Fringe: Crisis on Multiple Earths

Apologies for the DC reference tag on the topic title - Fringe isn't long enough for this forum, which requires a minimum of 10 characters.

So, like Community, I'm jumping in on this much buzzed show late in the game - even later than Community as I only just caught the rerun of the season premier. I know it's got wacky alternate universe stuff going on with bizarre variations of DC Comics and zeppelins and that Pacey has somehow disappeared from time.

So some of the stuff went right over my head, naturally, but I really need someone to explain the outro images - the pictures of leaves and apples with embryos in place of the seeds and a frog with theta on its back and some sun-like thing appearing in different quadrants around the pictures. What up?

I've only seen a few episodes of the first season, not because I didn't like it, I just never got around to continuing. I just wanted to say that I love the thread title.

I LOVE Fringe!. Each image correlates to a letter of the alphabet and all together spell out a word related to each episode's theme. I don't love Fringe enough to have learned which letter goes to which image, however.
I only started watching Fringe last year and did a first and second season marathon watch to get caught up. The first few episodes seemed like a more disgusting X Files, but then it settled down and got really intriguing. The presence of Pacey and Mark Valley didn't hurt any, either.

I know I've said this here before ("here" being even more theoretical than usual, of course), but I'll repeat it: I watched it out of a sense of obligation, I thought it was pretty lame, I kept watching, I still thought it was lame, I decided to quit watching, I forgot to turn off the series record, it recorded one more, I figured I might as well watch it, and it suddenly got good -- it was the first episode with the Observer. I gave it a stay of execution, and now I really love it. I think it has one of the coolest, least forced, most fun to watch ensembles on TV. And some of the most intelligent sci-fi.

Each image correlates to a letter of the alphabet and all together spell out a word related to each episode's theme. I don't love Fringe enough to have learned which letter goes to which image, however.

Hold on, seriously? Never knew that. Wow.

I watched this show when it first premiered, but quickly grew disinterested after three episodes, so I stopped. Unlike Instant Monkeys, I dropped the show before the Observer first made his appearance, so at the time that I quit watching it resembled a more quirky procedural. Last year I caught the episode where Christopher Lloyd guest starred and a friend told me that it had gotten much better, so my interest was piqued and I caught up on all of the episodes this spring and summer. It was definitely worth it! Season 2 is amazing, and the first half of season 3 is incredible. I love that this show is willing to take risks and be completely weird and different from everything else on TV.

I'm really curious to see where the show goes from here now that Peter is back!

I love this show! John Noble does such stellar work and the episode where Anna Torv had to channel Leonard Nimoy?? Come on, people have gotten emmy nominated for less!

It's interesting to see how the show has evolved over the seasons and now they seem really comfortable with where they're at and are just going with the stories that feel right. Good for them! And me, because I'm enjoying watching the episodes.

the episode where Anna Torv had to channel Leonard Nimoy??

Was she not brilliant!? I had never heard of her before this show, but she just amazes me. Original Flavor Olivia, Fauxlivia, Bell-Possessed Olivia - brilliant as all of them.

Just dropping by to pledge my eternal love to Lincoln Lee. As you were.

I miss Charlie but I was happy to hear that he married bug girl.

choubetcha wrote:Just dropping by to pledge my eternal love to Lincoln Lee. As you were.

I also love Lincoln Lee. Seth Gabel is such a fantastic addition to this show. I was charmed by him so much on Dirty Sexy Money that I'm glad he's a regular on a TV show again.

So I just mainlined most of this season including tonights episode (I always watch in chunks of episodes),and damn I am so pleased to have Peter back! Not that I don't like the other characters but Walter descending into madness because he could hear/see Peter was too much and Olivia being her blandness (not that I loved the repeated implication that Olivia was kind of boring because deep down she knew she missed Peter). Also, I will bawl like a baby when Walter finally remembers/realizes that Peter is Peter and it will dwarf the P/O realization.

I thought they were crazy to extend it as long as they did because everyone knew that Joshua Jackson wasn't leaving the series, but when he finally showed up I thought it was well earned.

That was some good fucking sci-fi TV right there.

I love this show. Keep it up, show.

I KNOW WHAT A FARADAY CAGE IS, A BABOON WOULD!

I think this week's episode was the best yet, even though I still miss the original timeline. But I'm enjoying this season for what it is. Anyone still watching?

Bumping. I'm still watching, though I too miss the original timeline. I am so impressed with John Noble's performances as the various Walters. And the interactions of both Lincoln Lees. Love this show and I'm hoping that it dodges the cancellation bullet once again.

[There were two Fringe threads, so I took the liberty of combining them before we ended up with alternate Snarkfest realities.]

I also miss the original timeline, but this season has been an interesting diverging branch of the overall story. I appreciate that the show hasn't hit the reset button after a few episodes to revert everything back to the way it was. There are many critics that have been really hard on this season's episodes, and I just can't get behind that notion without knowing how the season is going to end up and whether the different path will have been worth it.

I'm so glad to see David Robert Jones again. He was a formidable villain and Jared Harris is such a creepy presence on this show!

Sorry particle person! I looked around for it and still meed it. argh. Not my day.

It's funny discussion has started again now, because this week I said to myself, "I am actually liking this crazy no-one-remembers-Peter-timeline story." And I thought about how cool it is that Fringe will actually COMMIT long-term to something like this and, yeah, not have it be one episode or maybe a two-parter and then reset-button it back to normal. Funnily enough, crazy show tangents like this bother me less when they last longer. I still didn't like the storyline with Fauxlivia impersonating regular Olivia, because it was too frustrating to me that none of the characters knew what was going on, and it felt somehow like they were just squandering episodes on that situation. But I wasn't crazy about the alt-universe thing when it started, but now that they kept going with it and followed it to a logical conclusion, and the universes know about each other and we get to watch Lincolns and Olivias and Broyleses hanging out together, it's making for some interesting dynamics.

(Except: Isn't Alt-Broyles dead? When did he come back to life? Is this related to the Peter situation?)

Anyway, I was thinking about X-Files and how they would NEVER have committed to something like this. Even when David Duchovny LEFT THE SERIES they gave it one mytharc two-parter and one MOTW (which ended with a very deliberately telegraphed We Are Shutting The Drawer On This Issue moment in which Scully literally put Mulder's nameplate in a drawer and shut it -- THANKS GUYS YOU'RE RIGHT WE'RE JUST BEING ASSHOLES THANKS FOR TELLING US) before they basically asked us to settle back into routine and have a believer (now Scully) and a skeptic (Doggett) investigating mysteries. They didn't mention Scully's pregnancy again for like six months, and then only as a plot device to get her off the screen when she had an episode off. They rarely mentioned Mulder. They just desperately wanted to go on with the routine of the show, even though fundamental changes were FORCED on them and, had they taken the initiative to be more creative about it, they could have done all kinds of cool stuff and taken the series in all kinds of different directions, and given Scully a TON more to do (other than cry), and actually, y'know, like MADE UP SOME STORYLINES. But they just weren't interested in that. It really is gratifying to see a show that isn't afraid to change things up, like, a LOT.

I officially have a crush on Lincoln and I like seeing many of him at the same time. And naughty zoot, I too spent most of the episode thinking "Man, John Noble is an amazing actor." I do wish he'd get some awards love somewhere.

So Olivia has to die? (Hee, I just accidentally wrote "Olivia has to dine.") How's THAT going to play out, I wonder.

(Except: Isn't Alt-Broyles dead? When did he come back to life? Is this related to the Peter situation?)

Alt-Broyles was dead in the original timeline. We don't yet know what the situation is in the No-Peter timeline although he may still be dead as current Alt-Broyles is a shapeshifter...

lil d wrote:

(Except: Isn't Alt-Broyles dead? When did he come back to life? Is this related to the Peter situation?)

Alt-Broyles was dead in the original timeline. We don't yet know what the situation is in the No-Peter timeline although he may still be dead as current Alt-Broyles is a shapeshifter...

Ohhhhh yeah. /Beavis voice

Man, I can't keep track of what happens on this show, hee. (I guess I assumed he was just in cahoots with Jared Harris.)

Was it confirmed that Alt-Alt Broyles is a shape shifter?

No.

Instant Monkeys, alt-broyles IS in cahoots with Harris.

In Friday's episode there was a scene where Alt-Alt-Broyles was getting ready to inject himself with something, before being interupted. I took that to be an indication that he was a shapeshifter, since injections were how the other new shapeshifters were able to survive without decaying like Charlie.

Anyone still watching? I have like eight on my TiVo but wondering if I should dive back in since it's been renewened for a final season.

I am! I'm very happy for all concerned at the renewal. Even with all the wobbly bits, it's evident that the show has a story to tell and they'll have a chance to finish it. Not just stagger on aimlessly (House) or flail about in desperation (Supern-- I can't say it -- or churn out random spasms of disconnected threads (Ryan Murphy) but to really tell a cohesive story.

I suppose Lost attempted to do this, and Battlestar Galactica, but those endings. Ouch.

Anyway, the creativity is sharp, and the performances are remarkable. Creating a character is hard work. Playing an 'alternate universe' version of your character for an episode is fun challenge (cf Evil Willow or Spock-with-Beard). Doing it across several episodes, and acting opposite yourself is a true feat.