Flash Forward: The Complete Series (2009)

At first, the sci-fi/action/drama series FlashForward compared favorably to its logical model, Lost–both shows hinged upon a devastating event that changed the lives of a vast array of characters who then struggled to understand what had happened to them. But despite solid performances from its cast–which counted Lost vets Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger among its number–FlashForward couldn’t replicate Lost‘s ability to lure viewers back to the island each week for five years. Part of the problem was the way its intriguing premise was handled; after a worldwide blackout allows numerous individuals to glimpse their lives six months into the future, a government task force is created to investigate the phenomenon. Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and John Cho (Star Trek) head the team, grappling with both individual responses to the blackout as well as their own experiences and that of their families, which include Fiennes’s wife (Walger), her intern (Zachary Knighton), and a host of supporting players. Sprawling, multilayered series such as these require a subtle balance between character development and action, and FlashForward never found it; dialogue was overripe, characters were broad and underdeveloped, and the program never found the proper way to reveal aspects of its core question–what did happen during that two-minute-and-17-second blackout–in a manner that would bring back repeat viewership. As a result, FlashForward limped to an ignominious finale, which took place, ironically enough, four days after the final episode of Lost.The five-disc Complete Series–which renders the previous Part One, Season One set useless–includes a healthy selection of supplemental features, most of which are included on the fifth disc. A single commentary track by Dominic Monaghan and producer Jessika Borsiczky is featured on the two-part episode, “Revelation Zero”; it’s breezy and occasionally informative, like Monaghan’s commentary on the Lost DVD releases. Architects of Destiny is a 20-minute overview of the series as a whole that focuses on the main participants, while five FlashForward on Set featurettes look at several set pieces from a behind-the-scenes perspective. Less intriguing are faux interview segments with blackout survivors, 10 deleted scenes, and various promotional clips for the show; the disc 5 menu also has an Easter Egg that yields the nine-part Stories from the Mosaic, the documentary-series-within-the-series about individuals’ experiences with the blackout. –Paul Gaita