Friday, November 5, 2010

Fringe S3E5

There is a time in every TV shows life which represents the very peak of what the show can do. It's a moment, perhaps a string of moments, that really define the show. But not just define it. It sticks with you, makes you want to come back again. And again.

Chuck had it late in the second season. It was always pretty good. Fun. But it wasn't until the latter half of the second season where everything came together and what followed was a blistering string of awesomeness which ended in a kung fu bang. Battlestar Galactica did it in the first part of the second season, where instead of just trying to tie up loose ends from the S1 finally, they really ran with it and let the situation spiral out of control. Hell, even Big Bang Theory had it with it's stellar second season premier, and an inspired string of episodes that had little in common--but were consistently funnier than they'd ever been before or since.

Fringe, I think, has reached that peak. Fringe has always been good. But it's never had such a string of high quality episodes as it's having right now. Crossing seasons, Fringe is on a 8 episode winning streak which started with 'Northwest Passage' and now continues with episode 5. Season 2 was a good season--overall. But, it had a serious problem in that many of the episodes were truly random filler. Not that it is necessarily bad, I guess, some of those episodes were very good in their own right. But Season 1 managed to take to random, and connect it all together in a neat package. People, bad people, were experimenting, leading to hideous death to innocents...and all of those grisly deaths fit the same general them. And then we learned why, and it all started to come together.

Season 2, however, had to get past the why, and go to the what for. And it did just that, but at the same time it meandered. Episodes like Night of Desirable Objects, Dream Logic, Earthling, Snake Head, Johari Window, What Lies Below, The Bishop Revival, all had nothing to do with anything that had come before, and also seem to lead to no connection to anything else. That's 7 episodes out of 22 that had real connection to anything else. Which is actually a good ratio, really, but the first season had, what, 2 episodes that really had no connection to anything (the one with the computer virus killing people, and the one with the chimera, I believe). Everything else had a meaningful connection to ZFT, or to John Scott, or to some other important part of the mythology.

OK, maybe I'm nit picking a little bit here. It's not like stand alone episodes are bad. And some of those were actually quite good episodes in their own right. But, Season 2 really hit its stride when Olivia learned the truth about Peter, and the slow building of dread about what was going to happen when the truth comes out. And from the moment Peter disappeared, through tonight, every single episode of Fringe has been awesome. Not just good...but awesome.

Tonight's episode was 'over there' as they call it. Olivia is having hallucinations about Peter. She's strongly doubting herself. And she's agreed to allow herself to be experimented on. And even from the start, things happen. She crosses over, if only for a few minutes. And suddenly she's even less sure of herself. I've not 100% bought into the whole brainwashing thing, though I'd admit the reasoning Walternate uses does make a weird form of sense. At first I was hoping that she was just going to be playing along. And then last 'over there' episode I figured she had figured out the truth. And she has really, but she's in denial.

But ironically, the 'b' story is the fringe investigation. About a brother breaking his identical twin out of Amber. They are alive, apparently, and in stasis (which makes me wonder...in S1 the ones trapped in Amber were certainly dead...did they forget that or is this something different). Fringe team is investigating because, well if the truth came out there would be anarchy. So they need to find the brothers and shut them out before anyone figures out the truth.

Considering how invested I am with Olivia's story, the investigation was possibly the greatest part of the episode. The interaction with the brothers, the reasons for it, and it's pay off was quite powerful, especially since there wasn't really a lot of time spent with the brothers. Not only was that good writing, but it was good acting as well. And it worked in ways that really fit in with Olivia's situation, elevating both stories in the process. That's tried a lot, I've tried it in stories, but it rarely works so well as it did here.And Olivia let them get away with it because she knows exactly what the brother was going through.

And at the end, Olivia knows the truth. She went to the other side. And wished Ella happy birthday. A major cock tease, to be sure, but now there's no doubt. She may not remember everything, and I suspect that she won't be getting back home soon, but I want next week to come right now... And as a producer of a TV show that's exactly how they want you to feel.

So, how long with this streak continue? I hope for a while at least, but all things come to an end eventually. At this point, I just hope Fringe gets a fourth season. It's just too damned cool to end with just 3 seasons. But I have to wonder just what is going to happen when Olivia does get back? Quite frankly, Alt-Fringe is just too cool to not come back to on a regular basis. And having Charlie back is awesome. And the new character Lincoln is too awesome as well.

I'm also wondering. So far, the show has presented Walter as the bad guy. He first crossed over and started this. And certainly that's true. But, why is the other Universe so fragile compared to the main Universe. I think the presumption has been that it was because it was the one first crossed through. But honestly, I don't think that's the case. My theory is, Walternate realized his son was kidnapped and drove himself to find a way to return his son no matter what the cost. Their Universe is so unstable because Walternate could not let go, would not give up, and did not care about the consequences in his drive to get back his son. That's why the alternate universe is so fragile and failing.

But even with that theory, what is going to happen when Olivia gets back? Will she continue to be able to cross over at will? Fringe has a history of suggesting powers for her that they soon forget about...though it was cool they remembered Olivia's 'super hearing' from S2. What will happen with the other Olivia? She does not have that ability, though obviously the other side has some ability to travel back and forth. Will the show just go back the way it was before? Or will it head off in a new direction once more information about that strange device shows up? Maybe it will lead to more and more cross overs as the show goes on?

Whatever happens, Fringe has really established itself as a major sci-fi show, and it's the best of all of the TV shows I'm watching right now.

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