Happy premiere season, fellow cinephiles! ’Tis the season for the good and the bad season and series openers. You’ve seen our opinions on Gotham (which so far is our favorite new show) but I felt that there was at least one other show that deserved a look by our general audience. This show is ABC’s Forever.
Here’s the synopsis from Wikipedia:
Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is a New York City medical examiner who studies the dead for criminal cases and to solve the mystery of his own immortality. Since his first death 200 years ago as a doctor in the African slave trade, whenever he dies Morgan and his clothes disappear almost immediately, and he returns to life a few hours later in a nearby body of water naked with no memory of the intervening time. Having also stopped aging, his long life has given Morgan remarkable observation skills which impress most people he encounters, including NYPD Detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza). Flashbacks depict events from Morgan’s life, during which he has been married, fought in wars, dissected, and hanged for heresy; whenever his secret has been discovered, Morgan has fled to somewhere else in the world. Only antiquarian Abe (Judd Hirsch), whom Morgan and his former wife Abigail found as a newborn in a German concentration camp during World War II, knows that he is immortal. Morgan is stalked by a murderer who refers to himself only as “Adam” who has learned his secret, and claims to have been alive for 2,000 years with the same “curse”.
I have always been a huge fan of Ioan Gruffudd (and not just because of more-than-awesome name), especially after seeing him movingly portray the famous British Abolitionist William Wilburforce in Amazing Grace. You probably have only seen him as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four films, however I can assure that he is an A-list quality actor, and Forever really reinforces that. He is a powerhouse and really makes the show. It’s a more subtle performance than many other similar leading men on the major networks right now such as James Spader in The Blacklist or Johnny Lee Miller in Elementary, but he also more likable than the others. His essential immortality makes him REALLY smart and surprisingly proper.
His supporting cast is also turning out to be great. Judd Hirsch was best known to me as Jeff Goldblum’s father in Independence Day, and here he portrays a more vulnerable character that is stuck with the very strange life of more or less being a caretaker for his immortal friend. I had never seen Alana De La Garza before watching the pilot, but she impresses as well. The assistant Medical Examiner is delightfully played by Avatar‘s Joel David Moore. Like most of the supporting characters, Moore portrays a stand-in for the audience. He is wonderfully goofy and obviously yearns for human interaction, which is something that the main character, Dr. Morgan, doesn’t want to give.
Ioan Gruffudd and Joel David Moore
The production value for the show is surprisingly top notch. The flashback scenes are beautifully shot.
This is one of the few shows where the second episode is actually stronger than the first. The writers seem to be getting a hang of things, which is a really good sign of things to come.
I really recommend that everyone at least check out the pilot. It is an intriguing story that is being executed very well. It is free to watch here.