Latest mystery serial contains a future of possibilities

Like the series that have come before it, “FlashForward’’ boasts big-money production values, boffo destruction sequences, strong-ish women and sensitive manly men, along with an intriguing premise: On a sunny morning not long from now, everybody in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. When it happens, cars crash, airplanes careen into buildings, surgeons clunk to the floor in the middle of operations, and most people have what seem to be extremely vivid dreams. But as the characters start recounting and cross-referencing what they saw, they discover that these weren’t dreams at all, but glimpses into the same moment, six months in the future.

Leading us on the discovery process is FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), an earnest family man who recently kicked a drinking habit. He spies his future self doing something he doesn’t like, and the same goes for his wife, a surgeon played by Sonya Walger. (She’s Penny on “Lost,’’ for those keeping track.) We also check in with Mark’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor (Brian F. O’Byrne), the Benfords’ baby sitter (Peyton List), and Mark’s co-worker, Demetri Noh (John Cho), who doesn’t see a thing, and has a sinking feeling about what that might mean.

Tonight’s episode is dramatic and well-paced, unfolding ominously and quickly explaining the issues at hand. The problem, of course, is the future. What “Lost’’ had on its side was a desert-island setting, plus a sprawling and quirky ensemble cast with a range of back stories to spin. Not all of them panned out - we haven’t really suffered from the loss of Shannon and Boone - but there were many opportunities for emotional investment, not to mention comic relief. The flashback structure could be maddening at times, but it deftly laid the groundwork for the show’s current exploration of time travel and destiny.