Forever - Social Engineering - Review

Forever, “Social Engineering,” was written by John Enbom and was directed by Antonio Negret.  Enbom’s other credits include Free Agents, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Veronica Mars, and Negret’s include Arrow and The 100. This episode focused on communication, secrets, and privacy. It was another episode that seamlessly wove it’s themes through both past and present storylines.

The opening scene is of a politician having all of his dirty laundry aired when the television show he’s on is hacked by the hacktivist group Faceless. I thought this the perfect name for the group. They use a creepy mask and are clearly supposed to be a stand-in for anonymous, but the name also invokes the Facebook – another threat to people’s privacy but also a standard communication tool.

The initial voiceover tells us, “In 1912, Marconi, predicted his invention, the radio, would put an end to war. No more miscommunications, no more secrets. Then, 200 million people were murdered in the century that followed. Meanwhile, we came up with better ways to communicate. None of which, alas, put an end to miscommunication, lies, or murder.” Henry (Ioan Gruffudd), as we know, is a studious luddite. This seems to be a lifestyle choice, but of course, it’s safer for him to remain as off the grid as he can manage.

It’s perhaps a little surprising that Henry knows nothing about Faceless, but I recently encountered a friend who hadn’t heard of anonymous and she’s generally well informed too. Abe (Judd Hirsch), of course, knows all about them, and we also learn about Abe’s activist past. As a protestor himself, he supports Faceless’s attempts to expose the lies and corruption of the powerful. Henry asks Abe if the high ideals of his group ever caused friction between the members. Abe says that the only fights were more “human” – “if there’s a girl involved, watch out!” As always, the scenes between Hirsch and Gruffudd are marvelous. I loved Abe’s dig at Henry when Jo (Alana De La Garza) calls: “Perhaps I should get her to write you a note on papyrus!”

The murder is a bit of a locked room mystery. It seems like a simple case of asphyxiation, due to a gas leak, but the ties to Faceless prompt the involvement of two cyber-crime agents, Irene (Megan Ketch) and Keith (Kobi Libii). They tell Hanson (Donnie Keshawarz) that they’ve got it all under control. Of course, that’s music to Hanson’s ears, and he’s more than happy to let them take the lead, opting to practice his putting instead.

Henry muses that Eric (James Dow), the victim, died as he lived – with his secrets. Much like Henry himself – except for the dying part. Jo muses that he died by computer and the crime is being solved by computer, and it makes her feel old. Henry suggests that they could test his theory in the field. I loved it when he suggests they go gas themselves and Jo replies, with relish, “Now you’re talkin’!”

The scene that follows is one of the best of the series. The two don gas masks and lie on the victim’s bed to recreate his death. There’s an entire exchange between the two with close ups on their faces. Halfway through the scene they roll onto their sides to look at each other while they’re talking. The gas masks emphasize how the two characters have been keeping their distance from each other, yet this is a really intimate setting. Jo muses there could be worse ways to go, and Henry goes through a detailed list of the various ways of dying – no doubt gleaned from personal experience.

Jo is curious – “Why death?” She wonders if something happened to him, such as growing up next to a cemetery. She says his file indicates that he was a gravedigger at one time. We should never forget that she’s a detective – and a good one. Henry tells her, “I guess I enjoy solving puzzles. What greater riddle is there?” Jo isn’t convinced: “What’s to solve? Do you want to live forever?” Hilarious! Just the opposite of course. Henry is saved by the bell as his phone goes off indicating time’s up on their experiment. And the results indicate it wasn’t a locked room murder after all. The murderer used their hand to finish the job.

The cyber-agents think they’ve found the murderer and bring in Lawrence Creff (Tim Ransom), the politician from the opening scene, for questioning. I loved Lucas (Joel David Moore) bringing the photos to Henry and trying to hit on Irene. Even better, of course, was Henry trying to give Lucas some advice, couching it as advice about the photos – “a little strong. Maybe try again… a little more subtly.”

The hacked footage having sound leads them to the caterer for the event. Henry’s observation skills stand them in good stead when he recognizes an unusual tattoo on one of the servers – Boltzmann’s Entropy Formula. He also notices she has a pierced eyebrow that could account for the scrap on the victim’s forehead. She escapes by motorcycle but not before dropping her phone. I loved Henry picking it up and gleefully declaring, “I love technology!”

Her phone leads them to Bernard Belcheck (Gregory Lay), also known as the Warlock, an infamous hacktivist. While in custody, he uses his smartphone to dig up dirt on Jo and threatens to do the same to Hanson. It’s his way of bullying them back. He does reveal that Liz (Erin Drake), the woman from the caterers, and Eric were in a relationship, but Bernard told Liz that Eric was cheating on her. We also learn that Eric got the codes to hack the light grids and the Times Square jumbotron.

Liz suddenly appears on the computer in the morgue. She’s discovered that all of Henry’s information simply appeared six year ago. She wants a death certificate or she’s going to expose him. It makes you wonder how Henry can be such a luddite and keep re-inventing himself, especially today. It can only get harder in the future. Irene points out that the age on anonymity is over.

Liz tells Henry that she didn’t do it. She loved Eric, but it was “social engineering” to get the light grid codes. Eric seduced someone. Liz insists that if Henry got to start over she should too. Henry explains it’s not that easy: “You may think it’s a new beginning. The running never ends. You can never be your whole true self even with those you love. The new life never starts.” Ultimately, Henry refuses, and Irene, the other woman in the triangle uses the lights to get Liz hit by a car – but not quite before she sends a message to Jo.

When Abe finds out Liz knows, he’s very worried. He tells Henry to remember what happened the last time. He asks Henry what he’s willing to do to keep his secret. In the flashbacks, we see that Henry was tracked down by Nora (Jane Alexander). She’d seen an article about him in the paper for saving the life of a young boy. It would seem that no good deed goes unpunished. Nora shows up insisting that he’s her husband and that it’s a miracle that everyone should know about. He manages to keep her out of the mental hospital, but when she comes back to prove Henry can’t die, she kills the young woman (Sarah Wilson) that Henry has become involved with instead. It seems unlikely that Henry was able to save her that time from Bedlam. As hard as he’d run from his past, he couldn’t escape it.

Liz ends up on life support with a 50/50 chance of surviving. Henry deduces it was Liz when she is able to look at Liz when she couldn’t look at Eric her lover. Irene also knows Henry’s secrets, so when Liz starts to code and all the alarms have been shut off thanks to Irene, she tries to convince Henry to let both their secrets die with Liz. Of course, Henry can’t do that, and saves Liz. Faced with being exposed as a fool for letting Eric take advantage of her, Irene commits suicide.

Liz comes to Henry’s rescue by fixing his records and making them safe from anyone else. So, when Jo looks into Henry’s records as the mysterious text suggests, she finds that he actually graduated from Oxford and was the top of his class. Henry says he lied because Oxford seemed pretentious. Jo tells him, “You’re starting to make a bit more sense to me.” But is it fair when she gets false information? Liz is not going to disappear because Henry made it sound too rough.

The final voiceover tells us, “Perhaps privacy is a thing of the past. In the future, everything about us will be available with the touch of a button. Who’s fallen in love, who’s sick, who’s having an affair. Maybe it’s a good thing. A future without secrets. Of course, those of us with a few more years value our privacy. We’ve made our mistakes and survived them. It’s not that we want to keep these secrets, usually, it’s that we’re keeping them from ourselves.”

Abe finds Henry deep in his early nineteenth century stuff. The case has brought back memories he’d prefer to forget. Abe senses Henry’s melancholy and tries to get him to focus on the present, asking eagerly if he’d been right. Was the case about a woman? And Henry takes great pleasure in telling him, no, it was about TWO women! Then Abe tries to tell Henry an off color story about 2 women and Henry stops him, reminding him that he’s Abe’s father! I’m still charmed by how easily these two actors make that completely believable.

What did you think of the episode? Have you missed Forever since it’s been on hiatus? I know I am very much looking forward to the next new episode! So far, no news on renewal, so it’s still vitally important to tune in live, watch on DVR and tweet about the show like mad. We want the network and studio to know how much we like the show! Don’t forget you can find fan campaigns to join here. Let me know your thoughts on this episode in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.