Writer: Matthew Miller
Director: Brad Anderson
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Alana De La Garza, Joel David Moore, Judd Hirsch
The Story: Henry Morgan is an immortal doctor working in the city morgue. After surviving a subway crash, Morgan goes in search of the perpatrator whilst a mysterious caller reveals he knows his secret.
The Verdict:
When I first heard of Forever I was unsure what to expect, the premise made it sound like it would take a mainly supernatural tone but going by the pilot, the show seems to be a nice mix of genres.
Ioan Gruffudd’s Dr. Henry Morgan fancies himself a bit of a Sherlock Holmes as he deducts a pretty cellist’s life on the subway. Just as you feel you has the general gist, the subway train crashes and both Morgan and the cellist are dead. However through Morgan’s narrative we learn that he cannot die and everytime he has he awakes in water.
With his only friend Abe aware of his immortality, Morgan just tries to live his life as normal as possible whilst trying to deal with the whole living forever thing. Acting legend Judd Hirsch plays Abe and he is the perfect accompaniment to Gruffudd’s sometimes wooden performance. Don’t get me wrong though, I like Gruffudd and I think this somewhat flouncy character is great for him. Morgan has lived for 200 years and has seen and experienced everything including WWII, where he rescued a baby Abe from ruins. I think having him as very theatrical works for a chracter who has had decades to learn and experience more than any man.
The female lead of the show is played by Alana De La Garza, a recently windowed detective still trying to adjust. Detective Jo Martinez is called to the subway crash and immediately discovers Morgan survived it. Of course they team up to tackle who was responsible and with him being an immortal Sherlock Holmes, he naturally proves very handy. It is pretty clear that Martinez and Morgan will form a romantic bond, with her mourning her husband and him mourning his one true love, it is bound to happen at some point.
During the show Morgan keeps getting mysterious calls from somebody who claims to know his secret and you have to wonder how long they will keep this story arch going for. I imagine if it is a matter of Morgan solving a different case and dying each week the show would get old fast. However I also that think that having Morgan try to find the identity of his mysterious caller over a whole series would soon become dull. I feel that Morgan needs an arch enemy to keep his character interesting. I would like to see him battle someone on his own level.
Overall I think this show has potential, it just needs something to make it stand out from the rest and keep people interested.
[usr=3] Forever will air on Sky 1 on the 2nd October.
