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FRINGE |
Olivia Dunham - Anna Torv Peter Bishop - Joshua Jackson Walter Bishop - John Noble Phillip Broyles - Lance Reddick Charlie Francis - Kirk Acevedo Astrid Farnsworth - Jasika Nicole Nina Sharp - Blair Brown 
OTHER FRINGE SEASONS Season 1 OTHER JJ ABRAMS SHOWS Lost OTHER PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS Eleventh Hour Millennium 
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A New Day In The Old TownAgent Olivia Dunham returns from whichever alternate reality she went to by means of a car accident that leaves her close to death. The Fringe Division is equally close to being dead as the powers that be decide that it is no longer cost effective to fund it. Somebody wants the unit closed down and wants to ensure that Olivia doesn’t remember where she went or what she learned there and has the power to change the way they look. FRINGE returns for a second season in a fashion that is pretty unsatisfactory. At the climax of Season 1, Olivia was at the point of learning everything and now she returns with a bout of convenient amnesia? That’s disappointing plotting. The episode is also setting up for the rest of the season and so there are distractions around the shutting down of the unit that don’t leave enough space for the main plot, regarding a face-changing assassin, to be properly developed. There isn’t time for a proper investigation plot, so Walter just happens to have a handy videotape with a teenage prophet telling them what is going on just to save time. The assassin uses a device to help change his face, all of which is fine and looks quite painful, but it is not explained how this also changes his height and his body shape between victims. Like much of Season 1, this opening episode is adequately entertaining, but underwhelming. Written by JJ Abrams and Akiva GoldsmanDirected by Akiva Goldsman Top Night of Desirable ObjectsAs Olivia continues to struggle to get over the aftereffects of her trip to another dimension, the team goe sto look into a town where there have been a series of mysterious disappearances. The solution would appear to lie in a man who lost his wife and son in childbirth years earlier. This is a fairly straightforward story that could have come from any number of shows. It follows a fairly normal path and comes to a fairly normal resolution for this kind of show. The only thing that marks it out as FRINGE is Agent Dunham's continued problems. At least it is nice to see someone who isn't left untouched by serious trauma. Her physical and mental scars are being allowed the time to heal rather than just disappearing from one episode to the next. Charles Martin Smith and John Savage join the cast in minor roles that could have been filled by anyone and thus prove mainly to be a distraction. Written by JH Wyman and Jeff PinknerDirected by Brad Anderson Top FractureA terrorist bomb blast turns out to be much weirder than that when it transpires the bomber was also the bomb itself. Olivia and Peter travel to Iraq to track down the details of an old military experiment. There's not much here to mark this episode out from most of the others in the show. It is nice to see that Olivia's injuries, physical and mental, are taking their time to heal rather than the usual instantaneous recovery from one week to the next and the coda at the end with the captured suspect adding something to the overall mythology of the show by proving to be a warrior in the battle against those that would destroy us, but otherwise it is just another investigation into anothr wierd event and we've already seen that before. The on-the-clock climax raises some tension, but nothing like it ought to. Walter chastising Peter for eating a cheeseburger in front of the cow is a priceless moment, though. Written by David WilcoxDirected by Brian Spicer Top Momentum DeferredOlivia tries to regain her missing memories of her trip to 'the other side' by following Walter's advice to eat a certain kind of diced worm. It clearly works as the memories flood back. Walter tries to track down the shapeshifter using an old flame and there are a series of thefts from cryogenic facilities to be solved. After weeks of amnesia, Olivia finally gets the whole scoop on what is going on behind the mythology of FRINGE. In the alternative world there are people who have created shapeshifters and cyborgs to come to our universe to track down the head of their leader with the aim of opening up a portal to bring the two universes into contact so that one is utterly destroyed. This is a major information dump that comes in one cameo conversation with Leonard Nimoy. This leads to a face of with the Charlie shapeshifter, obviously a big blow to Olivia and a major special effects moment at the end, but it completely overshadows the subplot of Walter working with his ex-student to no real result. The presence of Theresa Russell adds some class even if it doesn't add any point. The mystery is blown and some action takes over, but more questions are raised, which is no great surprise. Written by Zack Stentz & Ashley Edward MillerDirected by Joe Chappelle Top Dream LogicThe sleep clinic at the heart of a series of murders and people dying of exhaustion despite sleeping for hours, is investigated by the Fringe team, but can they find out what is happening before more people die? An oddity in the FRINGE catalogue, this as it is a standalone science crime story with no link to the main mythology plotline and has no link to Walter's previous work. Unfortunately, it is also rather pedestrian, a police procedural that is neither original nor particularly exciting. It doesn't bring any warmth to the characters either. Written by Josh SingerDirected by Paul A Edwards Top EarthlingPeople are turning to dust and a shadow man appears to be responsible, but what does that have to do with the CIA or the Russians? The Fringe team have to work fast to stop anyone else crumbling. Another standalone episode that doesn't play on the main FRINGE mythology, but just goes down a fairly straightforward police procedural story (at least as straightforward as FRINGE can ever be). There is nothing in the way of character development and nothing to really get excited about. Written by Jeff Vlaming and JH WymanDirected by John Cassar Top Of Human ActionThe Fringe team are called in to investigate the kidnapping of a young man whose father just happens to work at Massive Dynamic. When Peter is taken hostage, it becomes clear that it is the boy himself who is the kidnapper and has the power to control people's actions. This is a better episode that takes a more action-orientated approach. Rather than sitting in a laboratory talking over dead bodies, this investigation is mobile and dynamic. Having Peter taken hostage gives it a more personal aspect that the chilly nature of the show sorely needs. Written by Robert Chiappetta and Glen WhitmanDirected by Joe Chappelle Top |
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