BWW Recap: FOREVER Takes the Plunge

The series about an immortal coroner and the bereaved detective who plays Watson to his Sherlock has a second go around this week. The pilot aired as a special yesterday and episode two premiered tonight in its regular time slot.

And, so, FOREVER begins to hit its stride. The scene: the 59th Street Bridge going into Manhattan. The time: Night. The situation: A young woman, growing increasingly hysterical in a taxi, forces it to stop, runs to the side of the bridge and plunges into the river. The next morning, her body washes up on the shore. A straightforward suicide, it would seem. That is certainly what the NYPD believes, but they have little control over their Medical Examiner, Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd), who sees every little detail on a corpse. He is not one to let a discrepancy go unchallenged.

Soon the police have an apparently clear suicide, which their coroner insists is a murder. In spite of witnesses that saw the girl jump, he notices the body fell in the wrong direction and has paint under the nails, two items that do not square with suicide. In spite of the upper echelon's instructions to avoid the case, Henry is hooked and drags Jo Martinez (Alana de la Garza) along for the ride. He finds himself compelled to become involved, particularly after he finds himself confronted with the girl's grieving parents, in spite of his best attempts to avoid emotional contacts.

FOREVER is setting a pretty tricky template for itself, if the pilot and this episode are examples. Not only does it have a mystery of the week, which will necessarily involve a corpse to ensure Henry's early involvement, it also has two other critical pieces. One is the flashback to Henry's 200-year long life, particularly his interactions with his wife Abigail and his adopted son. Second is the overarching mystery of the Caller, the mysterious being, apparently another immortal, who is stalking Henry. The three elements together are quite a burden for an hour long show, which is also developing its characters. The piece that suffers most is the weekly mystery. In tonight's case, the elements of the mystery were laid out well. There was a university setting, academic jealousy (the victim was a classical scholar on the verge of publishing an important translation), and an affair in the mix. So far, so good. But there was so little time to establish characters, only three possible murderers were put forward, so it was relatively easy to figure out who done it. There is just too much to cram into each show! I sense that failing is going to be the main obstacle for the series as it goes on.

However, aspects of the show are developing nicely. The relationships between Henry and Jo and between Henry and Abe, Henry's companion and the proprietor of the World's largest and least successful antique store, are pleasantly amusing. The flashbacks are beautiful and poignant. Best, the mystery of the Caller, the one individual who really rattles Henry, promises to be increasingly intriguing, if it can be sustained and not grow LOST-like in its stubborn refusal to allow an explanation.

On a happy note, Henry only had to die once in this episode, although in a very ironic manner, considering all the acrobatics off a bridge he'd performed just moments earlier. We also now know his body disappears when he dies. Perhaps next week, we'll learn what happens to his clothes.

Check out a sneak peek at next week's episode below:

Photo Credit: Giovanni Rufino | ABC

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