by Graham Osborne
Time Travel is a tricksome beast. If it’s not sending you back in time to have awkward sexually charged moments with your teenage mother, it’s directing you into an alternate timeline because you didn’t throw away that packet of crisps you just wolfed down, and now the world is doomed! You wally.
If you’ve been following the events of 12 Monkeys so far, you’ll know that the chances of temporally displaced oedipal trysts are unlikely, so settle in for a more dire version of Back to the Future II!
Time Travel is a tricksome beast. If it’s not sending you back in time to have awkward sexually charged moments with your teenage mother, it’s directing you into an alternate timeline because you didn’t throw away that packet of crisps you just wolfed down, and now the world is doomed! You wally.
If you’ve been following the events of 12 Monkeys so far, you’ll know that the chances of temporally displaced oedipal trysts are unlikely, so settle in for a more dire version of Back to the Future II!
The Red Forest takes place immediately after last week’s cliffhanger ending, with Cole returning to 2043 to find the Facility overrun by West VII and no scientists to be found. After a quick discussion about what’s happened, it’s back to 2015 for Cole to stop events once again before they occur.
After some wonderful visual effects in previous episodes, it’s a shame to see the sequence look tacky this time around. Admittedly, it’s not helped by the dull, tedious, monotonous voice-over delivered by a character who could have been replaced by a tape recorder with no change to the story. The entire scene feels very basic, and the use of colour correction hasn’t been so abused since the Orange and Teal fiasco that we’ve been dealing with in films.
Despite the dream sequence being a let down for the episode, the rest of the show was thoroughly enjoyable. The opportunity to look at an alternative timeline, and see some of the possible events that may or may not occur depending on Cole’s actions (or inaction) made for a compelling plot device, and opens up the series for more stories should Cole and Dr. Railly ever manage to destroy the cure.
After some wonderful visual effects in previous episodes, it’s a shame to see the sequence look tacky this time around. Admittedly, it’s not helped by the dull, tedious, monotonous voice-over delivered by a character who could have been replaced by a tape recorder with no change to the story. The entire scene feels very basic, and the use of colour correction hasn’t been so abused since the Orange and Teal fiasco that we’ve been dealing with in films.
Despite the dream sequence being a let down for the episode, the rest of the show was thoroughly enjoyable. The opportunity to look at an alternative timeline, and see some of the possible events that may or may not occur depending on Cole’s actions (or inaction) made for a compelling plot device, and opens up the series for more stories should Cole and Dr. Railly ever manage to destroy the cure.
The current antagonists of the story, The Army of the Twelve Monkeys, are a mixed bunch. First up, there’s The Pallid Man, played by Tom Noonan; so far he has been the main thorn in the side of Cole and Railly as they try to stop the release of the virus. His actions and characterisations make him psychopathic to the Nth degree, with last week’s brutal torture sequence that, even now, makes my fingertips tingle as I type. However he is let down by his partner in crime The Striking Woman (Alisen Down) who is the aforementioned voiceover for the dream sequence. She is yet to live up to her name, as her appearance within the episode is akin to little more than wallpaper. Finally, there is The Witness, the man implied to be pulling the strings behind The Army. His appearances so far have only been in the background or out of focus of the camera, but his attire is rather disturbing. If the writers play their cards right, we could be looking at a chilling puppet master who is rarely seen and never heard, but their appearances create a tension and panic that is rarely seen within TV series these days.
The Red Forest is an intriguing episode, were it not let down by sub-par graphics; indeed, it could have been brilliant. The alternative timelines create a new avenue to explore in the future, and the introduction of The Army of the Twelve Monkeys Leader shows potential for a new villain to plague our nightmares.
The Red Forest is an intriguing episode, were it not let down by sub-par graphics; indeed, it could have been brilliant. The alternative timelines create a new avenue to explore in the future, and the introduction of The Army of the Twelve Monkeys Leader shows potential for a new villain to plague our nightmares.
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