October 7, 2008
Last week's episode of Fringe, "The Arrival," was my favorite installment of the series by far. I enjoyed the monster of the week structure that the first three episodes followed, but "The Arrival" finally offered up some juicy mythology that brought new depth to the series. Of course, along with the new mythology came new questions. We learned about the existence of a shady bald man code-named The Observer, and we know that he has strange ties to both Pattern-related catastrophes and Dr. Bishop. What we don't know is who The Observer is, where he came from, how he knows the good doctor, and how he can see the future of The Pattern. It's time to start theorizing.
October 2, 2008
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Last week I wrote an article pondering whether Fringe was becoming too predictable with its storytelling structure. The first three episodes of the series played out in exactly the same manner, and I worried that such a strict adherence to formula would drive away fans looking for Lost-style ongoing mysteries. Thankfully, the latest episode of the show turned the formula on its head and presented an extremely compelling mystery that wasn't neatly wrapped up within the hour. It was the best episode of Fringe so far, and it left me desperately wanting to see where the writers are taking the story.
Thanks to FOX, fans like myself will now get to see what the writers can cook up in an entire 22-episode season. The network recently ordered nine more episodes on top of the 13 already in production, making it the second freshman series to get a full-season order after 90210.
September 30, 2008
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I'm really enjoying the way Fringe is subtly tying all of its episodes together. Last week's installment introduced us to a man who had visions of the airplane incident from the pilot episode, and the shady character at the heart of tonight's investigation appeared somewhere in the background during each previous installment. I'm starting to get a sense that the writers know exactly what they're doing, which makes me believe that everything about The Pattern may actually add up to make a hell of a lot of sense. These bits of connective tissue will certainly make the show fun to rewatch on DVD.
On tonight's episode of Fringe, the gang springs into action after a mysterious explosion rocks New York City.
September 26, 2008
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Fringe has a tricky balancing act to maintain. The show wants to pull in the same rabid, Easter Egg-obsessed audience that made Lost a hit, but it also wants to win over the much larger crowd that loves procedural dramas like CSI. The show risks alienating both types of viewers if it leans too far in either direction. As someone who is more a fan of serial mysteries than procedural dramas, I'm finding that Fringe is becoming a bit too predictable in the way it sets up and solves its cases. I don't expect the show to drop its procedural elements and embrace all things Massive Dynamic, but I'm afraid the series will become stale quickly if it doesn't shake things up a bit.
September 23, 2008
Last week's episode of Fringe could have been titled "The Case of the Rapidly Aging Man-Baby." After a newborn developed into an elderly man in a matter of hours, Olivia and Peter tracked down the father, who was actually a lab experiment gone horribly awry. In addition to that delightfully nasty storyline, Dr. Bishop revealed that some mysterious circumstances surrounded the birth of his son. Was Peter grown in a lab? Was he subjected to freaky experiments as a toddler? We'll have to wait and see.
On tonight's episode of Fringe, the gang question a man who can predict Pattern-related catastrophes. Perhaps he can help us understand what the heck The Pattern actually is, though I wouldn't bet on it.
September 18, 2008
After unspectacular ratings last week for its pilot episode, Fringe managed to increase its viewership by 45 percent for the second episode, bringing in a total of 13.2 million viewers. Having FOX's popular medical drama House as a lead-in in the second week probably helped a lot, but the performances of two key actors on Fringe couldn't have hurt.
John Noble plays Dr. Walter Bishop, a brilliant scientist who conducted research on the fringes of traditional science before being institutionalized for nearly two decades. He is brought out of the mental institution by his estranged son Peter, played by Dawson's Creek hottie Joshua Jackson, in order to assist the FBI's investigations into strange events occurring all across the globe.