Spare Thoughts:
-I like the part when they were like "We're gonna jumpstart this girl's heart with some wires, some metal circle things, and a couple of phone books. Hold on a sec."
-Oh Fringe. You caught my attention with the Abrams factor, but I'm staying for the complicated Father/Son relationship.
-Peter's face when he cracks one of his dad's cooky responses is the stuff heaven lines the walls with.
DIARY:
Season 3, Episode 4…
Being in the AltWorld too long makes me anxious. I find this response fascinating. They give us two worlds to deal with but I’ve never felt more claustrophobic watching a show. They really have built the tension up. In previous seasons we had some pretty big secrets to deal with, but I suppose since they were always played so close to the chest that the audience slowly learned bits and pieces it never felt like too much.
On the other hand, in sesason 3, the audience KNOWS the big secrets…not the characters…and we’re the ones left screaming in frustration.
In other words, being in on the joke comes with a lot of stress.
Season 3, Episode 8
Even though I knew AltLivia and Peter were together, I felt really truly sick to my stomach in the scene when he figured out she wasn’t the real Olivia. There’s so much violation in that moment and he plays it off with a poker face. It makes my skin crawl.
Also, vagenda is the best word of all time.
Season 3, "Bloodline" up to date
Final Entry
After less than a week I have completed my goal of watching all of Fringe.
I don’t know what compelled me to choose this as my show to marathon…when I do things like this usually the timing just feels right. I’ve put off watching this show for a few years now. I even have it scheduled to record on my DVR…and every week I just delete it. I think I always knew I’d sit down and watch it, but it kept getting farther and farther away from me…and I’m too lazy to change my DVR settings. Hah.
But now, I too understand the joy Fringe as a show can bring. I don’t usually like procedurals. Cop dramas, medical shows, CSI stuff…unless they have some sort of sci-fi/fantasy twist and more importantly extremely complicated characters. If the plots are too formulaic and the characters 2 dimensional, how does anyone watch half the crap out there on TV? I’ll never understand.
Thankfully, Fringe has multidimensional characters…hah. I think in the first few episodes I was skeptical about whether or not I would really like it mostly because Olivia takes some time to learn to love…but once you do you’re on her team no matter what. What really appealed to me was the relationship between Walter and Peter. I am a sucker for complex familial relationships on shows. We don’t see too many of them. Platonic relationships are simply not the forefront of most programs. But on Fringe that’s not the case. Joshua Jackson is perfect as pokerfaced Peter. John Noble is a triumph and truly inspiring. Anna Torv deserves an Emmy nomination. The acting was strong, the portrayals deep and emotive, and they keep you clinging to the story.
More importantly, to deal with the procedural “weird thing of the week” setup for most episodes, the writers handle secrets with delicacy. In the first season, so many secrets slip out of Walter’s mouth early on but are hidden away under the rantings of a madman. It’s tricks like that, techniques that keep the most important storylines close to the chest, that give Fringe it’s tension and staying power.
The most important plot device is that of the alternate universe. This is one of the biggest risks I’ve ever seen a show take. Somehow the two worlds feel real and recognizable, each with their own pros and cons. Our world isn’t technologically advanced like the altworld, but we do have more freedoms. National IDs, people trapped in amber, constant surveillance…The Altworld has exchanged freedom to move about the country without government interference for technological advancement and national safety. Yet, this AltWorld has Martin Luther King, Jr. on their money instead of Andrew “Trail of Tears” Jackson, the Twin Towers still stand…and The West Wing is still on the air. It’s a nice thought.
More important than the setting are the characters in the AltWorld. They’re not Star Trek Mirrorverse evil…they’re us with bent reflections. Their motivations and beliefs are understandable. At the end of the day, if the show had started out with THAT as the main world and OUR world as an alternate…it would be possible to root for them as much as we’re trained to root for “our” characters. There’s good people over there…and if that wasn’t enough to keep the audience invested, the little twist in this season’s episode of Bloodline surely will. We now have a very tangible thing to worry about “over there”…something half ours. It will be interesting to see that particular beat play out and the consequences.
One final mention must go out to the small details. Having The Observer appear in random places throughout most of the 1st season but in such a subtle way that one had to be paying attention to notice him is one of the more brilliant moves I’ve seen. It shows a commitment to intrigue and I would recommend more of that in the future. Much like Heroes and The Symbol, the constant reminder of something unique going on helped the audience feel included in on the cosmic joke each time they spotted it.
Also, the music is incredible. The main theme is particularly catchy. The main titles and their switching colors depending on the verse is nice, and an even more subtle difference between verses comes with the cast and crew titles that appear on the bottom of the screen during the first act…they switch sides depending on where the episode starts.
That’s all I can think of for now.
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