This review is for the entire first season of Forever. A must watch!
Early on, you detect a sadness within June and Oscar's marriage. In the first episode, Oscar appears to be slightly controlling, OCD, and passive aggressive in his dealings with June. He loves her, but he's the kind of guy who just naturally assumes he's always right. Then Oscar goes and dies on the very first episode.
Next episode. June doesn't fare very well on her own. She turns to alcohol to numb her pain, she's unsure of herself when it comes to pursuing her goals (job interview), and she's not entirely kind to her friend who tries to help her. Another flawed human being. And then she dies at the end of episode 2.
That's our setup. Two flawed human beings entering the afterlife.
Riverside, CA is where they end up, something's not right. Everyone in this small community are given the chances to continue living their lives as they had done before they died. Mark, a teenager who died in the 70's, continues to live life as if he's never left 1977. He meets an older lady who recently died, but she attended the same high school as he. Together they have a date and gossip about classmates, play 70's albums, and even dance to these same albums. In the end, that relationship doesn't work because she's expecting her husband to die, and she's going to continue living her life as she had on Earth. With her husband. We also meet the oldest resident of this community, Josiah who's a seven year old kid, who has wisdom but insists on his schedule of snacktime followed by a nap.
Welcome to the first rung of Purgatory: Where people can't get passed the fact that they've died, and they do everything in their power to try and continue living their lives as if they hadn't. They can't let go of life.
Within a few episodes, we meet June and Oscar's next door neighbor, Kase. A grumpy woman who'd like to avoid meeting her neighbors, and one not very interested in repeating her previous schedule she lived while she was alive. Slowly she and June start to recognize similarities in each other. They become unlikely allies.
As Season One progresses, we eventually meet the two groups of people who inhabit this portion of Purgatory: The people who can't give up their past lives, and people desperate to forget their past lives in Oceanside. Perhaps two groups of people wanting to or unwilling to forget their past lives, but still stuck in place.
In Oceanside, everyone wants to forget their past lives and live again in a never ending parade of parties and activities. After a short while there, both June and Kase gush about how they are starting to forget things (which Kase seems particularly happy about)
In between Riverside and Oceanside, we meet (I believe) the counterpart of Dante's Virgil in the form of Peter Weller who intones, "all roads lead to Oceanside". I suspect Peter Weller's role will grow as he eventually becomes the tour guide for Oscar's and June's descent through Hell.
At the end of Season one June reaffirms her love for Oscar, and he for her. Originally, Oscar had tried to return to Riverside without June, but he was stopped from going backwards towards Riverside by Peter Weller's Traveler character - Like Dante's Inferno, the only way out is down through the depths of Hell. Instead, Oscar decides to build a boat along the shore of the ocean where Oceanside sits. It falls apart, so June and Oscar decide to walk across the ocean bottom (could this be the River Charon that leads out of purgatory and into Hell?).
I hope this series lasts. I really do. Back in the mid-70's Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle co-wrote their own retelling of Dante's play ("Inferno"), and it was a very entertaining tale. Dante's Inferno has 34 Cantos (sections) spread across 9 different levels, and watching these two (Oscar and June) navigate each progressively worse sinning area will be priceless. I think Maya Rudolph and Fred Armison are the perfect muses to hang this project on.
Early on, you detect a sadness within June and Oscar's marriage. In the first episode, Oscar appears to be slightly controlling, OCD, and passive aggressive in his dealings with June. He loves her, but he's the kind of guy who just naturally assumes he's always right. Then Oscar goes and dies on the very first episode.
Next episode. June doesn't fare very well on her own. She turns to alcohol to numb her pain, she's unsure of herself when it comes to pursuing her goals (job interview), and she's not entirely kind to her friend who tries to help her. Another flawed human being. And then she dies at the end of episode 2.
That's our setup. Two flawed human beings entering the afterlife.
Riverside, CA is where they end up, something's not right. Everyone in this small community are given the chances to continue living their lives as they had done before they died. Mark, a teenager who died in the 70's, continues to live life as if he's never left 1977. He meets an older lady who recently died, but she attended the same high school as he. Together they have a date and gossip about classmates, play 70's albums, and even dance to these same albums. In the end, that relationship doesn't work because she's expecting her husband to die, and she's going to continue living her life as she had on Earth. With her husband. We also meet the oldest resident of this community, Josiah who's a seven year old kid, who has wisdom but insists on his schedule of snacktime followed by a nap.
Welcome to the first rung of Purgatory: Where people can't get passed the fact that they've died, and they do everything in their power to try and continue living their lives as if they hadn't. They can't let go of life.
Within a few episodes, we meet June and Oscar's next door neighbor, Kase. A grumpy woman who'd like to avoid meeting her neighbors, and one not very interested in repeating her previous schedule she lived while she was alive. Slowly she and June start to recognize similarities in each other. They become unlikely allies.
As Season One progresses, we eventually meet the two groups of people who inhabit this portion of Purgatory: The people who can't give up their past lives, and people desperate to forget their past lives in Oceanside. Perhaps two groups of people wanting to or unwilling to forget their past lives, but still stuck in place.
In Oceanside, everyone wants to forget their past lives and live again in a never ending parade of parties and activities. After a short while there, both June and Kase gush about how they are starting to forget things (which Kase seems particularly happy about)
In between Riverside and Oceanside, we meet (I believe) the counterpart of Dante's Virgil in the form of Peter Weller who intones, "all roads lead to Oceanside". I suspect Peter Weller's role will grow as he eventually becomes the tour guide for Oscar's and June's descent through Hell.
At the end of Season one June reaffirms her love for Oscar, and he for her. Originally, Oscar had tried to return to Riverside without June, but he was stopped from going backwards towards Riverside by Peter Weller's Traveler character - Like Dante's Inferno, the only way out is down through the depths of Hell. Instead, Oscar decides to build a boat along the shore of the ocean where Oceanside sits. It falls apart, so June and Oscar decide to walk across the ocean bottom (could this be the River Charon that leads out of purgatory and into Hell?).
I hope this series lasts. I really do. Back in the mid-70's Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle co-wrote their own retelling of Dante's play ("Inferno"), and it was a very entertaining tale. Dante's Inferno has 34 Cantos (sections) spread across 9 different levels, and watching these two (Oscar and June) navigate each progressively worse sinning area will be priceless. I think Maya Rudolph and Fred Armison are the perfect muses to hang this project on.