FOREVER: “Punk Is Dead” Roundtable + Photos

During a recent meeting of the minds, the Nice Girls realized that most of us are watching Forever, but no one has been talking about it! We only have a few episodes left this season, but better late than never, right? 

In “Punk Is Dead”, the case of the week is the re-emergence of a cold case involving a punk band, the body of a woman found behind a stage 30 years after her murder, and the man wrongfully accused of her death. This dovetails with flashbacks to when Abigail disappeared in the early ’80s and Henry slid into a depression. On the lighter side – maybe – Jo and Isaac are still seeing each other and the change in the widowed detective’s demeanor is remarkable.

1. Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s Isaac – perfect for Jo to move past her grief or too good to be true?

Rueben: I want to see her happy because she’s spent enough time mourning her husband; but there is a small part of me that thinks Isaac is just a little too good to be true. I’m hoping that feeling isn’t true, though.

Leah: Too good to be true. I’m not sure what it is about Cuba Gooding, Jr. but he is charming in a slightly sleazy way – to me. I’m probably the only woman in the world that thinks that.

Louise: I have the worst vibe from Isaac and I can’t tell if it’s I’ve been watching TV for too long or if he’s really that evil. It’s frustrating to see him be so nice when I still think he’s about to do something evil.

Melissa: I really want Isaac to be what he seems – charming, kind, totally into Jo for all the right reasons – but something feels a tiny bit “off” about him. Cuba and Alana have terrific chemistry, and her character came to life when he came along, but…nope, I don’t trust him.

Bethanne: I don’t think he’s perfect but I do think he will be useful in helping her move forward and start letting go of her grief. It remains to be seen whether Isaac is really willing to wait as long as it takes for her to move into something serious again.

2. Speaking of Jo, is she suddenly 200% more interesting AND smart AND capable? What changed?

Rueben: Better writing?!

Leah: I’m going to chalk it up to her letting go a little – dating, wearing her club clothes, etc. It’s like she has shrugged off the black crepe dress and come out of mourning.

Louise: Is it bad of me to say that I don’t care what changed only that it has changed? I mean, we’re all for competent ladies, and now that she seems that way I don’t want to examine why it took so long for it to happen. Basically, let me take my gift horse’s mouth and be happy.

Melissa: Since the writers never really pursued Jo’s grief over her husband’s death, never turned it into a compelling storyline, I think they decided to let her throw off her widow’s weeds and have some fun. We’re seeing Jo in non-work mode, learning a bit about her as a person, and that’s given her much needed dimension.

Bethanne: Maybe to more she lets go of her past, the less clouded her mind is and the more focused she can be.

3. This is the second episode in a row where someone other than Henry made a vital and intelligent contribution to the case. Are we starting to see the ensemble emerge at last?

Rueben: Yes, I think they have finally found their stride in including the rest of the characters rather than just focusing on Jo and Henry.

Leah: Whatever it is I like it. Don’t get me wrong, Henry being the sweet-know-it-all he is is awesome, but I appreciate the team coming together to solve cases instead of just following Henry around in awe of his super deductive powers.

Louise: Yes and it’s awesome! Ensembles should be about the whole team, and I suppose one of the weaker spots of the show so far has been that it’s been about so much of Henry’s manpain about Abigail and life.

Melissa: I hope so! I will watch anything with Ioan Gruffudd in it, but even he can’t carry an entire show by himself week after week.

Bethanne: I hope so! We all knew that Lucas was very helpful and can figure stuff out, but Hanson has seemed like he won his spot on the force in a lottery drawing so far.

4. After months of trying to bond with his boss, Lucas finally gets to go on an extracurricular outing with Henry, while unofficially investigating, then the whole gang goes to a karaoke bar. So who do you think will figure out Henry’s secret first?

Rueben: I think that something is going to slip out in the remaining episodes and Jo will learn first; after all they spend more time together than any of the other characters.

Leah: How cute was Lucas when Henry high fived him outside the club? As to who figures out Henry’s secret first my money is on Lucas. He is more open to the odd, off the beaten path ideas – I can seem him finding out and not questioning it at all. He’d think it was cool and keep the secret.

Louise: Can Lucas be the first? I just miss him as a Squint on Bones and want to see him doing more for solving bigger cases.

Melissa: Before these past two episodes, I wouldn’t lay odds on anyone figuring it out because we’ve been told and shown, repeatedly, that Henry is eleventy-billion times smarter than everyone else at the NYPD. However, other members of the team have demonstrated intelligence and deductive reasoning recently, so we might be headed toward a revelation. This focus on Abigail, which I think is leading toward Henry getting closure about his wife, makes me think Jo will be the first to put the pieces together. If the writers want Henry and Jo to be a viable romantic possibility (something I’m not sold on yet), then Henry must move on from Abigail (in progress), Jo must move past her grief over her husband (in progress), and Jo needs to know Henry’s secret. My money is on Jo.

Bethanne: I have no idea. Maybe Jo will witness Henry being killed at some point, it seems inevitable. Maybe Lucas will see something. Maybe both of them will at the same time. I hope both Lucas and Jo find out though.

5. This week in the Days of Henry’s Lives, we’re in 1985 and Abigail has disappeared. We meet Young Abe, played by David Krumholtz, who has to convince Henry to get over Abigail’s disappearance, in part by taking Henry’s “evidence” and hiding it for 30 years. Until the symbol of two doves on the case of the week’s son’s birth certificate sends Abe back to look at the stamp on the envelope Abigail’s letter came in all those years ago. So…what are our theories about this new mystery from Henry’s past? What happened to Abigail? Was Adam involved?

Rueben: The matching doves aren’t a coincidence otherwise it wouldn’t have have been featured in the story, but whether Adam plays into it or not, I’m not so sure. Just a hunch on my part, though. As for what happened to Abigail, I think she really did just leave and go upstate [after all the victim in this week’s episode went “upstate” to get clean and have her baby]. I think Abigail went there to live out the rest of her days alone since she couldn’t really grow old with Henry. I don’t know if there will be much more mystery to it than that.

Leah: It didn’t even occur to me that Adam might be involved in Abigail’s disappearance. That would not be good. Honestly I have no idea where the Abigail mystery could be going, but I like the idea what she didn’t just pass away of old age. It makes more sense why Henry pines for her still.

Louise: There’s a big part of me that wants to get to the bottom of Abigail’s disappearance and to blame it on Adam, but I think there are still too many missing parts for me to properly answer it.

Melissa: Part of me thinks it’s as simple as Abigail going off to live her final years without Henry because she couldn’t bear the pain of watching him watch her age and die. But the conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Adam coerced or manipulated Abigail into leaving for some twisted reason.

Bethanne: I don’t know if Adam was involved (although I wouldn’t be surprised), but I think Abe is going to go the St. Theresa’s and find out more about his mother. I think she went there some time after she left Henry, perhaps because she was ill or it’s where she died, I don’t know. But I think Abe will go find out.

Forever airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.