In Defense of Fringe

I don't personally know anyone else who watches Fringe, and I'm not really sure why this is. In fact I don't know what demographic watches Fringe, and how it got renewed for a 2nd season in the first place. It seems that much of the nerd community has dismissed it as either an X-Files ripoff, or just another boring cop show with some 'weird elements'. And it's those 'weird elements' that I would think would turn off your normal NCIS fan or other watchers of CBS style dramas. I think Fringe is an excellent way to spend an hour a week, and find it to be something like a cross between LOST and yes, The X-Files.

Obviously if you were just to describe Fringe in a sentence it would sound exactly like an X-Files ripoff. It would go something like this:

"A team of FBI agents investigates strange and paranormal happenings around the city of Boston as they fight both external and internal forces in order to find the truth behind these strange occurrences."

This is likely how the show was pitched, and that with the addition of the creative force J.J. Abrams (Alias, LOST, the new Star Trek etc...) it got green-lighted. However I think it would be a fallacy to think that Fringe is just another Abrams show, or just another 'weird' FBI show. After the initial growing pains of the first season, Fringe has gone on to combine the best of all of these shows to become something great and unique.

During the first half of the first season we were stuck with the expected 'freak-of-the-week' format that one would expect. I use the word 'freak' here and not the typical 'monster' mostly because all of the paranormal activity around Fringe involves humans, not monsters or aliens or other creatures found in myths. This is the first thing that separates it, possibly just ascetically, from The X-Files. Where The X-Files was more interested in creatures or events that were rooted in mythologies or legends, Fringe takes a more scientific and technological route. People are often found with extraordinary abilities, some malevolent some not, and our team is tasked with figuring out the science behind these strange people or events. The show often explains what is going on, and how they're accomplishing these feats where The X-Files was more than happy to leave everyone in the dark, the viewer included. On a basic level it's an X-Files for a more scientific and technological age.

On a personnel and character level, Fringe is nothing like The X-Files. A show like Bones with its will-they-or-wont-they FBI agents owes much more to the dynamic of Mulder and Scully than Fringe ever will. Here we have the seemingly 'straight-man' Oliva Dunham as the lead and the character that grounds us in this world. She seems to be a typically competent agent who gets caught up in all this due to personal reasons. Anna Torv has steadily improved her performances and while I initially thought she might be a liability to the show, she has really become a strong point. It's also refreshing to have a strong blond woman in a lead role who is not only attractive, but doesn't have to rely on those looks as an actress or as a character. The show doesn't use Torv as a source of T&A for viewers, and I really think it gives the character an air of respectability.

Our other main characters are rounded out by the father/son combo portrayed by John Noble (think the grape tomato eating Denethor in LOTR) and Joshua Jackson (OMG PACEY!!!). Joshua Jackson has really grown up from his Dawson's Creek days and sells his character very well. Noble on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic. I wasn't that into Fringe when it first started, but Noble's portrayal of Walter Bishop brought me back week after week. He plays Bishop as a part loon, part evil genius, and part caring father which only recently was removed from an insane asylum. Not only is he responsible for all the pseudo-scientific explanations and experiments performed on the show, Noble is also responsible for the majority of the comic relief. Often as he's inspecting a body or performing an experiment he lets out a string of non sequiturs that are easily the funniest part of the show. The following exchange takes place as agent Dunham is preparing to enter a sensory deprivation tank:

WALTER smiles slightly: Uh, oh.
OLIVIA: What?
WALTER: I just got an erection. Oh, fear not. It's nothing to do with your state of undress. I just simply need to urinate.
OLIVIA: That's good to know.

He's so perfect that Walter Bishop might be the new archetype for 'crazy scientist' after all is said and done.

After the show started to find its footing in the middle of he first season, it started to connect all these strange events in what is called 'The Pattern'. Besides the silliness of the typical J.J. Abramism of giving something an ominous name (like 'The Passenger' in Alias) having these seemingly unconnected events all have their origin in a similar place really holds this show together. Every freak that we find that does something like mutate into a giant hedgehog/bear creature or person with psychic abilities has some connection to Walter Bishop's past as an experimentalist. Having one of our main heroes possibly be the main source of the problems in which they are investigating gives the series a dramatic element that most procedurals never have, although I'm not sure if at this point you can really call Fringe a procedural. Sure there is the typical 'cold open' where we see a 3 minute scene of the freak or strange event that our heroes will investigate in the upcoming hour, but once everything starts to have a connective thread the show somewhat morphs into a straight up serial. I think you can still enjoy a stray episode of Fringe here or there, but like all great shows it rewards its dedicated viewers.

This season has gone even further with giving the entire series an overarching plot with the introduction of the alternative reality, or what I would call 'Earth-2'. After dealing with Abrams on the set of Star Trek, Leonard Nemoy agreed to play Walter's old partner who may or may not be a sinister force. He lives in this 'Earth-2' and the season has started to put in motion a plot that pits the two Earths in a war with each other. 'The Pattern' may or may not be a way of 'Earth-2' waging war with the Earth in which our characters inhabit, but whatever happens so far this season seems promising. Out of the four episodes which have aired about 2 have been mainly about this upcoming war, and the other ones were very similar to the 'freak of the week' format from the first season (one which was pretty good, one which as terrible). Instead of trying to gain a new following and starting from 'square one' as shows often do in their second season, the second season of Fringe went full steam ahead and picked up where the first season left off. This may be a bad move, and result in lower than expected viewing numbers, but it sure makes for some good television for those of us who know what is going on.

It may be too late for those who are interested in watching the show to jump in now. Luckily we live in the age of 'tv on the internet' and you could catch up some weekend if you ever really got interested in the show. I think it's a shame that not too many people watch Fringe, because I think at its best it contains the best of what both The X-Files and shows like LOST have to offer. It's fun seeing what weird shit the writers can come up week to week, and how Walter can explain it, while at the same time having a strong central plotline to keep the show moving along. Additionally, the characters are not one dimensional and the show slowly unveils interesting aspects about their person or their past, but without completely destroying the flow of the episode like LOST is apt to do. Fringe is a great show and it's too bad that many people to whom this would seem to be right up their alley never really given it a chance.