Find Fringe – for all things Fringe by JJ Abrams on Fox

My Score 92/100

This episode of Fringe was greatly superior to the pilot in every way, shape, and form. The first episode was rushed due to the writer’s strike but you can tell that episode 2 was streamlined like a brand new Lamborghini. The characters were more fleshed out and you developed a connection with all of the main characters, even Agent Farnsworth got to do something.

There was a 4 minute sneak peek on the Sunday prior to the Tuesday, 9/16/08 episode and I really wasn’t impressed with the preview at all. It very much seemed like an X-Files episode and I totally expected an alien baby to pop out, but that’s why you watch the show. It turns out that the baby was a ridiculously fast-aging baby that died within minutes of his birth of old age. That leads us to this episodes fringe science “Celermitosis,” in which the pituitary gland is manipulated to speed up the growth process. This process obviously hasn’t been streamlined with the old baby and that is where the antagonists for this episode comes in. The serial killer is actually a creation of this science and he is stealing the pituitary glands of his victims. All in all, it leads to an action packed show that our field team of Agent Dunham and Peter Bishop are running down the suspects and our science unit of Dr. Bishop, Agent Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole), and of course Gene, figuring out how to revive dead people over the phone. I do find trouble in the fact that they let Peter run around as a citizen FBI/DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) agent however.

Episode 2 raises even more questions and intriguing sciences to uncover. What is Massive Dynamics’ tie to the DHS? Who are the people in the last scene? How crazy is Dr. Bishop? Will Peter ever get a gun of his own? Is Peter okay? I want to know the answers to these questions and that’s why I’m gonna continue watching.

Star of Show – Dr. Walter Bishop

Mad scientist extraordinaire. Who else can reference LSD and Cocaine and get away with it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he became an icon for absent minded professors right up there with Dr. Julius Kelp, Prof. Ned Brainard, and Einstein himself.

My Score 78/100

Fringe, the latest new ip (intellectual property) from mister money in the bank, J.J. Abhams, aired on 9/9/09. The show has gotten many comparisons to that other Fox show… the name slips my mind… oh yeah, X-Files, and from what I saw in the first episode, deservedly so. It doesn’t help that the main characters are FBI agents that are investigating “unnatural” events that are happening. I wasn’t a fan of the stale love angle that was in the episode but without spoiling the plot, I must say it ended in an interesting way.

Agent Olivia Dunham looking very angry

The pacing of the show was slow and badly acted, but the actors have potential which would make the dialogue bad. It starts off with an expensive bang with people turning translucent and melting all over this “smart plane” that lands itself in Boston. This eventually leads to Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) investigating a crime scene that leads to her partner Agent Scott (Mark Valley) getting disfigured and dying.

The last 25-30 minutes of the show really picked up as we learned more about what fringe sciences are and how the kooky Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) implemented the particular science in this installment. In this episode, the science implemented was “Mental Transference, ” in which Agent Dunham volunteers to be Dr. Bishop’s first test subject in some 17 years to save the agent she has a secret romantic relationship with, Agent Scott. She had to lay in a rusty tub of water with “Matrix” tubes in the back of her head while doped up with LSD so she could connect with Agent Scott to find his attempted killer so they could interrogate the criminal to find a cure for Scott . The concept was interesting but the corny love plot put a wrench in a well designed scheme. The uncovering of all of the events known as “the pattern,” is where the show… shows it’s legs. The show takes a predictable turn that ends in our new team of Agent Dunham, Dr. Bishop, and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) coming together for the long haul and the demise of Agent Scott. There is a lot of upside to the show with all of the sciences to be uncovered and all of the secrets that are yet to be revealed.  Fringe has as much potential as X-Files to become a hit show and this is evident in the first episode. However, the pilot in itself had bad dialogue, a stale feel, and no identity of its own.

Star of the Show

– Gene the Cow -

There are 3 reasons why Gene stole the show. 1) It taught me that cow’s and human’s DNA are only separated by a few strands. 2) She eats Chinese food. 3) Watching her getting pulled through Harvard during classes is hilarious. How many times have you seen a cow starring on network TV?

Photo shoot for the stars of friends

JJ Abrams talks about fringe

Experience a part of the Fringe panel @ Comic-Con 08
Fringe premieres tonight 8/7c on Fox.