10/24/09 at 6:39pm
Yeah, but at least the show came to life. That's the thing. I'll happily watch a berserk, cheesy show with flashes of interesting themes. Why else would I enjoy Star Trek?

Scoring a shootout to a karaoke singalong? That's kind of brilliant, no matter how stupid it comes out in execution. I hope this show continues to have the balls to just do whatever crazy idea pops into the writers' (directors'?) heads.
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post #156 of 327
10/24/09 at 7:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feral Akodon View Post
I smell something odd about the lesbian chef.
Mmmmm Navi Rawat. She is on Numb3rs though so I doubt she can have much of a factor. Don't watch the show but maybe she died.
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post #157 of 327
10/24/09 at 8:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feral Akodon View Post
Finally caught this. Wouldn't be great if Fiennes is just drinking coffee from that flask after three days without sleeping?
I smell something odd about the lesbian chef.
GOD why did I think the same fucking thing watching this? As the bitch Senator was ripping his crybaby ass a new one, I was screaming at the tv to tell her he was sleep deprived, and saw a bottle of caffeine uppers on the desk. For fuck's sake, it would have been a lie, but at least it would have shut up her yapping.

Demetri's flash forward would be a bit more compelling if the report said he was shot in the head. Three bullets to the chest? Make sure you put a bulletproof vest on that day bruh.
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post #158 of 327
10/25/09 at 2:20am
This show finally came to life in a goofball, "24"-esque kind of way at the end, but it's still running on fumes. It even makes hot lesbians boring.
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post #159 of 327
10/25/09 at 12:00pm
At least something's happening... now if they have the lesbian fed die (thereby voiding her flash) I'd be interested again.
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post #160 of 327
10/25/09 at 12:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anyawatchin Angel View Post
Mmmmm Navi Rawat. She is on Numb3rs though so I doubt she can have much of a factor. Don't watch the show but maybe she died.
Ahh, thanks for the name. I recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't place her-- turns out she was on "24" a few years ago. I think she was a hot, shady girlfriend in S1 or S2.

Well, I just watched eps 2-5 of this on Hulu over the past couple of days. It's alright. Not great. The Mysterious Tower of Death scene in Somalia, 1991 was pretty cool. I'll continue watching it via Hulu in the background as I do other stuff on the PC, just because I like this kind of mystery.

Oh, and I thought the Bjork intro on ep3 was pretty great, for the record.
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post #161 of 327
10/26/09 at 10:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Farsight View Post
At least something's happening... now if they have the lesbian fed die (thereby voiding her flash) I'd be interested again.
No brah, you're not thinking big picture. I think that without a doubt the best twist would be if she were impregnated by the bullets from the would-be assassin.

Ok but seriously, like someone else said this show has maybe ONE good sequence per episode. The first episode was pretty good, the aftermath of the FF and the reveal of "Suspect Zero" at the end was cool.

Second episode, the really cool explosion booby trapped warehouse scene.

Third, the crazy Somalia scene was suitably cool and creepy.

Fourth... I can't think of anything besides the scene with Dominic Monaghan and the ridiculous dialogue at the end.

Fifth, the ridiculous shootouts. The assassin who watches his target fumble for their gun, and upon seeing this TRIES TO RUN AWAY AND GETS SHOT IN THE BACK and the Feds' impossible escape from their car as it's shot with a rocket and blown up, followed by a hilarious shootout with apparently the worst henchmen ever.

It's just a shame that you have to sit through so much crap for anything interesting to happen.
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post #162 of 327
10/26/09 at 10:38am
There's also the scene in the fourth (I believe) episode with the chase scene set to bebop trumpet music. In the middle of the scene, Cho and Fiennes actually bound past a trumpet-wailing Louis Armstrong-lookalike. And in this last episode, the shootout set to karaoke music. I couldn't stop laughing. It's still a horrible show, but I like when it tries to be interesting.
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post #163 of 327
10/26/09 at 12:56pm
You mean Barry Shabaka Henley? Because you better recognize.
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post #164 of 327
10/26/09 at 12:58pm
That was HIM playing the trumpet in the alley?
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post #165 of 327
10/26/09 at 1:01pm
Oh, I thought you meant a guy that looks like Louis Armstrong during the shootout. My mistake.
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post #166 of 327
10/26/09 at 1:08pm
No, the OTHER guy who looked like Louis Armstrong in the previous episode where they were chasing a guy through a trailer park. I even tracked it down on Hulu (link goes to that section of the chase).
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post #167 of 327
10/26/09 at 3:10pm
I just think that it's to the show's credit that it's cast two guys that look like Louis Armstrong.
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post #168 of 327
10/28/09 at 7:29am
Finally got to this week's episode. Wow this show is boring. And it tries so hard to make us give a shit - just look at how the end scene with lesbian-cop was put together, complete with little intercuts of her flashforward. They honestly seem to be under the impression that anyone would care if she bit the dust.

Also, and this is just a personal peeve, but everyone on earth constantly referring to their "flash-forwards" sounds so damn clunky. Normal people would just start calling them flashes or something.
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post #169 of 327
10/28/09 at 8:21am
Most would call them "visions" surely. Or even "dreams". I might buy it more if there was some meta references to Lost, or even jokes about it being the opposite of a flashback. Throw us a bone here.
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post #170 of 327
10/28/09 at 8:59am
Thread Starter 
I loved the opening of "Black Swan", thought it had some real style to it, but then the rest of the episode seemed like "Well, guess it's time to get back to all those folks from the pilot we've been ignoring." Have we even seen the babysitter since the first episode? Or the terror suspect? It really feels like they juggled the episode order to build the investigation.
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post #171 of 327
10/29/09 at 2:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
I loved the opening of "Black Swan", thought it had some real style to it, but then the rest of the episode seemed like "Well, guess it's time to get back to all those folks from the pilot we've been ignoring." Have we even seen the babysitter since the first episode? Or the terror suspect? It really feels like they juggled the episode order to build the investigation.
We saw the babysitter when she went to see the "EpiscoPal" Priest about her vision of being drowned, and then the Priest promptly dashing out and handing her a t-shirt.

Which makes me wonder if the good ole Priest is the guy who's holding the babysitter under water. A baptism gone wrong maybe?

The fact that no one brought it up probably means that no one cares. *sighs*
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post #172 of 327
10/29/09 at 7:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CocoaSugarbaker View Post
Which makes me wonder if the good ole Priest is the guy who's holding the babysitter under water.
Drowned by Dominic.
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post #173 of 327
10/29/09 at 10:47am
The babysitter's miniskirt is the best part of the show so far.
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post #174 of 327
10/29/09 at 2:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feral Akodon View Post
Drowned by Dominic.
But wouldn't that be too obvious?
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post #175 of 327
10/29/09 at 8:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CocoaSugarbaker View Post
But wouldn't that be too obvious?
Are you kidding? If we take at face value the way they are handling alcoholism as an indicator or subtle writing, you have the answer.
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post #176 of 327
10/29/09 at 11:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barkatthemoon View Post
Mark and Olivia should set down and have lunch with the dude she's banging in her Flash Forward, and discuss the situation. Stop being such cry babies.
Well, they didn't have lunch together, but I guess they all said their piece on the subject. Again, a pretty boring episode with a couple tidbits. Next weeks looks to be a good one though.
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post #177 of 327
10/30/09 at 1:08am
I thought that the babysitter was the one in the clown costume that was home when Dylan came over.

I could see how the non-slutty costume could cause one to not recognize her.
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post #178 of 327
10/31/09 at 12:39am
They need to never, ever again devote most of the show to the Bentons. What little momentum they made last weeks was pretty much wasted with all of their teeth clenching and caterwauling.

I want to know what the Famous Jett Jackson is up to. What the hell kind of Flash Forward did he have? It looked different from the rest.
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post #179 of 327
10/31/09 at 1:21am
They had their chance to win me over, as I stupidly bought that they might kill off the lesbian fed while Charlie was discussing Schroedinger's Cat... but of course not! I was laughing when she said she "almost definitely" can't get pregnant (since we know she will) - I'm guessing that's not the reaction they were going for.

It's just hard to take a show seriously when you find yourself correctly predicting every plot point and character beat.
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post #180 of 327
10/31/09 at 1:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Farsight View Post
They had their chance to win me over, as I stupidly bought that they might kill off the lesbian fed while Charlie was discussing Schroedinger's Cat... but of course not! I was laughing when she said she "almost definitely" can't get pregnant (since we know she will) - I'm guessing that's not the reaction they were going for.

It's just hard to take a show seriously when you find yourself correctly predicting every plot point and character beat.
I know.

For a split second, I thought the writers were going to grow a pair when they wheeled her back in for a second surgery. I didn't think think they had the guts to kill her off, but I definitely thought she was going to roll back out of there with no uterus.

Foiled again.
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post #181 of 327
10/31/09 at 4:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CocoaSugarbaker View Post
They need to never, ever again devote most of the show to the Bentons. What little momentum they made last weeks was pretty much wasted with all of their teeth clenching and caterwauling.
If putting up with the Bentons is what I have to do to hear someone actually use the word "caterwauling" then dammit that's what I'm gonna do!

Fiennes sure as hell was clenching his pearly whites like there was no tomorrow. And to think his character had just made a crack about the relatively poor condition of his teeth. Those funny brits and their cheeky references. Why the hell was he getting so mad at Simcoe when all he had to do was politely ask him to leave? Or lie and say his wife has HIV/AIDS so "hands" off? He should have put his rage into backhanding that annoying little kid who kept claiming "It's my house too." Oh yeah? Fork over some dough for the mortgage then, Mr. Man.

As for the female agent, normally I would be upset by their copping out and letting her survive, and keeping open the possibility of a miracle birth at that, but thanks to some long awaited metaphysical theorizing by none other than The Dom himself, I'm thinking this plot thread could go in an interesting direction. His lecture about the cat in the palm of your hand, and your perception/decision determining which possible future occurs is intriguing. Can she will her baby into being? Can Benton will the Mosaic investigation to a resolution? Am I giving this show too much credit?
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post #182 of 327
10/31/09 at 6:55am
Why exactly did the writers feel the need to drag the fed into surgery twice instead of just taking out her uterus the first time round? Surely it would have been more effective to do that while Charlie was talking about the cat.

In the end, all it does is scream "We're desperate to fill screen time!"
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post #183 of 327
10/31/09 at 1:01pm
I like the Blue Hands better the first time when they were in Firefly.

They should just call this show Fast Forward, as that's pretty much how I'm watching it.
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post #184 of 327
10/31/09 at 2:24pm
I think I missed something. Why was anonymous black FBI agent so upset about the passport at the Blue Hand house? It had something to do with his flash?

I'm hoping the introduction of Charlie will make this show more interesting but I'm not counting on it.
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post #185 of 327
10/31/09 at 6:01pm
And yet another attempt to deal with FF by the characters is blown. As someone pointed out earlier, since Cho doesn't want to die then he should have busted that dope fiend/airport security dude when he had the chance thus derailing his FF. Now, we have anonymous black dude saying "hey, here's the passport for the guy I was investigating in my flashforward" - and then begins investigating him. How about not giving the case to the same agent?! Doesn't seem like any of them are really trying. And the AA sponsor/military daughter dude is just an annoying schlump.
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post #186 of 327
11/1/09 at 12:32pm
I wonder if Guggenheim was canned because these first episodes were such crap?
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post #187 of 327
11/1/09 at 2:11pm
I'm really trying with this show but I think I only have one or two more until I just give up and watch this thread for when/if the show gets good. It's a concept rife with possibilities but it keeps blowing it week after week. It just goes to show that no matter how high concept your show is, it's still no substitute for good characters.
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post #188 of 327
11/1/09 at 3:46pm
Snoozefest. I don't know why I continue to watch this.
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post #189 of 327
11/3/09 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diva View Post
Snoozefest. I don't know why I continue to watch this.
Ditto. I gave it a shot watching the episode but fell fast asleep about half way. If nothing else I can use it as an insomnia cure, right along with Stargate Universe.
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post #190 of 327
11/5/09 at 10:16pm
Sexy Alex Kingston is a good thing.
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post #191 of 327
11/5/09 at 10:39pm
When Callum Keith Rennie was being interrogated I kept waiting for him to say "All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again."

This show is so utterly boring. I think I'm done.
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post #192 of 327
11/6/09 at 12:45am
Every time I watch this, I'm spending the whole time thinking, "Why isn't this a better show?" The pieces are all there. The ideas, themes, and episode premises are usually solid, and sometimes terrific. I mean, a death cult of people who think they're doomed? That should have been a lot cooler than it was--though the fact that they basically threw it aside right after they talked to Leoben didn't help. I guess they're going to come back to it. But something is definitely being lost in the execution here.

That said, aside from last weeks' godawful episode about the Bensons, the show has at least moved beyond "boring" to me. Now it sort of feels "busy but hollow". Well, and "fairly dumb" (it's kind of weird how they can have all these solid ideas and the occasional smart bit, and then do something as stupid as "Hey, here's a gigantic clue stuck to this body that the coroner somehow overlooked!")

I admit I'll probably keep watching until the end of this season.
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post #193 of 327
11/6/09 at 2:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Prankster View Post
Every time I watch this, I'm spending the whole time thinking, "Why isn't this a better show?" The pieces are all there. The ideas, themes, and episode premises are usually solid, and sometimes terrific. I mean, a death cult of people who think they're doomed? That should have been a lot cooler than it was--though the fact that they basically threw it aside right after they talked to Leoben didn't help. I guess they're going to come back to it. But something is definitely being lost in the execution here.

That said, aside from last weeks' godawful episode about the Bensons, the show has at least moved beyond "boring" to me. Now it sort of feels "busy but hollow". Well, and "fairly dumb" (it's kind of weird how they can have all these solid ideas and the occasional smart bit, and then do something as stupid as "Hey, here's a gigantic clue stuck to this body that the coroner somehow overlooked!")

I admit I'll probably keep watching until the end of this season.
My thoughts exactly! I thought, hey, the blue hands club could be a cool concept - people who know they're predestined to die at a particular point in the near future so until then they're exploring this new-found, warped sense of invincibility through self-mutilation. But no, they skim pass that idea and return to the tired "I'm not going to reveal what I really saw in my flash" device as a way to create false drama. Next thing you know black dude is dead. Nice knowing you, son.
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post #194 of 327
11/6/09 at 3:12am
I have to admit, I was expecting the "can history be changed?!?" business to be dragged out until the end of the season at least, with everything happening the way we saw it except, maybe, some tiny indication that there's still hope of altering the future...and then that would be the focus of the next season. So I'm mildly impressed that they've now demonstrated that things can be changed. Unless they have the balls to have the black guy suddenly be alive, which would be hilarious.
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post #195 of 327
11/6/09 at 12:06pm
I disagree, Prankster. The pieces are certainly NOT all there. The writing, acting, and direction are all pretty sorry. Come to think of it, the ONLY thing I like about this show is the premise. I'm currently two episodes behind and I'm seriously thinking about taking this opportunity to bail on its ass. Can anybody think of an actual good reason to keep watching this?
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post #196 of 327
11/6/09 at 2:39pm
The thing is, I'd say that the writing, acting and directing CAN be pretty terrible...but it can also be fairly great. That's what's so weird about this show--it's all over the place. Fiennes is terrible, and bespectacled black FBI boss is wooden, but everyone else is pretty solid. The directing can be clunky as hell, but as we've already noted, there's always at least one really bravura sequence in every episode. And the writing? Like I say, the ideas are pretty consistently neat, and they've pulled off some believable reactions from the characters--I already feel like most of these guys are more rational than the "Lost" crew. But of course, there's also lots of clunkiness, including pretty much every attempt the show has made at humor or chumminess between the characters, and implausibilities galore.

Still. I feel like there's still some hope of this show getting its act together. The episode set in Washington felt like an attempt to spackle over some of the plot holes, so they're apparently aware of this stuff. And a lack of chemistry in the characterization is the kind of thing that can be improved upon as everyone gets more comfortable with each other. So who knows. Even if it stayed at its current level, it would at least be watchable in a dumb way.
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post #197 of 327
11/6/09 at 5:31pm
I wanted to like it. Watched the first four episodes hoping it would get better. The dialogue and the writing overall is just so silly it's hard to find it worthy of the necessary leap of faith. The other problem is there's not much of anything I want to latch onto with this show. I mean, when it comes to other shows, even when they're utterly ridiculous (see: 24), at least there are a couple of engaging actors that make you want to see the show succeed. FF doesn't really have that from what I can tell so far. Not any of the leads, anyway. Speaking of - Courtney Vance as Agent Wedeck is terrible. Joseph Fiennes* is certainly not helping matters either. Some of the other actors are alright, but none of them have really impressed me either. Anyway, I'm gonna give FLASHFORWARD a little while longer and see what happens. It's just rare for a show that I was curious about to turn me off this quickly.


*I'm not that familiar with his work beyond this and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Is he normally a good actor? And if so, what is his problem on this show? At the very least, he was miscast in his role on FF.
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post #198 of 327
11/6/09 at 6:27pm
I can't believe I"m still watching this too.

I will say that I was cracking up that Dimitri's laptop had a big FBI symbol on the top of it. Doesn't that scream, "Steal me!"
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post #199 of 327
11/7/09 at 1:12am
Really? Fucking really Flash Forward? It had to be the (hot) Jett Jackson who dies to save everyone else's future? *hmph*
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post #200 of 327
11/7/09 at 1:25am
Thread Starter 
I'm slowly catching up on this, and I just watched the episode that ended with that god-awful rendition of "Across the Universe", and I've never seen such an arbitrary change in character as in Joseph Fiennes and his wife. Like you can blame him for being upset that the man his wife saw in her bed in her flash forward was standing in their house. It's like they went from "The future doesn't have to happen" to "Yep, we're screwed" in the blink of an eye, just to cause some tension.
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