In the stunning Season One finale, Olivia traveled to an intriguing parallel universe where she met Massive Dynamic founder William Bell (guest star Leonard Nimoy). Season Two opens with Olivia’s shocking return to this reality. Peter, unknowingly in a race against time with an ominous mobile force, pursues information about Olivia’s perplexing visit to the alternate reality. Meanwhile, Walter reenters the lab to cook up a bit of fringe science, and, of course, some custard for someone’s birthday.
Fringe is back and has lost none of its quirky charm. This show heavily relies upon its fantastic science and wonderful cast to drive a sometimes very confusing (J.J. Abrams-designed) plot. The character of Walter ( John Noble) is perhaps the main reason why I watch Fringe. His antics alone make the show both enjoyable and exciting. This episode offered up a scene in which Walter is doing an autopsy of a dead man while eating a strawberry”Twizzler.” It is Walter’s insanity coupled with what appears to be innocence that is far more intriguing than some of the show’s disjointed plot-lines. I think this is a master stroke on the part of the writers.
I was really hoping that loose ends from last season were to be tied up this season. Unfortunately, it would seem that Abrams and his writing crew have decided that an existing plot from Season One is now null and void. I feel somewhat robbed that the previous neo-cyber and scientific terrosit cell groups have just, ”poof! ” disappeared. This was made evident by the sudden reappearance of Agent Dunham (Anna Torv) without any explanation and the appearance of a whole new group of baddies in the form of parallel-universe doppelganger assassins. I will admit a scene in which the doppelganger changes form using a fringe technology device was quite intriguing, but in the back of my mind I was screaming “Abrams is jumping the shark!”
This plot-drop is classic Abrams writing behavior and very frustrating, to say the least. Abrams is famous for this type of “ bait and switch” writing, but one can take only take so much of it. For once it would be nice if he wrote a plot thread to completion, or better yet just stopped suddenly deciding that it is no longer fun to write about “that.” Instead, he has only shown me that he is a bit inconsistent with what he generates with his imagination engine. Fringe is starting to become like Lost, and I am not about to make another “straight jacket” commitment to another Abrams show. He and his writers need to pull things together and stop playing plot roulette with the viewers, because he will start to lose us very quickly as we seek out better entertainment.
Yet even after this bit of plotted foolishness, the show did offer up some great scenes. Peter was a bit broken up about the possible death of Olivia, and even though the viewers knew she would not die, the hospital scene involving Peter and Oliva was both touching and shocking as she awoke from her catatonic state and began speaking in Greek. It was great to see Phillip (Lance Reddick) loosen up and get human, as illustrated in a bar scene where he has a drink with Peter. The only part of the episode that was predictable is when Agent Francis (Kirk Acevedo) has a heart-to-heart talk with the now-conscious Olivia. While he’s going on about how she can trust him, I started thinking “this guy is gonna die and become a doppelganger.” I felt akin to Nostradamus when Agent Francis chased the doppelganger to the hospital basement and the camera went black and all we heard was gunshots. It was no surprise to me when the show ended with the doppelganger dumping the now-dead Agent Francis into the hospital’s crematory.
However, this predictability can be overlooked by the wonderful and absolutely insane scenes when Walter steals the show. On of my favorites was when Walter and Peter are at the grocery store because Walter wants to make his son a custard for his upcoming birthday. He ignores Peter’s objections and goes into a rant about his time as a sous chef, and how he worked for the inventor of the now-famous snack known as ”Ho-hos.” Whether this is true or not is immaterial; just that fact that Walter somehow connects it to his very existence is magical. For me Fringe could be called The Walter Show, and I would still tune in very week, even if it was sprinkled with future Abrams’ plot bombs.
I am not saying that Fringe is a hot mess and not worth watching unless you like Walter’s antics. In fact, the new plot involving entities from “the other dimension,” which is very Lost-like (AKA, “The Others”), is actually very interesting. There is a scene where the doppelganger uses a typewriter facing a mirror to communicate with the other dimension; seeing the responses to his questions typed in the mirror by an unseen person and the questions appear on the typewriter in front of the doppelganger was both chilling and quite cool to watch. Should Abrams choose to complete this plot thread, it just might be totally awesome. I really hope this show’s plot is kept together and that its wonderful cast, including guest star Leonard Nimoy, is not wasted in a haze of poor writing. Let’s keep the “fringe” in the science, not the writing.
