My Real Life

Today, I thought I’d share a new tv show that I’ve been watching lately.

Flash Forward

The premise is that on October 26, the entire world blacked out for 30 something seconds.  In the time that everyone was blacked out, they all had visions of what they would be doing at a certain time on a certain date in April, six months in the future.

A creative premise, to say the least.  However, it’s a show that is really making me think about a lot of things. 

Many people had happy visions of their futures.  Others had terrible visions of their futures.  Some had no vision, indicating that they were dead by April.

The people who had happy visions are convinced that the visions are true and that this is where they are headed.  The people who had bad visions are trying, desperately, to do things to change their future so whatever they saw does not come to pass.  As you can imagine, the people who saw nothing are walking around, hopeless.

So, it’s really the whole argument of “Do you decide your own future, or is it already set in stone, decided by fate?”

I’ve always wanted to go see a psychic.  I’ve just always thought it would be a neat experience.

However, I also truly believe that when a psychic tells people something about their future, whether consciously or unconsciously, they begin to act in a way to fulfill the prophecy. 

For example: Imagine a woman goes to a psychic who tells her that she will die in a horrible car accident.  One would think that she would stay away from cars in order to prevent that future.  Yet, what many people do is begin to engage in the behavior even more frequently.  She not only drives more often but begins to talk on her cell while driving or not wearing a seat belt 100% of the time.  Again, perhaps not a conscious choice, but there it is.

The show focuses on these FBI agents who are trying to figure out the cause of the blackout.  Most of them had some pretty bleak visions of the future.  They ranged from killing people, to being attacked, to having affairs.  One man on the team envisioned a phone call where he was told that a woman had died, and that it was his fault.

He carries around this guilt and tries to find this woman.  However, in the end, he jumps off a building in order to completely prevent this woman from dying because of him.  Before jumping, he gives his FBI friends a big speech about taking charge of the future…that it isn’t set in stone…that they can change the future by taking matters into their own hands.  Then, he jumps.  He becomes the Jesus figure in the story…dying to give others hope.

I just recommend the show because it’s a great show to make you think.  There are so many different angles, and it is so interesting to watch little things, outside of the control of the characters, add up to make their vision a greater possibility.  One woman has a vision of herself in a house with another man that she calls “Sweetie” or “Honey.”  She had never met the man at the time of the vision.  Well, she has met him now.  And although she never told her husband what she was wearing in her vision, in the last episode, he buys her the lingerie that she was wearing in the vision, as a gift.  She throws it away in order to make the vision impossible.  Will it come back?  Who knows?  But, it’s got me thinking.

So, if you have some extra time at 8:00 on a Thursday night, you might want to tune in to Flash Forward.  I really am enjoying this show and think that most of you might, as well.