This Week in FlashForward - 3/18/10

FlashForward is back, and with it, an event-packed 2-hour premiere. A lot of mysteries from the first set of episodes are answered, as well as thrown away. This seems to be a bit of a restart for the series, and it's not a bad thing. Spoilers follow.

Episodes 11/12 - "Revelation Zero (Parts 1 and 2)"

Zach says: The premiere starts with recapping a few major plot points, like how Mark's marriage is strained by the possible future affair his wife will be having, and the fact that he was drinking, so his recollection of his flash forward was fuzzy. This whole drama leads Mark to get therapeutic help, including getting drugged to help him remember more of his flash forward, which actually works, and gives him many more clues about the Mosaic and phone call he had received. These clues lead to a few revelations, as well as saving a few people, with more importance later in the series in all likelihood.

The main focus of the latter half of the episode was of Simon Campos and that shadowy organization that seems to be doing a lot of plotting and shadowy things. Turns out, they are very much so involved in the black out and proceeding events of the series.

Simon's character wasn't very developed in the first half of the series, but this episode is making up for it in droves. We see many different sides of Simon, and I think he'll be a very important character in the series as it progresses. He definitely shouldn't be underestimated, and while he has a problem with authority, he seems to have a good heart.

So, the black out happened, we know who is behind it, and we have more clues as to how to find them. The questions we have now are why did they want the black out to happen, and will it occur again? There are still plenty of questions pertaining to characters and their stories and drama, so I'm sure future episodes will be split between these dramas and that of the FBI, solving the main mystery. I have hope.
Zach's Score: 8.5

JDW says: Obviously it's been a while since the last episode of FlashForward aired, and quite frankly, with the anticipation of Lost's final season and new Doctor Who, I pretty much lost care and hope for the series. But after tonight I'm a bit more hopeful. Not only did the presentation of the show change in the first half, but the storytelling, character focus, and plot revelations were also quite fresh.

But while I appreciated getting answers for once, there was A LOT that happened in these two hours, like I honestly felt like five months passed in the course of this episode. For instance, mysteries like "Who is Subject Zero?" "Why/how was he awake?" "Who are those guys with the rings?" are all answered, and quite abruptly really, no build up whatsoever. In a way, it kind of felt like the writers wanted to get all the secret of the first half of this season out of the way, just in case the show does get canned, we the audience at least have some sort of closure.

Regardless, I don't know exactly what happened during FlashForward's three month break, but it seemed to work, let's hope the rest of the season follows suit, or else this may be it for television's "new Lost".
JDW's Score: 8/10

Overall Score: 8.3/10

Missed the episode? Catch it on Hulu