Forever (2014) - Pilot
An immortal man who isn’t a vampire for a change. ‘Forever’ (2014) is about an ordinary man who was shot and thrown overboard 200 years ago. Why he has never truly died despite having died numerous times remains unclear, including to him. So get ready for a wonderful mystery!
‘Forever’ tells the story of the witty and enigmatic Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffud – pronounced Yo-an Griffith -, ‘Ringers’). He immediately became my favourite character because of his witty remarks and charming appearance. Ioan Gruffud’s portrayal of Henry Morgan is impeccable. I even dare to make a slight comparison with the great character of Sherlock Holmes; he’s very observant and is able to read people and situations through quick reasoning. As a coroner, he is sometimes able to pinpoint the cause of death without even opening up the body, according to his assistant Lucas (Joel David Moore, ‘Bones’).
Besides figuring out how other people died, he is also investigating how it is possible that he hasn’t ever truly died. Father figure Abe (Judd Hirsch, ‘Numb3rs’) helps him with this. After one episode you can already tell there’s a loving and close relationship between the two. Because of Henry’s situation, the two have very little interaction with other people and therefore really understand each other. There’s great chemistry between the two gentlemen and I’d like to see more of it.
The series seems to start off quietly, but you’re quickly roused by a train accident. Nobody survives the accident, including Henry. However, he never truly dies and after his heart stops, he re-awakens in a river, naked. This creates hilarious scenes in which Henry tries to find his way home, without his clothes.
The train accident puts in motion many different storylines. Maybe even too many. It’s a pilot and the creators obviously want to show off what they’ve got, and while the series has many strong points and charming characters, there are also some flaws. The pace is occasionally too fast, certain things could have been explained better and the many different storylines could have been divided more evenly over the series.
The train accident is a trigger to tell how Henry died the first time. Detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza, ‘Law & Order’) finds out that Henry was on the train – with the help of security footage, apparently shot in HD… -, but quickly stops suspecting him without any real evidence. O, and we meet the only woman Henry ever truly loved back in the 1940s or 50s and who knew his secret. All through flashbacks, so we know the exact moment they met. What we don’t know yet is what happened to her.
What struck me the most is that Detective Martinez already almost discovers Henry’s secret in this first episode. They could have dealt with this in a better way. It’s obvious that she will eventually find out, so that she and Henry can fall in love and work together to find out who the man on the other side of the phone line is, who claims to know Henry’s secret and is in the same situation.
Even though I mentioned there might be too many storylines, that doesn’t mean they aren’t any good, on the contrary. Of course, you could argue that some of the storylines are pretty standard. There are plenty of series about people with secrets and other characters secretly trying to find out, but ‘Forever’ manages to present it in an interesting manner and it’s fun to watch.
The series is entertaining and the characters are charming, especially once you find out how Henry and Abe met. You immediately start to care for them. On top of that, this pilot was surprising enough to occasionally shock me with unexpected turns of events and at other times it put a smile on my face. I really enjoyed it and will definitely continue watching. I’m curious which direction the storylines will take and Ioan Gruffud is a pleasant actor to watch.
‘Forever’ tells the story of the witty and enigmatic Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffud – pronounced Yo-an Griffith -, ‘Ringers’). He immediately became my favourite character because of his witty remarks and charming appearance. Ioan Gruffud’s portrayal of Henry Morgan is impeccable. I even dare to make a slight comparison with the great character of Sherlock Holmes; he’s very observant and is able to read people and situations through quick reasoning. As a coroner, he is sometimes able to pinpoint the cause of death without even opening up the body, according to his assistant Lucas (Joel David Moore, ‘Bones’).
Besides figuring out how other people died, he is also investigating how it is possible that he hasn’t ever truly died. Father figure Abe (Judd Hirsch, ‘Numb3rs’) helps him with this. After one episode you can already tell there’s a loving and close relationship between the two. Because of Henry’s situation, the two have very little interaction with other people and therefore really understand each other. There’s great chemistry between the two gentlemen and I’d like to see more of it.
The series seems to start off quietly, but you’re quickly roused by a train accident. Nobody survives the accident, including Henry. However, he never truly dies and after his heart stops, he re-awakens in a river, naked. This creates hilarious scenes in which Henry tries to find his way home, without his clothes.
The train accident puts in motion many different storylines. Maybe even too many. It’s a pilot and the creators obviously want to show off what they’ve got, and while the series has many strong points and charming characters, there are also some flaws. The pace is occasionally too fast, certain things could have been explained better and the many different storylines could have been divided more evenly over the series.
The train accident is a trigger to tell how Henry died the first time. Detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza, ‘Law & Order’) finds out that Henry was on the train – with the help of security footage, apparently shot in HD… -, but quickly stops suspecting him without any real evidence. O, and we meet the only woman Henry ever truly loved back in the 1940s or 50s and who knew his secret. All through flashbacks, so we know the exact moment they met. What we don’t know yet is what happened to her.
What struck me the most is that Detective Martinez already almost discovers Henry’s secret in this first episode. They could have dealt with this in a better way. It’s obvious that she will eventually find out, so that she and Henry can fall in love and work together to find out who the man on the other side of the phone line is, who claims to know Henry’s secret and is in the same situation.
Even though I mentioned there might be too many storylines, that doesn’t mean they aren’t any good, on the contrary. Of course, you could argue that some of the storylines are pretty standard. There are plenty of series about people with secrets and other characters secretly trying to find out, but ‘Forever’ manages to present it in an interesting manner and it’s fun to watch.
The series is entertaining and the characters are charming, especially once you find out how Henry and Abe met. You immediately start to care for them. On top of that, this pilot was surprising enough to occasionally shock me with unexpected turns of events and at other times it put a smile on my face. I really enjoyed it and will definitely continue watching. I’m curious which direction the storylines will take and Ioan Gruffud is a pleasant actor to watch.
