FlashForward - isn't there a BASIC problem in this show? (spoilers)

[FormerDittoHead]

Remember the days before video, let alone Tivo? There was no such THING as a spoiler - you either saw it or you didn't.

So, assuming you've been watching the show, I'm only 3 episodes in.

But consider: Do you know when New Years Eve is going to be? Sure - to the SECOND.

OK, so now they know when this 'premonition' is going to happen in the future.

BUT NO ONE 'SAW' THEMSELVES ANTICIPATING THE MOMENT!?? I mean, wouldn't there be a great communal countdown or something?

My point is that NO ONE saw themselves aware of the visioned moment being eventful, but (in the world of the show) it WILL be an event - NO DOUBT.

So, the future is somehow changed by them knowing this, etc. The premonition's future not only CAN be changed, but by its nature WILL be changed.

The problem I'm having is that no one has picked up on this.

[saracat]

1. Interesting point but it seems possible that the importance of that event

would only be one of the many things being dealt with on that day.

[eleny]

2. Heck, there's always a flaw in fiction

That's where suspension of disbelief is a requirement to be able to enjoy any part of this unfolding story.

I'm watching it, too, and have a different beef. I'm constantly reminded of soap operas. The music, the long pauses where a character stares at nothing while looking into their soul, the overly dramatic dialog dropped in when I'm not expecting it.

This is the first network drama I've watched in a long time. But I'm keeping up by at least catching the rerun on the web. In fact, I'm starting to record the episodes so I can zip through the ads.

[iamjoy]

3. I Have - Sort Of (No Spoilers)

Just not in those terms. In a way, every one traveled to his/her own future. They brought back that knowledge with them. Using that knowledge, are their actions changing that future they saw, or causing it? Is the future they saw the future in which the flashforward did or didn't happen? Based on the fact that they're investigating it, it would seem the future they saw is the one where the flashforward did happen, but not necessarily.

yeah, it has a few plot holes and I think it has too many characters to get to know a lot of them well. But, it's entertaining. Time travel is always going to have causal loops and unless very carefully written, plot holes.

[MorningGlow]

10. The show will need to address the concepts of free will vs. predestination

and they're going to have to take a pretty definitive stance one way or the other. CAN the future be changed, or are we all just puppets hurtling along toward inevitable events? I vote for the former and hope the show does too; otherwise it's going to slam into a brick wall.

[Touchdown]

14. That might be addressed in the next episode. The agent who got shot at the end

was supposed to have an ultrasound in her FF. She was losing a lot of blood on the street. All that ultrasound flashed in her mind as she's bleeding. Maybe she'll die. Wouldn't be the first time they use a convenient excuse to kill off the gay character.

And the other agent (who didn't have a vision) who now knows he's going to be shot and killed, may just wear a vest that day.

[cbdo2007]

15. It's way too early in the season for them to make someone's FlashForward not come true.

She'll survive the gunshot wound and get pregnant somehow. Once they make it possible for people's FlashForwards to not come true, that kind of ruins a lot of the excitement of the season. There's no way they're going to change the future this early on.

If anyone changes their future, I think the first time we see that will be the other agent (who didn't have a vision) but that's still about 15 episodes away.

Once someone for sure changes their future, the writers can't go back from that and then everyone can change theirs, so theyll def keep us stringing along on that premise for a long time still.

[cbdo2007]

4. For all we know, this will be addressed in the show itself.

Obviously, the writers know that everyone will be anticipating that moment...heck, all of us who are watching are slowly anticipating that moment to see what's going to happen, so it almost seems like such an obvious flaw that I don't think they would not think of it or ignore it.

Then again, and I don't know any spoilers this is all just speculation based on what I've seen so far, if they were seeing the future in another dimension or something then it could be different from the future they are actually living. That could excuse any "plot holes" or be an excuse for the future not coming true for someone.

[benld74]

5. FLASHFORWARD is a VERY GOOD book to read,,,

the point of the series IS to make money!

[Dr. Strange]

16. The series certainly has piqued my interest in the book.

But I can't decide if I should read it before the season finishes, or wait.

[elocs]

6. Congratulations on making it 3 episodes in because I never got past the first one

and I am a fan of this kind of show. I just see it as one that goes on and on stretching it out year after year, just like LOST, making it up as they go along with no end in sight.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. I gave up on Lost in season 3, but Flashforward seems to be different so far.

In Lost, they just kept piling on wierd absurdity, after question, after unresolved plot twist.. The story never progressed. They never 'resolved' anything at all, and just added more wierd questions.

End of episode two for FlashFoward, we see a general answer to 'why did this happen', already. (I won't spoil it for you)


And now the various subplots are progressing along. Much better. Lost sucks, this doesn't. (so far)

[cbdo2007]

8. Lost was a completely different beast altogether....I gave up on Lost after about the first 4 episod

es which is how many we've had of Flashforward so far (I think or is it 5?)

You all are correct on Lost, there would be some monster in the woods or something and then they wouldn't even mention it in the next episode but then someone would have something else entirely different and crazy happened. I'm glad I got out when I did as so many people wasted so many seasons looking for answers.

At least with Flashforward we know that between now and April 29, 2010 we'll get many of our questions answered...we have to. Sure, the show will probably progress past that point as something crazy will happen that day and after that or whatever, but they literally can't end the season without answering many of the questions they're posing. It can't work.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Part of the reason I stuck with Lost was a couple characters.

Like Locke and uh... hell... The doctor. Wow I haven't watched the show in a while. Anyway, I was interested in which would end up the 'main' character, if either, so I kept watching long after I should have bailed on it, because I was interested in those two character's stories, specifically.

But yeah, in the 'moving the plot line along' department, FlashForward is like a breath of fresh air.

[Onceuponalife]

17. ...and that's a bad thing?

Lost rocks! I can only hope FF turns out half as good.

Someone else made the point I was going to make and that is something might happen to make everyone forget their FFs before they happen. OR, maybe they HAVE to play everything out as they saw them or something dire may happen to the world.

[dbmk]

26. Except Lost is not made up as they go

They said from the very start that the entire story was written and that it would last about 5 seasons.

And given the problems of the writers strike and the scheduling issues that occured, that is going to fit reasonably well.

[donco6]

11. Yes, good point.

I mean, why is anyone seeing anything but themselves looking at a clock?

[Dr. Strange]

12. Excellent point.

Which makes me think that what everyone saw was what the future was going to be. But now that they've seen it, they almost certainly will do at least some things different. Case-in-point: Wedeck sees himself sitting on the pot. Now if he knows when this big moment is, and he knows that Benford is about to be attacked, would he opt to go to the little FBI director's room? I think not.

I just don't see how everyone can end up playing out these exact actions again, unless they lose the memory of their flash forward at some point before April 29.

[cbdo2007]

13. Or maybe they got the date/time wrong for some reason? Hmmmmmm

Just speculation here...but the only way they could not be expecting it, except for a mass "loss of memory" like you mention, is if they thought it was April 29 but something happens and it's really April 30 or May 29 or something? I don't know.

There are plenty of ways for them to make it work and I'm sure the writers have this all figured out.

[TheWraith]

18. You're correct: nobody on the show has stated that obviously they didn't know it was coming.

Therefore, just by having the flashforward they've already changed the future. Will the boss still choose to be in the bathroom at the time? I doubt it.

It's like all the angst about will the future come true or not. There's easy ways to test it. They said they had 18 FBI agents resign since the flashforward. Did any of them see themselves as FBI agents in the future? If so, they just changed things. Did anyone who saw themselves with a crappy future decide to kill themselves? Again, future averted. It's a major logic gap that they're conveniently ignoring for the sake of angst and drama.

The subject of knowing the future was treated much better in the short-lived Showtime series Odyssey 5. That show made it very clear from the first moment that by the main characters having knowledge of the next 5 years, the future became fluid: anything could be changed, even by the slightest action of foreknowledge, but they kept the dramatic tension by way of the fact that you knew things could change for the worse as well as for the better.

[mania]

19. But that just reveals a larger hole..

"Therefore, just by having the flashforward they've already changed the future."

And then the larger hole - if the flashforward was a future where there had been no flashforward... why was Agent Benford heading an investigation in to its cause? I really don't see how they can explain these obvious holes, and don't think they're going to attempt to because none of the characters have picked up on them. Shame really.

[Dr. Strange]

21. Another good point.

I was thinking about this over the weekend. The future they saw really couldn't have been one without a flash forward, since that one doctor was about to commit suicide. The fact that he saw himself alive in the future means either he failed, or what's more likely, he saw a future that was the result of a (if not the) flash forward. But then, based on everyone's behavior in their flash forward, I'm starting to be more convinced that they've all lost their memory of it.

[cbdo2007]

20. You can't call something that hasn't happened yet a "major logic gap" until it hasn't come true

"Will the boss still choose to be in the bathroom at the time? I doubt it."

He may not have any control over it. Ok this is embarrassing...but occasionally, everyone has times where they HAVE to be in the bathroom. So maybe he ate the jumbo burrito for dinner and it wasn't agreeing with him? Just because someone tries to change the future, doesn't mean that the outcome won't be the same - unless someone dies.

"They said they had 18 FBI agents resign...Did any of them see themselves as FBI agents?...they just changed things."

Just because they quite the FBI now doesn't mean the team won't rehire them again before the FlashForward comes true. Maybe they needed the extra help and security to protect the people working on it so they offered them an insane amount of money to come back. See...unless someone who saw a FlashForward dies before it can come true, no matter how hard other people try to change their future we won't know if that actually worked until the day that everyone saw. The "future" that they all saw may happen exactly how they saw it but it's the route taken to get there that is the major question.

Unless someone dies of course, which is why they aren't going to kill someone off who DID see a FF right away because that is the only way before April 29 that we'll know whether or not the future can be changed.

[cbdo2007]

22. (spoilers) I think they just ruined this show

Once somebody changes the future, now anyone can change the future so a lot of the anticipation of watching is gone. It's still interesting and of course we want all the best to work out for everyone, but a lot of the excitement was knowing exactly what was going to happen no matter how they tried to change it. Now that element is gone :(

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. I hear ya, but I'm glad the engaged FBI guy now has hope that he can live

[clear eye]

25. What if his fiancee was napping and the beach scene was a dream

she was having because she was in shock due to losing him. It was the day they were supposed to have been married and she might well have had a drink or a tranquilizer to cope w/ her emotions and dozed off.

Thing is, his version had been substantiated by the phone call from a foreign agent who'd read about his murder in an intelligence report.

[Bethany Rockafella]

23. I think I'm going to like this show

It reminds me of LOST.