Fringe Review - half-way mark on S1
Sep. 10th, 2011 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHaving now made it through the first 11 episodes of Fringe - I can safely state that it is not an X-Files clone or anything like it. No aliens. No skeptic/believer dynamic. And the science isn't paranormal and more well innovative and creative.
Also, the puzzle gets more interesting and twisty. With various clues placed throughout. Yet unlike Lost - the writers appear to know the answers and where they are going. It's much tighter written. Also the case of the week fits into the puzzle or is part of the serialized story, which provides a depth to the series lacking in most procedurals.
It's not The Wire, but few shows are. And this series is written faster and has a lot more episodes and is written for a broadcast network whose main goal in life is to sell ad space. So there is a formulaic pressure on the writers of Fringe that the Wire and television series on HBO and Showtime simply do not have. Nor do I suspect do many series on the BBC, which appears to be publically funded? This may explain why series on premium cable (subscriber services) are shorter in length and often tighter in structure.
That said - these characters are complex. John Noble's Walter is one of the most complicated characters I've seen in quite some time. He's a character who I'm guessing has done some horrific things in his past, and cannot remember them. In some respects he reminds me a little of the character Angel spliced with Topher on Dollhouse, except a lot more complicated and far better acted. We, after all, have a character actor with a wealth of experience behind him in this role. He's not pretty, but the lines in his face and his eyes convey multitudes.
Yes, the writing is choppy in places. Predictable at times. There are bits of what I like to call wooden dialogue. And not all the actors are good, some of the guest actors, are weak at times. But generally speaking - it is a seasoned and capable cast. The three leads are very good - which is important. As are the main supporting cast - Lance Reddick and Blair Brown. Far more so than most tv shows in this genre. And unlike many first television seasons...this series does take off early on - the first five or six episodes are a bit on the slow side, and feel a tad clunky. Episodes 7-9 though have moments of hilarity and start to pull you into the tale. Then well it begins to take off at a gallop. Still far from great, but so much better than 90% of the procedurals and sci-fi shows currently on.
We are firmly in three points of view - Olivia, Peter, and Walter. And after a while you begin to become a bit enthralled with each one, who has their own complicated back story. Olivia, who reminds me a little of Faith in the Buffy series, is a far more layered character. She has a sister. A not so nice stepfather. She's a loner. There's bits and pieces added, showing the contradictions. The writing is deeper, and the mysteries far from being the "monster of the week" trope that the series threatened to be at the start have become increasingly interesting, at times humorous, and further the central plot and character both emotionally and plotwise. In other words they aren't just metaphors - like most tv series. I find the B plot line or case of the week or adventure of the week is all emotional metaphor and has zip to do with A plot line style a tad
over-done. Fringe seems to deal more directly with its characters, as opposed to circling around them. In this sense, it is more satisfying than both Lost and Alias, Abrahams prior projects.Abhrams isn't writing Fringe, just producing - so that may be part of it?
Examples of interesting cases of the week? One man is slashed by monarch butterflies - he collected rare butterflies. A group of epidemologists are killed by enlarged (to parasitic worm size) common cold viral cell. Each case links back to corporate experimentation. If there's a bad guy here, it may be the corporation, but then again maybe not - it's not clear-cut. The world of Fringe is a gray world with no clearly defined good guys and bad guys.
Yes, folks, I think I've gotten hooked on Fringe now. It's definitely amongst the best sci-fi series I've seen in a while. Sci-fi is hard to do, I think.
Also, the puzzle gets more interesting and twisty. With various clues placed throughout. Yet unlike Lost - the writers appear to know the answers and where they are going. It's much tighter written. Also the case of the week fits into the puzzle or is part of the serialized story, which provides a depth to the series lacking in most procedurals.
It's not The Wire, but few shows are. And this series is written faster and has a lot more episodes and is written for a broadcast network whose main goal in life is to sell ad space. So there is a formulaic pressure on the writers of Fringe that the Wire and television series on HBO and Showtime simply do not have. Nor do I suspect do many series on the BBC, which appears to be publically funded? This may explain why series on premium cable (subscriber services) are shorter in length and often tighter in structure.
That said - these characters are complex. John Noble's Walter is one of the most complicated characters I've seen in quite some time. He's a character who I'm guessing has done some horrific things in his past, and cannot remember them. In some respects he reminds me a little of the character Angel spliced with Topher on Dollhouse, except a lot more complicated and far better acted. We, after all, have a character actor with a wealth of experience behind him in this role. He's not pretty, but the lines in his face and his eyes convey multitudes.
Yes, the writing is choppy in places. Predictable at times. There are bits of what I like to call wooden dialogue. And not all the actors are good, some of the guest actors, are weak at times. But generally speaking - it is a seasoned and capable cast. The three leads are very good - which is important. As are the main supporting cast - Lance Reddick and Blair Brown. Far more so than most tv shows in this genre. And unlike many first television seasons...this series does take off early on - the first five or six episodes are a bit on the slow side, and feel a tad clunky. Episodes 7-9 though have moments of hilarity and start to pull you into the tale. Then well it begins to take off at a gallop. Still far from great, but so much better than 90% of the procedurals and sci-fi shows currently on.
We are firmly in three points of view - Olivia, Peter, and Walter. And after a while you begin to become a bit enthralled with each one, who has their own complicated back story. Olivia, who reminds me a little of Faith in the Buffy series, is a far more layered character. She has a sister. A not so nice stepfather. She's a loner. There's bits and pieces added, showing the contradictions. The writing is deeper, and the mysteries far from being the "monster of the week" trope that the series threatened to be at the start have become increasingly interesting, at times humorous, and further the central plot and character both emotionally and plotwise. In other words they aren't just metaphors - like most tv series. I find the B plot line or case of the week or adventure of the week is all emotional metaphor and has zip to do with A plot line style a tad
over-done. Fringe seems to deal more directly with its characters, as opposed to circling around them. In this sense, it is more satisfying than both Lost and Alias, Abrahams prior projects.Abhrams isn't writing Fringe, just producing - so that may be part of it?
Examples of interesting cases of the week? One man is slashed by monarch butterflies - he collected rare butterflies. A group of epidemologists are killed by enlarged (to parasitic worm size) common cold viral cell. Each case links back to corporate experimentation. If there's a bad guy here, it may be the corporation, but then again maybe not - it's not clear-cut. The world of Fringe is a gray world with no clearly defined good guys and bad guys.
Yes, folks, I think I've gotten hooked on Fringe now. It's definitely amongst the best sci-fi series I've seen in a while. Sci-fi is hard to do, I think.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 01:45 pm (UTC)SPOILERS
I know about the alternate verse and that Olivia gets switched with another version of herself over there and they play out both pov's. I know there's a problem that was created when Walter went over to the alt!verse to steal that version's Peter, because his Peter died. I know who Peter is and what Peter has to do. And that Olivia has special abilities due to what Walter did to her in the past.
I saw an episode last year and someone online thought I was watching it and told me a great deal. So, more spoiled than I probably should be. But since I don't know specifics or how it plays out...it's not that big a deal. Just don't tell me anymore.
I don't know how the John Scott bit is resolved or what he was doing for example. Or what that group he was involved with was doing. Or who the two sides are. Or what role Broyles plays or for that matter Blair Brown. And I don't know what happens in the two alt!verses, or what Walter has specifically done.
It would be a bit like telling someone who hadn't watched Buffy -Oh,
there's a big romance between Spike and Buffy, Buffy slays vampires, Spike's this evil vamp who turns good and falls for her, Spike sacrifices himself, Willow turns evil because her girlfriend Tara dies. And that's all they really tell you.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 02:34 pm (UTC)But the case of the week starts to lose importance to the "central story" of the series, and episodes tie more and more into that story.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 04:02 pm (UTC)That's what I'm looking for too...the disappearance of the case of the week, it's starting to happen already. It reminds me a little of Whedon's shows, Ron Moore's, and to a degree Farscape in that respect. The writers clearly find the whole case of the week/episodic deal boring to write, but know that in order to get a network and advertisers to sign off on their show - they have to pitch that and go with that set-up until they get a devoted audience, then they can go with the serial set-up they prefer.
The same exact thing happened with The Good Wife. It started out - very case of the week, then the back-story began to take over.
I've been spoiled enough to know that the show changes and becomes a serial by about the second season. Which lost some fans - the non-serial fans who prefer shows that wrap up each week and that they do not have to commit to or follow closely - probably dropped Fringe. While the serial fans who hate shows that you don't have to commit to and do wrap up each week - jumped on board.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 10:40 am (UTC)Its publicly funded through a license fee everyone with a telly pays.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 01:49 pm (UTC)It's a little like our PBS, which is subscriber funded with additional public funding, that's about the closest we come to the model you described.