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

Score: 90/100

Fringe takes us back to the past this week, all the way back to the first episode (all 11 weeks ago) with Olivia getting back in the brain tank. It starts with an up and coming employee at Massive Dynamic killing himself by jumping out of a high story window. The weird lacerations on his body bring in Olivia and team to check things out. During the investigation, Agent Scott leads Olivia to a basement full of Bufo Alvarius or toads. It turns out that these toads have hallucinogenic powers and that happens to be the Fringe science of this episode. Walter concludes that it was no accident and the Massive Dynamic employee was murdered. Olivia urges Walter to put her back in the tank to get the rest of Agent Scott’s memories to help finish solving the case. Meanwhile, Peter’s past caught up with him when a mysterious woman warns him of trouble coming his way. Peter finds out that people in his past are causing this woman, who obviously has close connections to Peter problems. As Olivia, Walter, and Astrid find a lead to the Massive Dynamic mystery, Peter is taking the law into his own hands and assaults one of the bad guys from his past. Olivia and Agent Francis chase and catch who they think is the culprit of the murder is. While under hospital care, the man has a hallucinogenic attack that causes his throat to be cut from the inside. He was telling Agent Dunham that Massive Dynamic was behind the killing and that he was in danger before he died.

Fringe is good when it follows the Massive Dynamic storyline. When the evil company is involved in the show, interesting sciences are showcased and more mystery is involved. The Olivia/Agent Scott love plot is still annoying but leading to a possible interesting conclusion. Peter has the best potential of any character in the show because of his shady, unknown past and the potential of what he can do and what he is capable of. If this show can sure up all of the many different plot angles they have introduced, it will be a good first season. I see closure in some of those angles so this is very promising.

Star of the Show: Peter Bishop

He takes an armed guy throws him to against a parked car, beats on him like a trained Navy Seal, disarms him, throws him to the ground, and dismantles the gun all in one minute. Then walks away like he does this every Tuesday. Who knew?

Score: 89/100

Fringe picked it up this week with “The Equation.” The episode starts off with a father driving his musically gifted son called “Bean” (Charlie Tahan) somewhere when they find a woman stalled on the side of the road. The father being a good Samaritan stops and helps the pretty lady. He opens the hood to see if he can see something wrong that he can fix when green and red lights start flashing which brings us to the first of this week’s Fringe science; Induced Hypnagogia – Which causes someone to go into a half state of sleep . Next thing you know, M. Stockton (Adam Grupper) is startled by the late tow truck driver. His son, the woman and her car are gone. The team gets involved because that man had blacked out for a long while but he swears he didn’t. It turns out that these blackouts have occurred before with the same woman three other times. Walter knows the light pattern they are referring to and remembers that his fellow inmate Dashiell Kim (Randell Duk Kim) was abducted by a woman with flashing lights. So Olivia goes to St. Claire’s Asylum and asks Dr. Sumner (William Sadler) if she could speak with Dashiell. Sumner agrees as long as Walter is the interviewer. Olivia brings this to the attention of Peter and Walter agrees much to Peter’s dismay. Walter goes into the asylum which once held him captive for 17 years, to speak to his friend. Dashiell is among the rest of the inmates in the common room and Walter mindfully makes his way to him. He asks Dashiell about the woman with the flashing lights. The mentally unstable Dashiell refuses to answer the question begrudgingly. Walter pushes harder and Dashiell screams that he doesn’t know about  the woman which causes the other inmates to lose their calm. Walter is sedated and held overnight at the asylum while Peter and Olivia get a court order for his release. Meanwhile, Bean is being kept in a strange basement looking facility playing the piano to match the Equation. Walter, still hard at work, approaches Dashiell again while they are outside on the balcony and asks him the question one more time. Dashiell answers the question to the best of his ability as Walter’s mentally hindered friend. It turns out that that was just the answer they needed, as Peter picks up Walter and they tell Olivia all the info Walter got from Dashiell. Olivia along with agent Francis find the whereabouts of Bean and his kidnapper. The kidnapper stuns agent Dunham using the flashing lights and gets away with the finished equation she has allegedly been hunting for years. She takes the Equation to a mysterious man. The man then enters the Equation into a computer and synchronizes it with speakers he just put in the back of a safe with an apple inside of it. The man then phases his hand through the safe to retrieve the apple. After a successful test of the second Fringe science of the episode; The Equation – a vibration pattern that allows objects to phase through other objects, he shoots the girl who brought him the formula.

This episode tied in well with both past episodes and later episodes. We have a consistent villain in Agent Loeb and we get to delve into the past of Walter and what he went through at the St. Claires Asylum and finally see that disgusting butterscotch pudding (he must have went in on a Monday). The characters of Walter and Peter were more toned down and believable than they have been for the last couple of episodes. Two events in the show did get under my skin however, the first being the scene with the flashing lights under the hood. It seems highly unlikely that the father would be the person to stop for the would be kidnapper and that father, a person that knows little about cars, would look under the hood to be hypnotized. The other scene is when Olivia is chasing the kidnapper and falls prey to the hypnotizing lights even though she should know that its coming and what it can do. These are small nuisances but with a show based so much on detail, I would like smarter characters and situations. This episode entertained me greatly as a viewer and it peaked my interest and now I can’t wait for “The Dreamscape”

Star of the Show: Alternate Walter

Who is he? How creepy is he? How awesome is he? Walter is an enigma of a character by himself but with two of them? I want more, I need more.

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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.

Since Fringe was on hiatus for the week due to the presidential debates, Fox released some exclusive content on their site.  “Secrets of Fringe”.  This is a quick promo piece by the writers of the show in which they talk about the nuances of the show so far.  Topics they cover are Olivia Dunhams past, Peter Bishops secrets or lack there of, Bald men, Broyles being bald, Cause and Effect of the Pattern, and the mysterious Agent John Scott. Honestly these are more questions than answers, but this should help the viewers in connecting all of this together.

You can watch the special here.

http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=fringe&ep=1223404111480#