"FlashForward" - semi-spoilerish review

I hadn't really been interested in "FlashForward", but the husband and a friend were interested in the show (for slightly different reasons), and I heard a bit more about the premise and thought it interesting enough to give it a try.

We hadn't had a chance to watch the show until tonight. I was surprised to see Brannon Braga's co-creator credit as I hadn't known that he was attached to this show. After watching a bit of it, this was definitely right up his alley, and I think he's found a great outlet for it. I did like his episodes from "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but they didn't always fit in with the feel of the show as a whole. And he could only really do so much on "24". But he might just have found his element here.

I liked the first show a lot - good story, nice setup, and they really put together a terrific cast. I've always liked Courtney B. Vance, and I think Joseph Fiennes is really good in this as well, though I do lament that they didn't let him keep his English accent. Maybe they thought it would appeal to more people if he just had an easy-to-understand generic American accent.

I had heard rumbles about a connection between this show and "Lost", but I hadn't really paid attention to details. It took me looking at imdb to figure out that the lead female/doctor was the same actress who played Penny on "Lost" (and a friend reminded me that she also played Charlie's wife on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", which I had seen in her imdb listing but couldn't place her character name), and the husband saw the billboard advertising Oceanic Airlines. I laughed at the tag line about them having the best safety record or something like that. And from the imdb listing on the show, it appears another "Lost" alumnus will soon be appearing on the show.

The ending of the first show was great. All the people crumpled over weren't creepy, but the lone person walking around nonchalantly was definitely so.

I liked the show enough that I wanted to watch the second episode right then, and it didn't disappoint. The little girl who plays the daughter reminds me a bit of Heather O'Rourke from "Poltergeist" - little blonde girls who know things they shouldn't know are creepy. But, I was annoyed that she got in trouble for pushing the boy, but it seems no one else got in trouble when the other kids were the ones taunting her, and the boy was the one taking her stuffed animal away and even damaged it. She didn't hit him, only pushed him, and that's because of what he did. But she's the one who gets in trouble? Not fair.

Wow, Alan Ruck looks different! I recognized him but couldn't think of his name until I saw it in the credits. Cameron sure looks different.

I like all the side stories developing, and I think my hunch is right about girlie tech who saw her ultrasound vision and John Cho's character having no vision at all. That's gotta be unnerving, especially when the woman cop had no vision either and then bang, she's dead. Of course, phone call from random lady (who I know won an Oscar for "House of Sand and Fog", but I know her really from "24") confirming the date of his death probably doesn't do much to cheer him up.

But I think Joseph Fiennes' character is a bit of an ass. His wife is admitting to him her vision of being with another man, so she's wracked with guilt about cheating on him. But he completely withholds from her that he might be giving her a reason to leave him since he was drinking again in his vision, so he's totally letting her take all the blame!

But that last scene was amazing, and the look on Joseph Fiennes' face was perfect. Your blood would be chilled hearing your little daughter say that name too!

I'm hooked!

The website I liked to above also has links to each of the episodes if you didn't see them. I highly recommend it.