I really had a good time with this show. The actors are perfect and there is so much fun writing. I did not love the ending though. It FST forced and sad. If it was just sad, I’d feel better about it, but I felt after feeling for all the characters, a little more closure would have been better. Still not mad I watched it. Great fun.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2020-04-10T11:15:14Z
Future Man ends on a high note after three seasons that got progressively weirder. I can't help but think that a lot of the narrative was created without too much thought about where it was all going, and I imagine that the sad death of actress Glenda Headly during the first season caused some real changes of plan. The finale here feels very disconnected from any events that happened in the show previously, but it's done in such a way that it still works.
Season 2 really didn't work for me and felt like the biggest consequence of the changes. It was very different from what came before and extremely downbeat. Season 3 opts for a bit more fun, some great changes of time period and location throughout, and most importantly it keeps our three main characters together. I didn't find the humour to be quite as on point as before, but the overall tone was a real improvement.
I think the characters of Josh, Tiger and Wolf are going to be the biggest takeaway from this show for me. The actors fit the roles so well that it's now going to be difficult to me to associate them with anything else. Derek Wilson's fake gravel voice and Eliza Coupe's over-the-top aggressiveness were never anything but a joy. And Josh Hutcherson was the glue that held the team together by playing a geeky, terrified everyman that was so easy to relate to. It felt like the actors were always having fun in the roles.
This season makes our heroes wanted criminals being tracked by time police from the future after all the damage they've caused. This is headed up by Seth Rogen. When he appeared at the end of last season I found him to feel out of place but he is integrated far better here. There's also a myriad of famous historical figures who play a part (Marilyn Monroe, Buddy Holly, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus), but while their introduction was fun it also kicked off a run of episodes which really went on for too long. The entire section spent at Haven felt like wasted time in an already short season, and the effect of allowing Tiger and Wolf to grow as people could have been handled much more succinctly. But I did love the goat.
The first season of the show stands as the best it had to offer, but the finale manages to wrap things up nicely. It fulfilled the main requirement which was finally solidifying the bond and friendship that Tiger and Wolf feel for Josh. It's always been funny to see them treat him like crap, but underneath we were all rooting for them to accept each other. They work SO WELL together! And in the end we even find out that it was all based on a true story, with completely whitewashed casting! Genius.
Honestly, I really missed the whole initial concept of the video game geek as the mistaken hero and the mission to kill the man who will destroy humanity, but the show evolved and continued to give us new stuff. This is somewhat rare. Future Man definitely wasn't a show for everyone given how obscene it would regularly get, but it was a show that fully embraced it's geekiness and how silly it was. I'm glad I stayed with it.