Fringe Not Redux

[bryant]

Looking back, I never did talk about Fringe outside of some RPG wanking. That was because I wasn’t that enchanted with the show. John Noble is a superior being, and his Walter Bishop is a great TV character, but I found Anna Torv to be fairly dull and uninteresting. Her FBI agent was bland and played the victim a bit too much for my tastes.

As of the 11th episode, “Bound,” things changed. Agent Dunham… let’s say she revealed her inner badass rather than claiming her characterization changed, because I haven’t gone back and watched the early episodes to see if I missed something. She is now really interesting, because we’re seeing this vast well of anger inside her, which she mostly has to keep repressed. But man, it comes out sometimes. She is ruthless without being apologetic and without making a big deal of it.

This means I want to see what she does next. It also heightens the importance of the problems she’s facing. Boring characters can’t support epic threats, in the same way that bland villains can’t support epic heroes. So this is all very good.

Meanwhile, John Noble is still awesome, and the plot has taken a giant hiccup forward with “Ability,” the most recent episode. Odd as this may seem for a J. J. Abrams show, we have been provided with a basket of answers. And more questions, because it’s still Abrams, but the outline of the season makes sense.

Oh yeah. And there was a Jonathan Carroll reference in the last episode.

So: if you had been dissing Fringe, it might be worth another look. I’m not saying great, because not great, but way better than it started.

Originally published at Imaginary Vestibule.

Comments

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

Maybe at some point. I was REALLY bored with the first few episodes.

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

skip 'em. See the one where the mad scientist has to go back into the asylum to get some info out of a patient; see whatever Bryant recommends ("Bound"); see "Ability" and the two episodes leading up to it.

There IS a lot of filler outside of the key points of the first 11.

From this point forward, though, I feel like the show has really turned a corner. It's not what I was watching before, and I like this new one a lot more.

[urnesha.livejournal.com]

I have been secretly following the series because I love Joshua Jackson though the show itself while mildly entertaining didn't really grasp me. But I really love Joshua Jackson. lol But I haven't seen the last two episodes. Sounds like I should fix that!

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I saw the first ep and did not care for it all that much. Maybe I will give it another chance based on this endorsement.

[bryant]

You are a special case. You're going to hate it because the science is crap through and through.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

Well, it's like watching an episode of House where, say, the patient is having headaches, and House and his team get to work treating the guy by playing him light jazz CDs, whistling tunelessly in his ears, and feeding him only food that's been colored green with green food coloring, and then when none of that works, they carve his head open with a can opener and pull out the tiny dwarf that's been living in his brain eating pieces of it.

The steaks make them smarter

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

And then Wilson comments about what state-of-the-art, cutting-edge, controversial science this is, while he and House chow down on some tiny steaks made out of the aforementioned dwarf.

Re: The steaks make them smarter

[head58.livejournal.com]

Is the dwarf named Lupus?

Re: The steaks make them smarter

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

No, but only because it's never Lupus.

[bryant]

Exactly. I'm just fortunate enough to be dumb in this instance.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

You read the House reviews at Polite Dissent? It's like that, except for biochemistry. Ironically the Polite Dissent guy is also doing Fringe reviews, but since he's an internal medicine doctor instead of any kind of bioinorganic chemist, his Fringe reviews miss more than half of what bothers me, whereas in his House reviews I only understand the nature of his complaint about one time in four.

[flit.livejournal.com]

My secret to Fringe is not watching it as a science show at all.

It's not.

It's Mage!

It is a freaking FANTASTIC Mage show.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

The last episode clearly shows that Fringe is really a tv version of Planetary.

And I mean that in the nicest way.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

So you're not saying that the writers are going to put out episodes every 6-9 months, which will then take forever to be filmed because the director is too busy?

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Planetary 27 will be out before the end of 2009!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I think that i like it precisely because it doesn't try so damn hard to be mysteriously cute, unlike other JJA shows. I definitely thought Dunham was a bit bland at first (although i was catching episodes out of order), but her steel definitely shows.

Sometimes the show comes off as a little too contrived, either in plot, characterization, or character interaction. But it's a good watch anyway.

[flit.livejournal.com]

I think Dunham shows her steel right from the beginning, but it's oh so subtle. One of the things Brad liked right off was how when she was alone with her sweetie she just lit up, but in FBI mode she had a "game face" and really shut down. Her affect (or sometimes lack thereof) is very engaging. It's fascinating how she puts on roles to make some things easier, even though she's not truly a people person. She still has some tricks.

In a way I was almost disappointed when it was revealed that she had A Reason, though I do enjoy the cans of whupass she can put out when she's feeling like she ought to. She would have been fine in my book staying as an iceberg.

Walter Bishop completely nails his role and is the other half of what makes this show work for me, though I also really like her friend the FBI agent whose name I can't even remember. Short, dark hair, surprisingly deep voice. I like the tensions between friendship and professionalism she puts him through.

[bryant]

I might have to rewatch the beginning with that in mind. Possibly her affect was too subtle, or perhaps I'm just too cynical about network television. But I'm definitely liking her as a character.

Walter Bishop is completely awesome, without question. Denethor!

Said friend is played by Kirk Acevedo, who was excellent in Oz as a gang leader. Opposite side of the law! Lance Reddick was also in Oz. Oz had an amazing cast, all in all.