'FlashForward' crosses the ocean.

After much anticipation - by myself - FlashForward finally debuted in Hong Kong last week. I didn't rewatch either episodes 1 or 2, but you can be sure I will sit tidy for episode 7. Unless I'm frantically finishing the thesis, which is the likelier scenario. Depending on whether the American side of things picks up again at the beginning or end of March, we may have a seamless transition to the second half of the season over here. I haven't trawled the message boards so I don't know if Hong Kong viewers are lapping this silliness up. But so far it's seeing slightly better numbers on the TVB version of iPlayer and Hulu, for whatever that's worth.

Anyway, truth is, I just wanted to post a picture of Lee Thompson Young. But so I don't feel so childish, let me share the Taiwan promo poster, at least I think that's where this comes from. On its site, TVB is using the one with the yellow background.

An Al Gough tribute.

My friend said that this was gratuitous, or maybe 'disgusting' was the exact word he used. I think he's wrong.

Racialicious "FlashForward" S01E07 roundtable

The folks at Racialicious with another installment of their weekly FlashForward roundtable. I link because I still need my Agent Al fix, and you know they went heavy on the sad short life of our beloved Mr. Gough. Last week's episode was kind of a bridge to this week's, which I'll comment on soon. Yes, I was still decompressing from "the jump" and was also disappointed that his death was treated so casually. No funeral, memorial, dirty rice cookout tribute? Then again, such nonchalance was expected as business returned to normal so quickly despite the deaths of 20 million people during the blackout. Way to go, FBI. They are either super efficient or don't know what the hell they're doing. Anyway, I'm still holding out for some pseudo-science wrinkle in time or some alternate reality that will allow Al to be resurrected, but...maybe I wish for too much. Lee Thompson Young's departure might be forgiven if they replace him with another good looking not-so-Caucasian male of similar build. Just saying.

Al, sweet, sweet Al.

Clip of Al's death on episode 7 (The Gift) in FlashForward.

"Can't get you out of my head. Boy, your loving is all I think about."

Lee Thompson Young will not exit my head (thanks, Kylie).....so I watched Akeelah and the Bee, in which he has a minor, minor role as Akeelah's brother, in order to satiate my inner 15 year old. I'm rationalizing this decision by arguing that it was on my list anyway and is one of those feel good movies that makes me smile and cry at the same time. I'll withhold a review because it's too late at night for critical thinking, but this scene is just before big brother Devon heads back to the Air Force base. In a moment of pure fantasy, Akeelah wakes up bleary eyed to see that man in uniform sitting by her bedside. The camera even went all soft focus on Mr. Young

Um...in other news, episode 7 of FlashForward has been on loop over here. Rather, the Lee Thompson Young bits have. ABC did a mean thing when they told him to cook in a wife beater, and then forced him to eat alone. The shock of seeing a grown up Jett Jackson has been too much, and I never even watched that show. Also, have been checking out the boards and most are in agreement that Al's death is a loss for the show. He kind of snuck up on everyone as his role grew in the last couple episodes. I think people were eager to see an affable and competent character to balance out all the crazy in this show, what with all the bizarre shootings and creepy blue hands. The folks over at the Racialicious blog noted that the Demetri/Jett Jackson pairing was far superior to the Demetri/Shakespeare one. I love Joseph Fiennes (especially as Shakespeare), but sorry, Mark Benford is kind of a whiny bitch. Cho's character, meanwhile, is working out better. He has some of the qualities that you'd expect for the lead - humor, attitude, doubt, cool - but that are lost on Mark, who is just hurtling towards disaster. I actually care about what happens to Demetri and am anxious to discover how his murder is (hopefully) averted. Mark, on the other hand, is only useful for his vision. If his marriage disintegrates, well, he doesn't really deserve Olivia anyway. He exemplifies a type of man that women love to hate on - the hypocrite who faults his wife for cheating, before the fact, but who refuses to be candid about his own transgressions, alcohol in this case. Well, another 2 days before round 8. The preview looks positively absurd. Something about settling things like men - with poker. Please, Hobbit Merry.

"He's like a male Halle Berry."

O-M-fucking-G. FlashForward delivers every week. This has been my gateway drug to weekly television. Previously, I didn't have the patience to watch, wait, and anticipate a 22 hour drama stretched over 7 months, but now my Thursday nights go on hold until I get my hit. And damn, I am still high (low?) off this week's episode, The Gift. It was crazy in one hundred ways, the least of which was because AL COMMITTED SUICIDE. Yes, that really did merit all caps. It sent me into fits of shock and awe, from which I'm still recovering. Okay, not that dramatic, but really, Jett Jackson, man? Did you see those guns?! I thought it especially cruel to parade him around in a wifebeater only to toss that sculpted body over the edge like peanuts moments later. Rest in one mushy piece, Agent Al Gough.

I guess if you're going to have the distinction of being the first casualty though, you might as well shake shit up instead of going gently into that good night. On an intellectual level, I can understand and accept the dispensing of our dear doe-eyed Agent Al. After 7 episodes, the show was not so much predictable in plot as it was in formula. As the visions were coming to fruition, everyone grew increasingly resigned to, or restored by, what might happen, what would happen. While that dilemma induces enough tension, it sidesteps the whole issue of controlling the future. They all talk about change but who acts on it? Even Bryce, the doctor who was saved from suicide by the blackout, passively, if passionately, accepts his future. The assurance of a happier life allows him to embrace each moment but also threatens to make him too comfortable with what assumes will unfold. Babysitter Nicole, meanwhile, remains troubled by her vision of being drowned, seemingly for some immoral act she will commit. She volunteers at the hospital in order to atone, but she does so believing in the sinfulness of her own wrongdoing before the fact. Al's death then radically refocuses the story, and once again we revisit the central question - do we control our future? Because he had a vision of himself, alive, 6 months after the blackout, the answer would seem to be yes, there is no future except the one we create. But if that's the case, how do we understand these visions? What is the relationship between this mystery experiment by two creepy Brits, these glimpses of the future, and a present that is quickly catching up? I don't know either, but life in the FBI's L.A. office just got a little more frenzied.

So...while I'm able to rationalize Al's departure, that hardly makes me happy with the decision. He was a fine supporting player - actor and character, someone who was not just a body in the background but whose personality and storyline really complemented those of the main cast. He had presence with a purpose, both in forwarding the plot and in softening the more established character types. It was a pleasant touch, I think, to know that Al's futon played host to Demetri and his video game cheating ass on occasion. Boys. Sweet. Well, there is my farewell. I will have to grow accustomed to a Lee Thompson Young-less tv lineup just as I was getting used to that very idea.

On a slightly critical note, I'm still having a bit of trouble with the writing as some of the finer details often get brushed aside in order to perfect key plot points. The focus is clearly on making sure the puzzle fits together and in a way that delivers constant suspense but not necessarily in ways that seem the most believable or natural. Of course this show, more than the average Thursday night drama, is one contrived piece of storytelling, but there are ways to dampen the effect. I am continually amazed that this Mosaic thing - think Facebook for flash forwards - so quickly became the primary catalog for visions all over the bloody world. First of all, do you think constructing an online database is going to be a primary concern in Stanford's office in the immediate aftermath of the blackout? Secondly, do you mean that no other government or branch of the US government has come up with the same idea? How does everyone know to post their vision on Mosaic and not on, I don't know, MySpace or actual Facebook. (And you know there would have been a group topping 1 million members for that.) I mean, Demetri pops in his (non)vision and a couple hours later someone from Hong Kong is already all over it? (By the way, it can't be night time in both L.A. and Hong Kong.) So the whole Mosaic business is a bit eye-rolling, but it is what it is. Another minor example comes in this week's episode. Nicole sees some of Bryce's drawings of the Asian chick in his flash forward and declares that this mysterious woman is 'obviously' in Japan. Yes, because I have never seen a Japanese woman anywhere outside of Japan. Also, both Chinese and Japanese share the character for "believe." Maybe Bryce's chick was a Chinese woman - in Hong Kong with Demetri's mysterious caller from episode 2. Details, details. As the major elements of the blackout mystery are established, however, I sense, or hope, that these blips will fade and more attention can be paid to those little things that complete a show.

Oh, and apparently the combined salaries of a criminal defense attorney and an FBI agent can land you a sweet, sweet pad in L.A. Land. And Aaron's daughter is alive.

Plus, I love dirty rice too, Al! But it wasn't meant to be.

(The Halle Berry quote is from Scrubs. Lee Thompson Young made an appearance as a sexy intern, prompting Zach Braff to remark on Young's uncommon beauty. Word.)

What's with all the Asian dudes?

Whoa, some major WTF moments in last night's episode of FlashForward. The opening scene sees the guys coming out of some late night meeting. As they're headed out of the parking garage, their car gets broadsided by a huge van. Out pop some Asian dudes with mean ass guns. Next thing we know, the agents' car is toast. Flash backward to 39 hours earlier and the episode recounts a meeting before some Senate committee on financing various FBI projects to determine the cause of the blackout.

A lot of stuff goes on throughout the course of the next 39 hours. We get our first glimpse of the president, who looks a lot like Peter Coyote, and discover that the Senate committee chairman is a hardass woman named Clemente. No one likes her but everyone tolerates her because she plays hardball, which Stanford is also adept at. He blackmails the president for more funding, and the president, in a move that may or may not be related, nominates Clemente as veep. Meanwhile, back in LA, cutie Al (Lee Thompson 'Don't Call Me Jett Jackson' Young) and Janice have located some images that show massive pylons under construction in Somalia at the same time of the '91 blackout. Oh, Janice can also kick your ass, and she's a lesbian.

Yeah, so pretty intense as shit just keeps going down on this show. The biggest WTF moment though comes as the show catches up to the opening shot. The scene is extended with some more gun fu action, but then, Janice pops into a shady looking street with a clumsy bag of groceries (really?) and she gets caught in the crossfire with some mean ass Asians. Man, what is going on? It was veering into Lost meets Johnnie To territory. She gets s-h-o-t and as she tumbles onto the pavement in glorious slo-mo, she sees her flashforward, which we all know is her getting a sonogram. So...does she die on the mean streets of LA in a pool of her own blood? Of course not, but can't wait to see how everyone emerges from this mess.

More, please.

I just watched episode 2 of ABC's FlashForward and it was a-mazing! This is why I haven't followed network tv in a long time. Shows that offers surprises and cliffhangers at every turn require uncommon amounts of patience and emotional self-control, none of which I have. So rather than sitting pretty in a Snuggie and with a bucket of ice cream for a Saturday night marathon, I have to wait an entire week until my next 45 minute fix. (Luckily I have numerous distractions in Merlin, Glee, maybe Three Mile, and all the other old shows I'm just catching up on.)

Things really start churning in this second episode. The pilot was mostly a prolonged edition of all the previews they've been showing this summer. There's nothing terribly revealing about the plot, the characters, or their visions that we didn't already know from the publicity campaign. The only real surprise came at the end when it was discovered that a man was awake, wandering around Detroit's baseball stadium during the blackout. Spooky. Episode 2 jumped on the first real lead and involved the search for someone named 'D. Gibbons'. Olivia, Mark Benford's (Joseph Fiennes) wife, gets her first meeting with the mysterious man she saw in her vision. He happens to be the father of a patient - who, it turns out, Olivia's daughter Charlie saw in her vision. A crazy cupcake lady is introduced as well, and I mention this mostly because I want to eat her cupcakes, though she is sure to reappear later on.

One of the major sources of tension thus far seems to be between Mark and Olivia as they navigate infidelity of all sorts. There is the obvious conflict regarding the other man, but there is also cheating of the non-sexual variety. Mark has yet to tell his wife that part of his vision involved a relapse into alcoholism, and he makes an effort to keep even minor details from her (such as the bracelet). All signs point to a volatile descent into chaos, at least in their personal lives.

The biggest pseudo-surprise, however, comes at Demetri Noh's (John Cho) expense. In the immediate aftermath of the blackout, he hypothesized that his lack of a vision meant that he'd be dead in 6 months. Well, tonight we learned from some raspy voiced woman with some prime real estate in Hong Kong that he will be...murdered!! O-M-to-the-G. This is brutal, and I am officially hooked.

'Flashforward' promo

I might actually catch a US show next season. Flashforward debuts in the fall and will feature Joseph Fiennes (playing an American) and John Cho (playing an American). It's about a global blackout - in that everyone on the planet literally blacks out. In those few moments, some people have visions of themselves 6 months into the future, and not everyone's happy with what they see. From the preview, it's hard to tell if this is more event thriller in the tradition of Lost or if it will veer more towards the drama. The visions aren't apocolypic so I don't think anyone will be rushing to save the world. Take a peek.