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.