Here are two things that I've come to accept about Fringe this year, which I think have improved my enjoyment of it:
- Although its (spiritual) parents are Alias and Lost, it is neither of those shows.
- Although Anna Torv is technically the lead, we should not look to her as the emotional anchor of the series. That job belongs to Joshua Jackson and John Noble.
With that out of the way, let me say I enjoyed Fringe's first season finale not so much for what it did but for how it set up the second season. (Spoilers are ahead.)
I feel a little underwhelmed, but part of that's on me. I've read a lot of interviews with the different actors/producers. One of them said something like "The final scene between Olivia and William Bell is important not so much for what is said but because of where it takes place." With that in mind, and knowing that the show had introduced the idea of alternate realities, I figured, "Oh, she's going to travel to Bizzaro New York." And she did.
Same thing with the grave Walter visits. Once he mentioned to Peter that he'd crossed over to the parallel world to retrieve "something precious," I assumed "This means the Peter from our world died as a child, and Walter basically kidnapped another version of his son from another reality."
At the same time: both of those things are really, really cool plot twists, and I'm wondering now how much of season two will be about the alternate world. Will Olivia run into a non-crazy Walter, still searching for Peter?
John Noble was wonderful, as always, as Walter, both in his scenes with his son and with the Observer (and if there's a list of Fringe questions I want answered, the role of these guys is at the top).
And I liked the little glimpses we got of this other reality, where the World Trade Center is still standing, yet the country apparently isn't immune to terrorist attacks (see Olivia's vision of Boston last week, and the newspaper headlines about the "new White House).
I suppose all my references to William Bell as the show's big bad were a bit shortsighted. We don't know what he is yet. Bell -- played by Leonard Nimoy -- only showed up in the final minute or two of the episode, but word is he'll be back for a longer stretch next year.
I wish I could say the same for Jared Harris as David Robert Jones, who was, as it turns out the chief villain of year, one who had been given some sort of superpowers from all that teleporting. (He also met kind of a gruesome end, having half his body transported into the alternate world.)
And that's it for me and Fringe until the fall. Nice work, fledgling sci-fi show. Here's hoping you fulfill your potential next year.
Tom Coombe
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