Ain't it good to hear Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm," and see him sing it in a vid? This was the theme song and the theme of tonight's FlashForward 1.9, which peeled back a little more of the paradox of the story to reveal ... more fine paradox, and a mystery tramp, too.
Bryce goes to Japan to find Keiko, the Japanese roboticist and lover of Hendrix and Dylan, aka the woman he saw and found and knew he loved - and she him - in his flashforward. Significantly - a very important insight into flashforward business here - Bryce knows in his April 2010 flashforward that he has been searching for Keiko since he was about to commit suicide and the blackouts/flashforwards hit in 2009. Unless I've missed something, this is the first time the April 2010 flashforward shows characters who are explicitly aware that they had the blackouts/flashforwards in 2009. And this in turn means that the explanation I put forth last week - that the April 2010 flashforwards took place in a reality (reality 1) in which the people had not had blackouts/flashfowards six months earlier, but once the blackouts/flashforwards occurred in 2009, this slipped the world into another reality (reality 2)- is not quite right, at least not for Bryce.
It's not right for Keiko, either, and in another significant first in this episode we see her own flashforward story, which complements Bryce's. The two of course cannot meet before the April 2010 flashforward date, so Bryce's trip to Japan to find Keiko in 2009 cannot succeed. But Keiko's trip to Los Angeles can and will succeed and result in their meeting in April 2010. It's a nice bit of misdirection - Bryce and we are led to believe that their meeting will take place in Japan, when in fact it will and always did place in Los Angeles, the real shelter from the storm. (This episode also has the best use of back stories - Bryce's and Keiko's - making it reminiscent of Lost, which I take as a good.)
L.A., then, is the shelter at least for Bryce and Keiko. But what about the other characters? They're not getting much satisfaction at all, including Mark Benford, who wants to know who texted Olivia that he was drinking again in 2010.
Aaron and Stan, the only people Benford told about his future fall from the wagon, both provide pretty convincing denials. So who sent the text?
Could it be Simcoe - who is realizing he's falling for Olivia, and wants to do what he can to put Mark and Olivia on the skids? But how would he know about Mark's future?
It's a mystery - but as one of the scientists who caused the flashforwards, he just might know a little more of what the future holds that everyone else, except Simon.
Would you like a little shelter from the storm? Here's a little Dylan ...
6-min podcast review of FlashForward
See also FlashForward Debuts and Oceanic Airlines as a Portal Between FlashForward and Lost and 1.2: Proofs and Defiance of Inevitability and 1.3: Conficting Visions and Futures and 1.4: FlashForward Meets Shaft and House ... Drunk FlashForwarding in 1.5 ... Across the Universe in FlashForward 1.6 ... FlashForward 1.7: The Future Can Be... ... FlashForward 1.8: The Nightie as a Grain of Sand
Listen to 40-minute interview with Robert J. Sawyer
The Plot to Save Socrates
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6 comments:
I am interested in the show and I think it shows signs of promise. But, I'm sorry, aren't you being a bit of a media whore in your whole website's purpose? I read this page and all of it is basically second-guessing the writers of this show. They could change the plot-arc at any time. Who cares? it's a good show while it lasts, why try to predict it like it is our actual history or future?
I enjoy trying to predict where the stories of shows are going - it's part of what Samuel Taylor Coleridge called "that willing suspension of disbelief" that a work of fiction (in his case, poetry; in this case, a television story) is real.
If your response to that is "who cares?" and I'm "a bit of a media whore" then the best response I can give you to the first is who cares? and to the second, if you don't like this blog, if the what I write irritates you, then don't read it.
Or, for all I know, maybe you like whores, and you were complimenting me, which is also fine :)
I agree that Bryce's awareness of his flash in his flash was very interesting. This episode really made the character grow on me.
Had to read your review of 1.5 to remember who was there when Mark told Wedeck he was/had been/will be drinking in his flash, and really, they were in a bar full of people and Mark was yelling. Anyone could have heard. One of their competitors for government funds, for example.
As for your review of 1.5, however, I'm curious to know why you think having a lesbian character is "trite"? Especially considering the many times we have seen straight people canoodling on the show.
Here's my full quote about Janis:
"She has a provocative story, too - a lesbian lover, Numb3r's Amita (Navi Rawat), in Washington, DC. It looks as if not only Heroes but FlashForward is picking up on The L Word this year, which risks making this theme a little trite, especially when brought in out of left field. But in Janis's case, it has the benefit of making the pregnancy she saw in her flashforward even more interesting."
And to provide a little more context - by "a little trite," I mean "flavor de jour". In addition to the shows mentioned above, we have lesbian characters on House and Bones.
Television has a tendency of picking up memes - for example, the FBI on 24, Fringe, FlashForward - none of these shows have to feature the FBI, any police-like government agency could serve the same role. So I'd say the FBI is also risking becoming a little trite, or the flavor de jour, on television drama these days.
Ah, I see your point. Maybe I misread it - personally, I'm just happy to see a lesbian character featured without it being a big deal. Especially on ABC. On shows like House, Bones and Grey's we have these very charming bisexual characters, but I agree that the problem is that all of them are being used to providing "flavour" or for thrills. And it's always odd to see a part of ones identity and life employed like a story-telling device like that.
So far, I think Janis' sexuality is just a part of her characterization just like... I don't know, Mark and Aaron being fathers or Olivia and Bryce being doctors. I certainly hope it stays that way - interesting and real, not just used for cheap thrills. The day queer characters are a natural, non-shocking part of television just like we're a part of society, I'll be a very happy camper indeed. Until then, keep up the blogging :)
Absolutely - on both accounts - queer characters being a natural, non-shocking component of tv stories, and me keeping up with my blogging :)
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