Fringe

[Captain Untouchable]

We don't seem to have a Fringe thread, and that is an inexcusable oversight. Even worse, I know there are a bunch of people around these parts who haven't watched the show at all, and so I am forming a posse to go round to their houses and make them watch. :shakefist

In all seriousness: the current season is getting even more interesting than usual, and I was wondering if anyone else (are you getting a chance to keep up to date, Holly?) is watching.


For those who haven't watched Fringe, the basic premise is that weird stuff happens, and a handful of government agents investigate. All of the events are explained by "Fringe Science" - psychic powers, alternate realities, gene splicing, and other crackpot theories like that. However, right from the get go it isn't just a "weird event of the week" show - there is constantly something going on in the background, with various people seeming to influence the very laws of nature for their own personal gain.

The show is made by by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci... it's sort of their take on X-Files or the Twilight Zone if you like. It also happens to star John Noble (Boromir's dad) as someone who used to do Fringe science for the military in the seventies, but it now stark-raving crazy.

It's well worth a look: and if it hasn't hooked you by the end of Season 1, you quite clearly have no soul and I never want to speak to you again. :colbert

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oh yeah, we even watched it in the hospital last Friday while they were starting my induction. Incredible last few episodes!

The first season starts off a little slow but if you stick with it by the time you get to In Which We Meet Mr. Jones you'll be hooked.

Also in the States Best Buy has the DVD sets on sale for $14.99 for seasons 1&2 so you should get them and watch ASAP. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I have the season 1 boxset which I have watched the majority but not all of. I guess I ought to get around to finishing that!

[Captain Untouchable]

Get on it, Jones! :whip

Oh, and the plot twist at the end of this week's episode?! Didn't see Nina being involved at all. I wonder which universe's Nina it is... :ohno

[Rutabaga]

I think we did have a Fringe thread way back when the show first came on, but it's gotta be so far back in board history that it's probably covered with dust bunnies.

I've been watching the show since day one, and I think this season has been great so far with the continued crossover of the 2 universes. I also find myself whining incredibly loudly each and every week as to why John Noble has never been nominated for an Emmy for his work. :shakefist

Rumors abound that Fox is going to cancel it after this season. But they said that last year, and they ended up renewing it, so who knows?

[Captain Untouchable]

Fantastic as Fringe is, I'm concerned that it will become another Lost: something that lasted long enough for viewers to lose interest, and that became so complex and mysterious that the ultimate ending was completely unsatisfying. I'd much rather see Fringe bow out after four or five seasons with it's dignity intact, and with the opportunity to bring the story to an appropriate end - not necessarily one that answers everything, but maybe one that brings some closure for poor Peter & co.

I'm really enjoying Lincoln Lee this year; and everyone else, for that matter. The differences between most of the alternates and their "real" counterparts are extremely well performed. In this week's episode for example I loved AltAstrid's reaction to Peter, and the little exchange between Fauxlivia and Lincoln while they were on the stakeout. And of course, the many faces of Walter continue to amaze - damn right he deserves an Emmy. :shakefist

[Rutabaga]

I also have a thing for Broyles--both versions. Damn, Lance Reddick is awesome. :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I have watched the show from the beginning and I have enjoyed this season very much. Most think it will probably be cancelled because the ratings have been awful. I think it averages 3 million viewers which isn't very good. Hopefully they can at least rap up the story otherwise the show will be like Sliders and others that ended with no resolution. Of course Sliders was screwed worse for other reasons. Fringe hasn't been treated as badly as that show.

[Captain Untouchable]

Oh man... Sliders was awesome. I still can't hold a TV remote without the urge to try and open a portal to a parallel world. :lol

I think that's one of the shows where I'd actually be happy to see a remake done. It was a great concept, and had some really clever episodes, but it aged very poorly and had some pretty dodgy acting in there at times.

They'd have to bring back the proper Wade, though. :love

[Jedi Master Carr]

Oh man... Sliders was awesome. I still can't hold a TV remote without the urge to try and open a portal to a parallel world. :lol

I think that's one of the shows where I'd actually be happy to see a remake done. It was a great concept, and had some really clever episodes, but it aged very poorly and had some pretty dodgy acting in there at times.

They'd have to bring back the proper Wade, though. :love

Well Fox screwed Sliders. They fired the creator and brought in an idiot, and decided to go with monster themed episodes. Then they killed off the most popular character (the Professor) and brought in a dumb blonde who couldn't act. The show went down the tubes after that. SYFY tried to bring it back but they couldn't recapture the magic and the show died when Jerry O'Connell left.

[Rutabaga]

I've seen plenty of bizarre and disturbing stuff on this show, but the guy getting impaled by the I-beam in the opening scene of last night's episode really took the cake. It literally gave me the shivers. :eek

[Captain Untouchable]

I loved Peter's "Wait, you guys haven't spotted the Observers yet?" facepalm at the end of the episode. :lol

I'm very interested to see where they're going with the current conspiracy, particularly given the Colonel Broyles & Nina reveal during last week's episode. A couple of big questions in my head at the moment: Will we see the events where the Observer is shot? and What happened to William Bell in this version of the timeline? Without Peter there, the animated episode must have unfolded somewhat differently, if those events even happened at all.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Without Peter killing David Robert Jones, then DRJ could go over to the Other Side as planned and kill William Bell as was the original plan, I think. So I think Bell is dead.

In fact, Nina may think she's getting instructions from William Bell still, when in fact it's DRJ.

[Captain Untouchable]

True, but without Peter a lot of the work by Bell and Walter might not have happened at all. The Cortexophan trials happened right after Walter had retrieved Peter from the Other Side... but Walter's participation in the Original Timeline was connected with finding a way to send Peter home. If Walter was consumed by grief (as is implied), he may not have helped Bell at all, so Bell might never have even crossed to the other side, or might have done so under different circumstances that caused a completely different chain of events to unfold.

I'm sure it isn't a question that won't get addressed in a hurry, bearing in mind that the actor is unlikely to return... but it would be interesting to be told how differently things went down, if at all. There's plenty of wiggle room for them to change things if they wanted to.

[Captain Untouchable]

Just watched an interview with Anna Torv. Did not realise she was Australian as well!

Didn't realise Aussie women could be so posh and classy, either. :3

Joshua Jackson meanwhile spent the whole interview chilling out with a beer. :lol

[Captain Untouchable]

Based on last night's episode (which was awesome! :eee), I have a prediction!

When the Observer told Olivia that he'd seen all the possible futures and that she needed to die, he was referring to Universe 3 Olivia: the blonde Olivia who lived her life in a universe where Peter didn't exist. The Observers know that if Peter uses the machine to try and get home something will go cataclysmically wrong: but if Universe 3 Olivia "dies" and becomes Universe 1 Olivia... Peter won't want to leave because the loved one he's trying to get back to will already be there.

That's my prediction. If I'm right, prepare yourself for smug Jace. :ohno

[Rutabaga]

I really liked last night's episode too. :thumbup

[Lilaena De'Ville]

There is no Universe 3/C Olivia, just Universe A Olivia who's timeline was changed on her when Peter was erased. Now that he's back the timeline/her memories are starting to reassert themselves.

I suppose its a new timeline so it might be considered technically a new universe but I'm pretty certain we are just dealing with the original universes we've watched from the beginning, just with timeline corrections because of Peter's deaths as a boy.

I freaking loved this week's episode, btw. Very creepy and awesome. And Walter was just :3 and :( in the diner scene. John Noble needs to win the awards, all of them.

[Captain Untouchable]

There is no Universe 3/C Olivia, just Universe A Olivia who's timeline was changed on her when Peter was erased. Now that he's back the timeline/her memories are starting to reassert themselves.

I suppose its a new timeline so it might be considered technically a new universe but I'm pretty certain we are just dealing with the original universes we've watched from the beginning, just with timeline corrections because of Peter's deaths as a boy.

I freaking loved this week's episode, btw. Very creepy and awesome. And Walter was just :3 and :( in the diner scene. John Noble needs to win the awards, all of them.

I agree with you for the most part: I'm merely using the Peter's current in-story theory to differentiate between the two - Original Universe With Altered Timeline Olivia isn't quite so catchy. ;)

That said, I'm not 100% sure that it is an altered timeline as opposed to a alternate universe. It depends whether they're working from the infinate number of alternate realities theory or not. If they are, then an altered timeline would create an alternate universe, but the original universe would also continue on as well: just like Back to the Future 2, or the new Star Trek.

If it is just an altered timeline, bringing the issue back to center-stage in this week's episode seems like a bit of a half-hearted attempt to mislead the audience. I'm suspicious that it's a double bluff, or something. Though I guess you could argue that since Olivia's blood checked out fine and didn't have any extra bits from another universe in it, they actually debunked the Universe 3/4 theory. Though that would assume that U1 Olivia was in Westfield as well, which she wasn't...

I blame Peter. His damn twisty turny campaign is making me suspicious of everything. :grumble

[Lilaena De'Ville]

That last bit doesn't make sense to me, but...

(from Welcome to Westfield) The two towns, Westfield A and Westfield B were being forcibly merged by DRJ and his magic ore power source. This resulted in total devastation of the town except for the 'eye of the storm/event' where our survivors managed to hide. The only survivors were people who had no doubles in Westfield B. Olivia, Peter, and Walter were safe because their doubles were not in Westfield B. Of course, they would have been destroyed anyway because the merge was erasing the entire town in a catastrophic fashion.

Olivia thought she was 'infected' at first due to the confusion of having memories from the timeline where Peter survived bleeding through into her mind. An entirely different sort of merging is going on with her, and perhaps Walter too, where their pre-Peter-Erased memories are returning. And at the end of the episode with her kissing Peter it's obvious that she is remembering a LOT.

I believe the producers or writers or someone has said that they were only dealing with two parallel universes in the show. (Season 4 spoilers)When the Observers erased Peter it was like another universe/s were created, but not. And yes, I understand the difference between "another universe" and "another timeline" is largely semantics. In fact, if I think about it too much it makes my head hurt and my eyes cross. Maybe it's the Observer effect and by returning Universes A & B to their 'proper' timelines and restoring order in the multiverse, or whatever their purpose is, there was no multiverse-universe-split where there is a Universe A& B out there with "His Olivia" in it for Peter to return to.

Because, his Olivia is HERE. She just didn't remember him. But now she's beginning to...

This is going to mess with Peter's head again, poor guy. He was holding on to hope that there was a Home to go back to, but now he should be able to connect the dots and realize he's been Home all along. What is his next move? Probably still going into the Machine.

I only hope there is some sort of satisfactory resolution if this is in fact the last season. :ohno

[Captain Untouchable]

I understand what was happening in the episode, and I agree with you up to a point: but maybe it's the scientist in me... the events of Welcome to Westfield weren't conclusive enough to definitively prove one option or another.

Walter's blood test presumably counted the number of chromosomes that Olivia's blood had, which reinforced the fact that she wasn't merging with her Universe B counterpart. That makes sense, because Universe B Olivia presumably wasn't in Westfield at the time.

However, Universe A and Universe B are alternates of each other. We don't know whether a merger between version 1 of Universe A and version 2 of Universe A would produce the same results. Would they end up with twice the chromosomes... or are the universes similar enough that it wouldn't happen? Universes A and B are linked... but Version 1 and Version 2 may not be. Matter may not end up occupying the same space, so there wouldn't be the destruction...

It feels like they're trying to nudge their audience into thinking a particular thing, rather than guiding them there. Things may well pan out exactly like you're suggesting, but there's still far too much potential for the writers to pull a 180 on us. Another possible plot twist they could throw at us - maybe it is an entirely separate universe, but the Observers have given Olivia 2.0 the memories of Original Olivia.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not convinced they gave us enough to explicitly rule anything out just yet. Maybe they're trying to make sure that their audience is as confused as Peter. :ohno

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Okay, I think I understand what you're saying. The last spoilered bit is highly doubtful because September explicitly did NOT completely erase all the Peter-echoes at the beginning of this season which was against the orders of the other Observers. They WANT this current timeline to exist as it is now.

edit: and yes - the more I think about it or try to explain what I think about it, the harder it gets to try to make sense of it. Hoping for more on Friday!!

[Ilias Nytrau]

For those of us that watch this wonderful show (and tweet):

http://morethanoneofeverything.net/?p=2727

Participate if you can.

Also....

fringefringefringefringefringefringefringefringe

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

So psyched. New episode tomorrow night. :dance

[Jedi Master Carr]

Last night's episode was mind blowing, of course should have figured with Henry Ian Cusick from Lost guest starring. So many shockers
Etta is Peter and Olivia's daughter. William Bell is still alive but stuck in Amber. The Observers are evil and have taken over the past. What did William Bell do to Olivia? I am guessing season 5 will be heavily in the future and explain many of these issues.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

the worst thing about last night's episode is that it wasn't three hours long! :shakefist

I loved it. Next week we're back to the present though.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Brillant episode. I wanted it to be a two part one

[Rutabaga]

I guessed the reveal about Etta's identity about 2 minutes into the episode, but I still want so much more of her backstory.

And how about the old bait and switch at the end, making us think that William Bell was the one they were trying to get out of the amber when it was actually Peter. And how did William Bell end up in the amber anyways, when we were led to believe that he's dead? I have to admit I jumped when I saw Belly in the amber, it was a total WTF moment.

And they simply MUST get our dear Henry Ian Cusick out of the amber!!!

Future Broyles looked like shoe leather, but Nina Sharp was still quite fashionable. :lol

Oh, and total props to Walter for invoking SW and The Prisoner in the same conversation. ;)

I was a little surprised when I saw in the preview for next week that we're back to the present, but this show has never been traditional in its storytelling, that's for sure. But I want to see so much more of this future storyline, I sure hope we get more!

I haven't heard yet if the show has been renewed for another season, but the rumblings I've been hearing said maybe at least a 13 episode order to allow the show to give us an ending.

[Captain Untouchable]

I guessed the reveal about Etta's identity about 2 minutes into the episode, but I still want so much more of her backstory.

Me too. Though I think that's partly to do with how good a job the actress did of hinting at some of the nuances of her mother.


And how about the old bait and switch at the end, making us think that William Bell was the one they were trying to get out of the amber when it was actually Peter. And how did William Bell end up in the amber anyways, when we were led to believe that he's dead? I have to admit I jumped when I saw Belly in the amber, it was a total WTF moment.

We don't actually know what happened to Belly in this timeline. He was wiped out of existence as part of the cotexaphan / Olivia jumping to other universes arc, which was pretty much undone when Peter was written out of history. I wonder if this is a hint to the audience should be watching for clues about Belly in the coming episodes? :ohno

The thing that I found interesting with Walter was the odd mix of Evil 1980s Walter and Crazy Childish Walter after his brain was put back together. The way he handled that antimatter doodad was absolutely cold... but the look he gave "Astro" when she woke up was 100% the Walter we know and love.

I love that the whole episode was almost a pilot for a new series: I hope we get to see a lot more of that particular setting!

[Jedi Master Carr]

Fringe has been reneewed for a final 13 episode season
http://tvline.com/2012/04/26/fringe-renewed-for-season-5/

I am very happy that we will have a good resolution to the show.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

[Vigilante]

AWESOME!!!!!!

That is really good news.

[Rutabaga]

Just came here to post the same news...I'm glad to know that we'll get closure. This is the kind of show where it would really suck to be left hanging.

:eee

[Serena Laran]

Hooray for renewal!

http://i.imgur.com/chIuC.jpg

[Jedi Master Carr]

Mind bending episode, so William Bell was behind RDJ. You got to love Nimoy. I was glad to see him back again. Next week should be incredible and Bell is a great character. I wonder if he is evil or if he is just doing things for the greater good. I am betting he knows what the Observers are going to do, and he is trying to prevent it. I do hope Astrid is okay. It would be awful if she was killed off.

[Rutabaga]

I know, I thought to myself, oh no, Astro's been shot! And yeah, finding out that Belly has been behind RDJ the whole time was completely awesome weird. But holy crap, what about Olivia's new powers? Yikes!

[Captain Untouchable]

"It has a working fire in the bedroom." "Nursary?" "Nursary?" "Nursary." :eee

Olivia's new powers are awesome!

Is it me, or is anyone else getting a Noah's ark vibe with William Bell? He wanted to collapse and rebuild the universe, and now he's got shipping crates full of what sound like animals. It's either that, or he's genetically engineered some sort of super-beastie. :ohno

[Captain Untouchable]

Fringe always has fantastic little interviews and bits and pieces from the show runners up on YouTube. Aside from making me fall for Anna Torv even more (:love) there are also awesome things like this:

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GCASyX560M0?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GCASyX560M0?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

The Old B's are my favourite old man combo since Xavier and Magneto.

Edit:

Oh god. Can you imagine how awesome it would be if all four of them were together in something? :ohno

Edit 2:

The girl who played the new administrator at Saint Claires? The one who Walter said was "much prettier than your predecessor"?

That's Samantha Noble. As in, John Noble's daughter. That's just adorable. :3

[Rutabaga]

Well, that was one hell of a season finale. :eek

Needless to say, I was like, wait, wha--??? when Walter shot Olivia. I immediately wondered if her new abilities would include some kind of miraculous healing skill, but I never imagined it would come after Walter shoved a freaking extendable pointer through her brain.

I have a suspicion that, since they didn't know if the show would be renewed when this episode was shot, the Walter/September scene was shot without knowing if they would end up using it. If the show had been canceled, I don't think we would have seen that final moment in Walter's lab. And it would have left us with a pretty decent "they all lived happily ever after" kind of ending that I could have lived with. But since they got the order for the final season, they were able to put that scene on at the end to give us the setup for what we'll see next year.

I also really want to say how much I love the Olivia/Peter relationship. Too often, the male and female leads of TV shows are thrown together for romantic tension and it just doesn't work. But it really, really works in this case. Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson have fabulous chemistry, plus the relationship was artfully crafted by the writers to make it believable. They have made us care. Because of that, the total yin-yang moments of their relationship in the finale--Peter's anguish over Olivia's death and then when Olivia told him she was pregnant at the end--were just spectacular.

I just wonder what the final season will bring us, and I can't help but wonder what Olivia's role will be...her pregnancy is going to preclude her going out there and kicking ass like she usually does.

PS...Jessica's wonky eyes totally freaked me out.

PPS...Leonard Nimoy obviously enjoyed playing a not-so-good guy. :cool

[Jedi Master Carr]

It was a great finale. I agree with you about the scenes with Olivia although I knew she had to live because they had a daughter and yeah I think the Walter/September scene would have been cut out if this was the last episode. Nimoy was great at playing the bad guy. I wonder what role he will play next season. I am sure we haven't seen the last of him.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

They foreshadowed the heck out of Olivia healing with the amazing healing Cortexiphan lemon cake last episode. It was still shocking and well done. Peter's face when Walter was trying to poke the bullet out was amazing, Joshua Jackson really acted the heck out of that scene. The confliction on his face was perfect.

[Captain Untouchable]

Just catching up on the first episode of the new series. Was it just me, or did anyone else cry like a baby when Etta met Olivia? :cry