TV Review: FlashForward 1.11 and 1.12 – “Revelation Zero, Parts 1 and 2”

Episode: FlashForward 1.11 and 1.12 – “Revelation Zero, Parts 1 and 2”
Original Air Date: March 18, 2010

Screencaps from burgundy_shoes.

FlashForward came back this week after a long mid-season hiatus. After all the waiting, I found the double-episode mediocre.

And oh, I hate trying to cram in a whole synopsis of the show, especially for a two hour episode, so at this point I’ll just assume you (the reader) have seen the episodes and you don’t require me to give you a refresher on the main points.

When the show took its break last fall, I was super hooked and really frustrated to hear it was going on break until March. I’m not sure if my enthusiasm fizzled over time, or if it’s just the episodes themselves, but after the latest installment I am feeling very “blah” towards the show in general.

Something awesome was the disaster footage from the blackout day they played at the beginning of the episode during the window washer’s narration. Holy awesomeness. The concept of the entire world passing out at the same time is so huge to me, and I love how the show’s writers have always given enough credit to the magnitude of the blackouts. All of the crashes and accidents and weirdness is just very fascinating (in a totally horrifying way) to me.

So Mark still, despite all of his incredulous shenanigans, has a job. He’s been put on some kind of suspension and, pending therapy, he can be reinstated. The whole drug-induced flashforward recollection thing was a bit lame in my opinion. Who knew it was so easy to recover blacked out memories? But at the very least, we found out what happened in the missing pieces of his vision. Mark’s boozey blackout kept us from knowing that he made a very important phone call to Lloyd in which he announces he knows there will be another blackout!

Zoinks! So that’s how they’re going to keep the show going now that we know how this one was created.

I guess part of me was really hoping for aliens or something more fantastical than scientists-gone-awry to be the source of the blackout. But at this point, it is what it is, and I think the mystery part we our still chasing has to do with the intention behind the blackout.

We met some sketchy “Villain” this episode, Flosso, and we find out that he is connected to both Simon and Lloyd, the experiment, the blackout, the secret organization with the special rings, and probably a whole lot more. This dude with a beard is some sort of clinch pin, but why? And how? Unfortunately, we may never find out how he truly fits in to everything thanks to Simon killing him. The fake-CPR suffocation was kinda brutal, and about the highlight of the “action” for the show this week.

For someone so uber in-the-know, Flosso was taken out of the mix pretty quick! I was just frustrated that someone who seemed so pivotal was just killed off. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of mystery left as to the cause of the blackout, but maybe knowing Old SuperVillain’s real intentions would have explained more? Maybe we’ll still get to find out what he was thinking anyways. *shrug*

Something I would like to know is how the ring kept Simon awake during the blackout. Now that we know for sure it was him, it makes a lot more sense how he can’t match his visions with anyone else: he didn’t have one. He seems really out of the loop with everything going on, and that does pique my interest. He was obviously very key in the science, but very clueless about the misuse of his work.

I’m more interested in the subplots, the personal dramas. Yeah, the soap opera stuff. Now that I know it’s just some crazy clique of scientists who’ve gone and done this, I’m more interested in seeing which visions come true, and how the characters are personally affected as they play out.

I think the notion that each blackout is a “possible” version of the future is a pretty big copout. Now the show can selectively make some come true, and others not at all. I think that an all-or-nothing reality would be more shocking and far more creepy and devastating. I mean, if a vision may or may not come true — it’s just a possibility — what makes the flashforwards any more reliable than a fortune cookie? I call a cheap shot on this concept!

I just hope we start getting back to the juicy stuff in the upcoming episodes. Why does Mark start drinking again? How did Lloyd get into Olivia’s flashforward and are they going to hook up? What’s going on with Janis and her baby? And will Demitri die? I still think that Zoey really did see his funeral, and he isn’t going to make it much longer. I mean that in the least morbid sense possible.

Overall, I give the double-header of new episodes 3 out of 5 stars. We found out some answers, and had some really rad special effects. But FF needs to pick up the pace and the curiosity to keep me hooked and interested. Here’s hoping for next week!

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars