We are now four episodes into ABC’s freshman drama series, Forever, and it’s definitely headed in the right direction. This week, they put forth their best effort yet. The show is still not perfect, but should it continue the way it’s headed, we could be in for a great series.
This week, Henry Morgan helped solve the case involving a death of a 91-year-old woman. She was a powerful, rich woman, and Henry had met her before…a VERY long time ago. Of course the initial belief is that she was pushed down the stairs and murdered because she was…well..unpleasant. That’s putting it mildly, of course. The woman, Gloria Carlisle, was holding a party at a museum when she died, and that museum held some special memories for Henry, making this a much more personal case.
Two of the ways that Forever is succeeding is with its cast. I rave every single week about Joel David Moore’s Lucas, and how his daft but lovable character make for not only laughs but a brilliant cast dynamic. He’s made me literally laugh out loud in every episode thus far. Judd Hirsch’s Abe is another excellent addition to the cast, and seems to be finding his role well. Alana De La Garza and Ioan Gruffud carry the bulk of the show well, but it’s much harder for them overall, since they are involved in so much of the story.
The one thing that worries me about this show is that I’m not sure it knows where it’s going. I’m not 100% sure that ABC knows how to market it, because the ads for the last couple of episodes have been misleading to say the least. Also, there seems to be a lack of an overarching story. I mean, I get that Dr. Morgan is immortal, and one person knows and no one else does. But is the series a perpetual dance between people not knowing and finding out? What happened to that “Adam” guy from the first episode? The episodes are good individually, and are definitely more entertaining than many other shows on television, but what the show lacks is a cohesive story line to bring everything together. Now, we’re only four episodes in so I could be short-sighted and eating my words here in a few weeks, but if it’s building momentum, it hasn’t built much yet.
As I previously mentioned, De La Garza and Gruffud do great work as the leads, but this week everyone seemed to buy into Henry’s logic a little too easily. He went a little Shawn Spencer on us this week, and no one really questioned it (well, Det. Martinez did for juuuust a minute). I think the show’s stakes could raise exponentially higher if he is constantly dodging his curious co-workers, solving cases, and party to some over-arching story besides his own mysterious immortality. This is the only way that this show will last forever (pun intended).
That being said, I badly want to know the reason for said immortality, so I do plan on continuing to watch the show. I’m dying (er..not dying?) to know what all of you think. Are you watching? Do you agree with my assessment? Let us know!
[Photo via ABC]
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