+++Warning, this contains spoilers from throughout the series (in paragraphs 4 and 5). +++
Fringe was a supernatural crime drama that ran for five seasons on FOX from 2008-2013. The series starred John Noble, Anna Torv, and Joshua Jackson. Lance Reddick and Blair Brown had leading and later recurring roles during the series.
The premise of the show was that a special division of the FBI was set up to investigate a series of strange phenomena (which was referred to in the first couple of seasons as the pattern). Much of the phenomena was based on the work of Dr. Walter Bishop (played by John Noble who gives probably the best overall performance in the series) who had been in a mental hospital for 17 years. Walter ends up as a special consultant for the FBI along with his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson) who initially just tags along acting as Walter's babysitter and then he ends up helping investigate the events.
The cornerstone of the series was the wonderful acting. All the actors from the series regulars to those who played recurring characters and the bit parts did very well. It was another series where there was really no huge star that was a series regular. While Leonard Nimoy did make a few cameo appearances throughout the series and his character was mentioned a lot throughout the series, he was not in many of the episodes. I also like how the writers always grounded the unreal concepts in real science. They either took a known scientific fact and then stretched it, or took a scientific hypothesis and tried to come up with an explanation for it (reasonable or otherwise). Obviously, the outcomes were totally fake and unreal, but the premise that it started with was at least rooted in something that was.
The first season mostly followed a procedural case-of-the-week formula. Even in the first season, however, you can see that the writers were placing hints from the start of the two big serial storylines of the series, namely the war against the parallel universe and the war against the observers. Even with the procedural stories, there was actually a lot of continuity between the episodes, and as a result, it is definitely one of those series where you really do have to see it from the beginning to follow what is going on (especially as you get into the later seasons).
The only problem I have with the series is that at times it tried to do too much, and often went on too many tangents. Personally, I think they should have focused on one big story (either the parallel universe war or the observer takeover) and stuck with that. The 4th season kept the parallel universe, but changed the storylines because of Peter being "erased." On one hand, it allows for a different twist on the stories, but on the other hand, it created a storyline that just ended with the 4th season finale, and the storyline of William Bell's attempt to create his own universe did not really get totally resolved. The heroes did stop him, but he was allowed to just disappear and then the show did the time jump to tell the story of the observer takeover which ultimately ended the series. I think they lost a lot of more casual viewers that season because things just got hard to follow.
Fringe is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. Even though it started out with fairly good ratings it always was kind of a "cult" following kind of show. If you cannot easily suspend your disbelief this series is not for you. The show gets weird at times, but that is the point, and often joked about in the show. If you do like that kind of thing you will enjoy the series. If you are into science and are entertained by sci-fi material, and like shows that have unique storylines and is definitely not a carbon copy of anything else, this is worth giving a look.
The premise of the show was that a special division of the FBI was set up to investigate a series of strange phenomena (which was referred to in the first couple of seasons as the pattern). Much of the phenomena was based on the work of Dr. Walter Bishop (played by John Noble who gives probably the best overall performance in the series) who had been in a mental hospital for 17 years. Walter ends up as a special consultant for the FBI along with his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson) who initially just tags along acting as Walter's babysitter and then he ends up helping investigate the events.
The cornerstone of the series was the wonderful acting. All the actors from the series regulars to those who played recurring characters and the bit parts did very well. It was another series where there was really no huge star that was a series regular. While Leonard Nimoy did make a few cameo appearances throughout the series and his character was mentioned a lot throughout the series, he was not in many of the episodes. I also like how the writers always grounded the unreal concepts in real science. They either took a known scientific fact and then stretched it, or took a scientific hypothesis and tried to come up with an explanation for it (reasonable or otherwise). Obviously, the outcomes were totally fake and unreal, but the premise that it started with was at least rooted in something that was.
The first season mostly followed a procedural case-of-the-week formula. Even in the first season, however, you can see that the writers were placing hints from the start of the two big serial storylines of the series, namely the war against the parallel universe and the war against the observers. Even with the procedural stories, there was actually a lot of continuity between the episodes, and as a result, it is definitely one of those series where you really do have to see it from the beginning to follow what is going on (especially as you get into the later seasons).
The only problem I have with the series is that at times it tried to do too much, and often went on too many tangents. Personally, I think they should have focused on one big story (either the parallel universe war or the observer takeover) and stuck with that. The 4th season kept the parallel universe, but changed the storylines because of Peter being "erased." On one hand, it allows for a different twist on the stories, but on the other hand, it created a storyline that just ended with the 4th season finale, and the storyline of William Bell's attempt to create his own universe did not really get totally resolved. The heroes did stop him, but he was allowed to just disappear and then the show did the time jump to tell the story of the observer takeover which ultimately ended the series. I think they lost a lot of more casual viewers that season because things just got hard to follow.
Fringe is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. Even though it started out with fairly good ratings it always was kind of a "cult" following kind of show. If you cannot easily suspend your disbelief this series is not for you. The show gets weird at times, but that is the point, and often joked about in the show. If you do like that kind of thing you will enjoy the series. If you are into science and are entertained by sci-fi material, and like shows that have unique storylines and is definitely not a carbon copy of anything else, this is worth giving a look.
No comments:
Post a Comment