Tuesday, September 21, 2010

TV Addicts Blog is Live!

Hello Forward Flashers!  I just wanted to let you know that I have posted my first recap on the TV Addicts Blog for The Event.  I definitely enjoyed the pilot and look forward to its potential!  Fringe will get the recap treatment later this week as well.   And I plan to comment on a variety of other shows as they air so that we can discuss them.   Come check it out, follow me on twitter and sign up for email updates on the new site so you don't fall out of touch!   Thanks for your continued readership as always!  See you over there!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

FlashForward: Season 1 Episode 22 - Future Shock



Well, Future Dwellers, that's it!  That's all we're getting.  The show that had so much potential ends  with some pretty good closure but with a future wide open of possibilities.  The episode itself, I'll admit, was very contrived to get them in the right situations at the right time.  But, seeing the little changes that happened here and there were pretty interesting.  And the setup for next season was just enough to keep us intrigued of what they could do!  Unfortunately, we will never see that come to fruition.  Oh well, we tried right?  It won't stop me from doing a tiny bit of a dive into this episode for old time's sake.  So let's do it! 

Future Shock continued right where the last episode left off.  It was the majority of April 29th and everyone was about as far as they could be from fulfilling their FlashForward visions.  But as we inched closer in this episode, everyone was where they were supposed to be.  And the 2 people that didn't have visions were together witnessing the start of the next round!  So let's dive right back into where we were!

Disclaimer: I apologize, ever since the LOST finale I have been having technical difficulties with posting pictures to my blogs.  I apologize for not having any screenshots in this finale post!  

Bryce/Keiko/Nicole

When we last left off, Bryce was chasing after Keiko who was heading to the airport, and Nicole was feeling sorry for herself for not telling Bryce about knowing Keiko was in town.  We continue that story an hour and change from 10pm.

  • I loved the scene between Bryce and the receptionist at the immigration center.  How she was reading a romance novel so Bryce talked about his flashforward of DESTINY in LOVE.  And then she ends up conning him out of 100 dollars because "she had it in her pocket in her flashforward."   That was a good time!  It may have been the biggest laugh this show ever had.  Certainly better than Mark calling everyone cupcake! 
  • Bryce runs into Nicole outside after he gets a contact phone number for the infamous restaurant he is supposed to meet Keiko in.  Bryce breaks Nicole's heart and tells her that he loves this woman he never has met.  He is even wearing the clothes that he was wearing in his flashforward without even thinking about it.  Crazy.  
  • Nicole lets him go and then heads off into the night, worried that some man is going to drown her. Ahhh she does get run off the road (or she was driving on the wrong side or something) but she swerves right into a body of water and begins to drown!  But instead of being drowned by someone, she is SAVED by someone!  The man?  I think his name was Ed or something?  He had a flash that he saved her but he thought he may have been too late.  I'm sure this would have been a love interest for Nicole in season 2.  Too bad we won't be seeing anymore! 

  • Then there was Keiko.  Keiko's mom gets MVP of the night for having a change of heart at the airport and helping Keiko get away.  She smacks one of the cops or security people with her bag and Keiko runs off.   Yes, contrived...but who cares.  I laughed!  
  • Bryce had to fight to get inside the restaurant that was having a private party for Flash Day.  But the waitress recognized Bryce as Keiko's man.  How?  I have no idea!  And then Keiko gets out of a cab with 7 minutes until 10pm and runs to the restaurant, getting there just in time and finding Bryce.  Ahhh FATE, crazy when it works out, right? 
Aaron and Tracy

So, things were looking pretty bleak for this story.  Aaron, Tracy and Khamir were all where they were supposed to be in their FlashForward, but Tracy appeared to be dead.  Yeah, but this is TV!  Of course Khamir decided to check for a pulse 5 minutes later and there still was one!  Tracy is saved and Aaron's Flash comes true just like it's supposed to.  YAWN

Simon, Demetri and Janis

Okay, so we continue onward to NLAP with this unlikely trio.  Apparently the key to everything will be Simon's phone.  They get close to a security guard and some how activate his phone and they can get through all of the crazy security doors.
  • Meanwhile, Janis is having some pregnancy issues and collapses.  Well of course!  She needs to be at a hospital by 10pm!  And she is.  An ambulance takes her and the doctor there was waiting for her since they saw each other in the FlashForward.  Long story short, Janis finds out that the baby IS okay during those 2 fateful minutes.  But there is a difference.  It's a boy, not a girl!  Ahhh the future is unwritten, just like Doc Brown told us in the cheesiest scene of the Back to the Future Trilogy! 
  • Meanwhile Simon and Demetri carry onward to the main computer room or whatever.  Simon hands over the QED ring to earn Demetri's trust.  The 2 men that did not have flash forwards are now working together to prevent the next blackout.  Yep, no success on that one.  They go right through 10:00 and the computer activates remotely and begins to fire up the accelerator at the time that Mark figures out (we'll get there).    Simon and Demetri both decide to not wear the ring as they want to see their futures.  So much potential there!  But alas, we will never see it. \

Olivia/Charlie, Lloyd/Dylan
This may have been the most contrived of all of them.  Olivia and Charlie were on the beach trying to be as far away as possible from making the vision come true.  Lloyd and Dylan find them there because of their respective security detail.  Lloyd convinces Olivia to come back for the betterment of the world. 
  • They get back the house.  Dylan is craving that crazy cookie that he gets in his flash.  
  • Lloyd decides to keep his shirt on this time, but they are eventually summoned to the bedroom.  Why?  Because DYLAN wrote the formula on the mirror!  (Congrats to Crackpot Jack of the Jay and Jack podcast.  Very impressive)  
  • But now Lloyd needs to figure it out.  And of course this triggers Olivia to not fight her fateful night and she wants to kiss Lloyd!  Definitely a stretch but whatever!  At least it was different enough that she didn't go as far with it as they had in their FLASH.   Not sure if they had prior to this night or not though.  We've just seen a lot of smooches! 
  • Anyway, Simon sends the text because he knows he is supposed to.  It is some inside joke of a formula that used to be Lloyd's email signature or something like that.  But this triggers something for Lloyd and then he calls Mark and somehow figures out that the next blackout is going to be in April of 2010.  Well considering it's the 29th, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out it's going to be in the next 26 hours!  (but Mark still has to move some rope around in in a time bombed building to pinpoint the exact time!  But we'll get there)
  • Meanwhile...10:00 comes and goes and Olivia moves Charle away from the door when Vogel announces that Mark is dead.  Of course, it was also a figure of speech and not a confirmation.  He was just assuming Mark would be dead because he ran into a building ready to blow.  

Mark, Stan and FBI Situation
So Mark was still in prison lockup for a drunken brawl.  Wedeck bails the man out.  I guess he was going to take him home or something, but instead they get a call to the FBI HQ with a bomb threat.  Stan tells Mark to sit in car and talk to Aaron on the phone.  He does for a second but then sees Hellinger and has to get out and talk to him. 
  • Hellinger says that the building is a dead end, but Mark is not listening.  Hellinger gives the nod to his men dressed as SWAT guys and they put their plan into motion. 
  • Mark sees Vogel on the way in and sends him to the Benford house to watch over his family.  (Ahh everything conveniently tying together!) 
  • Mark then heads in.  (meanwhile the SWAT guys kill the real SWAT guys and then put on their crazy masks and we see they are the 3 Starred tattooed guys. 
  • The crazy gunfight then begins!  Wedeck and Vreede move into the building to get Mark or protect Mark.  
  • Mark is in his office and sober.  He's right where he's supposed to be, but he is ready.  He gets the fateful call from Lloyd, but instead of all the 8 ball talk they get right to business.  Mark finds Gabriel's journal and starts putting the strings where they are supposed to be and identifies 10:14pm as the next blackout.  CONVENIENT ONCE AGAIN!    
  • Then the masked men come in and all hell breaks loose.  Of course, Mark is ready to take them all on and we see a pretty crazy gun fight.  Mark getting the upper hand each time.  It was cool, I'm not gonna lie!  
  • Stan and Vreede are doing some gunfighting of their own.  And Stan ends up in the bathroom!  YAY!  He goes into his fateful stall and ends up shooting the guy that comes in after him.  NICE.  
  • Mark then sees there are very few minutes left until 10:14.  He calls Wedeck and they're able to get a global alert out to minimize casualties.  Mark also gets a call off to Olivia and tells her to keep Charlie safe and that he loves them both.  He fully expects to die.   He kills the last man after him with a "WHAT DID YOU SEE" lame line  (Kate's "I saved you a bullet" line was so much better on LOST!!  But duhhh so was the show!).   Then Mark runs out the window towards a helicopter and the next blackout happens! 
FlashForward Part 2

Well, is there even any sense in speculating on any of this?  We saw various visions and they were all pretty tough to place.  We saw shots all around the globe of people collapsed again.  And in the forward flashes we see 2 dates.  One is in 2011 and one is in 2015.  Did they see visions for all of this?   The biggest thing we catch is a glimpse of an older Charlie (we think) that is excited because "they found him"    While they are blacked out, that crazy BAD LADY that recruited Janis has one of the QED rings on and takes Janis away.   We also see the FBI building blow up and we have no idea where Mark is.  

Does Mark disappear from his family for 5 years?  Is that who the HIM was?  Was that even Charlie in the flash or was it someone Charlie saw in 2011?  It definitely was left pretty vague, but there were tons of possibilities looking at a nearby date and another date further into the future.   But alas, we'll never know where they would have went with it because ABC decided to make THIS episode....

THE END!!! 

And that's all they wrote folks, LITERALLY!  I apologize if it seemed like my heart wasn't in these last couple of recaps.  It really wasn't!  I really did enjoy the show.  Even if it never matched up to the impossible expectations it had to capture the entire LOST crowd, it was still a great thriller of a show and had so much future potential.  But, maybe it was meant to be.  If you try TOO hard to recapture the magic of LOST, chances are it's not going to work.  It just kind of has to happen.  I enjoyed FlashForward for a show on its own, not because of its attempt to be like LOST.  But, not many shared our feelings for it.  

There will be another show one day that will capture our imaginations.  It won't be LOST, but it will be something.  And I might just be there to talk about it.  I thank you all for joining me on this little experiment.  There possibly will be experiments in the future.  So be sure to follow me on Twitter or keep up with any posts I make here or on my other blogs about any future plans.  Maybe I'll create some consolidated Blog site so that you don't have to look for my stuff in different places.  I just need a good NAME for the site!  But that's another story.  Seriously, thank you very much.  I'm glad I wasn't the only one that gave this one a shot.  But, with that said, it's time to say goodbye.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll catch you after the next blackout!  

END CREDITS

Pictures courtesy of ABC and my iMAC! 

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