One of ABC’s newest offerings this season is Forever starring Ioan Gruf
fudd as Dr. Henry Morgan; a man who cannot die. The idea of immortality has been a staple of science fiction/fantasy and was played to death by the show Highlander.
CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD
When we first meet Dr. Morgan (Gruffudd) he is riding a subway in Manhattan and expertly flirting with a beautiful woman. Using his powers of observation, which I am sure he has honed over the 2 centuries of his life, he is able to instantly impress her. Sadly right after she invites him to come to her concert followed by drinks the train they are riding on collides with another still in the station killing everyone in the first car. Dr. Morgan is impaled by a metal bar and with his dying breath he reaches for his pocket watch which is just out of reach.
It is at this point we learn via flashback and voiceover that Dr. Morgan was a doctor on a slave ship 200 years ago and when he refused to let the captain throw a man overboard he was shot and tossed into a watery grave. The voiceover also informs us that every time Dr. Morgan dies he comes back in water, naked. We witness Morgan emerging from the East River, gasping for air. When he makes it to dry land he is arrested, we can assume for his public nakedness.
When Dr. Morgan is released from jail he is picked up by Abe (Judd Hirsh) who seems to be in the know regarding Morgan’s immortality. We also learn that Morgan is a medical examiner and is assigned the case of the subway crash. The detective in charge of the investigation, Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza), finds during the course of her investigation that Morgan was on the train and he immediately becomes a suspect.
Being a suspect in a murder isn’t Morgan’s only issue, it seems that he has gained a fan that is aware of his secret. Morgan suspects that the fan is the one that caused the subway crash. It is now a race against time to stop the killer before he strikes again and before he exposes Morgan’s secret.
As I stated earlier the show is not exactly an original idea and seems to take bits from past shows regarding immortals, most recently New Amsterdam. Back in 2008 a show called New Amsterdam premiered on Fox about an immortal who gained his immortality by saving a Native American woman in the 1600s. The main character, John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) works for the NYPD with a partner Eva Marquez (Zulelikha Robinson). In New Amsterdam the main character has a 65 year old son who runs a jazz club and in Forever we have a 65 year old adopted son who runs an antique store. The storyline about how Abe came into Morgan’s life is similar to the movie Highlander where MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) rescues Rachel (Sheila Gish) from the Nazis. There is even a reference to a legendary sword being used as a murder weapon at the end of the episode. They say there are no original ideas after all.
Despite the premise and some plot points not being not exactly original I did enjoy Forever. I know that I will give it a couple more episodes before I decide if I am giving up on it or not. I recommend that you give it a shot yourself. There is something romantic about the notion of immortality. I would like to think that if I were an immortal I would do more than sit around, television and play Call of Duty. I can see this show lasting for at least the season but I don’t seeing it making it forever.
Forever premieres tomorrow night at 10pm on ABC
