Ioan Gruffudd
Alana de la Garza
Joel David Moore
Donnie Keshawarz
Lorraine Toussaint
Judd Hirsch

Created by:
Matt Miller

2014-2015
Drama, Fantasy
ABC
TV-PG

“Forever” focuses on a main character who’s like Sherlock Holmes, if he were a medical examiner, had better social skills, and couldn’t die. …

Dr. Henry Morgan was a British slave-ship doctor who was shot and thrown into the ocean for protecting a sick slave. He didn’t stay dead, though. Instead, he came back to life. Since that time, he has died many times and come back just as many times: always in water and always nude. He experiences everything else in the same way. And that’s all he knows about it. He thinks that this is a curse, and only one other person (so he thinks) knows about it. So, he’s lasted for almost two centuries after the slave-ship incident, and he’s now in modern-day New York City. He has extreme powers of perception, but the first episode doesn’t attribute those powers to anything in particular. It could be due to his long life, his natural skills, or some combination of the two.

All of that sounds great, but it doesn’t play as well as it sounds. “Forever” is in the style of many other contemporary police-detective-medical procedurals. It has the same routine look and structure. In the first episode, the “forever” angle isn’t explored nearly enough. That angle should provide much more sizzle than it does.

What have been Dr. Morgan’s previous experiences throughout his two centuries of life? A modern-day setting certainly isn’t the best vehicle for answering that question. Dr. Morgan should be constantly shown at various times and locales. I think that “Forever” would work much better that way. The first episode does show a bit of his past life, but not nearly enough. His past life should be this show’s focus, not merely a complementary part of the whole.

As it is, “Forever” is a competent procedural, and nothing more. I’ll have to wait for more episodes to see whether it can figure out the correct balance between the present-day and the past. …

Well, the second episode of “Forever” doesn’t find the correct balance between present-day procedural and period piece. Actually, I wish that this were just a period piece. That would be much more fun.

Instead, “Forever” is a duller version of “Elementary.” When they do explore the “forever” part of the story, that exploration is banal, at best. What a disappointment! Watch “Sherlock” or “Elementary” instead.

(It was nice to see Judd Hirsch and Lorraine Toussaint, who makes her first appearance in the second episode, though. That’s not enough.)

Verdict: OK

About: (Source: forever)

Doctor Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd), New York City’s star medical examiner, has a secret. He doesn’t just study the dead to solve criminal cases, he does it to solve the mystery that has eluded him for 200 years—the answer to his own inexplicable immortality. This long life has given Henry remarkable observation skills which impresses his new partner Detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza), but piques her curiosity about who he is. Each week, a new case and their budding friendship will reveal layers of Henry’s long and colorful past. Only his best friend and confidant, Abe (Judd Hirsch) knows Henry’s secret.

Forever stars Ioan Gruffudd as Henry, Alana De La Garza as Det. Jo Martinez, Barbara Eve Harris as Lt.  Marcia Roark, Donnie Keshawarz as Detective Hanson, Joel David Moore as Lucas Wahl, and Judd Hirsch as Abe.