TV Recap: ‘FlashForward,’ “Believe”

UGH. I’m not sure what I hate more, FlashForward or how it makes me feel during the odd-number episodes that are seemingly indicative of a good show in there somewhere. “Believe” is certainly the program’s finest hour by far and hopefully the writers can take the lessons from this episode and apply it moving forward. As I have said on numerous instances, the show would have been much better off actually riffing from Lost in the sense that every episode should focused one or two characters and really let us see how the flashforward is changing their lives. Programs like this only work when the characters are likable and interesting among the conspiracy theories and disasters — and so far, FlashForward has gotten all that wrong.

Finally, “Believe” got it right. And even more surprisingly, they did it by focusing on perhaps the show’s least developed character, Bryce, which is a feat in its own right. Throw in some very charming acting from Takeuchi Yuko as Keiko and Zachary Knighton as Bryce and you have yourself an entertain hour with a few complicated questions raised.

This episode worked because it allowed us to see where people were before the blackout and then traced a compelling arc afterwards. Both Bryce and Keiko are trapped in their lives, but what they see in the blackout helps them push forward because they are hopeful that it will come true. And though the “twist” that the bar they meet in is actually Los Angeles and not Tokyo was completely obvious, it still throws a nice kink into personal journeys I actually care about.

There’s another reason this episode didn’t suck — not much FBI shenanigans. Sure, there were a few dumb scenes with Mark, Dem and company screwing around in the office — they find out that the ring worn by the blackout culprit has an alpha symbol on it — but thankfully it was more supplemental to the more interesting, emotional-driven story with Bryce and Keiko.

And can we stop and give thanks to Brian F’. O’Bryne for making Joesph Fiennes not seem as annoying? Anytime Mark and Aaron are together, Mark doesn’t seem as much like an overly-intense tool. I really, really liked the scenes between them in this one, especially the one where Aaron bashed some chairs around and got in Mark’s face for throwing out some bullcrap accusations. And how right is he? Mark is so bullheaded with all these visions, clues, texts, whatever — he just needs to chill out a little bit.

Let’s hope that the writers recognize that “Believe” is the template for the series moving forward. The program will have much more of an emotional impact when individual episodes focus on just a few characters and we see their personal journey. We don’t need scene after scene of people blabbering about what the flashfowards mean in a grander sense. Let’s just talk about how they effect people on a personal level first. Build up.

Alas, surely the writers will piss away the goodwill of this episode, just like they did with “Gimme Some Truth” and “The Gift.” Maybe I should just wait and watch episode 11.

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