merelyn | (no subject) (Reply)

I dragged

leupagus to this preview screening thing. (Also, I swear to god there was someone from the first

ontd_startrek NY meetup? But I couldn't remember their real or fake name and would have felt weird yelling, "HEY GQMF!" across the screening room. Maybe they're even on my flist and I'm super made of fail?)

Anyway, the show. So the premise, for those who don't know (and I didn't!) is that the entire world looses consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. During this time, in addition to plane crashes, botched surgeries, and massive destruction worldwide, everyone sees a vision of the future 6 months from now. How? and Why? are the overarching questions of the show.

A lot of the soundbites floating around claim that Flashforward is ABC's answer for the next Lost. As someone who gets incredibly frustrated with TV shows that are full of Mystery of Plot Twists at the expense of any long term narrative coherence (Lost and the back half of the X-Files, I'm looking at you), I hope not. And actually, the show I was most reminded of while watching Flashforward was the 4400. It has the same disconcerting sense of a future where something strange and catastrophic has happened to the whole word. The show was certainly strongest when it focused on this. (The scenes of damaged LA were particularly compelling and traumatizing in an now-familiar post-9/11 way.

leupagus actually said, "Holy shit!" really loudly at one point.) The emotional drama and connection between the characters was not as strong, but again it's the first episode and they had a lot of exposition to do.

I will say that I really enjoyed it. It kept my attention throughout, and they did a pretty good job of making you believe in the central premise of the show. I'm definitely intrigued and want to keep watching to find out what happens. It was also pretty funny in parts and well acted by everyone.

There were a few things that bothered me, that said. The show sometimes felt a shade too generic to be full out wicked fucking awesome (though the closing shot of the first ep, oh man just wait for it, holy crap they earned that shit), and the writing and direction had moments where they were painfully on the nose. (Note: Joesph Fiennes, few people can pull off running in slow motion seriously.)

Also, on a side note, the show's premise has an expiration date. Once we reach April 2010 and we discover the reason for the flashforwards, what exactly is this show going to do with itself? I'm not sure. (Unless, what, there's ANOTHER flashforward and we get back on the merry go round again? Who knows.) Anyway, I'm not sure it has legs, at least not in the American television sense. This isn't a problem right now, but I'd hate to see it turn into the plot-what-fucking-plot-look-over-there! quagmire of post-Season One Heroes or something.

Anyway, let's end this unfocused rambling review by focusing on the characters/actors. First, even though I hadn't heard of them before in anything, the few major female characters we saw (Sonya Walger as Olivia Benford and Christine Woods as Janis Hawk) were pretty awesome. Rock on, Janis with your "I don't even have a boyfriend" line which was sad but somehow hilarious, and Olivia with your medical competence and HBIC-ness and snarky relationship with your husband. Also Courtney Vance as Stan was awesome and kickass and he got the biggest laugh of the whole episode.

Now, onto people you've probably heard of before:

Joesph Fiennes: Has he been in anything really since Shakespeare in Love? Also I forgot how just a shade too close together his eyes are. Bitichiness aside, he was actually very good, and his American accent was fairly perfect. I don't really feel like I have exactly a good sense of his character yet, though.

John Cho: Possibly my favorite part. First of all, John Cho, second, his character is clearly a bit of a hothead. Seeing him getting all pissed off and yelling at people is somehow the best thing ever. Also, I'm really interested to find out where they go with his character. His flashforward is the most interesting one to be sure, and

leupagus and I even entertained the (probably wrong so not a spoiler, okay) notion that he's actually Evil and Behind It All, but who knows. The point is, I want to find out!

Jack Davenport: Because I am a bad fangirl, I had no idea he was even in this. When he came in at the end of the episode we just saw the back of his head. Then he said something and I started VIOLENTLY WHACKING

leupagus's arm because omg holy shit Jack Davenport is in this! and apparently I can recognize him only by his voice now because I am that sad/awesome.

Dominic Monaghan: Sir Not Appearing in This Pilot. Where was he? Who is he? How is he going to be introduced? If this really is the next Lost, will he end up hanging from a tree again? All good questions.

Overall, it was solid and enjoyable and the cast is awesome and I will probably watch more. Yay!

This is in the form of a gchat. Because I'm too lazy to type this up properly. Also, the awesome waiter in question is not really named Alan. Name changed to protect the...awesome?

rageprufrock: who the fuck is ALAN?

leupagus: Alan was our lolarious waiter last night, who no joke told us everything about his life in like 10 minutes

twentysomething: ahahahaha

leupagus: Also he made fun of my laugh, which, valid.

rageprufrock: ahhaa
was he an aspiring actor slash waiter?
or an actual waiter?

leupagus: I dunno. Probably a hyphenate of some sort

twentysomething: a wactor

leupagus: But somehow we got on the subject of dating, and he was like, "I'm the girl in every relationship, I text message or call the guy the next day being all, 'I had a great time!' And the other guy is like- and then he made a hilarious face of "I'm not ever going to call you" that I cannot describe.

twentysomething: loooooool

leupagus: And then he told us about his hookup from last week where he met a really cute guy at a club, then took him home AND THEY LISTENED TO FIONA APPLE FOR HOURS AND TALKED ABOUT MUSIC.
And then Alan nailed him (like a boss).

twentysomething: ahahahah

leupagus: And merelyn and I were like, !!!
THIS IS LIKE RESEARCH

leupagus: I mean, Flashfoward was great, but Alan was the highlight of the evening, no lie.

merelyn: he was!

twentysomething: awes

rageprufrock: oh my god, fiona APPLE?
jesus fucking christ

merelyn: he took this boy home because the boy was all "this will sound stupid, but do you just want to cuddle?"
LIKE FOR REAL.

leupagus: OMG I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

rageprufrock: oh my god this homo is for you, merelyn

leupagus: IT WAS AMAZING

merelyn: the fact that leupagus and i didn't spontaneously combust was a credit to both of us.

leupagus: Nooooooo kiddding
Plus, boy was cute as hell, so merelyn was sitting there going through her rolodex of gays to find someone good enough for him.

merelyn: THERE ARE NONE.
MY GAY BFF IS TOO MUCH OF A HO.

leupagus: IT IS SAD
FIONA APPLE LISTENING GAYS NEED LOVE

merelyn: THEY DO.

rageprufrock: we should mail him to vancouver
was he asian?

merelyn: ahaha
sadly no.

rageprufrock: quel trag.

leupagus: And no, ZQ does not get him, either.

twentysomething: ahahahahaa

leupagus: He's delicate!

twentysomething: jared padalecki would just be like

rageprufrock: ZQ loves delicate

twentysomething: I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOU