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

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This is from the pilot episode. It is a cool chase seen and just a taste of what is to come for Olivia Dunham and her future of chasing bad guys.

Score: 81/100

“Little Hill”

That has been going through my head all night until the writing of this review. “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” starts off with FBI agents busting a truck full of plush panda bears. Agent Mitchell Loeb (Chance Kelly) and Broyles go over what could have went awry when Loeb falls to the floor with intermittent cardiac arrest. He’s rushed to the hospital and as the doctors begin to operate, they discover a parasite around the heart of Agent Loeb’s that looks frighteningly similar to Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. So our crew is put in charge of saving Agent Loeb. Walter and Astrid find a pattern in the DNA of what is our Fringe science of the day, “Synthetic Parasite,” and Olivia realizes that it links back to one of Agent Scott’s old case files in Frankfurt. So off to Germany Agent Dunhum goes after she fights off resistance from Broyles and she meets with a friendly face as she arrives by the name Lucas Vogal (Billy Burke). Lucas has connections to the prison where David Robert Jones, the person who Olivia thinks hold the cure for Agent Loeb, is being held. Lucas also has old connections with Olivia from the past. Olivia has arranged a meeting with Mr. Jones as long as Jones could ask one question to  Joseph Smith, but she has to wait until the next morning as per warden’s orders. In the states, however, Agent Francis tips off Broyles that a one Joseph Smith is linked to the DNA of the parasite. Broyles leads a swat team to apprehend Smith. Smith resists arrest and is taken down by a bullet to the brain. This obviously puts a wrench in Agent Dunham’s plan, but a bullet to the head never stopped the good doctor from getting what he wants. Walter hooks Peter up to the deceased Smith as Olivia is in the meeting with Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones wants an answer to his question before giving the antidote for the parasite. Olivia is stalling while Walter works out the kinks and just as Olivia’s visit time runs out, Peter gets the answer and all is good. However, there is something fishy going on with Agent Loeb, his wife, and “Little Hill.”

Fringe now has too many characters to keep up with. Agent Loeb is now on an already long list of plot characters we don’t have resolve to. Through seven episodes there is, Agent Scott, Agent Loeb (ep. 7), The Observer (ep. 4), Mr. Jones (ep.7), Nina Brown, Jacob Fischer (ep. 5), the people behind the ghost network (ep. 3), and Dr. Penrose (ep. 2). It’s hard to keep track of all of these people and if they are still relevant to the story or not. Also, I don’t like all of Olivia’s love sagas. I think it takes away from her strength and independence as a young woman agent and no matter how much the focus is on it, her love for any other character seems fake and unbelievable. It’s not Anna Torv’s fault as much as I think the writers are at fault. It seems like Olivia’s love interests are just the key to open the door to the next chapter of the show. I also think that Peter’s and Walter’s characters are too inconsistent. Philip Broyles is the most consistent of all the characters on the show and that’s because he is written to have no emotion. It seems as if the writers have a problem with the different emotions of the characters and how that plays into the personalities of those characters I mentioned earlier. I also had a problem with Agent Loeb and his master plan. It is a bit far fetched that Loeb would do what he did and the risk it involved just to get “Little Hill.” This episode had one saving grace and that was Mr. Jones.

Star of the show: Mr. Jones

A fictitious 14 minutes is all we got of Mr. Jones, but he is the most interesting character in the show outside Walter and the Observer. I want to know what he knows about the pattern, who he worked for, and how he ended up in a German prison. And yes, I would like some fava beans and a nice chianti.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Fringe-Jasika-Nicole-27410.aspx

Actress Jasika Nicole talks about her role as Astrid Farnsworth, her artistic side, and acting along side Gene.

Score: 85/100

Fringe came back stronger this week with “The Cure.” A strange woman gets dropped off in the middle of the street. Disoriented and alone, she wanders into a coffee shop. The unsuspecting staff and patrons don’t know they are about to get their brains gooified when this strange woman goes “Carrie” when the local policeman tries to take her in as a 5150. The woman now known as Emily Kramer (Maria Dizzia) had a seemingly incurable disease by the name of Bellini’s lymphocemia as the white suited Dr. Bishop observed. This leads our team in the direction of Intrepus, a rival company of Massive Dynamic. Another woman by the name of Claire Williams (Marjan Neshat) has gone missing and Olivia is hard pressed to find her before she goes kaboom. She confronts David Esterburg, a high profile executive at Intrepus and that leads to little more than a chewing out from Broyles. So Peter asks for a friendly favor from Nina Sharp from Massive Dynamic and this gives our team a location to move on and save Claire Williams before her brain becomes strudel.

“The Cure” was different from the other episodes because there was no chase scene and it moved at a slower pace. I liked Olivia’s character finally in this episode although I’m still not sold on Anna Torv’s acting. Agent Dunham showed emotion. We got to delve into her past as well which gives her character much needed depth. I also noticed that every episode with Nina Sharp in it has hints and storylines leading to future episodes, hence, Nina Sharp equals good show. Peter and Walter are inconsistent in their characters but their chemistry is good enough and they keep the show lighthearted. I do want to know when Astrid forgave Walter for stabbing her in the neck with a sedative.

Star of the Show: Mr Papaya

Also known as the “friendliest fruit,” Mr Papaya took one for the team in the worst way. He has shown more emotion than 90% of the Fringe characters. He also made Gene jump.

Score: 79/100

Fringe comes back out the stable after a week lay off with a bit of a whimper. The episode starts off with a down in the dumps, working class delivery boy that has confidence issues and an unhealthy crush on a woman he barely knows. Unusual things start happening to the electronics around him. This eventually leads to an unfortunate elevator accident that leaves four people dead. Since nothing in Boston happens accidentally anymore, our team is on the case. Dr. Bishop discovers that the accident is no accident. A human is causing random electromagnetic accidents by the name of Joseph Meegar (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). This leads us to this weeks Fringe science; human electro-magnetic altering, which amplifies the normal bio electricity found in humans. An evil doctor by the name of Jacob Fischer (Max Baker) was the brains behind the experiment and also hot on the trail of Mr. Meeger. The bad doctor is able to find Meeger first but our awesome team is able to track them down and save the day once again.

What makes Fringe a good show is the exciting climax of each episode and intrigue that each episode leaves for the next episode. This particular episode had neither. The ongoing relationship with Olivia and John is going in so many different directions that it’s becoming silly. I believe the writers are pushing their relationship for a dramatic climax, but I don’t need Olivia being lovestruck over a dead guy every episode. The other main characters were blah especially since both Peter’s and Walter’s storyline were becoming very interesting. I think it was a bad idea to not develop the characters of Peter and Walter after a week lay off. The climax in the episode was very anticlimactic and there was little foreshadowing for the next episode. Fringe needs to pull off some fireworks for the next few episodes to get some notice in a crowded fall season.

Star of the Show: Pigeons

Pigeons have gotten a bad wrap since we don’t need them anymore. Before telephones and a reliable postal service, pigeons were our way to communicate swiftly over far distances. Now we think of pigeons as dirty flying rats that we wish off the face of the Earth, but this episode gave the low bird on the totem pole a well deserved hug.

An article from Entertainment Weekly compared the offices of Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic and Catherine Weaver from Terminator:SCC. Both office have big money looks to them. Catherine’s office is made up of almost all glass with a few clear plastic chairs and a couple plants. Nina’s office from what I’ve seen has changeable backdrops with large spacial area and slanted windows. Nina’s office is more high tech but the bathrooms in Catherine’s office have liquid metal urinals.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/09/fringe-terminat.html

Score – 94/100

It keeps getting better and better. This is the most intriguing episode yet. It starts off with a bang when a guy with no hair devours the most delicious roast beef, pepper, jalapeno, Tabasco sandwich ever. All of a sudden, something comes from underground and creates tons of chaos for a construction site and a neighboring building. The bald guy confirms the mysterious object from the ground with an unknown colleague that turns out to be a vibrating cylinder. Our hero trio is of course put on the case. This cylinder is indeed very important because an unnamed killer is trying to recover the cylinder while Walter is keeping his fellow cohorts in the dark about what this cylinder is and what it can do, something he hasn’t done before. Walter even assaults Agent Farnsworth and hides the cylinder where no one can find it. Peter is especially upset with this and right as he is leaving for good, he is captured by the unnamed cylinder hunter and asked a few questions. This brings us to this weeks Fringe science, Mental Osmosis. The antagonist uses electric currents to hear his captive’s thoughts. The machine is able to read deeper than the conscious thoughts of the captives as long as the line of questioning is on track with the information he needs. Our antagonist gets the info he needs from Peter and tracks down the cylinder. Olivia comes to the rescue and subdues the beanie wearing baddie and the cylinder disappeared into the ground where it came from.

I enjoyed this episode more than the others, however I think that the characters of Walter and Peter changed their personalities pretty drastically. Walter in the first three episodes is the crazy, kooky scientist that never raised his voice to his son. Then all of a sudden he is defiant and aggressive, maybe for good reason, but outside of Walter’s character in my opinion. Peter’s case is worse because it happens twice in the same episode. He seems to enjoy Agent Dunham’s company and running down bad guys with her in most of the first three episodes then all of a sudden he wants out. Then a bump on the head makes him want to stay and uncover all of the unexplained events in the world with his father that he has thrown under the bus the whole episode before this point. The intrigue level is sky high however, with the Observer and what seems to be his mysterious cylinder. Agent Scott’s cameo was also something that I didn’t expect so soon. Thanks for leaving me 2 weeks to think about that Abrams.

Star of the Show – The Observer

“Apples, bananas, rhinoceroses…I want to hold your hand.” He is some sort of weird. No hair, no eyebrows, always there, but no one ever sees him. He can read thoughts with only a blank stare and he doesn’t age. What is he, what other powers does he have, and can he eat my world famous fire chili?

Back in action – Gene the Cow

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.