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DVD Review: FlashForward: The Complete Series by R.J. Carter Published: August 31, 2010
In many ways, FlashForward tackled some of the same themes as did Lost. The differences? The island was the entire planet, you could actually follow the storyline... and ABC killed the show rather than let it run for six seasons. Ironically, the show about the future didn't have one itself. The premise of FlashForward was simple: For about two minutes, everyone on Earth blacked out and received a glimpse of their own future six months down the road. Armed with that knowledge, do they embrace their future or try to change it? And what did it mean if you didn't see your future during the event -- were you destined to die before the dreaded day arrived? Enter FBI agents Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh (John Cho). Noh did not see a vision, which sets him on a path to investigate his impending murder. Benford, on the other hand, begins investigating what caused the blackout, and it's here that things begin to get a little hinky, in a "chicken or the egg" sort of way: Benford's investigating the blackout because he saw himself in his FlashForward investigating the blackout; he saw himself consulting an evidence board and so begins constructing that selfsame evidence board. Causality has taken a vacation, and the viewer gets to enjoy the trip. Can the future be changed, or are we committed to a programmed path devoid of free will? That's what many of the characters try to answer as the series takes us up to the prophetic day in question. Olivia Benford, Mark's wife, saw herself living with another man. Aaron Stark, Mark's AA sponsor, saw himself sitting and talking with his daughter, already pronounced dead. Bryce Varley saw himself meeting a beautiful woman whom he knew he loved, despite the fact that his current cancer has given him an extremely short life expectancy. And Nicole Kirby knows that on April 29th, she's destined to be drowned at the hands of a stranger. Every step our cast takes to change their fates seems to only take them inexorably closer to their destinies. And yet, some people do seem to find keys to changing the future, even if the future does prove to have a way to change itself back. Each of the intertwining plot threads is a testament to the writers behind this Brannon Braga / David S. Goyer creation. Keeping straight all the little clues, planting others, and making it all work for the viewers had to be a study in retaining sanity. The caliber of acting talent is also top of the line, with excellent performances from all players on all levels, delivering a season that consistently hooked the viewers and maintained the tension of the storyline. FlashForward is based off the science fiction novel by Robert J. Sawyer, and there are more than a few nods to him in the show. The Benfords reside at 25696 Sawyer Court, and April 29th -- the date everyone flashed to -- is the author's birthday. But those aren't the only Easter eggs to be found, now that the series is released on DVD. The fifth disc menu of bonus features contains a number of hidden menu entries, all of which play a different video excerpt from the fictional series, Stories from the Mosaic Collective, which takes a "man on the street" approach to asking people what they saw in their FlashForward. Those aren't the only bonuses, of course. The visible bonus features begin with the second disc, and are a repeat of the partial season DVD release from earlier this year. In fact, if you've watched this, you can skip straight to the third disc of this set and take up where you left off. New bonus features come into play on the fifth disc, and include a few in-depth featurettes on the making of the show with behind-the-scenes documentaries like "Architects of Destiny," "FlashForward on Set," and "Meet Yûko" which interviews Yûko Takeuchi about her first role on American TV as one of two starcrossed lovers who continue to cross paths, unseen, until their fateful first meeting on April 29th. There are also four mocked interviews with people about their FlashForwards in "Interviews from the Mosaic Collective" (these are different than the Easter egg clips), a collection of deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and a short segment that does not necessarily answer the burning question: "Kangaroo?" FlashForward joins the growing number of well-made science fiction series that were cancelled too soon. To the credit of the writers, they delivered a season finale that gave closure to everything while providing a cliffhanger that allowed for more speculation than it did for frustration.
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