Distributor: Warner Home Video
Episodes: 22
Duration: 41 min (per episode)
Forever: The Complete Series (DVD) – Series Review
The last few years TV is being flooded with heaps of detective series. While many of these series were initially very much alike, writers did their best to come up with very quirky, charismatic or oddball characters to make it seem different, while in reality things were still very much the same. Forever may initially have given the same impression, but it seems adding an immortal lead character, who respawns naked in a nearby river when he is ‘killed’, did a lot to give this series an extra ace in the hole. Nonetheless, with the series being cancelled after merely one season, it seems good things can’t last forever.
Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) leads a seemingly normal life as a medical examiner, performing autopsies to determine the cause of dead of those who end up on his table. He is like everyone else, he works normal hours and goes home at the end of his shift, but there’s only one small thing in which he differs from you and me, as he has lived many different lives so far. Henry is immortal, albeit not in the conventional sense. While he may live out his days until the end of times, he can still be killed, but he simply respawns, naked, in the nearest river. The latter has caused some awkward situations, as it’s not that easy to roam around in New York naked anymore these days. When Henry ‘dies’ when travelling on the subway, in a peculiar accident, the New York police is looking into the matter and they bug Henry about the autopsy report of the man who was driving.
Even though Henry isn’t a detective, he has had more than 200 years to hone his skills of deduction. Thanks to this, he quickly bonds with detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza) and even her scruffy colleague Mike Hanson (Donnie Keshawarz) who is the perfect image of the stereotypical inhabitant of Brooklyn. This is pretty much the formula of the series, but there are of course underlying plot lines, such as the unraveling of Henry’s past life, his long lost love who has aged and has probably perished and last but not least, the sudden appearance of someone who is also suffering his affliction. These last three items, as well as Henry opening up and bonding with his new ‘partners’ are the red line that gives this series an actual storyline, rather than the many separate cases that come their way.
The pace of this series is actually very pleasant and structured, as almost every episode will revolve around one murder case, with small snippets of the underlying main story sprinkled all over it. More than often you’ll be treated to Henry’s interactions with Abe (Judd Hirsch), who is the only person who knows Henry’s secret (outside of the other immortal character) and is actually ‘related’ to him. There is a clear sign of evolution when it comes to Henry’s behavioral patterns and the overall story, as the series was cancelled after one season. It’s certainly fun to see that the creators took this into consideration and offered an actual ending to this series, and this also explains why the main story progresses at a steady pace, which might give this series an extra edge over others which have nearly the same concept. While it’s quite sad to see Forever being cancelled after only 22 episodes, it’s also its strength, as things don’t get dragged out needlessly long and with an actual ending knitted to it, you can also get proper closure on many things the series has to offer. The latter again is noticeable in a more negative way, as it’s clear that the creators weren’t truly prepared for an ending. You’ll notice that there are still unfinished items, as well as a clear increase of the flow of the series by the end of the season.
Even though Henry has a rather Sherlock-ian vibe going on, he gets away with it rather elegantly, while on the other hand it’s quite weird that he is so uninformed about our current day technology. As he is the protagonist who is getting tired of living forever, it’s strange that he doesn’t do an attempt to learn about new things, rather than hold dearly to those of a nearly forgotten age.
Acting performances are rather outstanding, given the cliché environment that is typical for most crime series. Thanks to the underlying plot the characters have some chance to evolve and make things a lot more interesting. Ioan and Alana have an interesting chemistry, which, as expected, also slightly evolves over the course of this first and last season. Donnie and Judd however prove to support the main duo rather well, making them valuable chess pieces which add a lot to the atmosphere of the series.
Sadly this DVD release of Forever doesn’t come with any noteworthy extras, outside of some unaired scenes. It would have been nice if some extra effort was put into this, for those who were disappointed to see the series getting cancelled. As it stands now, it’s just a bundle of episodes with a small extra tossed in because otherwise the bonus features would have been left blank.
Conclusion
Forever: The Complete Series proves to be an interesting journey in the shoes of someone who is able to live forever, but wishes nothing more than to grow old, raise a family and finally say his goodbyes to this world. While the series might be yet ‘another crime series’, it is wrapped in an attractive jacket with interesting characters. Sadly, there could be only one season.
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