Television Review: Fringe (Seasons 1-3(ish))

As seems to happen with a lot of series, Fringe didn’t find its footing straight away. It appeared to be a half-hearted X-Files rip-off, with science that stretched believability to the breaking point and with a less charismatic cast. The first episodes focus on the formation of the Fringe team. Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) gets drafted into the Fringe division of the FBI, looking into events that seemingly defy explanation. Borderline crazy scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) is picked to aid her, who is looked after by his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and assisted in the lab by agent Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole). Olivia’s boss, her FBI partner and a shady lady who runs the Massive Dynamic science corporation complete the main cast.

Initially the series jumps from strange event to strange event without quite making connections between them, while awkwardly handling its leads. Tradition seems to demand romantic tension between Olivia and Peter but it’s barely there. Peter and Astrid aren’t given much to do, Walter seems a collection of tics and oddness in need of a personality, Olivia is a little flat and her FBI colleagues don’t register much either. The pseudo-science occasionally leads to prolonged bouts of eye-rolling. Example: in one episode Peter succeeds in playing back sound waves supposedly caught in a slightly melted window, forming grooves like those on a record. He is able to recover an actual conversation this way, while the weary viewer just shakes his (or her) head in utter disbelief.

Just as I was about to bail on Fringe, it hooked me and reeled me back in. An overarching plot, which had previously only had been hinted at, comes to the fore near the end of season one and saves the day. As it turns out, there is an alternate reality that has dubious intentions with our version, for reasons too spoiler-filled to get into. This new revelation is spun in such a way that Peter becomes a pivotal part of the plot and Walter becomes a more complex and sympathetic – if very flawed – character. Olivia’s personality gets fleshed out as well, as she discovers a unique aspect of herself. Alas, Astrid still remains a bit one-dimensional until well into season two; no wonder Walter always has trouble getting her name right. Because of the extra layers that the alternate reality story arc brings to the interpersonal relationships all around, the crew starts to feel more cohesive, almost like a family, which allows viewers to emotionally invest in the series.

I am currently watching the first half of the third season and the set-up is creative and interesting: each week the show jumps from one of the two warring realities to the other. So one week will tell a story in ‘our’ universe, the next in the other, then ours again, then the alternate and so on… It is without a doubt the best string of episodes so far. To the relief of fans, Fringe was recently picked up for a fourth season. It was touch-and-go for a while, as the series is struggling in the ratings; the amount of back-story and the playing around with alternate versions of the main characters is the best part of the series, but may also baffle someone who is tuning in for the first time. It will be interesting to see if the show drops some of the more complicated plotlines in order to survive or will continue along the road it is on, focusing on the dedicated fans. The second route would have my preference, as long as the story ultimately gets finished and is not suddenly cut off, as happens all too often with endangered television series. Fingers crossed that Fringe gets to tell the full story it was created to tell.

Shilly Fixion

Some science-fiction / fantasy writers treat the imaginary worlds they’ve created with such in-depth seriousness that the average reader is tempted to give them a shake and yell: ‘I don’t care about the extended family history of the irrelevant side character on page 569 or about the logistical intricacies of interplanetary Nerf-herding, just get on with the story!’Others try to avoid accusations of purple-prose seriousness by making fun of themselves and their tales of the extraordinary. However, in doing so, most prove that dreaming up fantasy stories and being funny are two very separate skills. Nothing makes for worse reading than bad jokes thrown into a story not even the writer took seriously to begin with.There exist a blessed few who manage to find the right mix of humor and commitment to the story, drawing you in enough to care about the characters and their out-of-this-world adventures, while making you laugh out loud. By my book – pun sadly intended – those who manage the best are (in no particular order):
Jasper Fforde
Not too long ago, he unleashed on the general public a sassy literary detective from a parallel dimension, where books and writers are taken very seriously. With plenty of time-bending, book-hopping and the occasional villain hiding in a footnote, expect to be baffled and entertained.Terry PratchettNo news here for fantasy aficionados. He has built a cohesive fantasy realm in his Discworld novels without being boring or taking himself too seriously. Any one of these titles can be read separately without bafflement.
Robert Rankin
Imagine Terry Pratchett on acid. Thank God for the lack of therapy that brought us titles like: The Hollow Chocolate Easter Bunnies of the Apocalypse and Nostradamus ate my Hamster. Weird, post-modern ‘hey, we’re in a book’-style jokes and off-the-cuff linguistic experiments make for some hilarious reading even if the plot sometimes seems on the random side.
Peter David
The very popular writer of comics and Star Trek novels (amongst others) was given his own corner of the Star Trek universe to play with: the New Frontier series of novels. Not confined by continuity, his stories grow more bizarre all the time, displaying a sexy streak not often seen in the franchise. Despite patches of by-the-numbers writing, this series zips along as a very entertaining space soap opera. Start at the beginning, though!
Douglas Adams
Legendary because of the multi-volume Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and rightly so. His plotting got tighter over the years, but Adams was never funnier than in the first two volumes. The HHGTTG is being made into a movie, but it is a given that his wordy wit works better on paper. Also try his two Dirk Gently novels.
Tom Holt
He has a great sense of humour and inventive plots, even if sometimes the latter derail a bit. Still worth a read, though sometimes the whole feels lesser than its parts.