Fringe Rundown: Episode Two, "The Same Old Story"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:30:29 -0700

After last week's super-sized premiere of Fringe, Tuesday's episode was the first chance to see what the show might look like on a weekly basis. Well, sort of. There was a lot of clunky recap in this episode, most of it crammed into the first 10 minutes. ("And now we're working with Walter Bishop, a scientist with questionable ethics who up until recently was institutionalized in a mental facility." "Yes, and also with his son, a college dropout with an IQ of 190.") It's a problem a lot of second episodes run into, but I still did a lot of eyerolling at the beginning.

The episode picked up after that, though, moving to the next case in The Pattern and some revelations about Walter Bishop's science and Peter Bishop's very being. To see what I made of it all and add your thoughts, just read more.

So, most interesting things first: Let's talk about Peter's "medical history." Walter has altered him somehow - but how? Is he a clone? That was my guess, going off the closing image, but I'm sure we'll discover any number of weird, quasi-scientific processes that could lead to the creation of a wisecracking, gambling 20-something guy. The most interesting things to me about it right now are a) that Peter doesn't know (even the serial killer/rapidly aging guy knew what was happening to him), and b) that, because the records were gone from the file, presumably someone else does know.
Meanwhile, the actual science case wasn't quite as interesting as I wanted it to be - and I think that's because the pieces fit together too neatly. There's an obvious link to Walter's work, and then to his old partner, and then to the killer, and the actual science seemed relatively straightforward save for that one special Massive Dynamic camera. Which is just awfully convenient, no? I hope that the show has something else up its sleeve beyond a formula that's essentially "science-y thing happens; Walter Bishop solves it by drawing on his work from back in the day."
What did creep me out was the scene of Olivia screaming and hallucinating that she, too, would birth a surprise baby. I guess we know by now that Agent Scott didn't have that particular affliction, but there's obviously still something fishy in his history.

I'm really enjoying the wackiness of Walter Bishop. Maybe it will start to wear on me eventually, but right now, lines like "Do you have any cocaine?" and "Even condoms are not 100 percent effective; you two should be aware of this" are cracking me up. And hooray for a reappearance of the cow.
My favorite Walter line deserves its own bullet point: "I've never seen a feature like this before. It warms your ass. It's wonderful."
Massive Dynamic: Good? Evil? Somewhere in between? I'm a sucker for a conspiracy, and I want to know how much Nina Sharp knows about The Pattern. Why are she and Broyles in cahoots? Why is she offering Olivia a job? My sense is that Nina may be a double agent of sorts, working both the good and bad sides of this science.
Here's the No. 1 thing I hate: those big, place-identifying letters. I know people will disagree, but they just look silly to me. Also, I would like the opening credits a lot more if they weren't throwing all these words at us, like "Science! Cloning! Time travel! Smart-people stuff!"

What did you think? Are you hooked, or was this episode tough to get into? Are you liking the procedural elements, or do you want more of a continuing story? The show has a lot of potential, but it hasn't totally come together for me yet. You?

Photos courtesy of Fox

Pilot Watch: Fringe

BuzzSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:30:54 -0700

The networks have announced their Fall schedules, but which of the series will actually be worth watching? This Summer, as the networks release their pilots, I'll be posting my first impressions. A lot can change before a show makes it to air - especially this year, when the writers' strike severely gummed up the production of pilots - so consider these just some quick thoughts on how the shows look now. Today's installment: Fox's Fringe, which will air Tuesdays this Fall after House.

What's it about? After a creepy incident on an airplane (creator JJ Abrams seems to like those), an FBI agent ends up getting sucked into the world of fringe science, which essentially uses humankind as one large laboratory for exploring cloning, mind reading, and the like.

Who's in it? Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown

The good: The first episode does quick work of establishing the premise, the characters, and their central conflicts while also dropping some hints as to the mythology (and cool science-y plot twists) that will likely develop later. Jackson and Noble are great as a dysfunctional father-son team, grudgingly interacting again after years of silence. Two actors in relatively smaller roles - Lance Reddick as a Department of Homeland Security agent and Blair Brown as the head of science corporation Massive Dynamic - carry a lot of the weight of setting up the series' framework and do an outstanding job with it.

The bad: The pilot is super-sized (just under 90 minutes), and I'm not sure it needed to be. Some of the middle section dragged, which prevented me from being as completely wowed by the show as I'd hoped. I'm still not sure I completely understand Noble's character (he was borderline deranged at the start, then just kind of quirky by show's end), but that could have been intentional, since part of the premise is that he is a bit of a wild card.

Will I watch? Absolutely. A lot goes down in the final 15 minutes, and it was enough to make me want to see where the story leads.

To check out a preview and see a gallery of photos, just read more.

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Photos courtesy of Fox