I watched the first episode of a series I didn't even know was coming on,it came on right after Agents of Shield and normally I wouldn't give it a second look but it stared Ioan Gruffudd(And no don't ask me how you pronounce that name,it's Welsh so I have no idea)an actor I have been a big fan of since he did the series Hornblower. He is very good so I will give anything he is in a shot.
The series was called Forever and I had not heard anything about it. Any way it seems like a pretty good show with an interesting set up and some good actors led by a favorite of mine. It's about corner who can't die,every time he does he wake up in the Hudson river and he has no idea why. So in addition to the murder mystery you have flashbacks of his past life,and his dealings with a mystery figure who is stalking him and a son who look older then he is. He uses what he has learned in 250 years of life to make very Sherlock Holmes like deductions. I would say over all i enjoyed it.
Still there is one little problem...
It feels like ABC executives are messing with this show behind the scenes and trying to force it to be more like Castle. Let me explain why I think that. First of all the bits that feel like Castle feel like they are forced into the show and are given very little screen time and that don't feel like they are the ideas of the writers of the rest of the show so I am pretty sure they are force in by executives. networks love to do that to new shows,try to force them to be like other hit shows.
As to what felt like Castle(A series I gave up on a while ago due to it no longer being fun to watch and turning into a soap opera)well the title card is almost an exact rip off. The shooting style and music are almost exactly the same(Except for one scene that I swear stole it's music from Sherlock for some reason)Then there is a female detective he works with who has the same body type,hair style,and dresses like Beckett on Castle. She even has a dead loved one who's ring she wears on a chain around her neck. Talk about a beat for beat rip off.
Still as I said Ioan Gruffudd is really good in the series and the rest of it was very well written and had a fun energy to it. Normally the ripp off elements would keep me from tuning in next week but as I said they were given very little screen time and one of my all time favorite shows(Fringe)stared out as a bad ripp off of The X Files but by the end of it's first season the net work executives at fox backed off and the writers were allowed to do their own thing and it became it's own program so hopefully the same will prove true here. So I am going to give this show till the end of the season I think to come out of Castle's shadow and become it's own show because as I said I thought the stuff in it that was good was very good.
I say it's worth sticking with if you can put up with the way network executives seem to tamper with new shows.
I give it 6.5/10. I would rate it higher if it just didn't have those pesky ripp off elements to it. I really hope ABC lets the producers and writers drop those and they become a thing of the past because if they do and it doesn't go down the same path Castle did and become a soap opera then I think they will have a very good show on their hand. The key will be to keep the focus on the Gruffudd character and his life and not spend too much time with the Beckett ripp off and to find their own style for shooting the show. If they can do that I will be giving this show an 8 or a 9.
As it stands it has promise that is being crush by the executives at ABC. if you can put up with that then I say give it a shot.
I don't normally add a post script to reviews I write but in this case I feel I should. This week Forever turned a major corner and I think it is well on it's way to being the series I hoped it would become.
It seems my hunch that the female detective being a clone of Beckett from Castle because ABC executives insisted on it has been proven true,I guess they got out of the way because this week she had her own personality,back story,and felt like her own character. She and Henry have developed their own working relationship and the series went along at brisk fun pace. A perfect balance was found between the present day case,the flashbacks,and the character interactions.
This show is taking off and I hope it continues down this path. In light of this I must change my review score. My one major complaint has been addressed and so I am giving this show an 8.5/10 and recommending it to anyone who enjoys mystery shows that feature a character with a twist. if that sounds like your cup of tea,please enjoy.
