Forever Season 1 Episode 18 Review: Under the Sea
Miranda Wicker
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What's the current over/under on how long Henry will be able to keep his secret from Jo? Anybody?
We know it's coming, but it was nice that Forever Season 1 Episode 18 gave us a little break from the will she/won't she question regarding when Jo will learn the truth.
Instead what we got tonight was a story that focused on Henry's origins as an immortal and this might have been one of my favorite flashbacks.
I'm a sucker for a good historical narrative, fiction or non. Tonight's deep sea expedition to the Empress of Africa was right up my alley, especially as it revealed new information to Henry both about himself and about the world.
Henry's a man who knows A LOT. He's not so great with the pop culture, though I find it shockingly hard to believe he didn't know Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," but history? Science? Literature, art, languages? He's a total Renaissance man in nearly every sense of the word. Adam would be the actual Renaissance man having actually lived through the era, but hey, let's not split hairs here, okay?
Henry's quest for knowledge is pretty much all he has left aside from Abe, so I admired his desire to learn everything he could about the ship his father sent to the Americas with 300 slaves on board, as well as his wish that the slaves were freed and his father's empire was destroyed.
How freeing it must have felt to learn that what he'd believed for 200 years was wrong. The slaves were freed and his curse didn't come about because he was unable to help them. He saved 300 lives in his first death.
Isaac being a descendant of one of the slaves was pretty evident from the time he gave away the gold. That gesture could have been construed as the act of a man who already has enough simply donating benevolently but there was something more about it.
Or maybe I was just misreading what was his interest in Jo. It could totally be that.
Jo and Henry are on parallel journeys back into the dating world and while that almost guarantees that at some point their paths will cross, there's a sliver of a chance the writers will keep their relationship strictly platonic, allowing them both to explore new relationships.
Jo's not making such a bad start for herself with Isaac Monroe. He's rich, he's handsome, he cooks, and he has a limo. Jo should probably still carry her gun, but what's nice about Isaac is that we got to see what Jo might be like outside of being a cop, even if only for a moment.
Characters need to be explored outside of their usual realms, which is what makes Henry's story so interesting. We're constantly seeing him in flashbacks to different parts of his life and the various lives he's led. In the present, however, we see him buttoned up and hiding behind his scarves and coats.
Isaac and Iona give our central characters a little more depth, which is important in a first-year series. We need to feel invested in these characters and their stories while understanding that there's always more we can learn. So far, so good.
Whether or not Adam's theory is correct isn't one I think we'll be exploring any time soon. It was a brilliant moment for Henry to hang up the phone and realize the clock behind him was ticking. It's been ticking the whole time, but he's been living for so long he stopped hearing it.
Adam can't hear the clocks anymore. After 2,000 years, that's...understandable. Does anyone really want to live that long? Does Henry?
When we met him he was pretty obsessed with learning how to undo his curse so he could stay dead. Now that's not really what he wants. He has purpose and friends and Abe.
It's going to be a while before we see that barnacle-covered flintlock again.
What did you think of "Dead Men Tell Long Tales"? Did you like the twist in Henry's history? How do you feel about Adam's theory? Sound off in the comments below and remember you can watch Forever online
Forever Season 1 Episode 19 airs next Tuesday night at 10pm on ABC.
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
