...is like a red, red, rose? Or perhaps it's more like an aquamarine rose that only exists in an alternate universe.
Fringe is a tough show to write about. Yes, part of that is because of the mystery aspect of the show, and my reticence to not give anything away to those who may not have discovered its greatness yet. But it's also because, the way the show is structured, events don't unfold the way they did with, say, Lost. And as the show has matured (and improved), the structure itself has changed.
Fringe started off a little weak. Most of the first season is basically just a paranormal crime procedural, with each episode centering around a different "fringe" event that may or may not have anything to do with the larger story of the season. I know it lost some people around the middle there, but the end of season 1 is definitely worth watching, if only to see the superb Jared Harris (Lane Pryce on Mad Men) being superbly creepy. So, if you're new to Fringe and don't feel like slogging through some of the weaker episodes, my advice is this: watch the first two and the last two episodes of the season. That's all you really need. I do think any show is better if you watch all of it, but here, it's not completely necessary.
The second season of Fringe took the awesomeness of the end of season 1 and ran with it. The strength of the show really lies with the characters at the heart of it and the myriad relationships between Olivia, Peter, and Walter. Given material with more depth and an expectation of growth, Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble consistently deliver performances that are strong, endearing, realistic, and often funny. Humor was another concept that season 2 embraced whole-heartedly, going as far as naming an episode "Brown Betty" after a particularly potent strain of Walter's marijuana. I really love the embracing of weed and hallucinogenics as part of the mythology of Fringe; it's awesome to be able to say, "We're going to pump this character - and ourselves - full of acid and then take a journey through her brain", and have that be a normal day on Fringe.
As the concept of two intertwined universes became cemented as the core idea of the show, less time was given to the crime procedural-type mysteries, leaving more time to focus on the personal relationships. Every character in this show is compelling in some way; even Charlie, who they made the mistake of killing off way too early, put a smile on my face when we met AlternaCharlie. Walter and Peter's relationship is way, WAY more complicated than we initially thought, and it's not like things were great between them from the get-go. Peter and Olivia's obvious feelings for each other reach road block after road block, culminating in this season's finale. But along the way they are so much fun to watch.
To me, that's one of the keys to good sci-fi. Yes, it's all well and good to have established mythological boundaries and to build a fun mystery and to do experiments in your laboratory and whatnot, but if the characters aren't real, or interesting, or well-developed, who the hell cares if they could die/be frozen in amber/get sucked into a vortex/become half machine/be murdered and absorbed by a shapeshifter? Yes, the actors are great and yes, I admittedly would watch Joshua Jackson in anything even if he was doing a "Dorf Goes Golfing" remake, but each character, even the small ones, are written with a great deal of depth, development, and clarity. Broyles, Linc, Charlie, and Nina are all eventually presented with at least minimal backstory, and are given room to really express their individuality. Recurring guest star Kevin Corrigan (who has been awesome in everything since Grounded For Life) takes the small role of Sam Weiss and knocks it out of the park. But my favorite is probably Astrid, who is such a wonderful foil for Walter and has great delivery and kick-ass hair. We see her conflicting feelings in her eyes at every turn, and it's just one more example of how great TV can be when the writing, producing, and acting are all top-notch.
This third season has been, to put it bluntly, riveting. Unexpected twists and turns have taken us through the established mysteries, and along the way we've encountered a great deal of moral quandaries. Seriously, there are morality issues everywhere you look this season, but somehow Fringe pulls it off without preaching or sermonizing or even clearly presenting what the right thing is. Both Walters made choices that had unexpected, terrible consequences. We can try to say that one is better than the other (and obviously I like OUR Walter much better than Walternate), but Walternate would not have become himself had it not been for Walter's actions. See? Moral quandaries and philosophical catch-22s all over the place. And in the midst of all this, the romance between Peter and Olivia has blossomed, faltered, and blossomed again, never feeling forced or unrealistic. Because the show is so dark and many of the characters seem so guarded and/or unhappy a lot of the time, when they ARE happy, the payoff is that much greater.
It's also really nice to have a show where so many of the main characters are women who don't take any shit. When they are in relationships (Peter & Olivia; Nina & William Bell) they are in them as equals, both intellectually and emotionally. No one ever assumes that Olivia or Astrid or Nina (or Fauxlivia or AlternAstrid, for that matter) is anything less than the best at their job. It is a given that women and men in the Fringe world come to each other on equal footing. It's something that is not unusual in science fiction (I wrote a whole paper about gender roles in Firefly in college) but it's also nice that they don't fit any stereotypes. Nina, who, in the first season of Fringe appears to be the villain, turns out to be one of the most well-reasoned and level-headed characters on the show. Olivia, who can appear to be emotionally stoic, is actually incredibly compassionate. And so on. Just one more reason to root for Fringe.
Unlike, say, Lost (sorry, J.J, comparisons are inevitable), Fringe does a great job of solving mysteries in a reasonable amount of time. When this show ends, no one is going to be saying, "But what is the deal with the typewriter?!?!?!" because those sorts of explanations come as they're needed. When the Fringe team is working a smaller case, we know it'll be at least partially solved by the end of the episode. And each season seems to build to a finale where the big, season-long questions are answered and new questions for the next season are introduced. It satisfies and hooks you all at once. Now, I loved Lost (and I will defend the ending, if you care to ask me about it), but I did really hate the way they would introduce mysteries with no intention of returning to them in a timely fashion. It often seemed that just as I had forgotten about a piece of the puzzle, THEN they would get around to explaining it, or you would have an episode when like 10 mysteries were answered all at once, which kind of took some of the excitement out of it. No, Fringe does a wonderful job of providing classic sci-fi fare combined with the character development that Lost did so well.
The moral of the story here is that if you enjoyed Lost, or The X-Files, or Dollhouse, or Firefly, or Star Trek, or any other really good science fiction dramady, then Fringe is the show for you. It has classic themes, fantastic writing, an often-necessary sense of humor, and some of the best acting the Fox Network has ever seen. I'll still be posting my summer catch-up list in the next week, but while you're waiting, go check out some Fringe. Odds are you'll be hooked on the kooky Walter, the suave, struggling Peter, and the guarded bad-ass Olivia, along with everyone else, in no time at all.
You should know where to find links by now, right? Project Free TV, duh-doi.
Images via FringeBloggers, Josh-Jackson.net, Collider.com, TrekMovie, ChicagoNow
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