Fringe (new JJ Abrams show) : Mad scientist, flesh eating virus, a cow and talks with the dead

So this thing has just started and I cant seem to find a thread on it. Seeing as the Lost contingent is quite large on ilx, I would have thought that there would be much discussion about this new JJ Abrams show. As for me, the first episode has left me a bit underwhelmed. Which surprises me quite a bit seeing as there was indeed a mad scientist, flesh eating viruses, a cow and people questioning other dead people.

I'm going to keep watching, but it definitely wasn't as good as any of the shows it's aping.

i think it was discussed a bit on the lost thread, but i was thinking of starting a thread, too! thanks!

it was srsly underwhelming. i am just hoping that the pilot was laying the groundwork and things will get more interesting as it moves forward.

yea a few of us did talk about it a bit on the Lost thread when the pre-air screener leaked a while back. consensus = nice visuals, decent cast but generally meh.

standalone episodes is a good idea though cause i'm getting a bit sick of heavily-serialized shows, but I don't know how they're going to keep that balance seeing that they're already introducing what seems like a fairly complicated Big Mystery Arc.

Dreadful pilot, but I suppose it might get better. Loved the intro scene, and the "OMG DID HIS FACE JUST FALL OFF WTF GROSS" moment, but it went downhill straight after that. Pacey's fun but the lead lady is dead dull, and the old scientist dude really doesn't do it for me -- some dreadful "crazy" acting there.

Also surprising how close it seemed to be to the (much better) Alias pilot, what with the boyfriend getting offed, and the lead character discovering A WORLD BEYOND HER WORLD etc.

On the plus side:
** The way Daniels says "honey" = obvious attempt awesome to placate Wire nerds, but awesome anyway
** A friend of mine used to date her FBI partner, said he was a total dick, so it was fun watching him die horribly

she is dull and i figured it's because she's australian trying to do an american accent that doesn't quite work and instead makes her sound affected. i have decided (gross generalization, i know) that australians are really bad at american accents. for a few years i thought naomi watts was a really horrible actor but i finally realized it was the accent (though i think hers has improved over the years).

yeah every time lance reddick showed up on screen i got a little squee. man, i miss the wire.

I just started watching The Wire a few weeks ago and i'm already on season 5 now. so fucking good! why didn't anyone make me watch this before?

Pacey's fun but the lead lady is dead dull, and the old scientist dude really doesn't do it for me -- some dreadful "crazy" acting there.

Weird, I thought the lady was great and Pacey was terrible, and scientist dude was fine for me. I couldn't stop thinking of him as Denethor, though.

JJ doesn't have a good track record for being the long-term showrunner, he's really ADD when it comes to storytelling.

Over/under on when Lance Reddick appears shirtless: episode 8.

I thought this was a good and entertaining program! I have to admit the main reason I watched it was bcz of the several-times-a-night ad on Coast to Coast AM. "We're having a FRINGE party!" Looks like YOU just invited the whole nation!"

Wasn't too crazy about...angry-looking Mr. Puffycheeks BUT I think he will get better. I thought it was really, really good for a PILOT. Has anyone ever seen a not-crappy pilot? (Twin Peaks fans are not allowed to say Twin Peaks pilot (man are they ever biased)). I didn't watch Futurama for years bcz I hated the first episode. That was stupid! They get all the origin story shit out of the way in a pilot. I wish shows beginned ned in media res, but it's America. What do you expect?

NB I have never seen any J.J. Abrams thing ever.

It was fun to make joeks about when the lady would turn into an ape & bust out of the tank. Also, "How do they drive down that ROAD when it has the word BOSTON floating around, blocking all the traffic?" That joke didn't even sustain the whole episode, but I had a hard time not making it & it will be a challenge in the future. I enjoy a bad running joke for about 70x longer than most humans.

yeah that was a really bad graphic design/whatever choice.

I was glad they at least took a chance.

"Where are we here in Baghdad? The building under the giant capital letter Q."

Twin Peaks pilot r0x0rz though!! And wtf Futurama pilot did too u r taking wtf pills. Sports Night had a bang-up pilot, as did Freaks & Geeks.

What did I say.

Something kinda wrong IIRC.

They do that "look at this word on this beach" thingy on Heroes! except Fringe's is in 3D.

JJ doesn't have a good track record for being the long-term showrunner, he's really ADD when it comes to storytelling.

Yep. Abrams is great for starting ideas and he's a genuinely bankable name, so anything with him involved is practically guaranteed to get people on board. he's not the showrunner on Fringe - Jeff Pinker (exec producer/writer on Lost) is.

oops that would be Jeff PinkNer.

Weird, I thought the lady was great and Pacey was terrible, and scientist dude was fine for me.

Totally agreed. Oh, J.J. Abrams, when will you stop miscasting late 20s/early 30s-ish male leads? He seems to do great with older actors, but younger ones are totally hit and miss... (see: Cloverfield, Michael Vartan)

Show is kind of weak, but I'll give it some time, I guess. The other new show I've been watching, Sons of Anarchy, seems more promising so far.

how was cloverfield miscast?

I know arguably you're not really supposed to like the actors, but I found them all pretty unbearable. Especially the ones you were "supposed" to root for in the end.

I'll give this show a couple more episodes, but it seems pretty nondescript in a Threshold sort of way.

More to the point, I liked this show better when it was on ten years ago and called The X-Files

Fun Facts:

* Leading Lady is Rupert Murdoch's niece.
* Pilot cost $10.5 million.
* Ratings it got were a 6.6/10, which is not great at all... but next week it starts to follow "House," which rates very well.

I agree that the leading lady isn't all that great. Sometimes it felt like she was completely out of it. Mad scientist is ok, I just wish he had kept his beard all the time. I liked it when he was having a good time eating chinese, watching spongebob. The love interest to be between Bishop's son and leading girl felt a bit forced. I actually liked the 3d words floating around and was all giddy when the camera went through one of the O's in Boston.

freckle faced leading lady was hot, ok?

She seems like a sweet person & I think, for TV, she's a totally decent actress.

Redhead bitch w/cyborg arm was bitchin'g, yes?

Leading lady sometimes reminded me of Cate Blanchett. She is hot, though there were a few shots of her where she looked weird. Bitch with cyborg arm was awesome. I really liked those bits, cyborg arm, see-through body...

Jibe except for your fondness for stupid 3D push-through letters (hello Alias again!!!!), we are of a mind.

Mad scientist is ok, I just wish he had kept his beard all the time.

YES!!

I liked it when he was having a good time eating chinese, watching spongebob.

OMG YES.

The love interest to be between Bishop's son and leading girl felt a bit forced.

Welcome to JJ Abrams' world!

More time needs to be spent on cyborg lady's assistant, i.e. her with the barely onscreen but nonetheless hueg rack.

Never having seen Alias, I did not know that JJ was a fan of such stuff. Actually, I cant remember anything like it in Lost (except for the opening credits). My fondness for those silly letters arises from the fact that everytime the camera went through a letter I secretly hoped for it to crash INTO them. Forced love interests are indeed a typical Abrams fare (at least they are in Lost) but not from the first episode onwards!

Redhead bitch w/cyborg arm was bitchin'g, yes?

It's the lady from The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Am I the only person who remembers that show?

Walter Bishop definitely the best character on this show. LET'S MAKE SOME LSD! I love that he's basically playing the same deranged old dude he did in Lord of the Rings, only a FRINGE SCIENTIST instead of a STALWART STEWARD OF GONDOR.

I really didn't like the pilot when I saw it last week, but weirdly it's grown on me over the week. I'm actually sorta looking forward to it tonight. Is this usual with Abrams' stuff? It sucks during the watching, but you recollect it fondly later?

is joshua jackson playing george clooney or what

Damn, how the hell did they get away with that gory shit, the surgeries, the eyeball (UGH), on public TV? I was seriously turned off by it. The rest of the episode was okay, I guess.

Didn't seem any more graphic than any given House episode.

the eyeball was totally loltastic

This was awful. First episode wasn't great or anything, but it wasn't this bad. I don't even mind the clunky-as-fuck exposition of the first 5 minutes. The dream-sequence pregnancy thing? Yeah, I saw Aliens. The last image from the eye? I saw Wild Wild West too.

Felt like they were already out of ideas.

That played-out jaded horseshit stance where folks show off that they've watched movies and TV shows and read books and remember things from them and act like hot shit when they find these things in other movies / shows / books? Yeah, I liked it better when they didn't share.

Expected Chris Carter, got Joss Whedon.

Clearly, I really will watch Lance Riddick in anything.

Lance is class.

xxpost

I'm not one for "I've seen this done elsewhere", nor do I think calling back upon Wild Wild West is anyway anyone can consider themselves hot shit. The point is really that a writer (or writers) should do well enough for someone not to notice. The eye thing has been done many, many times before, and it is usually a pretty cheap trick when someone's written themselves into a hole/can't be bothered to come up with something better. And the Aliens gag was weak.

I think I just find the world they've set up to be jarring and inconsistent. I don't mind being derivative, certainly not of genre tropes in a genre show, but they've got to help the viewers a bit. If you want to make a campy sci-fi/horror show, then do it. If you want a scary, serious thriller, then do that. There is no sense of humour in this show as far as I can tell, unless the cow thing was meant to be funny.

Kerm OTM, but at least Whedon seemed to have a sense of humour. He would willingly acknowledge from the get-go that the Hellmouth and Willow's hacking abilities was just an easy out for the writers, who were more interested in character anyway. I was hoping for a quality X-files deal, and I'll take a campy paranoid fantasy in its stead, but I can't be bothered with some inconsistent series aiming for somewhere in the middle, especially when it's as dull as this one.

I think I'm just disappointed, really. Hopefully it will get better, but I'm worried that it feels like they ran out of ideas in the second episode. Sorry if I offended you David R.

for the record, other than the seatwarmer gag I'm really really failing to see the whedon in this.

Didn't seem any more graphic than any given House episode.

Still dig Blair Brown, Lance Reddick and John Noble, but the other actors still have a ways to go. The pilot already lowered my expectations about the monster-of-the-week plots, I agree with the mediocrity as Gukbe describes.

Definitely neither Chris Carter nor Joss Whedon. The former had really sharp character work every episode and the latter had a sense of humor. I think what really disappoints me the most is the female protagonist. I can't even remember her name she's so unmemorable. I don't know if she's just getting awful writing from the writers, or she's just a poor actress.

they really fucked themselves by starting this show off admitting there's a "pattern" to all of these things. oh, and the old guy just happened to work on anything involved in the pattern. magic computer can tell you EXACTLY where magic photo from dead girl's eye was taken. there weren't enough machinas in this episode for deuseses to be ex-ing from.

HOWEVER, i am still giving it a shot. but along with house tonight, this was kinda like fox's "ugh, come on, no way" tuesday.

I actually liked House tonight. But I don't think I've ever seen a House ep that I didn't enjoy.

The point is really that a writer (or writers) should do well enough for someone not to notice. The eye thing has been done many, many times before, and it is usually a pretty cheap trick when someone's written themselves into a hole/can't be bothered to come up with something better. And the Aliens gag was weak.

As you might've gathered, it didn't really chafe me quite as much, tho I can't recall the eye thing being done before, and you can't really do a pregnancy "gag" without inadvertently referencing "Aliens". But to each their own -- I've got plenty of reservations about this thing (including my fear that it's going to resort to having a WACKY SCIENCE GIMMICK for every episode) (oooh do cold fusion next!), but I'm not not enjoying it. One request, tho (since the show makers are of course reading this): more Kirk Acevedo.

BTW, Gubke, sorry for getting pissy w/ my earlier comment. (I blame the internet.)

They Macgyver defibrillator bit was just ridiculous.

the pregnant thing made me think of cronenberg's "shivers," but that's because "shivers" was on flix the day before yesterday.

more Kirk Acevedo

And maybe a Dean Winters cameo amirite?

This show would be better if it had Cate Blanchett in it instead of her doppleganger.

that's the name i was lookig for last night!

The only character in this show that is remotely endearing, entertaining or empathy inducing is Walter Bishop. This show sucks because all of the characters suck.

Yeah...I liked last night's episode way better than the pilot, but mainly just because they really didn't have enough story to fill out 90 minutes and it works much better as an hour. Walter Bishop is definitely the best part of the cast but he's treading a fine line of occasional, somewhat unexpected wackiness right now and that character could get tiresome or cheesy very quickly if they don't handle it right. Shows like this with a 'strong female lead' that don't bother casting a good actress or writing much of a personality for the character are so depressing.

So what is the playing god part, is the kid a clone of Walter or just otherwise genetically messed with?

The only character in this show that is remotely endearing, entertaining or empathy inducing is Walter Bishop

Statement fails to account for RIDDICK FACTOR

I'm annoyed by the LOST music being recycled.

Also, yes, Joshua Jackson is just a bizarre form of Pacey - does he have any way of delivering his lines beyond bored/upset/ironic?
"Yah dad, we sorta figured that out. OK? You can't retrieve images from eyeballs."

The show is pretty goofy - the previews made me yell "Don't steal from heroes!", and then my BF and I had a conversation about episodic series and, I dunno, chapter series..

I don;t know what the definitions are between the two. Episodic, to me, would imply episodes. But that's not the case?

Episodic means self-contained, largely, as opposed to serialized what's-its.

This show would be better if it had Cate Blanchett in it instead of her doppleganger.

I'd even take the original Poor Man's Cate Blanchett, Sarah Wynter, over whoever plays Olivia.

lol @ Walter having the Doctor's hand-in-a-jar.

Was X-Files episodic or serialized or both? This is a serious question.

Both

I'm not all that familiar with much of Joss Whedon's work... He's just my go-to whipping boy whenever plot devices, government conspiracies, and powerful underworlds are too flippant to take half seriously. That may be just as much an Abrams trademark, but I don't watch his shows either.

Joshua Jackson hasn't been half as interesting as the description of him in his "file" in the first episode.

^^ wow do you not get Joss Whedon.

This show sucks because all of the characters suck.

Abrams is more the plot device/conspiracy guy and Whedon is more the touchy-feely clever homey dialogue dude, I thought

Also: along with Aaron Sorkin, Whedon pretty much pioneered the serious treatment of season-as-arc in network drama.

Yeah, Kerm, I think you might be confusing Whedon with someone else.

I mean the guy with the show about the high school cheerleader that fights demons.

The West Wing?

I kind of enjoyed this ep - goofy is the right word for it. This show has way more of an Alias vibe than Buffy/X-Files/Lost, right down to the bad sci-fi - never mind eyeball-imaging/accelerated growth, but also the gimmicky, guess-what-awesome-gadget-we're-using-this-week. Said gadget will probably never be used again, even when they inevitably start recycling plotlines.

Olivia looks more like Poppy Montgomery (another generic-TV aussie blonde) from Without A Trace than Cate Blanchett. She's still pretty bland but i think she might grow on me (whereas Pacey/dad are more likely to get tiresome fast) - in the same way i thought Jennifer Garner on Alias was pretty boring before that show's wtf-ness completely sucked me in.

I would give this show kudos if I got any hint from the writing that it is intentionally goofy, and that the writers are aware; but I get none of that

still, it is utterly goofy and not unenjoyable; I wouldn't buy the DVDs or nuthin but I wouldn't step out if it were on

also: it is the x-files

I know ppl have said it above but it bears restating and restating: this show is the x-files

It is the x-files in content but not in form.

The X-Files was good.

good job outing the browncoats, Kerm

i saw the second episode of this. it's not the worst thing i've ever seen but i was happy to not get hooked on it at all (who has time to watch tv etc.).

The X-Files didn't assume that putting something in the script made it believable.

c'mon, dudes, first couple of x-files episodes aren't what the show is famous for...

these guys could pull it out! i mean, they blew everything in their pilot but maybe...

This show is so boring that I want Pacey to steal Joey from the tiny Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise is no Dawson!

More entertaining than one minute of Fringe.

Or the entirety of Fringe. Whatever, it's been a long day.

Anywhoo, there are too many holes. it's not believable - at all - that the lab at Harvard was just sitting there for decades. And then, suddenly it's up and running.
And the whole thing with her going into the tank? I was like, tetanus shot.

I like the idea of monsters who need pituitary glands to live.

Always confused why the guy who needs this only goes for beautiful women. Men don't work? it's just so typical - he's a serial killer of women! But it doesn't make sense. He could get the gland from a whole range of folks.

I JUST really want Pacey to break up Joey's marriage to fake, short Dawson.

The biggest problem I have with the show is the same problem I have with every show/movie set at Harvard; film crews are not allowed in Harvard Yard, so the school they're using in the show looks nothing like the actual Harvard.

Hahah, Dan, do you know where Michael Cimino filmed the Harvard prologue of Heaven's Gate?

Oxford.

And the whole thing with her going into the tank? I was like, tetanus shot.

You get tetanus from deep puncture wounds that allow anaerobic bacteria to grow. I think the tank was a smooth surface, but the urban legend linking rust and tetanus persists.

Always confused why the guy who needs this only goes for beautiful women. Men don't work?

YOU try picking up guys at strip clubs!

Well, that would be easy for me, I guess. maybe not. who knows.
But, whatever, lots of people have pituitary glands - the simple solution would be to work with the elderly.

Ok, on the tetanus thing - I don't care how deep the gash has to be. Wires in water? It's all pretty silly.

Dan, it's really good that you didn't go to Columbia. For many reasons.
They shoot L&O episodes there.
(Although it would be cool if you appeared in an episode of L&O.)

Harvard should get over itself.

Are you all complaining about strained/fanciful logic on a JJ Abrams joint? For shame!

i like pacey from dawson's creek in this.

his dad in the show is awesome.

the dude from the wire is badass.

can't really dig the lead actress though. she bothers me.

decent show...i'll keep watching for awhile.

I've missed the last two weeks but seeing as this hasn't bumped, it's like I haven't missed anything at all.

I started watching the second episode, got vaguely bored, did something else, never came back.

This show is just okay. Bits of it are genuinely creepy but there's a lot of "who cares" flying around as well.

this one was alright, in a generic middle-of-season x-files kinda way. what are they going to do for GAME CHANGING, though, like the blonde girl is actually president of massive dynamics (lol) or something?

also, filling in her backstory didn't make me like her much more.

it's not good yet. still not giving up on it.

if it's still running with the identikit episodes of 'freaky new bioterrorist weapon actually invented by the one crazy dude 40 years ago and fortunately he pulls a bullshit solution out of his ass' then fuckit i'm going back to sarah connor.

ass arse, c'mon stick with yer own slang.

i got about halfway through the third episode before giving up. not even daniels or puffball pacey can save this show for me.

if it's still running with the identikit episodes of 'freaky new bioterrorist weapon actually invented by the one crazy dude 40 years ago and fortunately he pulls a bullshit solution out of his ass' then fuckit i'm going back to sarah connor.

GAWD, NO! this time it was a competing company to the usual one AND the old guy actually did like SCIENCE to figure out what the weapon was. TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

there is a bit of a formula to the show. a...scientific formula, you might say AHAHAHAHA.

i like it. i want it to succeed. the bad parts are mostly endearingly bad, save for blonde woman who is just terrible, but works as the straight man of the set up. mad scientist dude is awesome. he gets some first class one liners. in fact, combining obvious formula with well-scripted oddball main dude is treading the House path somewhat, albeit in a low rent way, and i like House a lot too.

I wish this show could somehow be just Wire dude and the steward to the throne of Gondor and homemade acid and a cow in the laboratory without all the boring other characters. Also the perky FBI babe Astrid whatever would die in every episode.

Astrid FARNSWORTH. Does anyone else think this is an homage to Prof Farnsworth of Futurama? No? I don't really think so either but my mind wanders a lot when I watch this shit.

Both character names are probably an homage to this guy, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if secretly the writers just wanted to have the mad old scientist be a live action version of the Futurama professor. Still waiting for him to inevitably say "Good news, everyone!"

astrid is v v pretty.

she looks like every black girl in commercials looks. kinda huxtable.

i guess she does look a little like a noxema ad. maybe it i secret product placement!

ppl thinking that this isn't a straight x-files rip are CRAZY

should i be watching this show? i'm sort of in love with Pacey. :-/

he is the most annoying character on the show. he's like a koala bear with badass attitude who doesn't play by the rules. a marsupial david caruso.

this show is the My Humps of television. i stopped watching after the third episode and i'm the IDEAL viewer for a sci-fi conspiracy show.

i'm kinda feeling the same way, but i'm huluing up the third episode right now

I would watch a show with an actual marsupial David Caruso. Maybe the technology that created that talking/rapping kangaroo hallucination in Kangaroo Jack could be used. Sitcom?

YYYAAAOOOOOW!

this show is just fine. x-files was corny more than half the time...
but the science almost makes sense in this show and I love the scientist and his son characters. lydia is ok

is lydia the blond chick?
it is a bad sign to not know the main character's name several episodes into a season.

yep

lol it's olivia.

So I still haven't been missing anything?

not really.

i can't decide which i'd rather drop, this or "life on mars."

Sarah Connor has been GREAt lately, gaining power by making no sense at all.

I mean, Glauminator vs Redhead ContorionistInator in Elevator Fite!

he is the most annoying character on the show. he's like a koala bear with badass attitude who doesn't play by the rules. a marsupial david caruso.

you realize this makes him sound awesome

last episode ("The Equation") was the best since the pilot, although that's not saying much.

it would be awesome if Lance Reddick's character turns out to be the same guy as his Lost character and omg we've been watching lost all along

okay, so last night's episode was as good as i'd like this show to be on a regular basis. i mean, yeah, incoherent and a little deus ex machina but i actually thought, for the first time, that i wasn't wasting my time.

last night's was a cracker, but did it say that's it until January? that's a disgrace.

this show is great, good enough that it manages to easily survive having a lead character who is utterly unlikeable in every regard (cop woman).

xpost

she's pretty

also, tv critics are annoying, you have nothing better to do, and honestly Fringe is pretty neato... it has mad science.. good enough for me

this show is picking up, i think. probably too late, though, i'm sure it'll get canceled.

their use of generic white guys as the bad guys gets a little confusing, though.

also anna torv kicking ass was pretty fun.

last episode was good. somebody go back to watching this so we can agree that it has gotten better. i mean, last night's, with the german guy (played by vlad from happiness) was pretty awesome.

this show is great

Yeah much better than the initial episodes.

If I want to pick this up again, would it be a good idea to re-watch the first two episodes I already saw? Because I don't want to waste 80+ minutes of my valuable life again.

You don't need to rewatch anything. They recap everything, and do so too often. Just remember that Olivia mind-melded with her fiance in the pilot.

alright, last night's was pretty damn good. anyone still watching this, other than people on the dollhouse thread?

I'm watching and still enjoying it. I may be way late on noticing this, but has it been a trend to sneak the bald/no eyebrow Observer guy into every episode? I mean, he's obviously been made a relatively significant plot point in several episodes, but I mean just random appearances? Last night was the second time I saw him snuck into the episode. When Olivia and the team were heading towards the building where the reverse empath dude was threatening to jump, the bald dude walked across the crosswalk in front of the camera as it panned across the street.

yeah, they stick him in here and there in just about every episode. also shows up on other fox shows, including american idol and their nascar coverage.

looool

This show got really interesting, and then I stopped watching it.

They're upping the crazy Walter Bishop dialog, which is a draw for me. This character needs his own show where he does random shit on a weekly basis, minus the detective stuff.

Oh yeah, has anyone else heard about Fox screwing up and posting a spoiler on their website? I have no idea how long it was up, but the Google result preview for the page had the spoiler, pretty much blowing it for anyone who googled for the show.

the bald/no eyebrow Observer guy

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/334676849_47b1bd270f.jpg

I didn't see that spoiler, thankfully, though with all the little twists and turns this takes I'm having a hard time imagining what the ONE HUEG plot spoiler could be. Don't tell me though!

http://www.adiyamanim.com/b/userimages/colina.jpg

i haven't heard the spoiler either. i'm having a hard time keeping up with the show, what with all the stupid breaks it keeps taking, but i love it.

at first it was really repetitive. they'd find something weird, and then it would involve a crime of some sort, and then they'd have to do an off-beat wacky experiment to solve the mystery. i understand abrams wants the show to be easier to follow than lost, so i suppose the formula was necessary to get people hooked, but i almost stopped watching because of how predictable it all got.

now that we're learning more about the characters and their connections to one another, i think it's finally getting more interesting. i'd say the show started to really pick up after olivia had been kidnapped.

OTM, the last few episodes have been really enjoyable.

Nevermind, I think it was one of their forum posts that appeared on the front page that made it look like a spoiler from Google.

this show is great

Apparently William Bell (Bishop's old partner, Massive Dynamic guy) is going to be played by Leonard Nimoy at the end of the season

this is true.

the character was going to play a bigger role, but because of nemoy's schedule, the writers have had to take it down a notch. unfortunate, because that seems like a really cool idea. i cannot imagine what it would be like to see walter and bell in conversation.

this episode was written and directed by hollywood superhack AKIVA GOLDSMAN

wow. really?

well i guess that explains that scene with the stripper kiss. i thought that was mighty outta place for this show.

noticed tht zack whedon writes some of these eps

wow, i am digging this show more and more.

now that we're learning more about the characters and their connections to one another, i think it's finally getting more interesting. i'd say the show started to really pick up after olivia had been kidnapped.

exactly. also now "the pattern" is starting to seem less like an annoying contrivance (which they introduced in the first episode! why?!) and more convincing even as they clumsily stick the monster of the week into it from time to time.

also, wow, alternate reality! hope they're going somewhere with that.

also, wow, alternate reality! hope they're going somewhere with that.

hasn't that always been the plan? "we're being invaded by SLIDING ALBION!!!"

all the good stuff in this episode was nearly canceled out by the window pane that could be played like a record

"They're upping the crazy Walter Bishop dialog, which is a draw for me. This character needs his own show where he does random shit on a weekly basis, minus the detective stuff."

YES!!! I love Walter. "Who you gonna call?" - *looks mighty please with himself*.

I thought the Clint Howard as Spock bit from last night was great.

OK, now that I know that Nimoy is going to play Bell the star trek refs on last nights ep are even funnier.

It was pretty great, but I was hoping earlier in the episode his character would have a cameo late in the episode. There is no way they could have done all that and had Nimoy on there in the same hour, it'd be way too cheesy.

There's some comic series already out that flips between Bell/Bishop backstory and some random Fringe case, but I am not sure it is worth recommending based on the little I looked at.

Did I see walter offer someone peak freans in an episode? You cannot get peak freans in the US and it is very aggravating to see fictional realities where peak freans are readily available.

I swear I you've posted about these cookies before on another thread! You're really into them, huh?

You're talking about these, right?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_w_BQCHbsRSI/Scf6c3iyuSI/AAAAAAAAAI0/AkIDyHtav9w/s320/peekfrean.jpg

You might not be able to get that exact brand but very similar cookies can be easily found.

OK, my Tivo cut off the end when massive dynamic lady got on the elevator. What happened next?

This show is great. I'm trying to remember what happened the first episode when bald guy showed up. Wasn't he at a coffee shop by a construction site? The one with something buried in the ground? BTW nice call bald guy spotters and thanks for the heads up on the Nimoy reference.

There are so many hanging plots. I like the fringe physics-science better than the bio-science. Like teleportation, walking through walls, etc..
I don't care for Olivia being able to relive that one dead guy's memory, but the déjà vu and Jacksonville child testing stuff is pretty cool.

When she got off the elevator two masked dudes shot her with something although it wasn't clear if it was a gun gun or a tranq gun or what.

I am still kind of unclear about the whole bald observer dude guy thing but I think you're right about the coffee shop by a construction site thing. He has appeared in a bunch of episodes though.

Holy shit I just went on the Fringe forum and stepped into nerdworld. There are PAGES of posts on there just about him. I want to read more but I'm a little scared now.

Well fuck. I went to watch this week's show and our DVR up and decided not to record it for some reason. Recorded the other shows scheduled for last night, wasn't full, etc etc. Fuck. :(

Olivia was on the elevator and got shot. The Massive Dynamic woman delivered pictures of the bald alien to lance reddick and said his appearances were increasing, and "remember the last time that happened". The bald alien then appeared in the lab and told Walter it was time to go.

er, i guess i got mixed up there.

lovely final shot to this season.

i'm hoping there's a good william bell, and an evil william bell who has a goatee.

I was expecting the final shot to be otherworldly, but not otherworldly in that particular way.

niiiiice finale. i have no idea how they're going to live up to what they've set up there, but i'm looking forward to next season.

oh snap

the gravestone

nice final shot

solid 1st season

roll on the next

Kinda regretting giving up on this now

caught up with it over the past few weeks. Certainly far better than the first few episodes, but it still left me a little cold. Enjoyable enough, and the finale was pretty decent without being mind-blowing.

I think moving production to Vancouver will take a lot away from the show.

u r ghey

i haven't watched this at all but thought about catching up with the whole thing over the summer. is it better than heroes? cuz I got off that bus after season 2.

lovely final shot to this season.

― abanana, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:02 PM (5 days ago)

niiiiice finale. i have no idea how they're going to live up to what they've set up there, but i'm looking forward to next season.

― GÖTT DAT SCHING (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, May 13, 2009 11:14 AM (4 days ago)

seriously? didn't life on mars US just do the same thing?

i agree that the ending was interesting, and that i'm hopeful it'll have some sort of relevance in the second season, but my gut is telling me that they're just pulling at your heartstrings.

i'm a bit surprised at how quickly everything is moving from olivia the FBI agent to olivia the transdimensional being.

So many things wrong with the season premiere, but I was kind of distracted so it might be better if I view it again. It might have been all the exposition that's supposed to get new viewers up to speed, but I got annoyed pretty quickly. The entire "we're shutting down Fringe division!" thing was horrible and obviously so much an X-Files rip that they EVEN REFERENCED THE X-FILES in that scene ("the X designation"). Was that X-Files on the tv when the other-dimensional assassin was changing into bald dude, too?

They've got to stop using that dimly lit hallway for all of the climaxes.

I really wish I didn't hate the actress that plays Olivia so much but I do and I can't really pinpoint why either. I just don't think she's very good.

U r crazy episode was awesome.

the debut was pretty cool and thursday's was a good monster of the week thing. the monster was even a little creepy, though it felt like they probably showed a little more of it before the censors got to the episode. i guess it's a fine balance when you're trying to kill a child on television, SPOILER even when said child is some kind of mutant underground scorpion hybrid troglodyte.

to paraphrase the swans, KILL THE C.H.U.D.

Hey there, actual exposition on the show mythology woven into a decent enough episode.

fringe was sick this week

lol i was watching a Lou Reed interview last night and my wife walked by and said "is that Walter from Fringe?"

Just started watching the first season. Seems a mix of X-Files with a bit of Jon Pertwee's Doctor as the not-really-human dude acting as a scientific advisor to a gov't agency.

Everything's shot thru that pale blue tint.

the second season has been consistently good

I disagree, first season was way better. The mytharc is going nowhere right now.

I think the show would benefit from having split up half-seasons as the slow grind it's on isn't moving the arc at all. Doesn't help the Fox's scheduling seems to forget that the show is even on.

Walter remains my co-pilot. Regardless.

Walter is the best.

What happened to the Olivia-having-powers arc?? I want to know about this. Also more J Jackson being a rough-neck, pls. I never liked him before but I'm coming around slowly.

Okay, the tinfoil hats were a nice touch, and Astrid voluntarily joining in on the paranoia and wearing one, too

Really hoped that Broyles was visiting Marla Daniels at the end of cosmonaut episode.

Walter is the best.

― pringles and loving it (latebloomer), Monday, November 9, 2009 3:05 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

You were abducted, of course you need crepes.

Computer/historic art scene from tonight was straight out of the first Eccleston DW ep.

That Walter. He's a tricky one.

super curious about the double peter thing now

^^ oh my

We've already had the double Walter, when he visits himself in the clinic.

wait what?

i am talking like peter is buried and in the ground so who is this peter we know and love?

for a minute i really hoped that by picking up the observer's hat and gun he would become a new observer!

ke kidnapped peter from the alternate dimension a few eps back

what is the deal with the double walter? i missed that

* he

ok clearly i'm not paying enough attention to this show.

walter visited original peter's grave a while back. i think it may have even been season one. and then in season two, they show peter's "nightmare" which is actually the recollection of his abduction. and then there was a woman who could see a glow that indicated someone was from another dimension and she saw that when she met peter.

ok i remembered the grave part but not the nightmare/abduction. very possible i missed some eps.

the grave was s1 finale cliffhanger, right?

yeah, in the finale, she leaps back & forth between dimensions, and then finally leaps into Wm Bell's office building

http://www.fox.com/fringe/recaps/s1_e8.htm

Walter lies in his old cell, fitful and unable to sleep. Then someone arrives and sits down on the bed. "Welcome back, Walter." Walter looks up to see that his visitor... is a cleaner, healthier version of himself.

yeah i just rewatched that. odd.

OK so they made this last episode's incidental character an attractive lady to make up for subjecting fanboys to that 15-year-old brat last episode, yes? Anyway, best episode this season since the premiere.

Walter looks up to see that his visitor... is a cleaner, healthier version of himself.

Screencaps or it didn't happen.

there was a woman who could see a glow that indicated someone was from another dimension and she saw that when she met peter.

LSD MILF, yes?

ive been thinking about the alter-walter and it really bothers me that they'd bring that up and not have mentioned it again.... so far.

LSD MILF, yes?

― Leee, Monday, November 23, 2009

Theresa Russell!

oh yea, wow

Yeah, one thing I do hope they don't fall into is pulling the BSG thing where you introduce these awesome concepts, ones that fuck with the reality of your genre show that already has mythic elements, and never mention them again or dismiss them out of hand.

So is Fringe moving to Monday nights?

Uhh, did I miss something? SPOILER...

Charlie's back?

yeah I caught it halfway through and I was like WTF? not sure what's happening there...

it's an episode that was meant for season one

first new s2 episode is this thursday

It would be way funnier/cooler if it was an episode set in the alternate universe and they just didn't tell anybody

I'm wondering if we'll see saner, more self-assured Walter in flashback at any point. Seeing him kind of cocky with the little pieces of his brain wired in was a little disturbing.

[i]It would be way funnier/cooler if it was an episode set in the alternate universe and they just didn't tell anybody</i?
If the show had balls, they would've done this.

mh, I loved how arrogant and sneering sane Walter was, but that "our" Walter isn't going be sane again, it'll probably be alternate universe Walter.

I am kind of scared that alternate universe Walter is probably behind all the nastiness coming from that side.

Yeah, the whole Charlie thing threw me in a loop but I can't imagine that we just watched an alternate universe episode (but that isn't likely because one of the Peters is dead?).

I honestly can't remember a Peter gravestone episode or the double Walter episode but according to this thread it did happen... I need a Fringe recap youtube I guess.

Walter has regrown a backbone AND has a conscience! Things are going to keep going well.

oh, asterixpaws.

"World Tolerance Initiative"

i'm always confused when dudes that look like father mulcahey always turn out to be nazis.

Is this where I cop to having paged through some of the Fringe comics before I decided they were not good and non-canon? Walter's dad being nazi defector made me think of what they could do with backstory.

Hell yeah! Nazi scientists! This is more like it!

Actually, Walter's Dad Comics could fit in quite well with issues of Atomic Robo

aw... saw that coming but still... aw...

not a bad episode, but def. tainted by how slowly this season has been developing.

was this on tonight?!

on hiatus until april :/

last thursday

For those who are really, REALLY into Anna Torv:

http://annatorv.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=127

hey now

:)

apparently, ribs are on the menu for dinner

apparently boner

http://i37.tinypic.com/a4t001.jpg

can't wait for this to return

So this got better, then? Posters around the first few episodes seemed generally down on it, and I skipped the rest of the thread to avoid spoilers. I'm looking for a decent tv show to keep myself distracted and can't really afford The Wire, will this fit the bill?

yes, it only got better + I watch too much tv and this is one of the few dramas where most all of the characters interest me.
this is basically a creative detective/mad science show with great effects and enough fun action parts so there isn't much to lose by watching this.

second season is miles better than the first, im glad i got back into it

TBH I think the standalone/freak-of-the-week episodes are rarely worth watching, though Walter's antics are almost always amusing. The mythology arcs are a lot better, especially towards the end of season 1, though season 2 seems to have ignored some pretty big developments.

Sounds like it could be worth taking a chance, then...mazon has the 1st season bluray for $25, why not.

Xp, do you value episodes with ongoing story arcs as worthy? I can settle with most of the standalone episodes as valuable just because they are entertaining. Similarly, x-files had plenty of standalone episodes that were amusing.

IMO Fringe is better than these other detective type shows: CSI, Mentalist, Lie to Me and Bones.

do you only* value

I gave up on this show -- the monster-only episodes have been really weak. The April/May episodes of the first season were pretty great, though.

I like it a lot--the mythology is interesting but doesn't dominate or make the stand-alones seem annoying or pointless. Walter is my favorite current TV character--nice that they made him a bit of a monster in his past.

Bones pwnz (Bwnz pwnz?), but it's working in an entirely different direction than Fringe works in (the whodunnit is the least important thing in Bones, in which the meat of the series is in the relationship and chemistry between the two leads), so comparing these two shows doesn't accomplish much imo.

The comparison to other procedurals is interesting, though honestly, at least CSI/L&O manage the genre better than Fringe does its paranormal/supernatural spin on the procedural.

I don't mind standalone episodes per se, just that the ones Fringe offers are so dull. They're not frightening, they're not gripping; they're pedestrian and boring.

Could not disagree with you more, the average Fringe episode is about 10000x more gripping than any given L&O/CSI episode.

Got a copy locally since I was bored and the weather scuppered my plans to go into the city this evening. I actually liked the pilot! It pushes all my X-Files/Millennium buttons. Not GREAT tv, but solidly entertaining, and Ye Steward of Gondor is awesome. (Also, Warren Ellis really should be getting some kind of royalties from this show; I get kind of a watered-down Planetary/Global Frequency vibe from this).

Also, I like that Massive Dynamic's billboads are seemingly done by the same ad agency that handles the Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems account.

Ok, into episode 2, and a) didn't the X-Files do this (ok, half of it, with a gland-eating serial killer) and b) AGH GINGIVAL VIOLENCE DO NOT WANT

Ok, this seems to be picking up with episode six- they're using the random-person-experimented-on-by-sinister-forces thing way too much, but the intro was fantastically nasty (surprised they got away with it on network TV, even with CSI and such raising the bar for TV gore) and there have been some wonderful Walter moments ("Opium: fantastic stuff!" *stabs meat thermometer into dude's brain*)

so uh now I will cease liveblogging a year-old tv show and resume actually watching it

Once it moves beyond the 'stand alone X-Files episode' feel, it really comes into its own. They have a great special effects crew (ie old-style gross-out stuff)...when they do gross they really do it well. And Walter has to be one of my favorite TV characters...his layers just get better and better as the show goes on.

Still liking this, but I must have missed something in the ending of "The Equation." So you have built a device capable of effecting the scientific biological transmogrification of an apple into...an apple. Brilliant. And if I am to understand the Important Science Graphics on the attached monitor, this involves wormholes somehow. Seems like rather more effort than strictly necessary.

If I remember correctly it was a certain property of the apple that changed and the guy's arm? (I missed it too but my companion pointed out what I missed). I would suggest watching that end scene again because from what I heard it more or less has to do with what happened in the first couple minutes of that episode (assuming that was the episode with the bank job at the beginning - one of the best bizarre science things of any episode)

The apple went through metal.

Aaah. Must have been distracted, I have no idea how I missed something like that.

Xpost no bank job in this one, this is the episode with the neurologist kidnapping people after hip-mo-tizing them with flashing lights.

intro was fantastically nasty (surprised they got away with it on network TV

My wife and I have a running joke with each other about the "gore budget" for this show. I have to let her know when it is ok for her to look at the tv while the show is on. (I have stumbled on to far worse on the internet so the imagineered splatter on the show doesn't bother me at all. It's part of the "fun" when they do it well.

Okay tonight's episode was pretty good, glad to have at least one backstory cleared up... a little. LOVED the 80s opening sequence and the font.

3 things got good explanations: "car crash", glimmering Peter, and MD lady's hand injury. We got to know more about William Bell via Walter's decription. We got to know more about the bald men - like they can switch universes at anytime or see into the other universe wheneve. I liked how the episode ended with "was it morally okay for Walter to kidnap his alt-son?". He did save his life

I guess the new question this episode brought to my mind is "what goes wrong when an opening is made betwwen universes?"

episode was okay. a bit too late to have much impact. i'd imagine most viewers were able to guess that this is pretty much what happened. only real surprise for me was the origin of nina's arm injury.

oh wait -- the credit sequence was pretty awesome.

yeah credit sequence was the high point--i love walter but i dont need an episode with ONLY him, especially one that tells a story they could have told with about 90 seconds of dialogue

The window machine was awesome and I enjoyed seeing Walter talk to the army generals. I liked seeing this story arc in action even if it was predictable and for the most part not really emotionally moving because it was predictable. It was actually better that young Walter didn't cry - so props to the director for not making the past into a big sob story. The only real emotional bit was present day Walter's plea to Olivia and that worked nice as a climax to a mostly predictable storyline (with awesome cinematics and special effects as usual). Also it was funny seeing the observers at Back to the Future. I'm guessing that they don't have the ability to time travel. A few episodes back they said: "too bad about what's going to happen to her" referring to Olivia or her niece whom were on a roller coaster at the time - but that doesn't mean they can time travel.

The intro was awesome. I liked how most of the words that popped up in the intro weren't bio-related but it appears that next week's episode will be something about cancer. Maybe a "freak of the week" episode which isn't necessarily bad but probably not groundbreaking either. Good free entertainment

episode was okay. a bit too late to have much impact. i'd imagine most viewers were able to guess that this is pretty much what happened. only real surprise for me was the origin of nina's arm injury.― jeff

Surprises in tv shows are overrated. Sort of like how some people in the lost thread seem to judge current episodes solely on surprises/big revelations

The point of all the words that popped up in the retro-intro was that they were hilariously FUTURISTIC things that would have seemed awesome in 1985 but are run of the mill or ridiculous now. I laughed.

Still think my prediction about the Walternate being up to bad shit is likely.

It was a decent episode, but this:

Surprises in tv shows are overrated. Sort of like how some people in the lost thread seem to judge current episodes solely on surprises/big revelations

With JJ Abrams shows (ok, Lost is more Darlton babby now), big plot twists are almost always the most compelling part of his series, because the guy's ideas about character and relationships are ripped directly from the soaps aka no thanks.

i meant surprise as in new information that entertained me, not major mindbending twist. most of the information about this event had already been revealed. and as leee says, most of the surprises (hello twin towers) in this series have been amazing and have made the less eventful moments (85% of every monster of the week episode) all the more dreary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbaG3C1GQ-c

really great episode. i was going to suggest that weller could've had a multiepisode arc but from the preview for next week's ep, it looks like they're returning to the head stealer / portal / shapeshifter storyline.

huge lols at walter calling astrid "astro."

I love this show its such good fun!

fantastic episode. robocop was excellent, the ending was really powerful.

also, ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC?!

Am I behind? I thought the last episode was the one with cancer dude and walter making taffy

You are behind, so don't read past this line.

Clearly inspired by "Cause and Effect" from Star Trek: TNG, but with enough twists and yeah, the ending was a total gut punch, to make it well worth while.

Can anyone make out the return address on the letter to Walter?

http://i39.tinypic.com/seoz2h.jpg

Crying Cat

fanfuckintastic ep all around. fuckin' peter weller. fuckin' gary numan. fuckin' interlocking dramatic ironies and necessities. if every ep could be like this, FRINGE would be the best show on broadcast.

Awesome episode. Love love love love Weller, great role for him. He brings the intense-crazy so well. And Walter!!! <3 him more and more with every episode, my chest is sure to burst. Gorgeous twist in the timetravel trope, really beautiful surprise ending, I can't stop thinking about it.

"the walternate" was the second best thing about the retro 80s episode

why didn't the walternate (equally smart if not smarter than walter and has a motorola razr) go grab peter back in '85?

i suspect that'll play out in due time

did walter go grab peter before or after he sent a car across to the other dimension? and how come there was none of the mass-replacement palaver which was the crux of the previous episode?

didn't know this. Apparently the show works with Science Olympiad to craft lesson plans to teach high school kids about the weird science depicted in an episode. For example:

http://www.fox.com/fringe/fringe-science/season-2/episode-19.htm

really didn't feel this week's ep

Yeah it was a bit ridic, one of those "well, we better pause a minute so we don't run out of story arc" eps.

really? I liked it a lot, as a sort of fairy-tale representation of the Walter/Peter situation. Loved their weird little semi-steampunk additions, the weird cell phones, the wooden laptop...seemed like they had fun with this episode. A little indulgent, sure...but I dug it. Loved the musical interludes...Dunham doing her Stevie Wonder, and as a Wire fan, seeing Daniels SING was awesome.

He went to the Eastman School of Music!

Great episode and great timing to for a dramatic pause in a dramatic story arc. I mean it would be kind of weird if Peter came back immediately. Not to mention that there is 1 new twist in this current story arc (what the bald guy said at the end of the episode).

Back to this episode. The music was lols and the singing was pretty damn good (especially Astrid). "The Candyman" with singing corpses was also awesome. The first two songs that Walter played on the records after smoking pot were awesome ("Roundabout" and "Head Over Heals"). Those are two of my favorite songs and I still have friends who probably couldn't even recognize them. I also got lols while seeing Olivia try to use her cellphone while drowning in the coffin (the goofy mix of 30s or 40s with future technology). It was a happy, heartfelt episode with some great dialog and parallels to the current story arc. The sad ending actually made me feel sad for Walter. Oh and "reverse operation" was very clever as well. Lots of goodies. I'm glad I watched this today when I was refreshed rather than last night when I was hella tired.

I had to watch the Robocop train episode twice because the first time I saw it I practically fell asleep (I watched it really late after my night shift). The second viewing (or 3rd or 4th for some parts) proved this to be a great episode as well. VegemiteGrrrl said it best: "Gorgeous twist in the timetravel trope, really beautiful surprise ending".

Kind of brutal to ask Anna Torv to try to do a hard-boiled accent, but man this episode was a delight.

OMG

Woweee wow.

Just. Wow.

Also girlcrush on Martha Plimpton still in perfect working order. She's grebt

Oh god, she was the cop, wasn't she? Dang, didn't even register.

I think there may have been a Twin Peaks vibe in this episode but I never watched much Twin Peaks
I didn't see the ending coming but my dad did

I had my suspicions, but it was still a cool surprise reveal. I hope people didn't tune out because they thought Peter rockin' the mixtape was the end.

cool but probably four or five episodes too late

Definitely a twin peaks vibe...They even had pie!!

I thought the story arc stuff seemed kind of shoehorned in at the end. I liked the idea of Peter, low on sleep, solving a local crime with no real fringe division content. Having him read weird stuff into every situation gives a good outsider perspective.

Then there's the reveal at the end with hey, that dude really was in the woods, and btw Walternate is here.

Come on, between the ppl on this thread speculating that Walternate was waging war on "our" universe and the heavy-handed treatment of MYSTERIOUS SECRETARY, that was no surprise at all. I did, however, get my nerd wires crossed with all the talks of cracks in the universe.

Like, I don't think any other show is comprised so much of episodes that are about killing time for 40 minutes just so it can end on a cliffhanger.

Like, I don't think any other show is comprised so much of episodes that are about killing time for 40 minutes just so it can end on a cliffhanger.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog/LostLogo_.jpg

lol

I wonder if this season will end with a Walter vs. Walternate pie eating contest.

I sense a pattern, JJ Abrams.

xp
if that's a lost spoiler, consider me pissed; I'm waiting for cheap copies of the blu-rays

Do you mean me, cozen?

nah the pie eating thing; was just fooling around really

cuz I'm p. sure lost doesn't finish w/an epic pie eating contest betw jack and hurley, right?.... right?!

You would be angry if I answered that seriously.

Liked the Twin Peaks/X-Files/Washingtoniana. Special Guest Composer Mike McCready!

I did, however, get my nerd wires crossed with all the talks of cracks in the universe.

there is a crack in everything
that's how the light gets in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zKk76YkF1U

I am looking forward to the finale. And wondering what the Darth Vader Meditation Chamber device is for.

It blows up other universes, obviously.

alt-olivia was kind of hot.

So does France rule alt-USA or something?

Plus I'm curious as to how many of the season finale part 1 characters have been on before. Have all the super power/test subjects people been on the show before. Also didn't I hear that there is 5 of them still around in working condition and then they only show 3 (if black dude wasn't counting Olive).

Was Olivia's bf in alt-universe a character that's been on before?

Definitely remember the healer guy. Vaguely recall the other two but I don't know. Was her bf the guy from the pilot?

Definitely not the same guy as on the pilot. Also, the third agent on the other side (the one who got torched) was familiar but I couldn't place him.

curer was from the "oliva. in the lab. with the revolver" episode, empathist was in "bad dreams", and the pyro hasn't been in it before

the torched agent has never been in fringe before either

Pyro was on the show before! Empath was the guy who made Olivia lez up.

He went to the Eastman School of Music!

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Friday, April 30, 2010 12:39 PM

woah hello new favorite co-alum!

loved the twin peaks ep (<3 <3 martha plimpton for all time), wasn't crazy about part 1 of finale... i did not think alt-olivia was hot. torched agent has been in something though... he seemed super familiar but i can't place him.

Alt-Olivia had stupid bangs.

she also seemed really lame!

The kakis fashion was kinda cool though. Her personality seems way different - must of had a more happy, spress-free life. Maybe the alt-people are all hopped up on drugs. The one agent dude (forget his name) did take a shot of something...

I don't know if she seemed kinda lame just because she was so different

Agent Acevedo took shots why because the archnids

torched agent has been in something though... he seemed super familiar but i can't place him.

5 eps of Nip/Tuck or if you were one of the 8 people who saw Dirty Sexy Money he was a regular

I fell asleep in the middle (getting sick, total fail I know)...but my early comment is: <3 Charlie!!! <3 Even if it's bald alterna-Charlie. Charlie!!!!

Rewatching tomorrow for serious. And to work out what the heck happened :(

haha this episode was ridiculous!

i like how they've built up quite slowly over 2 seasons to basically going all-out bonkers in that episode.

i mean none of it makes any sense really but it's always fairly light-hearted and there is a great sense of humour underpinning this show. it makes a great tonic to the dire final season of lost.

Hey, so, I forget whether or not Pyro burns herself up when she does the big flameout. Like, we saw one charred stain on the ground which is the Empathist, and then Olive the Other Olive's barbecued team leader, but I'ma wager Pyro is going to come back into play next week.

Altlivia is less cold but hates alcohol, so she's gotta go.

OK so I checked everyone up: projected emotions guy was from season 1, the first Akiva Goldsman written episode. pyro was from Goldsman's second episode -- she was the twin sister of another cortexiphan testee who spontaneously combusted, and she came close to blowing up too. so yes, they're dead. the guy who dies right after transporting originally had the special power of transferring his fast-growing cancer to other people. special agent Lee and alt-Olivia's BF are new.

wrong Liv. it's got to be.

Why do you say that?

William Bell's rambling old man shtick at the hospital was lol.

uh, liv "infiltration achieved' and liv in the cell pretty much implied it's the wrong liv, right?

freakin love nimoy

I tried to trace back to see if the wrong Olive also kissed Peter but that wasn't possible, it was too soon after she was tied up.

Peter/Olivia smooching is going to be a tipoff that Olive isn't Olive.

i thought that olive was olive but olives switched before the grenade

yeah, that's right.

the show was pretty explicit that the alternate Liv has crossed back with them (the achievement of which was the least convincing thing so far on a show whose meat is totally unconvincing stuff). fwiw my post was made during the show, although out of excitement rather than claiming myself to be any kind of plot unraveling genius, as it was super fucking obvious.

haha ok

Olives switched after the grenades, when Bell got knocked out, as long as we're belaboring the obvious.

xxpost

So what you're saying is that somewhere between the point where there were two of them, and one had a grenade and one had a gun, and Bell passed out, Olternate switched places with Ourlivia?

Because she was acting all shifty-like on the stage, and then also knew about the typewriter and how to use it, so it would seem like maybe that might have happened. IMO.

of course it happened

unless they are going for total mindfuck and oltenrate is just in trouble for getting pwned by ourlivia

so what i'm getting from this thread is that y'all think Olternate pulled the SWITCHEROO?

looking forward to discussing this for another four months btw

(also btw Roberto fwiw I got from the timestamp that you were making the call before they made it explicit)

Uh, when wasn't it explicit?

^^^

it was WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE OBVIOUS as soon as Bell woke up but not confirmed until she went to typewriter

(but lol if it's not obvious to you guys by now that i'm winding you up i don't know how you're following the show)

Olternate

They called her "Bolivia" in the captions at one point!

should've been Fauxlivia

can get on board with fauxlivia

Fauxlivia

I think we've reached a consensus.

LOL @ this latest exchange.

i have a theory--let me know if its too weird--did alternate universe Olivia come back with walter and peter? i think maybe...

PETER'S ALIVE?!?!

Just caught up w/ this show using the helpful season 1 playlist from the Lost thread - at its best, it is really, really good. Great S2 finale.

someone tell me which episodes I can skip. I have a feeling this show is probably good but I watched the first two last night and had the same reaction everyone did.

Somebody posted a list of the season 1 episodes you should watch. I think it is upthread but I'm starting to wonder if it was elsewhere.

watch these
Season 1: 1 (pilot), 4, 5, 7, end of ep 8, 10, 14, 17, 19, 20
season 2: 1, 4, maybe 7, 8, 10, maybe 14, end of 15, 16 (Peter), 17, 18, 22, 23

great! I'll try that. I'm seriously on the fence about whether catching up with these is even worth it. I should probably go watch all the seasons of the Wire that I missed or something.

Man, the run from Season 2 from ep 15 onwards was easily the best they've done - it would be great if they could keep that up for a whole season but I guess that's kind of unlikely.

This is weirdly a show whose "mythology" episodes don't really suffer if you haven't seen previous installments.

Anyone read Fringe producer @ Comic Con say, essentially, lol science?

bump for S3 premiere anticipation

v excited but sad that i can't just watch the whole season in one day

when does it start?

last night.

:O

Bubbs!

Eric the Midget guest stars next week.

hahahahahahahhahaha omg /pukes

splatterific! my wife screamed at that one.

I think this whole season will go back and forth from cases at one universe to cases at the other

Walter had some great quotes this episode

not thrilled with the whole ancient tech/Rimbaldi device part II turn they've taken, but otherwise this season is going well. am really going to hate Peter's character if they don't make him smart enough to notice that it's the wrong Olivia sometime pretty soon - i mean, he picked up on it within seconds in the alternate universe, so uh...

I think this whole season will go back and forth from cases at one universe to cases at the other

small spoilers regarding this on its wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(season_3)

only just recently noticed on youtube that there are a quite a few clips of the Observer guy showing up randomly in the background of other tv broadcasts like NFL, Nascar and American Idol. i guess not many people noticed? but if they are for real, it was a pretty genius gimmick!

Damn good episode. Unusually good direction -- best use of split-screen on tv I'm betting, plus the cold open was beautifully shot. Also, the doubled image of Olivia in the beveled mirror == hello symbolism.

Getting a lot of The Wire vibes, too. Daniels of course, then Bubs. Now, we get a guy named Milo Stanfield. All that plus making Agent Charlie and Agent Pizzaface seem like genuinely good guys while it's the bosses who are doing dirt is VERY David Simon.

another good episode i thought!

why aren't more people watching this!?

I think they are? And they're just not posting?

Yeah, I am quite impressed with this season, esp. the last two episodes, "A+++ would watch again" caliber.

One point when Peter looked at Folivia you could see him struggling with eye contact. I felt like I saw fear in his face too but I'm not as sure. That's something I would look for if I watched that episode again. This season has been very good. It's impossible for an episode to be only 'freak of the week' with so much other stuff going on

watched this season's eps last night for the first time. i'm really enjoying it. the show is much more consistent now that they are covering both universes. i hope at some point they bring the main story more in line with the shape shifters because that still feels way out there to me.

Speaking of the shapeshifters -- wouldn't it have been obvious that Newton wasn't human when he was on ice?

I continue to be impressed with the fact that the awesome:dull ratio has improved immensely over three seasons. Agreed that the long-term B plots are so much more compelling than 'weird shit of the day'.

Since Pete was a con man for so long and survived through Sherlockian observation, he must have tipped pretty quickly to the fact that it's 'the wrong Olivia' and is playing this out to see what her plan is on his side? He can't let her know he knows, his only choice is to play it out. (haven't finished the last ep yet, may be speaking too soon)

Could they be planning to combine Olivias into somebody who functions simultaneously with awareness across universes? (In space, like Dr Manhattan across time: 'I'm sorry, I'm talking to Laurie ten minutes ago ...')

Though actually thinking about it now the show is setting up that a. Pete is becoming aware, though not convinced, and b. the false Olivia knows that the more contact he has with her her chances of being discovered are greater, since if anyone's going to notice her fakeness it's going to be him.

My opinion is that peter is at least 90% aware and he's just trying to play it cool because he will probably need fake Olivia to get the real one back.

Yeah, absolutely

I hope you guys are right -- the gradual realization thing is boring and cliche, but I think that's the way they're going right now.

Walter eating animal crackers solely in honor of William Bell was the lolziest thing ever.

Nov. 4 :(

And Nov. 4 is almost here! Just would like to say that the worst thing about the two Olives is that I hate her new haircut. Her bangs = bleh.

wrong

Astrid so cute this episode. ^_^

so cute all episodes!

haha true enough, but tonight she was superlative. <3

I kind of like the last minute twists they pull sometimes. Like tonight. Otherwise it just felt a little filler-y to me? Like the bad guy was creepy and stuff but they didn't invest him with anything but the most vague hint of a personality.

This is moving to Fridays when Idol comes back. Not sure how to interpret that.

last episode was definitely more drama than sci-fi or mystery
but this show is great
it better not get canceled

Thought this last ep was really gripping, thought it was great!

Glad to have Olivia and Fauxlivia back at home. But poor fake Broyles! (To add insult to injury, I can't even come up with a decent alt-universe nickname for him.) Also liked the blink-and-you-miss-it "Springsteen Station."

love this show

the dramaish episode regarding fake Broyles' kid is much better after this episode continued Broyles' drama

Thought this last episode had lots of plot problems, unintentional lolz, in spite of which, loved the scene where Olivia surprises Astrid. (Other Astrid is such an Aspie, btw.)

caught up on this show again and omg so good. the doomsday device is a bit much but everything else has been really entertaining. bummed i have to wait another month.

Yeah, the last episode about reanimation (the marionette) was one of the best episodes this season. The new snag in Peter and Olivia's relationship has me riled me up in a good way. Anna Torv has some great acting in this episode and I feel for her

her character*

I didn't like alterna-Olivia...I was SO glad when real Olivia came back home again because that other Olivia with her bangs and her fake smile was just a nasty piece of work. (I invest too much in the show. It's okay. I know this)

I didn't like alterna-Olivia...I was SO glad when real Olivia came back home again because that other Olivia with her bangs and her fake smile was just a nasty piece of work

zomg FINALLY someone else AGREES WITH ME ON THE BANGS. Ditto on the ickiness of Fauxlivia.

When the guy had the still-dead girl dancing, THAT WAS SOME MESSED UP STUFF. SO RONG IT IS RITE.

Fauxlivia's hair gave me major problems, I won't lie, it's nice to not be alone on that anymore.

i still like the idea of chicks wearing dark khakis with lots of pockets

i assumed it happened and i'm not just dreaming this

I just saw dead-girl-ballet episode...Holy wow what the...Great ep. Damn this show is so creepy & cool & real & weird.

And Anna Torv has the best gestures & facial expressions. Economical but she just makes such perfect choices.

havent read the thread cuz a spoilers but this show is so much better than id given it credit for

i mean it never makes any sense even a little but its incredible all the same

lane pyrce as hannibal lecter is so far my favorite part

Yeah he is so great in Fringe.

The thing I think that Fringe does best is get you really comfortable with the 'normal' aspect of the show & warm you to the characters so that the unusual aspects, while crazy and out there, don't completely jar you out of the show altogether.
It's the biggest complaint I always had with Stephen King adaptations...that in the book he was really good at introducing the weirdness at the right moment, whereas in the movies it always felt like they couldn't wait to get all crazy on you and it just took you right out of the story.

gee, tl;dr much? lol

the unusual aspects, while crazy and out there, don't completely jar you out of the show altogether.

yah by the end of the 1st season ive just granted them license to operate entirely outside reality & just wanted to see how far theyd go with ~concepts~ & they go p damn far, really

im not really emotionally attached to any of the characters but the central mystery is really compelling - it starts seeming to be so stupid & formulaic but im honestly unsure of a # of characters atp

Haha, my wife has almost had the opposite reaction to alterna-Olivia's bangs. She was really hoping real Olivia would keep them!

i think it's really to Anna Torv's acting credit that the two Olivias really do feel like real and separate people. the differences in how she plays them are quite subtle instead of all 'oooh, evil twin'. thought her scene with the washing machine was totally great/heartbreaking.

seems they are still hiding the observers in the backgrounds too. there was one to the left of Springsteen Station.

Yeah that washing machine scene was heartbreaking

i thought this show was boring and seriously derivative when i first saw it (and promptly tuned out). now that i've seen the whole first season i've changed my mind—it's pretty much exactly as entertaining as the good parts of 'alias' or 'lost'.

i was impressed by anna torv's post-car crash 'injured' acting.

s2 really gets going w/ the olivia in peril shit huh? wonder if joshy jacks requested the writers make him seem like less of a pussbot or what

ok, i officially love this show.

http://www.tvline.com/2011/01/fringe-spoilers-violet-sedan-chair/

Awesome Twin Peaks reference ('my friend Dr. Jacoby from Washington state')

lol am watching this now and was just coming to post that. so good!

Rang a vague (William) bell when I watched it but I am disappoint I didn't catch the reference.

Good ep, dammit want more.

For a sec I thought he said 'my friend Derek Jacobi' which prompted some I Claudius flashbacks

And a hope that the Master would guest-star on Fringe

Have to say this last one was pretty flawless

It was aight, but this was pretty lolzy:

http://www.fringefiles.com/gallery/albums/episodes/312/normal_Fringe312ConcentrateAndAskAgain017.jpg

yeah, I caught that. I think that by the end of this season the 2nd Universe will have run its course

Also noticed that the last episode they were conspicuously using Dells in the lab, though in episode prior to that, they were using Apples. Hmm!

Commercial sponsorship is a tricky beast!

Posted from my Sprint Videophone (tm)

it seems like they made good use of the mind-reader on the liv-peter luuuuv plot.

Sam Weiss!

Walter draws the line at ghosts; I draw the line at bad math.

I liked this past episode but the episode before it with the ghosts was iffy. I didn't really feel it when Peter and Olive hooked up but maybe that's because my tv room was full of annoying people talking when I watched that episode. I feel like I missed a few lines of dialogue.

What was yalls opinions of that one?

'i'm compiling some recordings on my new betamax…'

i guess the conception of the ghost episode was ok—it wove together some of the gotta-get-past-our-bad-emotions hints from earlier episodes with the war-with-the-other-universe stuff (and i liked how they started upping the stakes on the crumbling of the home universe)—but the execution seemed tepid. i don't know where the weak point was, though. peter and olivia's reconciliation was pretty fast. maybe if they had delayed the episode a bit more, the convergence between the personal storyline and the ghost monster-of-the-week storyline (two pairs of people who can't accept the current state of their relationship because they can't recognize the other as not really the one they loved in the past, one pair of whom notices the other couple and changes) would have been stronger.

i get the sense that they're trying to set up a variant on the story from 'the constant' from 'lost'. which is good. but how long had desmond been in exile / searching for penny before that came together?

i wasn't quite clear from this last 80s episode: is the idea that as she was confessing that her stepfather hit her, olivia was appearing to walternate, or had actually passed over to the other side, and then was pulled back just as the real walter entered the room?

i'm also having trouble remembering what grown-up peter's attitude was toward his childhood when it came out that he wasn't from this universe (as an adult, last season). this episode suggests that he would have had a pretty good grip on the memories of his childhood doubts, but i don't remember them being alluded to in past episodes; is the idea that he must have just pushed them down somehow and that partly explains his character as it is as an adult, or were there more definite indications that he did retain those doubts and i'm just not remembering them?

the last scene between young peter and his mother made it seem pretty plain that peter didn't believe her and just began to play along with her lies, which probably works with either interpretation (peter continued to remember, since he deliberately chose pretense, or peter had to suppress his childhood memories and feelings, in order to be able to keep up / live with the pretense).

i wasn't quite clear from this last 80s episode: is the idea that as she was confessing that her stepfather hit her, olivia was appearing to walternate, or had actually passed over to the other side, and then was pulled back just as the real walter entered the room?

Yeah, I think that's what it was going for, but it wasn't terribly well-executed (imo) because I had the same doubts. But the end where Walternate tells his wife that she knows where Peter went to because he's found Olivia's picture book indicates that's what it was. (Btw, his wife's name is Elizabeth Bishop??)

I didn't like either of these last two, the latest because I'm annoyed at how small the Fringe universe is re: its characers -- Peter and Olivia met each other as love-at-first-sight kids???? And neither remember it in their adulthood? Come on.

btw, the puzzle that lil Olive was working on is taken straight from Alias.

Anyone else stoked for Fringe: The Search For Spock? ("Will Walter devise a Genesis Device in order to save Bell?")

I didn't like either of these last two, the latest because I'm annoyed at how small the Fringe universe is re: its characers -- Peter and Olivia met each other as love-at-first-sight kids???? And neither remember it in their adulthood? Come on.

Yep, my wife and I were annoyed by exactly this too. Unless we get some sort of memory wiping explanation soon, this will continue to bother me. I mean, obviously we're supposed to suspend belief for huge chunks of this show, but I find it impossible to believe they would have this deep connection and not remember it at all. Plus how could meeting Walter back at the start of Season 1 not ring some bells in Olivia's head? Considering how much apparent trust she put in him to tell him about her stepfather, its hard to believe even the common names wouldn't make her wonder.

Yeah, it's always interesting what little things break the suspension of disbelief for different people.

Little things? They have been fucking with continuity pretty hard, no need to be condescending.

Probably doesn't help that Olivia would have been around 7 or 8 in 1985 ("In 1981, I was three, living in Jacksonville, Florida") but they got a 12 year old actress to play her--and that in the past they made it sound like the drug tests were done on 3 year olds--who plausibly wouldn't remember much.

I think that at the beginning of the series they didn't intend the show to be so mythology-heavy and soapy, so they didn't really map stuff out.

I think the problem is that they started to fumble the mythology but instead of quickly trying to correct it they keep digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole.

will these people never fuckin learn

Little things? They have been fucking with continuity pretty hard, no need to be condescending.

I was speaking more generally, i.e. it's amusing where people draw the line when it comes to suspending (or not suspending) disbelief.

Anyway, this last episode was pretty good, not to the level of earlier classics this season, but the cold open was like woah, and all the Bell-related scenes/reveals were totally lol.

Why does Bell sound more like Sean Connery than Leonard Nimoy when speaking through Olivia?

the… laws of physics are breaking down?

You've got me there.

'Zard... Oz. Zardoz!

a… compassionate… soul… vampire.

^YES^

very good episode and walter wasn't even being funny

ratings from Friday were abysmal. I'd really like this renewed.

Will the return of Belly be the first thing people cite as a shark-jumping moment? Or Soul Magnets?

I'm not saying it has! Just those are the kinds of things nerds lose their shit over.

Also hope it's renewed. But they put it on Friday, which is sort of saying they want to kill it, right? RIP Dollhouse.

Will the return of Belly be the first thing people cite as a shark-jumping moment? Or Soul Magnets?

I'm not saying it has! Just those are the kinds of things nerds lose their shit over.

If the nerds haven't seethed from the show saying that flipping 10 heads in a row signals a breakdown in the laws of the universe, I think they'll play along with soul magnets. (Also, I have to imagine that they'd get a kick out of Anna Torv doing her bizarro Nimoy impression.)

As for this last episode: suicide lady isn't Catholic, so what non-denominational Christianity does she practice that doesn't explicitly banish suicides from Heaven?

Also: at the end of the episode, was Bellivia making a play to occupy Peter's body when he had him drink TEA?

and major lolz at Bellivia perving on Astrid.

Fox Renews "Fringe" For Fourth Season

yeah this show has almost lost me :(

If the nerds haven't seethed from the show saying that flipping 10 heads in a row signals a breakdown in the laws of the universe, I think they'll play along with soul magnets.

the coin thing really angers me. i mean the show is ridiculous and i love/d it but surely it isn't "nerdy" to expect ppl to understand THE MOST BASIC RULES OF PROBABILITY THAT ARE USEFUL IN EVERYDAY LIFE

grrr

i think this season's high was at the start when it was constantly switching between universes - was really impressive how they handled that imo. i feel like it hasn't really recovered since coming back from the break

i wonder what the first / most influential 'accelerated pregnancy' story in sci-fi (or elsewhere) was.

I'm guessing/hoping this gets better? I am watching the first couple of eps and totally underwhelmed by it all.

Of the first season? Yeah, it gets a lot better and hits its stride in the second.

the early monster-of-the-week episodes (like the 2nd episode) were pretty bad. later on they manage to integrate the mytharc into them in a better way.

so was that the last episode of this season????

oh no there's more! cooool

i tried really hard to like this show but its really dumm

cant remember where i gave up but im gone 4 good

it is really dumb but it's fun and they eventually managed to build up some likeable characters and ambitious plots. but it kind of got sloppy recently (and it was always a bit sloppy, which was part of why it was great)

also it has a good sense of humour and pulls out a decent "jump out the seat" moment occasionally

yeah i feel like by the end of season 2 it had a momentum & a purpose that made all the contradictions & miscues & general inconsistencies unimportant or at least secondary to the interesting stuff the show was doing. but sometime around olivia's return to ~our world~ this season all those mistakes started to catch up w/ the good stuff & gradually overwhelemd it

i mean i cant even recall what was my personal tipping point although peter is really not as interesting or as sympathetic a character as the show's writers seem to think & i can see it being different for everyone but i lost interest in this shows myth

I want more Walter being goofy, less Walter being upset, and more weird things that involve really interesting ideas.

Now, I just got season 2 on blu-ray, so I'm going to go watch that episode with Peter Weller.

Peter is terrible. x-post

yeah i agree, especially abt peter. the stuff where olivia was freaked out by alt-oivia living in her apartment was really cool though. this show clearly treads a fine line but the writers are not afraid to be ambitious and i have some hope they could bring it back for the last 4 episodes.

The character of Peter is a lot better when they're alluding to his life before the events of the series. I felt like the recent episode with him doing some nasty espionage to get to the bottom of things could have been a lot better if they referenced that more obviously. Instead, in the chronology, he went from nice but screwed-over guy to violent schemer "because the machine made him."

I don't really have any strong opinions either way about how the actor's portrayal works.

In this ep, which was intended to be gripping and heavy, my mind kept wandering to 'wasn't Peter some sort of scary weaponized Terminator person a few episodes ago?, and why did they never follow that up?'

Peter's character - con man/Terminator/straight man to Dad/passionate about O but completely unable to act or articulate it - has to be one of the most incoherent I've seen on TV. I think the actor's doing what he can but I'm sure he realizes that he's more of a plot device than a person. The actress playing Olivia by contrast takes all the madness and makes it work, which impresses me more and more. I think in this ep she was confusing her fauxO voice with her Nimoy impersonation, though.

Wondering why fauxO didn't grab ALL the little universe-jumping things (which turned out not to work anyway). Why have them follow you if they can?

i thought he wasn't weaponized, it was deliberate.

In the show, I remember Peter offing a bunch of replicants to snag their spine drives. When Walter confronts him, Peter has this gotta-be-a-gangsta face on and Walter says 'well of course, it's the machine transforming you into a vicious Slaughtery McSlaughterson, isn't it' ... and this idea was promptly dropped to make way for other stuff.

I know what you mean, but I think that was all part of the "look how driven Peter is to SOLVE THIS" story, like lying to Walter about working on it and hiding in a new workspace. The threads drift off to nowhere, like you pointed out, but I think I see where the overall thing is headed.

I have seen all of it (except last ep). It's pretty good. But those noire type eps were blergh. (Probably didn't help that I had a massive migraine attack when I saw it)

It's not just your migraines. :\

I don't mind sloppy characterizations in my SF, as long as it's bringing the wowz, which, unfortunately, French is not doing lately.

pretty tough 'acting class exercise': 'ok, now we need you to try to type on the typewriter through the mirror in the parallel universe, WITH YOUR MIND'.

Got kind of interesting this week, no?

Did the other side's 9/11 happen in 2021 or was that just the year that their memorial was laid?

That was our side he was in. Just in the future.

oh no, does that mean there are going to be time-split storylines next season?

xpost
Oh! I thought I saw a bronze Statue of Liberty -- guess not.

btw intersting parallels with Olivia's dislocation in season 1 into the middle of (para)military operation.

maybe i'm totally wrong then. I thought that plaque said 9/11/2001, with the memorial erected in 2021.

Jeez, it's going to take 20 years after the fact to get something up??

I barely had time to read the plaque, so all I saw was 9/11/2021 and for whatever reason thought the other side had a terrorist attack on the exact same day 20 years later.

Anyway, will have to wait for FringeFiles to get their caps up.

oh shit a KID! it's the beginning of the end!

wow did they turn peter into a reverse dawn-from-buffy?

In case the JJ Abrams poll didn't scare all the Fringe fans away, it's back this Friday!

yeah, I didn't do a good job defending olive in that thread. I did say that she is an everyman character but so is doug funny imo (and I dont think every man could relate with doug).

the plots and other characters are more rewarding than whatever level anna torv's acting ability is. honestly, I don't really notice anything off about her acting but then again I don't really pay attention to acting skill in general. anna did have a talented breakdown scene last season when she found out the extent of fauxlivia and peter's relationship. usually when I pay attention to acting skill it's when someone is crying or laughing

Didn't know it was back so soon, that's great! Me and Mrs Chuck really warmed to Fringe over the three seasons. The first season it was just trashy comfort viewing, the second half od season 2 was "Wait, this is actually getting good," and parts of season 3 was some Reaganing awesomeness.

Torv is great! O and Faux are clearly different/same characters -- really difficult trick to pull off. Weird how Pacey had better chemistry with Faux than O.

parts of season 3 was some Reaganing awesomeness.

lololol truthbomb.

Weird how Pacey had better chemistry with Faux than O.

Picked up this show again after my sister convinced me it was worth it and she was right - wtf why hadn't anyone told me earlier how great it had gotten? Walter is awesomeness.

lol upthread at someone pointing out that Peter was more plot device than character - one of my first "wait, didn't he...?" moments was in the first season where I think they had a subplot about Peter's past catching up with him, except... it never did.

Interview with John Noble from the other day:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/09/john-noble-and-the-beautiful-challenge-of-fringe.html

Thanks! dude is def the best part of the show - I mean, there are about five different Walters, all at different ages/realities, and it's just amazing how he manages to keep them all distinct but essentially the same person simultaneously.

I think the structure of the season opener, going from monster of the week to intro to multiple universes to showing that it wasn't a monster of the week episode but a possible lead into shady goings-on was a decent, if kind of boring, plot.

Yeah, I was thinking as the ep was going on that this was all setup for the season arc in the guise of 'wacky case of the week'.

Liking the idea of retconning your own main character/plot device out of existence. Though without Peter how does the whole parallel universe thing happen in the new timeline? Given the 'he has reasons to hate you' Walter is still responsible, I would assume Peter dies in both timelines after the parallel universe is broken into.

I assume that Walter still entered the alt-universe and took Peter, but that Peter died in the icy lake w/o help from the Observer dude.

Liking the continued equivalence of parallel universe=afterlife (on the other side your loved ones are still alive etc etc)

I've been joking that the weird hybrids in the Season 4 opener are from yet another universe where Walteralternate has a grudge against Walter and Walternate.

Oh shit!

BTW nu-shapeshifters and Astrid's earpiece are sort of like our-world approximations of their shifters and cellphone earring things, right?

That was a solid, fun if unspectacular opener.

Question I never resolved from the last season: How does Walternate actually learn about the existence of "the machine", if it's not in his world?

I've been joking that the weird hybrids in the Season 4 opener are from yet another universe where Walteralternate has a grudge against Walter and Walternate.

That would be very Season 3 Alias, so hopefully not...

Happy to see Agent Lincoln Lee upgraded to series regular. Prefer Alt-Linc tbh (he and Alt-Charlie are great), but looking forward to seeing "our" Lincoln becoming part of the team.

I like the actors and general vibe so much that I will pretty much watch this show through peaks and valleys. But I feel like they're going to kick more ass this season.

Pefer Alt-Linc tbh (he and Alt-Charlie are great

Yeah, everyone on our side is a fun-hating po-faced emo, except for their Aspie Aspirin, who, btw, has much better hair again yay.

Agent Leee ;)

everyone on our side is a fun-hating po-faced emo

which is funny considering it's their universe that's disintegrating. (how weird is it talking about our and their universes like they actually exist btw?)

any theories on how they're going to deal with the inevitable return of Peter (Joshua Jackson is still listed in the main cast so he's not going anywhere)?

like would it reset back to the time he was in the machine - which i don't think would happen because it would make everything that's going on right now moot - or would they just suddenly start remembering him again? Feel like they're getting into dangerous territory with this whole "he never existed" thing.

how long can they really last? when shows do this don't they tend to omit the character for at best a few episodes? the shorter the absence, the easier it is to make up some bullshit reason to change it all back.

btw what are people calling the new credits-color?

Amber. :)

Yeah I'm guessing Peter's back very soon if only for in real world reasons - main castmembers usually have clauses in their contracts about the minimum number of appearances/episodes they need to make every season right? just curious to see how they'd get around it while keeping everything else post-machine the same with nu-shapeshifters, Lincoln joining Fringe etc.

Just watched the second episode. It was really good. I like all the plot parallels that were going on like "I killed him (my stepfather)" and the sentimental things that leave an imprint on your soul (Peter on Walter's soul)

And I like that the parallel universe isn't the main focus now but rather a nice addition to the Fringe world

AArgh Hulu and your annoying embargo forcing me to, you know, seek other alternatives.

Then again, this is kinda lol: http://www.hulu.com/watch/281094/fringe-a-sit-down-with-joshua-jackson

Agent Leeencoln Leee!!

I like fun-hating Lincoln because they put glasses on him and now I'm all, "oh, HELLO." Such a sucker for a boy in glasses.

Well its obvious they are going to link a lot of events to Peter never having existed, like how suddenly alternate Broyles is alive again with no explanation.

Forgot to mention o_O Shirtless Walter. He and Broyles should start a bodybuilding team.

The second episode, for all of its plot holes and sentimentality, is actually pretty dark, though I would've preferred it if they went with a more downer ending, tbh.

walter seems like not the perfect person to get fringe s02 recaps from.

walter ;_;

or rather ;_<

lolololol

I like fun-hating Lincoln because they put glasses on him and now I'm all, "oh, HELLO." Such a sucker for a boy in glasses.

And now they've began this episode with Olivia in glasses, I like this trend.

Show still seems to have a great balance between standalone procedural episodes and the mythology stuff. Like I never think, "Ack, this episode isn't going to advance the mythology at all, DO NOT WATCH." And it's not the X-Files, where the standalones were always the best ones.

Having said that, looking forward to the return of non-emo Walter more than I am Joshua Jackson.

what was walter listening to on his headphones?

Two thoughts on the first "Peter's back" episode (watching via Hulu):

1. God, why does our side hate fun so much?
2. The actress who plays the shapeshifter is rrowr, but wow she can't act. Wonder if she won the part on a reality tv show.

This week's ep was much better, even though it was pretty much "White Tulip" mk ii.

2. The actress who plays the shapeshifter is rrowr, but wow she can't act

u just don't understand her kind!

Walter is listening to ... Styx, 'Too Much Time On My Hands'

I am kind of amazed at how good this show has gotten. Peter has no chemistry with anyone but in this role of man-with-no-context his woodenness is now apropos.

Liking how his reaction to being shuttled around in time this ep just makes him annoyed, not completely horrified like anyone else would be

why does walter's amber-timeline house have a flatscreen tv in it? has he only been living in the lab there in recent times? the house looks a lot more disused than that.

The modern tv fucked with me, too. Maybe it's a sponsored prop by LG or something?

haha was about to post that, it's obvs a continuity error with the props dept. Then again, it's possible that Walter invented it way back when...

Wait a sec, what do you mean by "amber timeline"?

Anyway: woman doing math, now that's what I call a fringe event, amirite?

Not to be *that guy*, but the Fibonacci spiral doesn't actually appear in nature: http://www.shallowsky.com/blog/science/fibonautilus.html

well, not timeline, but this episode was still in amber-world, right? in which everyone but peter has a different history than they did in green fringeworld. (uh.... or whichever color the not-red one was.)

Oooh you're referring to the title sequence, thought you meant amber as in the stuff the alt. universe uses to seal up breaches.

no but i had kind of assumed that would come into play eventually in the amber world.

do we need a NSFW on this thread or can someone remove the Newgod porn?

fixed. also, good show.

Ta, remy.

They're getting decent at leading the audience on to believe that a character is like their other universe counterpart was, and then yanking the rug out from underneath.

Yes, some neat swerves and foreboding prophecies, but along the way, the dialogue and characterizations have become 10 times clumsier.

omg, take me to your leader

alternate earth is the alien planet

Damn Peter's mom is a fox.

funny, i had the urge to make the same post.

isn't she crazy in the original green fringe world though? the crazy one is not a fox.

funny, i had the urge to make the same post.

Great minds etc.

isn't she crazy in the original green fringe world though? the crazy one is not a fox.

This show is making me keep track of four sets of characters, so I had to look up whether or not his mom also committed suicide in the OG Our-verse (she did). Btw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bishop

I need many flow charts for this show now. I still love it but it makes my head hurt

between aspie Farnsworth and doppelganger town, the last two episodes have been really good

the two Farnsworths episode was really good. She is my favorite character, even though she never gets to do anything.

product placement in this show is done in such a LOL way sometimes.

How many Nissan Leafs are you buying?!?

ws double astrid farnsworths in a particle accelerator so there'd be ten of them

Astrid squealing when she first sees Other Astrid.

Olivia: "I always wondered why no one ever does that."

^^LOL-ed at this.

Astrids was so good, like it was last season again. The last episode was very good, too, in fact it's almost as if the show's real writers had mysteriously vanished from this entire universe, but suddenly found their ways back midseason.

actually a scary x-filesy vibe to the last one. kinda figured it out early, but enjoyed it nevertheless

The cars shutting down/UFO fakeout was a pretty great X-Files homage.

product placement in this show is done in such a LOL way sometimes.

I love how studiously casual they are about it!!

Hahah wau @ the end of the last episode!!!

(Really lackadaisical preceding 40 minutes though.)

aw cmon

I REMEMBER EVERYTHING

the hivemind kid plot was pretty by the numbers and just there to prop up the story revelations and character development

I can take or leave the sudden convergence of our Olivia with not-Fauxlivia, but I'm talking about the very final scene.

the hivemind kid plot was pretty by the numbers and just there to prop up the story revelations and character development

Yeah, totally. I mean, is that storyline finished or is it getting continued next week? Not that I care either way. I just want to know which Nina that was.

Does Broyles have eyebrows? Cos it'd be an awesome reveal if he turns out to be an undercover Observer.

kind of weird/racist that all the observers are white, especially now that they spoiled their origin

maybe the time machine recreates them atom by atom out of white molecules

Keep forgetting to mention this, but

SHIITAKE
HAPPENS

!!!

lol, yes

OK, I knew this was the reveal we had coming, but I felt like it could have been handled better than it was.

SPOILERS
~
~
~
"Thanks for turning this beacon on. btw, this is your Olivia, you just deleted yourself from this universe but LOVE blah blah blah"
cut to shot of Peter and Olivia embracing
~fin~

Cue Tesla: "Loooooooove wiiilll fiiiind a wayyyheyyyyyy"

I am not mad, but it's just..ugh. All that time in the amberverse & it's just "love"?

I was kind of annoyed that it was introduced this way, instead of having the characters at least recognize it was possible that this was just a universe where Peter just erased himself.

yeah, it was v. ugly and it didn't need to be. if they'd omitted the line about love, i.e. said 'this is your universe, and you should have been erased from it. but you weren't forgotten' i'm fairly certain that everybody would have gotten that It Was Love w/o out the hamfistedness.

The episode w/Peter Weller handled issues of unrequited love and affection better than about anything else in the series while still being pretty good science fiction. I think it's the one I've rewatched the most. Plus, Peter Weller.

god I loved that episode. Made me cry like a motherfucker.

tbh I'm not completely clear what exactly happened at the end of this ep. So if this universe was his all along, then why isn't everyone waking up to their memories of Peter just like Olivia is and why are Olivia's memories of Nina being "overwritten"?

because LOVE

I am not mad, but it's just..ugh. All that time in the amberverse & it's just "love"?

i have not watched this new one yet but haven't they been setting this up for quite some time? with walter and peter, with olivia and her stepfather, with the 'ghost' couples who couldn't let go acrooooossss the muuuultiverses etc.?

What I don't friggin get is that Peter magics the two universes together and somehow erases himself in the process, but no one remembers what he did so they're no closer to fixing anything. I guess that they don't have the universe-shattering events, maybe? And if Walter & co. are the "first people" then when the fuck do they send the machine back

It was just all..."Wait, so I constructed all of these intricate flow charts of all the Fringeverses and THIS is how you resolve amberverse?"

*tears up flowcharts*

On the other hand... flying porcupine monsters.

four-eyed Lincoln is really adorable. just sayin.

ohhhhh I love him, so cute

Right?! Kinda bums me out a bit that both versions of him harbor unrequited crushes on Olivia.

I think Lost totally killed any enthusiasm I've had for theorising abt TV shows btw. Normally I'd be all abt timelines, and "Peter's important!", and "what about their baby?!" but I'm weirdly not that bothered that it all ended up boiling down to something as corny as LUV. I just want to see more David Robert Jones.

le sigh...

"me and my army of flying porcupine men will RULE THE WORLD" - Pink and the Brain s2e9

Hahah

This seems like a very cheaty way out, that they get to rehash old storylines now because of WUV

But kinda cool in a way. Those creatures were kind of awesome looking.

The first time ilx crushobject Lincoln got attacked by the lolcupine man, I actually screamed out loud. /muy macho

omg me too

We are wusses!

Really funny episode, btw!

Lincoln must be preserved at all costs!!

Walter with "Hump" magazine was funny

So I was thinking that the timelines have become nonsensical as they're being mashed up (the cause-and-effect equivalent of the people with extra limbs or rows of teeth in that one small-town-you-can't-leave ep) - this is why Porcupine No 1 can have the drugs without having made the deal, despite the guy-with-drugs' premature death (they touched on this very briefly and then rushed off). Things can occur, since they occurred in one timeline, but the cause of those events don't have to be present, since they occurred in one timeline or another, not necessarily the one we're in. Does this make sense or am I just high?

I don't think that is what they're doing, but I get where you are coming from. I think that the source was different this time.

Cool thanks - I was hoping the island was done with me

Remain pretty impressed by how differently torv manages to play the two olivias.

I know right? They really feel like 2 different people.

I liked this episode. But will the shapeshifter be the Cousin Oliver of the Fringe team?

I dug this episode too. After the 'WUV' reveal I'm kinda glad they're just getting on with the story instead of spending a bunch of episodes as Peter and Olivia moon over each other.

Tyrone. :(

Remain pretty impressed by how differently torv manages to play the two olivias.

what makes it even more impressive isn't just the contrast between Olivia and Fauxlivia, it's also the even subtler difference between Old-Olivia and New-Olivia. She plays them all slightly differently, but it's just enough to show that they're -essentially the same person- as well.

I was thinking a similar thing last night -- I really miss old-Livia.

Fauxlivia isn't totally punchable anymore either!

During the episode, I was thinking LL's fanclub would be swooning over this episode, until, you know, one of them bites it.

Btw: Eugene's hat!!!!

I don't think enough people here are fully appreciating the cow's hat.

It's grazing day

Not bad at playing drunk Olivia

Fauxlivia in dress uniform and hair up is AGL.

i know that double astrid farnsworths is not real, but this show makes me believe

cute opening sequence.

although why the observers apparently like to pave things over so they can all walk back and forth holding suitcases is somewhat beyond me.

also, the ending -- they didn't have a stick or something??