Telly catch-up - Fringe
Jan. 31st, 2011 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963I've just caught up with the last couple of episodes of Fringe - and I am totally gobsmacked.
Why are people not raving about this show?
What started out as a bit of an X-files clone has become something very different. Yes, there are aliens, and yes there are nasty-goings-on; yes, there's a man and a woman (an FBI agent named Olivia Dunham) who work together and who are attracted to each other... but there's a lot more than that, too. At the heart of the show is the incredible relationship between the slightly barmy, brilliant and fragile Walter Bishop and his son, Peter - emotionally damaged, with a shady past that seems to have involved a lot of moving around and distrust.
The first half of the first series was a bit formulaic, it's true, but it was also clearly constructed to give the show an "end" if it didn't get picked up. As luck would have it, it did and from then on, we started to get more and more of the characters' back-story and more of the Fringe-verse mythology introduced.
In a nutshell - there's an alternate universe in which ours is seen as a threat (whether real or created for political reasons remains to be seen). The Peter we see actually comes from that alternative universe (having been taken from there by "our" Walter when he was a boy, to replace "his" Peter, who had died). This kidnapping has set in motion a chain of events that is now playing out - and at the end of the second series, Olivia was trapped there, while the "her" from the alternate universe took her place in ours. That in itself is an interesting premise, but what's taken it far beyond "interesting" is the fact that now, we're getting to see the fall-out. At the end of S2, Olivia and Peter had pretty much declared their love for each other - and shortly after that, the two Olivias switched places. At the start of S3, "faux"-Olivia is living in our universe and, it later emerges, while she got close to Peter in order to keep tabs on him and Walter, she seeems to have been falling for him. When "our" Olivia gets back, she's devastated to find that Peter hadn't known that he'd been having a relationship with the "other" her and what I really liked was seeing that while on an intellectual level, she understood why it happened, emotionally, she couldn't deal with it. She's starting to get over that now, although I imagine it will take a while yet, considering recent plot developments. And if nothing else, I really love the way that the UST is being played out. So many shows get bogged down in that whole "will-they / won't-they?" that it can sometimes get tiresome, but here, for once, the writers have found a way to keep it going once the characters concerned have kissed and told each other how they feel. I doff my hat to them!
That's just one of the many things I love about Fringe.
And now, things are getting more complicated as we're starting to see that Peter has a very dark side and that all is not as it seems with him, either.
It's well written, it has humour, pathos, great characters and heart. I'd say it's one of those shows it helps to have seen from the beginning - even though the first half of S1 is basically a standalone arc, it nonetheless introduces the main characters, sets the foundation for their relatonships and introduces some of the concepts that will become important later on.
If you've not seen it - give it a try. I don't watch a great deal of telly, but it's rapidly become one of my "must see" shows.
Why are people not raving about this show?
What started out as a bit of an X-files clone has become something very different. Yes, there are aliens, and yes there are nasty-goings-on; yes, there's a man and a woman (an FBI agent named Olivia Dunham) who work together and who are attracted to each other... but there's a lot more than that, too. At the heart of the show is the incredible relationship between the slightly barmy, brilliant and fragile Walter Bishop and his son, Peter - emotionally damaged, with a shady past that seems to have involved a lot of moving around and distrust.
The first half of the first series was a bit formulaic, it's true, but it was also clearly constructed to give the show an "end" if it didn't get picked up. As luck would have it, it did and from then on, we started to get more and more of the characters' back-story and more of the Fringe-verse mythology introduced.
In a nutshell - there's an alternate universe in which ours is seen as a threat (whether real or created for political reasons remains to be seen). The Peter we see actually comes from that alternative universe (having been taken from there by "our" Walter when he was a boy, to replace "his" Peter, who had died). This kidnapping has set in motion a chain of events that is now playing out - and at the end of the second series, Olivia was trapped there, while the "her" from the alternate universe took her place in ours. That in itself is an interesting premise, but what's taken it far beyond "interesting" is the fact that now, we're getting to see the fall-out. At the end of S2, Olivia and Peter had pretty much declared their love for each other - and shortly after that, the two Olivias switched places. At the start of S3, "faux"-Olivia is living in our universe and, it later emerges, while she got close to Peter in order to keep tabs on him and Walter, she seeems to have been falling for him. When "our" Olivia gets back, she's devastated to find that Peter hadn't known that he'd been having a relationship with the "other" her and what I really liked was seeing that while on an intellectual level, she understood why it happened, emotionally, she couldn't deal with it. She's starting to get over that now, although I imagine it will take a while yet, considering recent plot developments. And if nothing else, I really love the way that the UST is being played out. So many shows get bogged down in that whole "will-they / won't-they?" that it can sometimes get tiresome, but here, for once, the writers have found a way to keep it going once the characters concerned have kissed and told each other how they feel. I doff my hat to them!
That's just one of the many things I love about Fringe.
And now, things are getting more complicated as we're starting to see that Peter has a very dark side and that all is not as it seems with him, either.
It's well written, it has humour, pathos, great characters and heart. I'd say it's one of those shows it helps to have seen from the beginning - even though the first half of S1 is basically a standalone arc, it nonetheless introduces the main characters, sets the foundation for their relatonships and introduces some of the concepts that will become important later on.
If you've not seen it - give it a try. I don't watch a great deal of telly, but it's rapidly become one of my "must see" shows.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 10:50 pm (UTC)All the characters are amazing. Even the "minor" characters are well written and you care about them. The whole "Over there" thing is great, especially once the "other" them start to see what life on this side might be like.
I totally love Walter (and want to do Peter!). There are times I want to shake Olivia, but she's been through a lot, so I'll let her off. She needs to lighten up a bit.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:03 am (UTC)I thought Peter was looking especially yummy in the last couple of eps :)
I admit, when I started watching, Anna Torv was kinda the weak link for me. It wasn't that she was bad - maybe Olivia was a bit flat in comparison to Walter and Peter who are both so intriguing, but I've really grown to like both the actress and the character.
I've got so used to NOT watching things as they air, and watching several eps at a time, that it's frustraing, waiting for new stuff each week!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:30 am (UTC)And I'm at the stage where I'm nearly caught up so soon I will be at the waiting stage - as I am for NCIS - and I hate that, I find it so stressful! But it's exciting having a show that still has so much more to show us, rather than knowing that whatever happens is all resolved already and I just haven't gotten to it yet. Especially since NCIS is annoying me at the moment too.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:13 pm (UTC)I hope that Fringe sticks around for quite a while - although I wouldn't want it to become stale. As long as it gets a good ending - whenever that is - I'll be happy. (Unless it's cancelled this year - in which case, I won't!)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:18 pm (UTC)Like I said above, I'm very impressed with the way they're dealing with the fallout of the Olivia switcheroo. So many shows wouldn't have explored the emotional angle when she got back.
I have to say that I don't like the waiting between episodes. It's been a while since I've watched something I'm so keen on on a weekly basis and it's frustrating!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 10:27 pm (UTC)I saw a set of interviews the other night with the cast from the end of S2. The guy who plays Broyles was saying how much he enjoyed playing the two different versions. It must have been a mixture of interesting and difficult to play two sides of a character, even though they share certain characteristics.