FlashForward

[cellio]

I've been enjoying FlashForward, a new TV show this season. The premise: one day in October everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and change. (Lots of people die during this time in accidents.) During the blackout people saw visions of the future -- the same specific date in April for everyone. Some of those futures were disturbing, leaving people with the question "what do I do now?". The show follows a core group of characters, including several FBI agents who are investigating the phenomenon because one of them had a vision of him doing so, raising questions of causality that I hope will be taken up as the show progresses.

Not everyone saw flashes, and the common belief is that those people didn't see their futures because they would be dead before that date in April. One of our POV characters is in this situation. Another saw something that "could not be true" -- he saw someone known to be dead. Another claims to have seen someone who didn't have a flash (so presumed to be dead).

I had my suspicions, and tonight's episode backs me up. My theory was (and is) that each person saw his most probable future at that time, not the certain future. (No, that doesn't yet explain the contradiction yet between Demetri and Zoey; no theory is perfect.) In tonight's episode someone who had a flash commits suicide, making that flash pretty improbable. This should mean that all the other flashes can be changed too. (It also casts rather a different light on the guy who went along with the game of Russian Roulette because he knew he'd be alive in April...)

So the future can apparently contradict the flashes. The trick for anyone who wants to try is to figure out how to do it without being like the man who tried to flee death.

ABC recently committed to a full season. I hope it stays this interesting.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I second the recommendation for the book, and I'm not saying that just because I'm mentioned in it. :-)

[cellio]

I didn't know you had a mention. I do plan to seek out the book at some point.

I initially wondered about the prospects for the TV show if they shortened a 20-year jump to 6 months (would a multi-season show be viable with that change?), but then I remembered that Lost took four seasons to move 3.5 months with rich character stories, so I don't see a problem there.

It's a good thing your life isn't dictated by what you do in the book

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

Cuz otherwise, all you'd do is eat lunch.

Re: It's a good thing your life isn't dictated by what you do in the book

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I like lunch...