The Racialicious Bye Week Roundtable For ‘Flash Forward’

chodommarc1

Hosted by Special Correspondent Arturo R. García

What, you thought these guys taking a week off was going to stop us?

First off, we’re happy to welcome a new addition to Team Snarklight Express: the boss of bosses at New Demographic herself, Carmen Van Kerckhove!

Carmen: Hey there! Thought it was about time I started pulling my weight. And if that means taking on the burden of watching John Cho every week, so be it.
Andrea: Hey Carmen! Welcome to the ‘Table. Soooo…now that you’re here, can we officially make John Cho the new Patron Hottie of the R?
Mahsino: I agree, ’tis a heavy burden having to watch all that hotness surrounded by wooden acting.
Diana: Welcome to the snark fest, Carmen! Ditto, Andrea, on Cho as the Racialicious Patron of Hotness.
jen*: Welcome, Carmen! (two hands up for Cho-licious moments at The R)

To prep everyone for the return of the show this week, we sat around and tossed some ideas back and forth, mostly from these clips we found on a FF site … uh, Andrea, where did we find this, again?
Andrea: The site is in Polish. I recognized the language on the site before I saw the extension. Eight years of going to Catholic mass where the misalettes were in Polish and English.

Carmen: I sure hope that Mark and Demitri just happened to wander onto the set of a TVB costume drama or something, cause believe it or not, people in my hometown of Hong Kong don’t usually walk around dressed like this:

tvb1

Andrea: ::winces:: Just wow. This show is is working hard to be half-assed about different East Asian cultures. Japan, now China …

Arturo: I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a line as clunky as “the act of telling you may end up bringing about the unfortunate incident we’re all trying to avoid.” It’s the kind of thing you write when your character really has nothing to add to the scene or the story. I hope this is the kind of thing that got addressed by the production hiatus, but I’m wary. And by the way, Mark trying to be a badass is laughable, isn’t it?
Carmen: It also doesn’t make sense. If the act of telling him will make it happen, why did she call him in the first place?
Andrea: LOL Carmen, your question is too much like right. And Arturo, Mark’s been pretty laughable as a lead character since Episode 1. But I did agree with what he said to Shoreh –maybe because I would’ve said the same thing to her. (Does she even have a name on the show? “Woman with Sexy Voice Calling Demetri” isn’t catchy.)
Arturo: Oh no, she’s the new Haitian!
Mahsino: Only if her name ends up being something all disappointing and anticlimactic.
Arturo: The evil part of me now wants her to end up being named Renee.
Andrea: I just want Shoreh to call me. ::blush::
Diana: I think Mark’s prickiness may be coming in handy after all.
jen*: Mark just seemed like a spoiled child here – but I *would* like to know why the lady thought Noh would just roll over and be like – ooh, I’m gonna die – guess I better go to Disney World while I have the chance…

Carmen: So according to Raspy-Voiced Lady, Demetri likely knows the person who’s going to murder him. I originally thought that when Al found out in his flashforward that he killed someone, his victim was Demetri. I think that would’ve been an interesting way to go. But now I’m thinking it’s gotta be Mark. What do you guys think?

Andrea: I like the idea…..a lot. And I can see how that–considering Mark’s look of defeat when Lloyd and Simon revealed the flashforwards were an experiment gone wrong–would drive Mark to drink.
Arturo: Mark is the best candidate to kill Dem, but that would require the kind of storytelling courage we’re not gonna get on a network show, unfortunately.
Diana: A deranged fiance perhaps? Ms. Union is not an official longtime cast-member.
Arturo: That would be horrible – yet a kind of awesome twist, if it’s revealed that Zoey was connected to the Evil Brits.
Mahsino: I can see it now, Demitri borrows Mark’s Jump-to-Conclusions mat and kills off her character in an act of preemptive self defense.
jen*: I’d actually be really into an arc with Gabrielle and Simcoe as clandestine work-buddies. But yeah, I can see Mark nuttin’ up and killing everybody, one-by-one.

ealycho1
Andrea: That Michael Ealy knows how to make an entrance: “Hi, I’m Marshall Vogel, and I know you’re going to die soon, Demetri. How you doing?” The hey is that?
Mahsino: I dunno Andrea, I have an inexplicable sense of annoyance directed at Michael Ealy’s poor-man’s-Terrence Howard-style of acting, so I don’t know whether I was more annoyed by the writing or the actor. Either way, that was an awkward way to introduce another character. As soon as I saw him I expected him to say: “Hey, I’m the new handsome, black FBI agent. I saw there was an opening in your crew, and thought I’d drop by”.
Arturo: Dude does make a good point, though – Mark & Demetri must’ve been smoking Kumar’s stash if they thought they were gonna just slide on into Hong Kong.
Diana: I think Michael Ealy is delicious, so I don’t mind him being around. But he best get on the Save Demetri bandwagon because I deserve two pieces of eye candy in this economy.
Carmen: I too think Ealy is delicious but am also cracking up at your remark, Mahsino. He is kind of a poor man’s Terrence Howard, huh?
jen*: I used to think Ealy was delicious…but he doesn’t seem as cute now as he was in the Barbershop movies…that’s just me. I’ll take him any day over skeevy Terence Howard, though. Even if I *did* run into him in an elevator one time and realize he’s way hotter in person, TH creeped me out with his comments about lady hygiene in Elle. Anywho, I’m with you, Diana – we need two hot guys on the show, Ealy needs to stick around.

Diana: Is anyone more or less intrigued by Dylan’s dad and the Hobbit’s mea culpa?
Arturo: I was amused by the clip for two reasons: Jack Davenport’s calling on every bit of Steve Taylor awkwardness for his portion, and the Hobbit’s “hey, sh-t happens, AMIRITE?” attempt to salvage things. The question I hope gets addressed – if not outright answered – soon is, what exactly were they testing?
Mahsino: If I’ve learned anything from reading Y-The Last Man, it’s that it’s never the fault of the scientists who first take responsibility. But I love how the Hobbit called Dylan’s dad on the fact that the only reason he’s feeling guilty is because now he has to actually take responsibility for his kid.
Carmen: Eh … I find it ludicrous that this press conference is being simulcast live all over the world. I mean, if this were to happen in real life, there would probably be all kinds of weirdos coming out to claim credit for what happened. I hope there’s a good explanation of why everyone is taking these two guys so seriously.
jen*: They timed the conference just right, too – it’s daylight both in LA and Hong Kong. But the “experiment” claim seems so flimsy to me – I’ve gotta know what it was. Was it tied to CERN and the Large Hadron Collider or some other BigBadScienceyThing?

Share and Enjoy:

Trackbacks & Pings

The Racialicious Roundtable For ‘Flash Forward’ 1.10 | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 11 Dec 2009 at 12:01 pm

[...] touched on this last week after deadline, but Wedeck got to show more dominance this week – he didn’t take [...]

Comments

Drew wrote:

“Does she even have a name on the show?” I forget if they’ve mentioned it on-screen, but her name is Nhadra Udaya.

And you probably could get a huge twist like Mark killing Demetri on network TV, assuming the network show was Lost. But this is FlashForward, so the chances of them carrying off a twist as bold as that is fairly low.

Also, I have to wonder why besides the press conference seemingly every TV in Hong Kong was showing the same black and white adaption of A Christmas Carol. Since unless I’m mistaken, it was seen by two different people hours apart…

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 10:22 am ¶
malted_tea wrote:

What? No mention that the “mastermind” behind the actual flashforward event just happens to be another old Caucasian dude (OCD)…who likes CHESS?! Who is now stringing along this Middle Eastern lady?

As to “poor man’s Terrence Howard” I don’t get it? Is it the fact that they both have unusual eye color for an African-American? Other than that I don’t get the connect. Even if that…I don’t see the need to connect them per se since they seem to like different dramatic roles.

But total ROTFL at the screenshot with the jackets! It reminded me of when I was in Tokyo subway this past summer.

My cousin, who’d already been in Japan for several months before my visit, completely flipped when she saw a gentleman in a traditional kimono. She wanted to take a picture (gasp: without asking) and I was like “Just stop the madness.”

Traditional dress happens in every country, although I’m not sure it would be in matching pairs like the fun screenshot.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 10:49 am ¶
SarahSimone wrote:

They said Nadra’s name at least twice during the episode. Mark told Demetri her name right after he threatened the man in the restaurant to get information on her, and Michael Ealy said it when he told her to have her men lower their weapons.

Speaking of Mark threatening the man in the restaurant – no comments on that? It horrified me so much I couldn’t even look at the tv. I always thought that character was dull, but I didn’t really think he was a straight up asshole until right then.

I was also wondering what people thought of the issues Zoe had with Demetri’s parents. Have they ever explained why his parents don’t like her? I was getting the sense that the writers just want us to assume his parents are against him marrying someone who isn’t Korean (possibly heightened by the fact that she’s black). It struck me as a distasteful stereotype of parents being against their kids “marrying out”.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 1:01 pm ¶
Nadra wrote:

Omigosh, you guys, I though they were saying Nadra/Nhadra, but then I thought I was going crazy. Never heard my name on TV before. Nadra is a popular name in Pakistan and the name of a government agency there, so at first I thought they were talking about that. As for Mike Ealy, I, too, have met him before, and he’s so nice! I really don’t dig him being called the “poor man’s Terence Howard.” Don’t like Howard at all, and besides the fact that they’re light skinned brothas with light eyes, I think the comparison should end.
SarahSimone, they mentioned in an earlier episode that Dimitri’s parents didn’t like Gabrielle Union’s character because she isn’t Korean. You may consider parents objecting to their kids marrying out a distasteful stereotype, but unfortunately it happens to be my life.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 1:20 pm ¶
Lola wrote:

I was pleased that Ealy was in 3 scenes and hope he has a recurring role in the show. Ealy and Terrance Howard have nothing in common so I don’t get the comparison. I can’t stand that Mark character and the suicidal doctor is boring. Maybe Mark is actually the bad guy of the show, the writers have done nothing to make him sympathetic and we’ve just assumed that was bad writing but maybe it has a purpose.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 1:39 pm ¶
AJ Plaid wrote:

Hey R-Crew–in the Roundtable’s defense, we watched the clips from the sight before last night’s show. As far as we could glean, and what we remember from the show, the name of Shoreh’s character was never uttered. That’s where the question of her name arose. So, yeah, for a minute, we thought the creatives were pulling a Heroes and not giving her a name.

But now that we know Shoreh’s character has the fab-tastic name of Nhadra, we’ll cease our speculation.

@malted-tea–
She wanted to take a picture (gasp: without asking) and I was like “Just stop the madness.”
I love you for this. That is all.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 2:05 pm ¶
SarahSimone wrote:

Nadra, thanks for clearing up that that is why Demetri’s parents don’t like her.

I didn’t intend to reduce anybody’s real experiences as just a stereotype, and I’m sorry if my comment came across that way. I know some parents do feel this way. I grew up in a community where it was the norm for people to refuse to attend interfaith weddings. There was just something about the way this plot line was written that bothered me, like oh naturally the Asian parents are angry about this because that is just how those Asian parents always are. Maybe because it came so close on the heels of the story about the Japanese girl and her family. I don’t feel like they’re exploring individual stories as much as falling back on familiar prejudices.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 2:14 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

Maybe Mark is actually the bad guy of the show, the writers have done nothing to make him sympathetic and we’ve just assumed that was bad writing but maybe it has a purpose.

Lola – I think you might be right. At least…I’m hoping. When I googled FF, I came across the book which seems to *actually* be about Lloyd Simcoe. So, maybe the show will take a turn.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 2:18 pm ¶
Diana wrote:

Yes, this Roundtable was conducted before last night’s episode aired. May I say that I am amazed at certain Roundtable members’ prowess in predicting Demetri’s killer.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 2:32 pm ¶
Danny wrote:

I kind of lost a lot of interest in watching more episodes after I read a bit about the novel.

I thought the same way too watching this episode that a lot of the Hong Kong scenes seems a bit too obvious like they filmed inside the studio, and then some of the little quirks already mentioned in the post.

Surprisingly, this week’s Fringe episode also happens to have an Asian flair too and though it still had it’s little cringes, the generalized images was a tad bit better overall than flashfoward.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 3:56 pm ¶
Mahsino wrote:

@ Nadra,
I didn’t call him the poor-man’s Terrence Howard, I said I wasn’t a fan of his “poor-man’s-Terrence Howard-style of acting” based on the fact that they have really similar voices and follow the same totally unsubtle, acting pattern wherein they try to make their voices laughably raspy whenever they play bad guys. I’m sure he’s a pleasant enough gentleman, but I just don’t like his acting.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 5:17 pm ¶
Kendra wrote:

I guess I missed one too many episodes and was unaware of any familial conflicts between Demetri and Zoe. Anyway, I’m happy with the way the resolution was treated in this episode. Sometimes, people are just blinded by their prejudice and ignorance that it takes such a catostrophic event, such as the flashforward that Zoe and Demetri’s parents witnessed, for people to really understand that love and understanding is most important. Maybe it’s cliche, but I was happy.

And it’s funny b/c now we realize that Zoe was lying, too. She knew that she was attending his funeral, but she was so stubborn in her desire to be with Demetri that she couldn’t tell him that her flashforward confirmed his conclusion.

Now, I’m wondering if Mark is supposed to be an asshole. He comes off this way almost all the time. To know that he is meant to kill Demetri, according to the flashforward, just seems about right. Cause only an asshole could kill off one of the hottest guys on the show.

It’s nice that the whole pregnancy thing was cleared up. Haha. Funny the way she said it, but I figured she intended to go to a sperm bank. You go Janice! Just wish she didn’t have to involve Bryce.

The ending to this episode got me excited. Feel bad about he boy and his father being separated like that. But I liked that interaction between the guy and Mark’s wife. I wouldn’t mind them ending up together, as the wife is more interesting than Mark and not an offending character.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 8:10 pm ¶
Cindy wrote:

I love Shohreh Aghdashloo who is playing the mysterious raspy voice woman aka Nhadra, but they are forcing the mysteriousness of her character. The Hong Kong set styling wasn’t as bad as a recent Cold Case episode set in Chinatown NYC. I need them to back off the Mark story line for me to continue watching. He’s uninteresting and they seem to have no idea what to do with him. I guess the going rogue was a way to spice things up, but it came off as just lame.

All the small characters introduced in the “story” (quotes because I’m still waiting for a real story) seem of no consequence. They don’t lead anywhere and you’ve forgotten them by the next episode.

Posted 04 Dec 2009 at 11:43 pm ¶
Gillian wrote:

@Mahsino: I dunno Andrea, I have an inexplicable sense of annoyance directed at Michael Ealy’s poor-man’s-Terrence Howard-style of acting,

-This assumes that Terrence Howard’s style of acting is something worth emulating. And I call serious shenanigans on that assumption.

Posted 05 Dec 2009 at 2:28 pm ¶
Mahsino wrote:

@ Gillian
Oh no, I don’t believe it is something to be emulated- or encouraged at all.

Posted 06 Dec 2009 at 1:32 pm ¶
katrinaholloway wrote:

@ kendra,
i don’t think zoe was really lying. it’s more like she was trying to convince herself she was at their wedding, and then she saw the white rose at her company’s funeral/memorial ceremony, and she made the link with the rose she had in her hand in her FF. like she had blocked that part of her FF out.

Posted 08 Dec 2009 at 10:27 pm ¶
Lavetta Cannon wrote:

OMG John Cho is totally a hottie! Who knew? I didn’t see it until FF:-)

Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 2:36 am ¶