"Believe" focused on hospital intern Bryce (Zachary Knighton) and revealed his back-story four weeks before the blackout. It turns out he was diagnosed with terminal cancer but decided to keep his illness a secret from friends and family, fearing he'd just be a burden to them. Of course, on the day of the blackout, Bryce had gone to a pier to commit suicide with a handgun (see "Pilot"), but his flashforward made him change his mind because he saw himself meeting a beautiful Japanese woman in a restaurant. So, now Bryce has something worth living for, and has started to learn Japanese with the help of co-worker Nicole (Peyton List).
This romantic tryst is many months away, but "Believe" was all about seeing how both parties are slowly inching towards their shared destiny. In Japan, we met the girl from Bryce's vision, an ambitious woman called Keiko Arahida (Yûko Takeuchi), who makes her family very proud by getting a job at the country's foremost robotics firm and fulfils a childhood dream in the process. Trouble is, as the only female employed by the department, Keiko's disillusioned to find her duties barely stretch beyond serving businessmen tea during their meetings.
A little disappointingly given the strength of Bryce/Keiko's narrative, the other storylines weren't that great. Aaron (Brian F. O'Byrne) realized his daughter has "inherited" his alcoholism after years on the run from Jericho assassins, and Benford (Joseph Fiennes) alienated his friends Aaron and Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) when he questioned them about the text sent to his wife (Sonya Walger), that alerted her to the fact he was drunk in his vision. Of course, as neither of them told anyone his secret, what does that tell you? Was someone capable of snooping on Benford's vision? Or was he just overheard discussing it with Aaron or Wedeck? Either way, I felt sorry for Benford having to deal with his friend's totally out-of-order reactions (Aaron smashing up chairs, Wedeck quietly boiling with fury), as none of that felt called for. It always bugs me when characters on TV shows show no ability to get some perspective and empathize with anyone else's situation, so they just act like dicks for the sake of a bit of quick drama.
Demetri (John Cho) also got a lead on the mysterious woman who called him to say she knows he'll die on 15 March, via the somewhat unlikely fact that the CIA recorded his suspicious call. The FBI techies clear up the audio and deduce from the unique background music that the caller was standing near Hong Kong harbour. And later, despite the fact Wedeck denies them the opportunity to go abroad to solve the case, Benford decides to go behind his boss' back and accompany Dem to Asia.
Indeed, Asia is a hot ticket this week, as Bryce also decides to embrace his fate by travelling to Japan in search of the girl from his vision. Keiko's likewise become charmed by the idea of a handsome American entering her life, but her family believe such a thing would only be a distraction to her career, so when Bryce eventually tracks down where Keiko lives her mother sends him packing. The course of true love never did run smooth. But, not to worry, because just as Bryce touches down in LAX with his tail between his legs, Keiko has decided to throw away her dream job in pursuit of the man from her vision, and was on the same flight to L.A.
Overall, I can understand why some people will take umbrage with this episode, because it dedicated the majority of its time to one character we've never met before and another who's barely featured in the series. But, y'know what, Bryce proved himself a far more relatable person than many of the more prominent characters, and Takeuchi was marvelous in how she managed to make Keiko so instantly sweet and compelling -- a modern and intelligent woman hamstrung by Japanese custom and prejudice, unable to live out her dreams, but willing to go to extraordinary lengths to meet a man with imagination, no matter what her family think. A guy who hopefully digs Jimi Hendrix, too. My only concern is that it's difficult to see where their story could go once they meet, but perhaps the fact Keiko's a whiz at robotics will come into play somehow?
"Believe" wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. It was commendable to focus on simple human drama for once, even if doing so gives FlashForward a slightly schizophrenic feel. One week it's all high-octane action and big ideas, the next it's all slow-burn naval-gazing. I wish it all hung together better, and the pacing of how the subplots develop was brisker. I mean, Bryce was introduced as a main character in the "Pilot", but it's taken nearly half the season just to get around to him? On a similar note, will we get any movement on Nicole's vision of being drowned by someone soon? She doesn't feel particularly concerned about that horrific vision, and is instead spending her time teaching Bryce how to speak Japanese!
23 November 2009
Five, 9pm
written by: Nicole Yorkin & Dawn Prestwich directed by: Michael Nankin starring: Joseph Fiennes (Agent Mark Benford), John Cho (Agent Demetri Noh), Brian F. O'Byrne (Aaron Stark), Zachary Knighton (Bryce), Courtney B. Vance (Agent Stanford Wedeck), Sonya Walger (Dr. Olivia Benford), Yûko Takeuchi (Keiko Arahida), Genevieve Cortese (Tracy Stark), Barry Shabaka Henley (Agent Vreede), Peyton List (Nicole), Hira Ambrosino (Yuuka Arahida), Rizwan Manji (Maneesh Sandhar), Cory Blevins (Neil Parofsky), Noah Greenwood (Kakkoii), Gina Hiraizumi (Riko) & Selena Johnson (FBI Agent)
