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Welcome to our no-nonsense review of FlashForward 1.06 “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps“, where we get right to the heart of the matter in “good and bad” style.
The Good
It was good to see Dominic Monaghan back in a serialized television programme. He brought a different dimension to the show and it was interesting to see him playing a character who is vastly different from Charlie Pace. I think he did a good job in what little we saw of him, and the storyline that he will bring with him will no doubt be one of the driving forces of the season.
I appreciated getting an answer – of sorts – for cause of the GBO. I have speculated that the show will delve into alternate realities at some point, and although we’re not quite there yet, we did get the Quantum Superposition hint. Which is basically the idea of that there are multiple states of reality existing at the same time - with observation of any given state fixing it to a single possibility. It’s a fascinating concept, one which I’ve posted about for another sci-fi show – Fringe. Those of you wanting some more insight into this idea should take a look at the “Double-slit experiment” video below:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc
Lloyd Simcoe. There’s something about this guy that’s very likable. The fact that he’s dealing with the uncertainty of his own future is interesting because it makes him more of an unknown quantity – but one you want to become invested in. And that’s the thing, we know that he was involved in the GBO – an event which caused some 20 million lives to be lost, and yet at the moment he seems like a very down to earth and believable character who is dealing with the event with the same apprehension as others. That’s not to say I’m overlooking what he did – but until we find out the full details on the what and why, it’s difficult not to like him. Plus, he handled himself with far more dignity at the Halloween party than Mark did.
The Bad
The use of Dylan’s character to make things happen that wouldn’t normally happen is becoming somewhat of a plot contrivance. I can handle some contrivances because every scene needs to connect to the overall story somehow. But using Dylan’s autism as a method of making Olivia and Lloyd’s flash forward come true, is a bit too transparent at times. I can see the reasoning behind it, of course, but the watching the ‘Adventures of Dylan’ as he found his way to the Benford’s house – somehow avoiding paying the bus fare – was a step too far south in the believability stakes.
Mark Benford. I’ve given myself a chance to warm to him, but six episodes in and I can’t identify with the character whatsoever. He’s just too angry and irrational – reaching new lows in this episode by blindly pinning all of the blame on Olivia for something she hasn’t done yet – whilst being a grade-A hypocrite at the same time. I can understand that he’s terrified of losing his family, but surely he’d be able to understand that his current behaviour is playing right into the hands of fate? I can also appreciate the merits of having characters who are badly flawed (heck, I’ve supported John Locke for 5, soon to be 6, seasons!), but at times I have to question if the writers actually want us to like this dude? Aside from not being very smart or likable, his general attitude and demeanor is just not connecting with me. I’m not sure if it’s an acting thing or a writing thing, but he’s coming over as a little too forced.
The show is still plagued by a lack of realism. One of the most significant and sweeping global events in history has just taken place and everyone seems to have forgotten about it already. People are out having Halloween parties and messing around, and there’s just a general lack of edge. I appreciate the nice little touch by having Simon travelling by train instead or airplane due to the GBO, but outside of the immediate plot there’s little to really suggest that the world stood still for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, let alone the fact that they all became prophets! I don’t expect everyone to be morbid, but take the hospital – that place should be heaving with injured and sick folk (remember the apocalyptic view of the city on fire in the Pilot?), and Olivia definitely wouldn’t be getting home in time to tuck the kid into bed!
False Tension. Janis getting shot and living I can handle, as I didn’t expect her to die anyway. But having her undergo “live-saving” surgery again (thanks Wedeck!) and not getting to see any of that operation or how it turned out felt like a bit of a cheat. Sure, it was done so we could conveniently forget about Olivia for a while and be caught off-guard when she showed up at the ‘Halloween party’, but it just felt contrived to me. Janis turned out to be OK (again) and we got to learn that it’s now impossible for her to get pregnant (thanks Olivia!). Well, “almost impossible”, which is TV-talk for she will get pregnant. 
Despite my problems with some of these scenes, I am intrigued at to which side of the fate/freewill line FlashForward will settle on. Personally, I’ll stick with what I’ve said from the beginning – we’re probably looking at alternate realities in the long run, so who’s to say they wont advocate fate and freewill in equal measure?
In addition to that, if Simon is right, then the observer (those with the visions) gets to decide the outcome of their future. Which would mean that both freewill and fate exist, but freewill – the application of effective choices – will be the outcome in some cases (I’m tempted to say, “some realities”). Where the show will go from there is any-one’s guess!
Best Performer: Dominic Monaghan
Episode Rating: 7.5/10
