Fringe - FOX TV sci-fi/drama (part2)

My wife is a devoted Fringe fan. I've watched it more passively. I started to get into it last season, but gave up with the 'Peter disappeared, now he's back but no one knows him' twist. There are two possibilities with a show that starts taking twists such as this: either there is a very cool, if not brilliant, plot line at work, or the producers really have no clue where they are going next, so they start flailing and floundering with an 'ok, let's try this for a while' haphazard approach, like any daytime soap opera. I'm afraid with Fringe it's the latter. The expression "jump the shark" comes to mind. As was the case with X Files, the perpetual tease of getting really close to the truth that's out there, but never really getting to it, wears very thin after a while. I much preferred series that relied on the strength of their individual, standalone episodes rather than the current trend of "continuing story lines" (aka serials) to retain viewers.

 

I don't get the sense that the creators don't know where the show is going, nor that the show has "jumped the shark." I've watched every episode, several times.

wayne: interesting episode and I had a nice ponder about it. Quite possible, but then. . .what will the re-emergence of the "machine" bring into the equation?

 

+1 on last night for me, it was a good one

 

On the last scene where Olivia kisses Peter, I'm trying to figure out if she just had a momentary lapse of reason related to this episode's universe overlap. Or is she now morphing into "his" Olivia.....?

 

That's exactly what they want us to wonder!

 

I started watching Fringe, season 1, last year on hulu. Continued with season 2 on weekend reruns of Fox, which they abruptly stopped. Filled in missing episodes from season 2,3 through various means. But I do not want to watch season 4 piecemeal. I'm recording them all, and when the season is over, I can watch them in sequence without gaps. The only commercials I watch are embedded ones. Ha.

I know this will end badly. I can't think of a JJ Abrams project that did not end badly. Honestly. However, his series and movies create good characters who draw you in. Then they invariably do not know how to tie up all the loose plot ends they create. Alias was the least offensive in this regard. Lost was the worst. Who knows, I may give up on Fringe after season 4 no matter what happens. But actually I hope they are forced to bring the show to an end, so that they will start thinking about narrowing the scope down to a dramatically palatable conclusion, instead of thinking about new complications.

Honestly, I don't know why I keep watch JJ Abrams shows. Maybe just so I can gripe about them. The good bits are so good, though.

 

Abrams has very little to do with the show now--not since the second season where he stepped away early on as show runner.

It's all about how the writers-producers tie this up--the current staff.

Nope because the Olivia from the Walternate universe has no memory of him either. That was the OTHER universe on the other side but it's possible that what Jones is doing is converging all the universes into one not just the two (if that's what you meant I apologize--and if that's the case I think you're right).

I'm not sure exactly how they're going to resolve this.

 

Earlier in the episode Peter talked about a old event from the past. Olivia remembered it but Walter did not. I think Olivia is starting to remember Peter. Also Walter was far more comfortable with Peter than he has been since last season.(emotional comfortability comes before memory) So I suspect that Walter will also start to remember Peter and that Peter is in fact the correct universe, our universe after all.P.S. Thanks to your quote I think Walter should play some Pink Floyd.P.P.S. I also remember that Olivia had a dream about Peter at the beginning of the episode, very cool dream! She is remembering past events with Peter.




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There was nothing in this episode about one of the Baldos having screwed up, alluded to at the end of the previous episode. Something is rotten in an alternate dimension.

 

But he said "Olivia must die," because in hundreds of other universes, that was her fate! So this will be messy.

You gotta wonder if the original Baldo is dead, since he had a gunshot wound the last time we saw him. You'd think he would've been dead years ago, from eating all those heavy-duty tabasco-and-green pepper sandwiches! The heartburn alone would kill me, for sure.

 

Well which Olivia must die?

 

My guess is, probably the one that doesn't wear the wig.

Hey, maybe they'll surprise us and kill her off in the last show! I don't think that's ever been done, at least in a show that's been on four years. "Surprise... the lead character is now dead. Roll the credits."

Then again, Lost did that (sorta).

 

Timelines or Universes?

Again, I see them presenting only 2 universes so far on this show.

 

Let's agree to disagree. (But in another universe, I might agree with you.)

 

He said "all possible futures" not universes.

 

..unless Peter uses the machine to change everything (ex machina deus)

 

I always worry that September (the Observer) will be written out. I worry about that because to me, he is the best actor in the troupe of Observers. The other ones don't seem to get how to act so peculiar.

 

I hope they don't write out September. I mean, he's the one who saved Peter, then was charged with erasing him, but ultimately allowed him to continue to exist. Isn't he also the one who felt love for that girl he kept saving? He seems to be pretty important.

 

No the one that kept saving the girl was a different Baldo.

 

I just hope they explain the Observers. Where do they come from? Why are they are? Who do they work for? Are they human? Are they in a union? Do they have any hobby? Why are there no female Observers? (On second thought, I can figure that one out.)

If they do, here's some musical accompaniment: "Wake Me Up When September Ends"! "It Might as Well Rain Until September"... "See You in September." Many to choose from. (I'd avoid the Earth, Wind and Fire song -- not sad enough.)

 

Didn't they touch on this recently in the episode Making Angels with the math genious who effectively became an observer? Especially as his home was at Reiden Lake. My thought is they are humans who understood the math to transcend time/space.

 

The math dude only got part of it. He missed the part where you go bald and don't go all Christ complex suicidal.

 

There was also an early episode where they found a child that looked like a Baldo (season one or two) who is taken away by the Baldo's so they may be from our time in some way shape or form.

 

Yeah, that's one of many loose threads that I hope they eventually explain. That, and the first season constant line, "it's all part of the pattern."

Correction for me: my question about the Baldos should have read why are they here, not why are they are. (I need a proofreader.)

If the show wraps up with no explanations for this crap, I'm going to join the crowds of protestors headed towards Bad Robot HQ on Olympic Blvd. in Santa Monica (right next to the 110 Freeway), carrying torches and pitchforks...