“FlashForward,” ABC’s new sci-fi drama, is clearly positioned to glean fans of “Lost” before its final season, but the pilot episode “No More Good Days” seems too much like a flashback. In the opening scene, a middle-class white guy, Mark Benford, like Jack Shepard in “Lost,” awakens after a car crash and wanders into a chaotic scene of confused, injured and flammable strangers needing his authority and help. A kangaroo suddenly appears and is out of place in downtown LA, just like the polar bear on “Lost’s” tropical island. Also, at least three “Lost” cast members have recurring roles in “FlashForward,” but this time the surgeon is Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger), Mark Benford’s (Joseph Fiennes) wife. In the middle of a disaster scene, the ad for Oceanic airlines, while meant as an obvious nod, seems too self-conscious and distracting.
Adapted from the 1999 novel by Robert J. Sawyer, “FlashForward” follows a mélange of Los Angelenos, predictably, after what appears to be about a 2 minute global blackout. Most survivors see flashes of their lives six months into the future. For some, the visions provide hope, but for others, dread. As Mark’s young daughter Charlie Benford states, “I dreamt there were no more good days.” Always the case when children say creepy things, a dark mystery is bound to unfold.
“FlashForward’s” mystery hangs on whether the dystopian future is inevitable or avoidable. It explores the well-worn tension between malleable free will and deterministic destiny. While the mystery is somewhat intriguing, toying with notions of Jungian collective consciousness and memory, the narrative and style of “FlashForward” seems like a banal déjà vu of a beloved series. So the questions we’re left with may be less about ‘What did you see?’ and more about ‘have we seen it before?’
Is “FlashForward” simply a rewind of “Lost” or will it reveal itself to be a worthy successor?