Chewing over chicken...and TV

I feel like the premier episode of FlashForward is similar to the General Tso's chicken at Ohio University's Jefferson Dining Hall. It looks really great at first, and if you only pay attention to it at a surface level, it seems like it truly is that good. However, under further scrutiny, it’s not that great compared to restaurant-quality chicken. In the case of the chicken, the first few bites are excellent, but then it’s easy to just toss aside. But even though it’s only satisfactory at best, I still get the chicken every time it’s served. Why? I don’t know. It’s just much more appealing than it should be. Such is the case with FlashForward. But we’re discussing food for the eyes right now and not food for the stomach, so it’s time to move on to the critique!

When I first saw the trailer for FlashForward, I thought that the show was going to be very similar to the book. Every thing in the commercials related to the book, and everything made sense. But once the show started, I saw that this was not the case. The initial plotline is the same—the entire world blacks out at the same time and has “visions.” But the differences between the book and the show are many.

For one thing, none of the characters from the book, except for Lloyd Simcoe (whose main role is yet to be revealed), even have the same name in the show. Also, the book revolves around a physicist, rather than an FBI agent.

However, those differences are trivial and negligible when compared to the one thing about the show that irks me the most. In the book, they figure out what causes the blackouts rather quickly, and the book then goes on to focus on other things, such as what the main characters saw when they blacked out. The show has not revealed what caused the blackouts, and appears to be taking on a very different storyline from the book.

Though I am not happy about the direction the show is taking in relation to the book, I do like the show on its own when I don’t compare it to anything. It’s like the chicken. On its own it’s fine. I just can’t compare it to anything, or else I won’t like it.

I also feel like anyone, college student or not, can relate to this show, albeit in an unconventional way. In FlashFoward, everyone on Earth blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds, and sees a glimpse of the future. This causes many people to completely change their outlook on life. And now to you, reader, I pose a question: If you had a glimpse of your future for two minutes and 17 seconds, and the outlook was not what you wanted, would you let it happen, claiming that it’s destiny and can’t be changed? Or would you seize any opportunity you had to make yourself a better future, and completely change it? Chew it over.

A 'Flash' of something tasty

After a Glee-ful entrée, let’s move on to the main course—a suspenseful science-fiction show. I read the book Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer over the summer, and was very excited to see that a TV show was going to be made based on the book. The pilot of FlashForward lived up to most of my expectations, although there are several things that are quite different from the book, including a major plotline that was not in the book at all, which makes the two storylines vary greatly.

The show opens with one of the show’s protagonists, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), regaining consciousness in his car, which has apparently flipped over in an accident. He pulls himself from the wreckage and sees a huge scene of destruction in Los Angeles—people are injured or dead everywhere he looks.



The scene jumps to four hours earlier. It’s a normal, peaceful day, and everyone is going through with his or her daily routines. Everything throughout the day runs smoothly—until everyone in the entire world loses consciousness for two minutes and 17 seconds. However, consciousness isn’t lost. The consciousness of the entire world’s population jumped forward six months.

Of course, this discovery (which has been proved because many people had the same “visions” because they were together six months in the future) changes everyone’s worldview. Some are worried—they saw themselves with someone who was not their significant other. Some are hopeful—one man saw himself with his daughter, who was presumably killed overseas in the military two years ago. And others are frightened—Demetri Noh (John Cho) didn’t have any vision at all, because six months in the future he is dead.

FBI investigators—Benford included—are put in charge of the situation to try and figure out why it happened. They reach a lead when they see a video of a stadium in Detroit. Everyone is unconscious except for one man, who is walking around. It becomes their goal to find this man and find out why these visions happened.

As for myself, now I am going to let my own consciousness go forward into sleep. Critique (and college student connection!) coming soon!

I leave you with a promo video for the pilot episode. Chew it over.