FlashForward: “137 Sekunden”
FlashForward – “137 Sekunden”
Do the ends ever justify the means?
By Tiffany Vogt
Oct-11-2009
This article may contain spoilers.
When ABC first debuted the new television series FlashForward three weeks ago, the world sat riveted in front of their TV sets. It was an adrenaline rush that left the audience breathless for more. Based on the book of the same name by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, the series version of FlashForward began with the calamitous events that occurred on a seemingly normal day when the entire planet came to a stand-still. For 2 minutes and 17 seconds, virtually every human-being blacked-out and fell to the ground. It was a world-wide disaster as airplanes fell out of the sky, cars collided, and a multitude of horrific events occurred because there was no one conscious. But FlashForward is not merely a disaster show. It is about what happened during those mysterious 2 minutes and 17 seconds, for everyone was not simply unconscious, they were given a glimpse of their future. They were able to see exactly where they would be in 6 months – what they were doing and who they were doing it with. The real story driving the series is whether each will see their vision of the future come true. For some, that is horrifying and for others, it is everything they’ve prayed and hoped for.
Initially, the central characters are an FBI agent, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), his partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho), his boss, Stan Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), and Mark’s wife, Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger, better known as Penny from Lost). They are the characters that we are first introduced to and whose flashbacks we experience. It is also Benford who first clued in that there may be a conspiracy afoot, as his flashback revealed to him that he was investigating the flashforward event in relation to something called the Mosaic Collective. For his partner, Demetri, he had a more alarming realization: he did not experience a flashforward vision, which led him to believe that he may not be alive in six months. Then for Benford’s wife, Olivia, her vision was perhaps the most disturbing of all as she saw herself having a romantic liaison with another man – a man she had not even met yet. For all of these individuals, their visions have not brought them peace and comfort in what lies ahead. To the contrary, they will do everything they can to prevent their visions from coming true.
However, for some, their visions brought hope and peace. Benford’s AA sponsor, Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) saw a vision of his daughter, who he thought he had buried after a war-related tragedy, alive. One of Benford and Demetri’s co-workers, Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) saw a vision of herself pregnant, despite the fact that in the present she doesn’t even have a boyfriend. And for Olivia’s co-worker, Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton), he had nearly committed suicide right before the flashforward event, and he saw a vision of his life where he was happy and alive. For these individuals, they are very much looking forward to the futures they beheld. So whether the visions are a blessing or a curse remains to be seen.
In the subsequent weeks, we have seen pieces of each person’s visions come true. Mark is able to track down some of the individuals whose names were on the bulletin board he saw in his vision. Demetri has received independent confirmation from an unknown intelligence source that he will be murdered a month before the flashforward event date. And Olivia has met the man she saw in her vision — Lloyd Siemco (Jack Davenport) — much to her dismay.
But, while many things appear to corroborate the veracity of the visions, other events seem to undermine the likelihood of all the visions coming true. For one, Mark’s daughter gave him the friendship bracelet he saw in his vision, which he promptly burnt. Another event that had shaken the faith in the flashforward visions was Aaron Stark had his daughter’s body exhumed and tests verified it was her body in the grave, thus crushing his hope that his daughter is indeed alive somewhere in Afghanistan. And Demetri’s fiance saw a vision of him waiting for her on a Hawaiian beach on their wedding day. This would suggest that not all the visions are destined to come true.
So while the ultimate question may be whether or not the flashforwardds are indeed visions of the future, it also begs the question if it is the future, is that future a locked one or can it be changed? Agent Wedeck insightfully observed, “All of us are making decisions on what will happen — not what could happen. It makes us do things we would not ordinarily do. . . You think knowing the future would make us less concerned about it. But just the opposite has happened. The future is what all of us are living for now. It’s what we’re living by.”
Just because they have seen the future, does it make it true? Are they each prophets or are they biased based on what they would want to see?
This week’s episode focused on a crafty former-Nazi war criminal who claimed to know why the black-out lasted only 2 minutes and 17 seconds (or 137 sekunden, as it is known in German) — and he would only reveal the meaning behind it to Agent Mark Benford. In a moral quandary, Mark had to decide if the ends justified the means by granting a full pardon in exchange for the information the old man had. After verifying part of the old man’s vision, the pardon was granted, only to find out that their worst fears were realized: they had indeed been conned. The only thing the old man saw besides being released from prison was a “murder” of crows outside his prison cell window when he awoke from the black-out. And it was this vital piece of information that he used to barter his way out of prison. It was a crushing blow to realize how the old man had used them.
But perhaps the old man was not so crazy after all. His one clue about the dead crows was something that Mark decided to follow up on and, much to his surprise, it had happened before. In 1991, in Somali, there was a report of an incident where everyone lost consciousness simultaneously and coincidentally, there were thousands of dead crows. And as Mark thoughtfully remarked, “We have been so worried that the black-out may happen again, we forgot to ask ourselves: what if it happened before?”
Indeed, if someone does have the ability to control the mass black-outs, it is intriguing to consider what have they been doing with that ability before now.
What Worked
Perhaps one of the most deftly interwoven pieces of humor in this past episode was the scene where Zoe, Demetri’s finace, is aboard a virtually empty airplane across the aisle from an ashen-faced gentleman. When she asks him why he is flying, he replied that all the airline CEO’s were flying that day to prove to the public that it was safe. The fact that he asks for a stiff drink mere seconds later spoke volumes about how safe he felt about flying that day!
What Didn’t Work
After dangling the carrot of Suspect Zero and D. Gibbons in front of us, it would be nice to actually have a face to put to these mysterious figures. A mystery drama is never more compelling when evil reveals itself. It is time for the unveiling of the arch enemy — the show is limping without a nemesis.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
“137 Sekunden” was written by David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim and directed by Michael Rymer. FlashForward stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods and Zachary Knighton. FlashForward airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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